by S L Lewis
‘I don’t understand why I have to do these days?’ Gabrielle pouted as she complained about her designated days when we sat around the table waiting for mum to finish the Sunday roast in the kitchen. ‘The days will be on a rota for the next few weeks, if this lasts that long but for now shut up moaning and just do it,’ I growled as mum came in with the rest of the meal and we all settled down to small talk, trying to avoid looking at the empty seat where dad would have been sitting, should this turmoil never happened.
I don’t think it matters how old you are, we all have the same emotions when our parents spilt up; anger, shock, reflection on the events that led to the spilt, self blame, sorrow, self pity and you either crumble completely or you get on with it and support those around you who are crumbling.
I went with the latter as my brother was crumbling slightly and my sister was and always will be a daddy’s girl. She was definitely not strong enough to deal with mum and her unusual determination to keep it all together and throw herself into everything apart from talking about the situation. ‘So, mum how are you holding up?’ Renesh asked nervously as the small talk came to an abrupt end. ‘I’m fine hun. I’ve just taken on two new drivers and they seem to be very good. Also, I’ve agreed to go to a speed dating event with your aunt Alannah tomorrow so that should be fun’ mum announced as we all dropped our cutlery in amazement.
For a start, my mum is speed dating! And secondly, she’s going with aunt Alannah?
This is bad.
I mean real bad!
Aunt Alannah is my mum’s younger sister and she has just moved to Paddington after marrying a Moroccan banker she met on an online dating website.
She is well known for not having many inhibitions and still seems like a teenager even at the tender age of 45, oh and did I mention her new husband is 30 years old?
It doesn’t surprise me that she has lured mum to speed dating, however, as she is in a delicate state at the moment and I’ve heard about mum’s wild child past before meeting dad, I’m scared I’m going to come back after their speed dating night and finding the house trashed and a load of men with a drunken mum and aunt selecting one as my potential future husband (I haven’t exactly told mum about Angus yet. Not due to his marital situation but just because I think it’s better for all if she doesn’t use the rage, she obviously still has for dad, to kill me just yet!).
‘WHAT?’ screamed Gabrielle as she choked on her roast potato ‘isn’t that a bit fast mum?’ Renesh gasped as he looked at me in shock for some kind of support.
I knew that mum was just trying to show dad that she could move on without him (which to be honest we all knew), however I also knew she still loved him dearly, so I didn’t entertain her new found hobby and said, ‘I think that’s a great idea mum. Good to see you getting out there and meeting new people,’ much to the annoyance of Renesh and Gabrielle.
Mum smiled as though happy with my acceptance and turned to deal with the objections from Renesh and Gabrielle.
After ten minutes of questioning mum’s new found interest, I decided to clear the plates away and retire to the sofa’s to see what was on the television then my phone rang and to be honest, I was glad of the distraction. ‘Hey sexy, how’s things with your mum?’ Angus purred. ‘Even on the phone he made me want to jump on him!’ I thought as I walked away from the noise. ‘She’s ok. I’m glad I can have my much needed getaway tonight though, I need the break,’ I revealed passionately.
I couldn’t wait for him to tell me what romantic plans he had for me tonight, so I was hanging on his every word. ‘Babe, I think we should give tonight a miss. I had a hard night last night and I’ve got some work to do, which I’m behind on for tomorrow, so how about we do the big romantic night tomorrow?’ he asked smoothly.
I must admit I was a little annoyed as he had being going on about tonight for the last two days and I needed this to help clear my head from all the heavy events that had been going on this week so I didn’t take the rain check too well. ‘I can still come round just to relax and see you. We don’t have to do anything. I can cook, you can work and I can relax and watch TV, away from this madness,’ I suggested but he was adamant and replied, ‘babe, that sounds great but I really don’t want to be a bore for you so how about tomorrow? Honestly I’ll make it up to you.’
Maybe it was all the emotions running through me with the recent events with my parents or maybe I was just tired but instead of answering I just hung up and went back to the sofa and joined the family who were now discussing Gabrielle’s new love and Renesh’s marital problems.
**********
Mondays always come around so fast, especially when you’re waking up to a Prodigy poster in your face at 6.30am.
As I walked to the bathroom, I could smell a nice English breakfast which immediately sent me drifting downstairs. ‘Morning darling, I thought you might need a hearty breakfast to start your day. You look like your wasting away so get your laughing gear around this.’ My mum laughed as she sat me down and poured a nice hot cup of tea into my favourite mug.
As she sat beside me, I wondered how she was really coping inside but instead of pressing her, I enjoyed the hearty feast and reminded her what a wonderful woman she was.
The Tube ride to work gave me a chance to think about what I was going to say to Angus after I hung up on him last night.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a good enough excuse and by the time I thought about saying my battery died and I didn’t have a chance to charge it, I didn’t realise I was in the office, at my desk and he was looming towards me. ‘Morning Nita. Has Ann told you I am out all day so you’ll need to take all my calls as the voicemail will not be adequate?’ he asked officially.
‘Where was he going?’ I thought as I hadn’t seen any meetings in his diary. ‘She didn’t tell me as I’ve just got in but that isn’t a problem. Going anywhere nice?’ I quizzed. ‘Just a presentation with some potential investors, nothing fun,’ he responded coolly as he walked away and headed into his office with no mention of last nights phone call.
I decided to try and email him before he went so I quickly typed an apology, added the lie about the battery dying and suggested I cook a meal tonight and meet him at the flat later.
Luckily, he got the email in time but responded, ‘it’s fine. You have a lot to deal with at the moment so I understand. I will be busy tonight with the kids so we’ll have to do it some other time,’ and that was it!
‘OMG, I only hung up on him, so what’s his problem? There wasn’t even any kisses at the end of the email like usual. He must be really angry!’ I pondered as my telephone started ringing.
It was Amelia and I couldn’t hide my happiness to hear her voice. ‘Oh Meli, how are you? Are you back? I’ve missed you so much,’ I squeaked as she tried to get a word in.
She confirmed that she was back in the apartment and told me some gossip about someone finally buying the two top floor flats, so we agreed to meet for lunch today and she promised to spill the beans on what is going on with Geron.
**********
It was great to see Amelia after the week I’d had, and she looked glowing. ‘Babe, it’s so good to see you,’ she squealed as she gave me a big hug. ‘It’s good to see you too hun,’ I responded as we sat down and started on the bottle of red, which she had already ordered in preparation for the magnitude of gossip we had for each other.
As we ordered our starters and main courses, I allowed Amelia to start as I was desperate to know how Geron could cheat on her and who with. ‘Well firstly hun, my mum and dad said to say hello to you and the family and they hope your ok,’ she started as I choked back the wine when I felt the tears coming, as a flash of having two Christmas’s sprang to my mind (one in the family home with my mother and her new speed dating toy boy and one in a dingy flat with my dad and his insane ex-wife).
I managed to hold back the tears and just nodded as she continued, ‘Ok, so Geron’s injuries were not life threatening as he
proceeded to call me every second of the day and send, what seemed like all the roses in London to my parents house, everyday. I got sick of it, so I agreed to meet him at the café round the corner from mum and dad’s. You know, the one with them little coconut pastry that you love with the hazelnut cappuccino?’
I started to get distracted thinking about those beautiful, light cakes and deliciously sticky pastries in the shop window until I realised there were was a bigger issue at hand and I was dragged back to reality. ‘Errr, they were gorgeous but bigger picture here, Amelia?’ I laughed.
The starters came and after the waiter brought some more still water, Amelia resumed, ‘he looked well but he did have bags under his eyes so I bet he wasn’t sleeping much. I didn’t say anything to him cos I wanted to hear what excuses he had so he just jumped right into it and told me that he hadn’t cheated but he did have something to tell me but he hoped it wouldn’t get in the way of our relationship as he made the decision to do it when he had just met me but we weren’t serious about each other then.’
I hated it when Amelia had something important to tell me because she never got to the point straight away so as I hung on her every word and enjoyed a refill of the second bottle of red wine the waiter silently slid onto our table, along with more water…
She let it out…
‘He’s having a baby with Elisa!’ she announced as I spat out my wine in shock.
The restaurant was quite full and as the other diners looked at my spitting display, I quickly dried my mouth, looked around to give an embarrassed smile and started my interrogation. ‘HOLD ON! You mean his Charlize’s girlfriend? That’s insane! I thought she was a lesbian? Is she bisexual now? I thought you thought he was having an affair with Charlize? Were they having a threesome? I’m so confused.’
Amelia shook her head as the waiter came to collect our empty plates, asked if everything was to our liking as he looked at my colour drained face and gaping mouth.
We just nodded and Amelia continued the story, ‘Charlize and Elisa are still very much together and are engaged to be married but they wanted to have a child and what better way than to ask Charlize housemate who has just started a relationship with someone he now wants to marry and settle down with?’
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!
It’s like an episode of Jerry Springer! ‘What a beautiful gesture for Geron to do for them but what on earth was he thinking not telling Amelia straight away? What’s with all the lies this week?’ I thought as I then remembered she said he wanted to marry her. ‘OMG, did Geron ask you to marry him?’ I squealed in excitement, completely forgetting about the baby he is having with the lesbian couple.
Amelia waved her hands in the air…there was no rings on either hand. ‘I refuse to marry a man who can keep something like this from me. He said they made the arrangement that he was just going to be their sperm donor but are you telling me that he’ll be able to look at the baby and just walk away? I doubt it very much, so I’ve ended it with him! I just need to send him some of the things he left at the flat then I’m moving on from this freak show,’ she stated coldly as she tucked into her chicken salad.
‘A little harsh but I guess she is hurting at the moment’ I pondered as she decided that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore and we started to dissect the week I had just had. ‘Your parents have spilt up Neets? Are you being serious?’ she gasped as her words made the situation all the more real and I couldn’t contain it anymore and the flood gates opened.
I no longer cared about the uncomfortable stares and whispers I was getting from the other diners as this is why I needed Amelia to come back.
She was always the caring, motherly, thoughtful one, who, when any of us had problems, no matter what she was doing, she would always drop it to listen to our woes and never judge.
‘Hun, it’ll be fine really,’ she said as she hugged me. ‘Your dad would never cheat on your mum. He loves her too much and you can see it as soon as you meet them. Just talk to him and find out the truth.’
I must admit, I had ignored all his calls and his efforts to meet me as all the evidence pointed towards him cheating but I knew I had to give him a chance so I agreed to call him that evening and arrange to meet him to talk. ‘So, is Angus being your knight in shining armour then?’ she quizzed as she tried to lighten the conversation.
There was no other option but to lie as it would have sounded pathetic to say, ‘he’s not exactly talking to me cos I hung up on him when he couldn’t see me Sunday evening’. ‘Yeah, he’s been really sweet. So how are your mum and dad?’ I asked as I quickly changed the subject.
Luckily, she didn’t press the Angus topic and as we settled into much more fun topics (Anya’s latest client, Dolph, Gabrielle’s new conquests, new nights we needed outfits for, etc) and a few more glasses of wine, I didn’t realise how late it was and promised to continue the gossiping tonight at the flat, whilst I rushed back to the office.
Pretending to listen to Ann, whilst she shouted out figures at me to input into a spreadsheet, I wondered about how Angus would introduce me to his family and friends. ‘Would he throw caution to the wind and as soon as the divorce is through declare his undying love for me and tell his family and friends that no matter what they say he is marrying me straight away. Or would he be more sensitive to the situation and introduce me as his girlfriend and after a few months tell everyone we’re getting married? Either way as long as we’re married I don’t mind. I’ll still be there for my man,’ I mused as Ann came to the end of her list.
Luckily, 6pm came quite quickly (a little overtime doesn’t hurt especially when your trying to get a promotion. I would like to say I wanted the promotion to develop my career but it really meant a pay rise and being closer to the salaries of Gabrielle and Amelia instead of always feeling like it was my first ever job and it was minimum wage!) and I ran out of the building as though it were on fire.
A much need bottle of white wine was chilling in the fridge, so I found it was worth fighting my way through the rubble, dust and wooden planks left by the work men who were working on refurbishing the two top floor apartments into one, to get a big glass and my favourite chocolates. Kicking off my heels, getting one of the box of chocolates Geron bought for Amelia throughout his week of begging for her forgiveness, I joined her on the sofa for our daily instalment of the soaps. ‘Have you seen all the rubbish they are making out there?’ Amelia scowled as she looked at the card with the description of chocolates on it.
She pointed out my favourite chocolate, Turkish Delight (it’s great as all the others don’t touch these chocolates and look at them like they are poison) and I savoured the smooth chocolate coating and the aromatic jelly rose interior as I continued, ‘I know it’s disgusting but it’ll be fantastic when its finished. Just imagine how big it’ll be? Whoever’s bought it must have paid a pretty penny for them both!’
We both nodded as we thought about how much it would cost to buy the two flats, knock them together and make the refurbishments.
Walking into the hallway, when I got home, I could see some of the packaging which couldn’t fit into the overflowing skip outside on the road. ‘Six person marble Jacuzzi, 50 inch television, expensive looking kitchen accessories, etc.’ ‘It must be someone in the media who’s going to move in,’ I thought as I pretended to watch the television but really thinking about how I would decorate the space upstairs.
‘Surprise!’ shouted Gabrielle as she bounced through the door, gliding into the front room with her hand in the air.
As we both looked up from our heaps on the couch, we saw this elegant, sparkling platinum band, encrusted with sparkling diamonds which wouldn’t look out of place on a WAG. ‘OMG, what is that rock blinding us?’ screamed Amelia as she jumped out of her seat and ran towards the light shining from the jewel.
Gabrielle basked in her new found audience as she glided towards the TV area with Amelia in tow. ‘I know it’s sudden but whilst out to
dinner tonight, John popped the question and I accepted,’ she responded as she flexed her hand to show the ring at different angles to a much intrigued Amelia, ‘but you’ve only been dating for a few weeks. Isn’t this a bit sudden?’ I enquired as I begrudgingly moved towards the sparkler.
My reality check did nothing to dampen Gabrielle’s superior state as she explained, ‘not at all Neets. We’ve known each other longer than we’ve been dating and I thought since I’m not getting any younger, why not? He’s a decent man, he loves me, has a good, secure job, he treats me good, so why not?’
‘I’m confused. Who is she marrying?’ Amelia asked puzzled. I got her up to speed on the ‘Gabrielle and John Saga’ and she continued to admire this new accessory on Gabrielle’s hand.
I was astounded by the light that caught the ring at every angle and inside I could feel my jealously begin to rise. ‘How is it possible that she is engaged to a man who she hasn’t even known for six months? She doesn’t even love him; it’s just convenient for her! I wonder what happened to the footballer,’ I thought and before I could stop myself I blurted out, ‘but I thought the footballer was the love of your life last week?’
