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“Yup.” He grins, keeping his eyes on the road.
In no time we pull into his drive. “What do you think Doris was on about tonight?”
Her words have gnawed at me the whole way home.
“With her, just plain old meanness.” The same look I saw flash across his face earlier appears again, but before I can think too hard on it, it vanishes.
Jay closes the garage door and I get out with my beautiful bridal bouquet.
“I’d better get these into some water,” I say, stumbling inside after him.
We both pause as the acrid stench of cigarette smoke burns its way up my nose. The lamp in the corner flicks on and in the chair sits a beautiful blonde with sharp green eyes and blood-red lips sucking on a long white cigarette.
“Hello Jason.” Her husky voice echoes across the room and my heart skips a beat.
“Cheryl, what are you... How’d you—”
“And why wouldn’t it be such a shock for you to see your wife, my dear husband?”
Her teeth snatch off the end of the last word before she takes a long drag.
My knees shake as I look to Jay, who’s as ashen as the dead. “What does she mean by wife?”
The words grated over my tongue.
“I can explain. I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
“Is it true? You’re married?” My hand lets go of the bouquet and I step back.
“Yes and no. I’ve not seen her in years, let alone spoke to her.”
“Oh, but Jason, surely that means nothing.” The woman stands, dropping her stump in the unfinished glass of red on the table beside her.
“Shut up, Cheryl.”
Pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt burns through me as the realization Jay has lied wash over me, and suddenly I am drowning in emotions I never wanted to deal with in the first place. My brain flicks to automatic and I somehow leave my body.
I watch as I run to the front door and down the road toward my parents’ holiday village. I faintly take note of him catching up with me and swinging me around. My hand rises and connects with his cheeks. I feel the hatred as I scream, “Fuck off, you bastard.”
He stumbles back and I take off. My world is rubble. My heart a pile of ash.
As I reach my door, I realize everything of mine, except for my handbag is still at his home.
Fuck!
I don’t care. I never want to see that man again in my life. Swinging open my fridge, I reach for a bottle of wine. The rest is a heartbroken drunken blur.
***
The shrill ring tone indicating it’s my mother wakes me up.
“Ouch.” I hold my head.
One bottle turned in to two, and after all the bubbles I had at the wedding, I’m left with a decent-sized hangover. I take a moment to remember where and why I am back in my small cabin.
My phone stops ringing, and I don’t even bother to confirm who it was as I stumble to the toilet, throw up, and then sink to the floor.
“Simmi!”
Mom’s voice calls through my cabin door, and the horses in my skull gallop harder.
“Not now, Mom.” I groan as she bursts into my bathroom.
“It’s your brother!”
