AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey you guys!”
“Jesus!” I’ve jumped away from Jack, my heart somersaulting in my chest. Bronwyn is standing at the door, her hand on the handle. “You didn’t hear me knock?” she asks, her face a picture of innocence.
“No, we were talking,” Jack says. He runs his fingers through his hair.
I’m breathing like I’ve been running. She raises an eyebrow at me, and I’m thinking maybe it’s not so bad. I mean, obviously she doesn’t believe him, she can tell we were fighting, and that just feeds into her narrative.He’s having an affair with the woman I work with.We’re having a fight.
“Well, anyway,” she says. “I was wondering what to do about dinner…”
A first, I almost say.
“What about Chinese?”
“Great idea,” I say, “Let’s go downstairs.”
On the way down, she slides up to me. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
“No, of course not.”
“I did knock.”
“I get it.” But I know she didn’t knock. And now I wonder with a hammering heart how long she’s been standing there, listening.
I drink too much over dinner. I’m angry with Jack for not believing me, for thinking I’m crazy, for believing that Bronwyn is a decent person who’sbeen really great during this visit, don’t you think?
But everybody else is in a great mood, especially Jack. He tells us about his new job, I try to follow but I can’t, except for the part where he tells us he’s going to Portland on Monday for a conference on composite materials.
“Like I said, I’m hitting the ground running. I’ll be briefed in the morning and we’re presenting in the afternoon, and I’ll fly back that night.”
Later, he takes Charlie to bed, reads her a story. Bronwyn wants to chat, but I tell her I’ll be right back, then go up to my bathroom where I puke a mix of wine and Chinese food into the toilet bowl, brush my teeth and go to bed.
I wake up again when Jack comes in. He takes a shower and I wait for him. My head is pounding. I feel sick.
“There’s something else,” I say when he returns, a towel wrapped around his waist. I prop myself on my elbows. I’m slurring my words. I think I’m still drunk. My left eyelid is twitching.
Jack leans back against the dresser, arms crossed against his chest. “What?”
I tell him about the emails from Jenny Smith that I found on his computer. He stares at me, his face distorted in pain.
“I didn’t do anything!” he says. “You have to believe me!”
“Oh well, now that’s interesting. Because a few hours ago, I was begging the same of you.” I sigh. “I do believe you, Jack. Of course I do. Bronwyn told me it was a one-night stand.”
“Is that what she said? No! Nothing happened!” He turns away, grabs a fistful of hair. “I feel like I’ve spent years saying that!” He stops, faces me. “Charlie was having an afternoon nap. She woke up crying, and I went in there to console her, and Jenny was already there. Charlie went back to sleep, and we both stayed and watched her for a few minutes. I guess we were standing very close together, and Jenny turned to me and moved to kiss me. I pulled away. I asked her not to do that, she got really embarrassed, she apologized, and that was that. The next day, she was gone.” He takes my hands. “I swear to you, Laura, on my life, that’s what happened, and that’s all that happened. Nothing else. Then Bron told me Jenny had confessed that we’d had an affair even though we didn’t! She showed me emails Jenny was sending to her, full of lies! And she’d started emailing me too! And my clients!” He rubs his hand over his face. “But you know that. You saw the emails.”
“You should have told me.”
“You’re kidding? I’m barely coping, Laura! I keep praying that she’ll stop! It’s like being targeted by a campaign of psychological violence, and every time I think she’s given up she starts up again.” He turns to me, eyebrows knotted together in pain. “I can barely handle it. I didn’t want to bring Jenny into our relationship. I didn’t want to lose you too.”
“Oh, Jack. You wouldn’t have lost me. I would have helped.”
My heart breaks as he tells me how relentless and terrifying it’s been. He spoke to two different lawyers, he spoke to the police. They all said there was nothing they could do. It was a case ofhe said, she said. He tells me how she ruined his employment prospects. I know, I tell him. I read the emails, both from her, and from his potential employers.
“But you just got a new job. What changed? Do you know?”
It’s the guys he spoke to at the restaurant, he says. They knew him from when he had his own company. They’ve worked closely together. They heard the rumors about him but never believed them. When they called him on Friday morning, the day after our dinner at the restaurant, he told them straight up about Jenny Smith’s campaign of lies. But it’s been two years now, and despite her threats there’s never been a court case, not even an official complaint. They’re prepared to take their chances.
“She knows about you,” he blurts. “She’d stopped emailing me. I didn’t hear from her for months. Then suddenly out of the blue she sent a new email.” He looks away, drags his hands down his face. “That’s why I had to postpone the wedding, Laura. You understand? I desperately want to marry you.” He laughs, in a sad way. “But I’m terrified of what she’ll do.”
