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Great Writing - Home > Extended > Three accounts of events - part 23
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Extended Work
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| Three accounts of events - part 23 | |
| By teddy | ||||||
| 13 November 2007 | ||||||
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This is quite long and I'm not too sure how well it fits with the rest. I hope it's not too much of a drag on. Thanks. The phone call comes out of nowhere on a Friday morning, few days after Paul and I have buried the hatched and decided to put things behinds us, while I’m in the kitchen feeding Vicky and chatting to Mary. Mary’s just finished sorting out the laundries downstairs in the basement and is now sitting at the kitchen table beside Vicky, enjoying the cup of coffee I’ve made her earlier. Vicky’s on one of her best behaviors, submissively eating her breakfast without the usual cringed noses and frustrated squeals. I pick up the phone and look at the screen, the number seems familiar but, from the top of my head, I can’t work out whom it belongs to. ‘Hello?’ I answer the call warily. ‘Adi, it’s Nick,’ comes hastily through the line. Nick? My eyebrows rise bemused. What is he calling me for? Apart from few emails we’ve e exchanged, mostly chain jokes passed from one mate to another, we haven’t, literally, spoken to each other since we last met in the pub at Harold’s night out. ‘Nick, hi,’ I eventually remember my manners. ‘Adi, I need to see you.’ Once again, his request makes me frown anxiously wondering what on earth he could possibly want. ‘I don’t know,’ I say reluctant, ‘I’m quite busy. Why, what’s the matter?’ ‘It’s about Lisa.’ At the sound of the name, my hand freezes on the phone. ‘Hold on a second,’ I say quickly. I put a hand over the phone speakers and turned to Mary. ‘Could you please keep an eye on Vicky for a minute, Mary? I need to take this call in the study.’ ‘Of course,’ she smiles stretching over and picking up the spoon from the bowl placed on the table in front of Vicky’s highchair. ‘Come on, princess, let’s finish your breakfast,’ she says to Vicky. ‘Sorry, Nick,’ I pick up the conversation once out of the kitchen. I try to keep unruffled but I’m all a fret and there’s a slight tremor in my voice when I ask ‘What about Lisa?’ I wonder how much he knows. And where from. I do not believe Paul could’ve been really that stupid to start bragging around the office about his sexual performances with one of his employees. Lisa? More likely. What has she to lose? ‘I know about the baby, Adi.' Although this doesn’t come as a surprise, my heart cringes when he mentions it. ‘You do?’ I mutter sinking quietly in Paul’s chair. ‘Yes. Listen, I can’t talk right now, there are too many people around. Meet me at Liverpool Street station at eleven.’ ‘Ok,’ I agree mechanically. ‘Where exactly?’ ‘In front of the main entrance.’ Only when I put the phone down it dawns on me that Nick has no reason to be involved in this. Does he know something I don’t? Has Paul been taking me for a fool and it’s been more than few nights of fun between him and Lisa? I’m not quite sure if I want to find out and for a moment I feel like picking up the phone and ringing Nick back, telling him that I’ve changed my mind. But I don’t, no matter what he’s got to say I need to know. I look at the clock displayed on the desk; it’s just gone half past nine. That gives me plenty of time to get ready, drive to the tube station and catch a train to Liverpool Street. Not enough though to drop Vicky at Cindy’s. I have no other choice but to ask Mary to babysit her until I come back. In the kitchen, Vicky’s just finished her breakfast and is now sitting quietly on Mary’s lap highly engrossed in showing her the pictures printed in a car magazine Paul left on the table last night. I feel a bit embarrassed when I ask Mary. I apologise for the short notice and explain that something urgent has come up. She smiles while reassuring me that it’s not a problem, she loves spending time with her favourite girl. I thank her, then tell her not to bother with any housework, I’ll finish it all when I come back. * It’s five past eleven and I’ve been already impatiently pacing outside the main entrance of Liverpool Street station for the last ten minutes. A bidirectional procession of loud cars is parading on the road squeezed between bureaucratically looking buildings, the whole place around me is heavy with motion and noise and for a moment I worry Nick will never be able to find me amongst the sea of people heaving everywhere. A snap ‘Boo!’ darted into my ear from behind and a sturdy arm wrapping around my waist whisk my bother away in an instant. ‘Hey you!’ I turn around and mock a reproving smile at the culprit. ‘You scared me.’ In front of me, sporting a smart dark suit over a pink shirt garnished around the collar with a blue tie, meticulously messed up hair and a sassy smile attached to a plump mouth, Nick looks just as handsome as ever. ‘I’m sorry.’ His smile broadens as he leans over and squashes me in his arms. ‘It’s really good to see you, Ad,’ he says, the kiss planted on my left cheek misses my mouth only by an inch or two and I can’t work out if it is accidental. ‘Come, let’s go and find somewhere to sit down.’ He loops his arm around my shoulders and as we push our way towards the Starbucks emerging ahead, I catch a glimpse of us in one of the lined along shops’ windows: we look like a young couple pinching a moment or two of their busy schedules to be together. Inside the busy coffee shop, Nick spots a free table in one of the corners. He takes my hand and leads me across the room. ‘What would you like?’ he asks once I’m sited. ‘Coffee, please, white, no sugar.’ While he’s away getting the drinks, I throw a wary look around. The station is only minutes away from Harold ‘s offices, it’s not very unlikely to see someone from there skiving here for an early lunch. The chairs scattered around undersized tables are filled with some smartly dressed people, others have a more touristy look about them, but, thank God, none of their faces looks familiar. ‘There you go,’ says Nick placing a steaming cup in front of me. His face has dropped the easy smile and by the time he takes his seat, his eyes are already bearing a twitchy look. I’m all a nervous freak myself. ‘Thanks.’ I start stirring the milk into my coffee. ‘Nick,’ my hand slows the motion as I look at him, ‘how do you know about Lisa?’ ‘By accident, trust me,’ he says, his eyes hooked onto mine. ‘Adi,’ he stretches an arm across the table and touches my hand, ‘the baby…’ ‘What about the baby/’ I whisper weakly. I might have accepted that from now Lisa’s child will have to be part of our lives, but I still find it hard to talk about it. ‘It’s not Paul’s.’ My hand grips the spoon. ‘How…’ I stutter gulping between words, ‘how do you know?’ ‘I know,’ his eyes lower on the table, ‘because it’s mine.’ I go quiet, I don’t really know how to take this. I can hear my heart anxiously thumping inside my chest when I quietly ask him. ‘Why would Lisa lie about something like this?’ ‘Because,’ his voice twists to anger, ‘she’s sick in her head.’ ‘Nick!’ I plead dimly staring at him. I need to know. ‘I’m sorry,’ he mutters lifting his eyes up to mine again. ‘Lisa and I had been sort of seeing each other for a while. When she went to Dublin she was already pregnant.’ His voice faints and he picks up his cup and takes a long sip of coffee. ‘I didn’t know at the time.’ I fidget in my chair, praying he’d carry on. ‘Soon after she came back, she split up with me. Yesterday morning, I overheard a conversation between Richard and Will while in the toilet.’ He gapes at me. ‘Sorry, I have a habit of reading my newspaper while using the loo,’ he adds quickly. ‘They didn’t know I was there, by the time I wanted to make my presence known it was already too late. At first, I didn’t know who they were talking about. Until Richard made a comment about you. He’s not your biggest fan, Adi, is he?’ He throws me an edgy look. ‘No, I supposed he’s not,’ I shrug. Richard’s antipathy is the last of my concerns right now. ‘Twat!’ Nick spits out. ‘I’ve never liked him much.’ ‘Anyway,’ he carries on, ‘by the time they left, I already had the full picture. Paul sleeping with Lisa while in Dublin, she pregnant with his child. I felt sick at first, but then I realise either way it would’ve been impossible, she was supposed to…, he pauses and looks away uncomfortably, ‘you know, have her…well, you know…that week.’ He sighs. ‘I remember because just a couple of weeks before Dublin, we’d got completely hammered one night and…well, been careless. I was a bit worried. When I asked she said she was ok. I think she knew already but didn’t want me involved.’ My hands are slightly shaking when I pick up the cup, I swallow the mouthful of coffee I’ve just sipped hastily, burning my tongue, but my whole body has begun to unwind. If I was on my own I think I’d cry. Of relief, happiness, anger, Good knows, perhaps a mixture of all. ‘I can’t understand why Lisa would do something like this to Paul. She’s known him since she was born.’ ‘Well, that’s the thing, Adi. Last night I went around her flat, I needed to know what she was up to. At first she didn’t want to speak to me, she told me it was none of my business. I didn’t give up and in the end she broke down and confessed to everything. She’s been infatuated with Paul for years, since she was a child. She was convinced they were meant to be together, it would’ve been just a matter of time until he’d notice her. While Paul was dating all the other women it was all right, none of them lasted longer than few months. Then you came along and she knew this time it was different. And she’s hated you ever since, perhaps now more than ever.’ He glimpses at me. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s ok,’ I shake my head. I’m angry, very angry, but I know she can’t touch me anymore. ‘When Paul slept with her she thought she was on a winning streak. If he’d been playing around, he couldn’t have been that committed to you. And he chose her so she must’ve been special to him. Well, that was her logic anyway. She was already pregnant, she saw the opportunity and …you know the rest.’ I still can’t get my head around the whole thing, I find it really hard to believe someone could have such a twisted mind. ‘But how could she possibly believe she’d get away with it? Didn’t she think Paul might want to know for sure the baby is his?’ ‘She wasn’t going to keep it anyway, but by the time she would’ve had the alleged miscarriage, she and Paul were to be a couple already. And you long written off the books.’ ‘How about Vicky?’ I wheeze sternly. ‘Didn’t she think about all the harm she could’ve have done to her? She’s Paul’s child.’ I look at him, the boyish look of his face has given way to a distressingly weary one and I remember he’s a victim in here too. ‘I’m sorry, it must’ve been quite difficult for you as well,’ I mumble. ‘It’s ok.’ His face attempts a smile. ‘I knew it wasn’t going to work anyway. Lisa and I, I mean. She’s very aware of her upper class status and while it’s all right having fun with someone like me, a more serious relationship is out of discussion. She made that clear when my parents invited us around for lunch one Sunday.’ I glimpse at him and I can’t imagine how any girl could resist falling under his spell, I know I would’ve hadn’t I been with Paul at the time we met. As if he guessed my thoughts, he gives me an amused smile this time. ‘My dad’s a bricklayer and my mum’s always been a housewife. They live in a three-bedroom house on a council estate in the East end. Could you possibly imagine them having dinner at the Ivy with Mister and Missis Turner?’ He laughs. ‘Somehow, I don’t think so.’ ‘But Paul and I…’ I try to remind him that my situation is quite similar, if not worse, with his. ‘Paul’s different, Adi. And I admire him for that. I mean, even with me, he’s been always so very helpful, if it wasn’t for him perhaps I wouldn’t be where I am right now. But I hate him for what he’s done to you, Ad. You don’t deserve this.’ He squeezes my hand and I feel very close to him, like we are in some ways connected. 'How come no one knew about you and Lisa?’ I study his face curiously. ‘What a silly question!’ I look away a second later chuckling embarrassed. ‘Of course she wouldn’t.’ ‘Nick,’ I suddenly jump off my seat grabbing my bag of the table. ‘I must go and see Paul. He needs to know.’ ‘Of course. I’m….’ he looks around wearily, ‘gonna stay here a bit longer, finish my coffee. I’ll see you around.’ I move over to where he sits and stroll the back of my hand down on his face. ‘Thank you, this means a lot to me.’ * My head is still spinning when I find myself in front of Harold’s reception desk. From behind it, a professionally made-up girl, impeccably dressed in an expensively looking suit, is looking at me inquisitively. I don’t recall seeing her before so she must be new. ‘Can I help you, miss?’ She throws in an over rehearsed smile. ‘I’m here to see Paul,’ I tell her. ‘Do you mean Paul Harold?’ Her smile becomes genuinely scornful as she examines me from head to toe. Without a doubt, she has no idea who I am, by the look on her face she must think I’m some sort of stalker and I can’t really blame her. I’m wearing jeans and trainers topped up with a hooded coat, my face is free of any make-up and the damp air outside has fooled with my hair big time, hardly the image of someone who could be in any way connected to Paul. ‘Yes,’ I say quietly. Apart from the smile, there’s something about her perfectly polished manicure and artistically done hair that intimidates me. She raises her eyebrows. ‘Do you have an appointment?’ ‘No, you see,…’ ‘Then I’m afraid you can’t see him, miss,’ she cuts me short, her face shrunk back to the original over civil grin. ‘But I’m…’ The phone on her desk starts ringing leaving me with the words hanging in my mouth. ‘Excuse me,’ she makes it crystal clear while picking up the call that our conversation has reached the end. Cautiously, I fish out my mobile from my bag and dial Paul’s number. He’d have to come and collect me. When the call goes to voice mail, I start panicking. Without some kind of back up I know I wouldn’t stand a chance to go past the Cerberus who, although deeply engaged in the phone conversation, hasn’t taken her eyes of me for a second. Through the glass door that separates the reception of the main office I can see people sitting at their desk, I’m quite certain that most of them could vouch for me, but everyone seems absorbed in their work so there’s no hope coming from there. I suppose I could always stomp my foot and tell the woman I’m going in, with or without her permission, but the last thing I want it’s her chasing after me through a room full of people so I chicken out and wait. I sigh relieved when Richard and Will stroll in through the main door. Richard acknowledges my presence with a quickly shrugged smile and a plain ‘Hi.’ When I’m with Paul he’s usually more chatty, but now Paul’s not here so he doesn’t think it’s necessary to put on the mask. Will’s face, instead, expands into a larger than life smile. ‘Adi!’ He swallows hastily the mouthful of sandwich he’s been chewing on and wipes his mouth of his shirt sleeve. ‘What are you doing here?’ He bends all the way down from his six foot three height to give me a hug. ‘I came to see Paul.’ I purr in my saviour’s large arms. ‘What are you waiting here for then?’ ‘Well…’ I glance at the girl behind the desk who’s finished her chat and is now gaping at us bemused. ‘Don’t tell me,’ Will bursts out laughing when he catches my eye. ‘Becky didn’t let you go through. Becky,’ he turns to the girl, ‘this is Adi, Paul’s fiancé.’ ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbles, under the thick foundation her face has coloured to panic. ‘It’s ok, you weren’t to know.’ I hope my smile is reassuring enough to put her mind at rest. I’m certainly not going to grass her up to Paul, after all she was only doing her job. Very keenly I must say. ‘Come on, I’ll take you to Paul,’ says Will, putting an around my shoulders and shoving me through the door. ‘Now, tell me, how’s that little gorgeous daughter of yours?’ In the lobby guarding Paul’s office, he leaves me in Sarah’s, Paul’s secretary, hands. Unlike Becky, Sarah knows me well and seems pleased to see me. ‘Paul’s in a meeting,’ she tells me, ‘but I let him know you’re here.’ ‘No, don’t bother him,’ I try to protest, ‘I can wait.’ But she waves her hand and gives me a confident smile while reaching for the phone. ‘Don’t worry, they’ve been in there since ten o’clock this morning, I’m sure they could do with a break.’ We barely have time to exchange a few courtesies after she puts the phone down before Paul walks out of his office. He isn’t wearing his suit jacket and his tie hangs loosen around the shirt collar. His face looks tired and an anguished lump gets stuck in my throat when he smiles at me. I’ve almost lost him. ‘Hey sweetheart, what are you doing here?’ He slides a hand through the hair at the back of my head and leans over to kiss me. ‘Where’s Vicky?’ ‘At home, with Marry.’ He searches my face warily when I tell him I need to talk to him. ‘Sure.’ He asks Sarah to get some drinks for the people waiting in his office then leads me to a small waiting room adjacent to the lobby. ‘What’s the matter, Adi?’ he asks shutting the door behind us. Away from any intrusive eyes, I can finally let it all come out. ‘Sweetheart, what happened?’ Paul grabs me into his arms when he realises I’m crying. My tongue unties only when he takes my chin and forces me to look at him. I tell him. About Lisa, the baby, everything Nick has told me. With every word I let out, he squeezes me tighter against him. He sighs deeply when I finish. We stay there hanging quietly onto each other for a while. ‘I’ve been so worried about you, sweetheart. Really worried,’ he whispers kissing the top of my head. His lips linger over my hair. ‘Everything’s going to be all right from now on, I promise you.’
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