Dave

Later, just as the sun was starting to dip below the trees opposite, Gem came round again. I'd been arranging music into order when he knocked on the front window.    

"Hiya, mate" he said, stepping in. He looked a bit neater this time, but his careworn expression made me uneasy.            

"Just came round to let you know how it went. I'm not stopping long, Tan and the kids are in the car outside. We're going to the pictures and then probably to that new Nando's for tea." 
           
"Nice," I said, gesturing him to sit down. He moved a couple of books off the couch and I sat on the floor leaning against the ancient gas fire bolted to the wall.      

"Sounds like you sorted it out with Tanya. Want to tell me?" I continued.
 
"Not really, no. We just sorted it really," he answered. "Short story is, obviously she was really pissed off angry with me. Not just from last night but the other times. And then this morning she didn't know where I was. She'd phoned everywhere, her mum's, mine. I think she was more embarrassed about that than anything.
 
"She said as well that she'd been thinking about seeing someone" he went on. "Kind of floored me that one. I must have known that something was going on though, or I wouldn't have said that last night."
 
"What did you say to that?"
 
"Not a lot I could say really. I told her I thought that wasn't right for us and all that. It's all down to me isn't it? I'm the one who gets messed up with drink, not her. I can't blame her really. I told her what I told you, it's the last time I get like that. She said that was okay basically."

"So, what happens now?"
 
"Well, we'll just see how it goes I suppose. I'll be the bastard for a bit, so she'll get her own way on everything. The it'll all turn back to normal, and hopefully I won't be a prick again."
 
"And what about her seeing someone else." I tried to keep any inflection out of my voice when I said it.
 
"Not going to happen, she says," he said, reflectively. "No, not going to happen, because she only thought that because I was being an arsehole. Any way, got to go."
 
He stood up and went to the door, but turned round to speak as he opened it.
 
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to say thanks for this morning," he said.    

"Hey, you know. See you soon, eh? We'll go for a quiet beer," I said warmly.     

Then, "Hang on a sec, I'll write my new number down for you. I'll just get a pen"
 
"Nah, don't bother, mate" he said, stepping through the door. "Tanya's got the number already, hasn't she?"   

I could suddenly feel pressure in the room, like a moment of silence after a deafening noise. As I waited for him to speak, Dave just looked at me for one, two seconds, a heartbeat, no more.              

In that moment though, a million or more unspoken words passed between us, words we both knew but neither could say. I think we understood then that some things, like friendship and love, are more important than pride, and even honesty; that sometimes saying something makes it real and silence means you do not have to deal with it.  

Then he said,
 
"Like I said, mate, thanks for everything." He paused."Fancy joining us?"

"Not this time, I don't think, too much to do. Thanks for asking." I smiled at him.

Then, nodding once, and holding his hand up, my good friend Gem stepped out to join his family on their night out.

Gem

I went back to Dave's later. Tanya told me I had to say sorry for disturbing him and ask him if he wanted to come out, our treat, with his godchildren.
 
We were on our way out with the kids. Fucking Nando's. He was still sorting things out in his front room. I think he was arranging his CDs in that prissy alphabetical way that he does.
 
Straight away he tried to find out what had happened. Well he would, wouldn't he, the devious little sod. I told him we had sorted it out, but that Tanya was still pissed off with me, and would be for a while. She had been thinking about whether she should be unfaithful or not, but only thinking about it. 
 
What I didn't tell him was that, out of habit, I tried 1471 when I got in. It was a local number that I did not recognise. I asked Tanya who she had rung at eight forty five, and she told me her mum, but I said her mum's number was not in the phone, and then Tanya told me she had phone the local recreation centre to see if they had a number for the guy who organised the five a side game. Bollocks, I thought, but left it at that.

We did sort it out I suppose, we've got a good thing, and it would be stupid to lose it because of this. I agreed to stop being such a twat when I've had a drink, and she said she was only considering seeing someone else because I was such a twat when I'd had a drink. So that's an easy one to work out.          
 
What wasn't so easy was the phone number. Until it clicked. A number I did not recognise, phoned at the time I was in Dave's, and he got a call trying to sell him windows. A bit suss, really.  Even before Tanya suggested we go and see him, I had decided to see him myself, just to find out the truth.
 
I thought I was really subtle. When I told him Tanya already had that number, his face looked like I'd given him a slap. He shut up. ‘Fuck, Dave, why?' I thought. ‘What did you hope to get from it? A quick fumble and a pathetic shag? Was it worth it?'
 
But then it struck me. He might be innocent here; he could be just covering up for Tanya. Maybe she did come round, but what's to say anything happened? She did say she was only thinking about it. With Dave? Who knows, but probably nothing went on. Dave's a good lad, he wouldn't do that sort of thing.     

"Like I said, mate, thanks for everything." I said on the way out, and asked if he wanted to join us. He said no, and my good friend Dave went back to sorting out his new life.
 

Tanya

When he had not come back from the shop like I thought he would, I had to phone round everywhere, which made me really angry. It felt like I was the one in the wrong, chasing him around, asking his mum if she knew where he was, but not being able to tell her why. They must have thought I was a real nag of a wife.
 
All the time I was phoning, I knew I was putting off the inevitable. He would be at Dave's. "Dependable Dave" he calls him - if only he knew - and he's the first person Gem turns to.
 
Finally, I gathered some courage and rang the number he had written on the piece of paper.
 
"Dave? It's me, Tan. Is Gem there? I don't know where he is, we had a big row and he's gone. Oh shit Dave, I think he might do something stupid. Dave, he might know about what happened last night or something."
 
But as I said it, as I got to the bit about Gem doing something stupid, Dave interrupted with some rubbish about windows. So, Gem was there. Oh.
 
What could I do about that? I occurred to me that this was a matter between them. If Dave wanted to tell Gem he would do. He'd told me he would keep it quiet, even though really nothing happened, but who's to say what might come out when they got talking.
 
I sat and waited for Gem to come home, as I knew he would. He would come with his yellow dog tail between his legs, and ask me to forgive him.
 
And, what did I say, right on cue he rolled up in Dave's green Astra, looking happy as you like. He said something to Dave as he walked up the path.
 
"Honey, I'm home," he said when he came in. ‘Get a new line, pal' I thought. 
 
With folded arms and pursed lips, as I should, I waited for him to carry on.
 
"No listen, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I had a long chat with Dave..."
 
And he went on, full of regret and apologies, anguish and promises. I've heard it all before, and I was prepared, this time, to say no, that's not good enough, pal. You've had a chance, but you just seem to laugh it back in my face whenever it suits you, knowing I'll cave in. Well, no more, you can take your phony penitence, and take it with you when you leave. Go back to your friend, who was very nearly not quite the friend you think he is, and unload it on him.
 
Just as I was about to tell him all this, Jake came in, all ‘Daddy, daddy' and jumping all over him. I got up and went into the kitchen. Gem went to the phone and dialled four numbers. He doesn't think I know he does this, but there's not usually anything to hide. Except this time there was.
 
"Who did you phone at quarter to nine in the morning" he asked, forgetting that he was giving the game away. Deeply angry with my stupidity, I told him to think about it, who did he think I was phoning, he'd gone missing hadn't he?
 
When he said the last number was strange, I made something up about phoning the recreation centre, which was so stupid. Gem seemed as though he was going to say something more, but just said, "Oh, right, okay, wasn't it shut?"
 
So here I am in a car with my children, waiting to see if my husband tells his best friend that he thinks he's having an affair with me, trying to keep the kids quiet and calm, even though they're excited about the new Disney we are going to see. I take the scrap of paper with Dave's number on out of my purse, and look at it.
 
I like the way he just put D. and underlined the last bit of the number. I like that he is touched by our present, and I liked the way he took my face in both hands as he kissed me last night. I think, honestly, I would have definitely liked it if last night had taken a different course as we sat in the fire glow, and the chance was there.   

But I like the way my husband smiles when he comes back to the car, and I like knowing, in that instant, that he hasn't said anything. And, even though he doesn't seem to try and I hate him for it, I like the way my children idolise him, and shout ‘Come on Dad' through the wound down window as he ambles back to the car.
 
I suppose I mainly like that he's still got a best friend in Dave. Most of all though, I like that this time, I think, things will be different.