Three is a crowd: David chases Julie as she chases Kenneth
- Written by MARGARET WAMANGA
(Continued from last issue)
David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.
DIANE
Despite the two large drinks I had fixed myself, I hardly got any sleep that night. I had downed the first drink in under a minute, and fixed another without even thinking about it, but when I had finished that one in not much longer time than the first, I paused and critically thought about what I was doing.
I reminded myself of how easy it was to drown my pain at the bottom of a glass, only for it to resurrect the moment I woke up; I knew what a slippery slope this route was, for it was a path David had pushed me down before, and I still remembered how hard it had been to climb up again, and how close I had come to losing it all.
I had vowed then never to let him send me down that road again, and it was a vow I would not let myself break now; he was not worth it – no one was, and so rather than fixing myself a third drink, I had turned out the lights and gone back upstairs, only I had not gone back to our room, but to the guest room instead.
Because I had not really been able to fall asleep, I had been up long before the rest of the house stirred and finding the memory of the previous night still raw, I had been anxious to get out of the house before David woke up.
I was not ready to see him just yet, for I did not think I would be able to look at him and not feel last night’s pain, hurt, anger and betrayal bubble up again, and while I knew I would have to get over it and get on with the business of living, the truth was I did not think I would ever forget what last night – David using my body to get over his whore – had felt like.
DAVID
After the night we had had, I thought Diane would want to sleep in that morning; so, I was surprised she was not in bed when I woke up.
I could not hear her in the shower either which meant she had been awake for a while, and that was even more surprising; Diane was not normally a morning person.
By the time I had showered and gotten dressed for work, it was almost seven and I rushed downstairs, doubting if I would have time for a cup of coffee before having to leave for the morning school drop-off, but the surprises only kept coming as I found the children done with their breakfast, and Diane preparing to usher them out the front door.
Upon seeing me, the girls broke away from her to come and hug me good morning, though Daniel as usual held back, and hung his head as he mumbled a quiet “Good morning, Daddy.”
“Good morning, Daniel,” I answered his greeting while hugging the girls back, then turned my attention to Diane.
“Morning, honey; you’re up early,” I remarked enquiringly.
“Morning; it’s already seven, the children will be late for school,” she answered brusquely, then snapped at the girls: “Come on, let’s go!”
“I was going to take them.”
“No, it’s fine, I will,” she shook her head, and then impatiently ordered the girls out again.
I frowned, confused by her cold, almost angry attitude; as far as I knew, we had had a terrific night and I couldn’t imagine what had changed since then. However, I couldn’t very well ask her that in front of the children; so, I let it go for now.
“Alright, have a good day,” I shrugged, and then pushed the girls back to their mother, before sitting down at the table.
Looks like I was going to have time for that coffee, after all.
JULIE
Kenneth called me early the next morning.
“Morning. You didn’t call me; I was worried,” he greeted me, his tone tinged with accusation.
“Sorry; my mind was all over the place.”
“Was everything okay? He didn’t go all crazy, did he?”
“No, he didn’t. I’m fine,” I assured him, then quickly changed the subject, anxious to move on from the subject of David.
“How are you? Are you already at work?”
“I’m fine; and no, I’m not at work. I’m working the night shift today; so, I’m free all day, and was hoping to see you again; should I come over?” he asked hopefully.
“No!” I answered without any hesitation, still rattled by David having found him at the apartment yesterday, but then realizing how cold my quick response probably sounded, hurried to try to smooth it over by explaining it; “I don’t want to risk having a repeat of yesterday, and like you said, he might be spying on me with the cameras; so, I think it’s probably best you avoid the apartment for now.”
“Oh, I see,” he answered slowly, and from his tone, it was clear I had failed miserably at smoothing over anything.
“I do want to see you though – just not here.”
“Do you want to come here instead? I could pick you up,” he offered.
“No, that’s alright thanks; I’ll get a cab.”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, like he had wanted to say something else, then thought better of it and went with,
“Sure, whatever you prefer” instead.
“I just got up; so, give me an hour or so to get Junior and me ready, and we’ll be on our way,” I promised.
“Fine; see you then,” he answered quietly, the hopeful cheeriness that had been present in his tone at the start of the call, now missing.