Dream Ticket - 8

EIGHT

‘So that’s it’ Lewis concluded quietly.

He’d explained the full story to her but he was selective in his detail. He didn’t want to scare her, yet didn’t want to paint Simon in a worse light than he had to, for fear of her reaction. He had tempered his language in describing him and had kept his true feelings unsaid. Before moving to Trafford he had played out this meeting with Emma over and over in his head and had tried to gauge all possible outcomes. He had a hunch that she might be solidly loyal to her obnoxious other half and all would be lost, but since yesterday he was pretty confident that she would believe him.

Time with Emma yesterday had been so carefree and happy. It was hard to believe they had met only a few hours earlier and the way she was obviously flirting with him gave him new hope. She was even more vibrant than in her photograph and every moment they shared made his heart soar. As he had hoped and half-expected, she seemed to be breaking free from some kind of oppression at home and making the most of being with someone who was paying her full attention.

He had fallen head over heels in love with her again that afternoon, but he didn’t want her to know that yet. No matter how well he put his case, how well he explained to her that the man she had married was a horrible worm with no morals, he didn’t want her to think he was a bunny boiler as well.

“Emma?” he prompted.

She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach and for a moment or two forgot how to breathe. She picked up her drink, downed it in one and stared at the table.

‘I guess this has come as something of a shock’ Lewis said, stating the obvious rather than asking a question.

She nodded slowly, his voice still distant as it had been for the last part of his story. She had felt herself drifting away, hearing words that meant so much to her life in so many ways. Words that would and could change everything. Lewis had effectively stripped away the layers of her life and exposed so many insecurities and fears. Right now she hated him and was grateful to him at the same time. She was shocked, but not as badly as she thought she should be. After all, he had explained a hell of a lot and this in turn had gone some way to explaining Simon’s behaviour of late. But what now? She had come to the conclusion last night that she wasn’t sure if she loved her husband anymore. Surely this was proof that she this was the way to feel?

Yet the dissenting voice inside her spoke up. Who was he, this complete stranger, bringing the 5 years of her marriage crumbling down around her ears? He had trampled through her life like he was walking through tall grass, bending and breaking the things she knew; the reference points that held her life in the right shape. Just from seeing her photograph, he wanted to meet her and accuse her husband of all sorts of misdemeanours. Why should there be any truth in what he was saying?

Confused, she lifted her head and met his eyes. There were tears there, threatening to break through and a strange melancholy gripped her. She felt like she might break down herself. ‘I’m not sure what I should do now or why I’m even sat here in the first place’.

He reached to take her hand but for the first time since meeting him, she withdrew from his touch voluntarily.

‘How can I believe you?’ she asked. ‘Why should I believe you?’

He shrugged and shook his head. ‘There’s no reason you should. No reason at all. You don’t know me from Adam, do you? And on the surface it appears I’m trying to mess up your life.’

She nodded again and he leaned towards her. ‘But you do believe me don’t you? Your heart tells you that Simon’s no good and I can see it in your eyes. You’ve known for a while that your relationship was adrift and.. perhaps you’ve been doing too much wishing and trading on the past. But you’ve been looking at it with blurred vision – you just needed something to bring it into focus.’

He was nothing if not insightful, and she was once again struck by how well he seemed to know her in such a ridiculously short time.

‘I…’ she faltered, thinking back to their fight and the other woman’s name. Laura her mind shot back. She had shrugged it off, putting it down to the hot words and being tired; accepting his excuse but now she wasn’t sure.

‘What was the woman’s name again that Simon had supposedly…groped?’, she hesitated, conjuring up the image of Simon with another woman.

‘Laura Jennings. She was an assistant bids manager for some of our earlier projects. No one knew what really went on but Syntex believed Simon. After all, it was one word against another, but he spun some tale and got away with it. I saw her in tears at her desk and knew the truth. We all did – we knew what Simon was like.’

‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing here,’ she replied, staring at the table again and feeling her eyes mist over. She briefly told Lewis about their fight last night and Simon’s mention of the name Laura. She left out the part about the burnt chicken, though she didn’t know why and then felt stupid for doing so.

Lewis raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, Laura transferred to the support division after it all came out. But now Simon’s climbed higher up the tree I guess that they may come into contact again on some level.’

‘It’s contact at waist level that I’m bothered about’ she replied grimly, as a tear welled in her eye and began its descent down her cheek.

Almost at once Lewis felt sorry for her and ashamed that he had turned her beautiful porcelain features into this crumpled mess. He felt a pang of enormous regret knowing that he had single-handedly wrecked her life and for what? For his own selfish reasons. He’d been hard done to by Simon but his quarrel was with him, not his wife. He wanted to take her in his arms, stroke her long hair and tell her that it would all be alright – but it was too soon.

It may even be too late.

She sniffed and fumbled for a tissue in her purse. ‘I’m sorry’ she said, then laughed down her nose. ‘My turn to be sorry, now’

‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, Emma’ he replied. ‘If I was allowed to say sorry again then I would, because I’ve given you all this pain’.

She reached over and took both his hands in hers. Staring deep into his eyes she said ‘Lewis, despite these tears I’m sort of happy. You’ve come from nowhere, and told me so many things, yet somehow I knew it already. I guess it’s a sort of release. I’ve not been happy with Simon for a while now and blamed a lot of things; mainly things beyond my control like his job and work commitments. Never the real reason, which was him. I thought the job had changed things but deep down it was really him. Maybe he changed when he got your job, maybe he was like that all along, I don’t know. But ultimately it boils down to him.’

Another sudden thought struck her and her mind flashed back to the day Simon got his promotion.

‘Lewis Anderson,’ she said absently, shaking her head and laughing softly, ‘of course!’

‘Erm yep. Still here’

’No but you’re not you see!’ she exclaimed. ‘You’re someone different!’

He frowned.

‘It’s coming back to me now. The day Simon got the job, he came running in tell me he’d beaten a guy called Louis Sanderson because he messed up his interview. I wondered at the time if this other chap was French, but all the time it wasn’t Louis it was Lewis. You!’

‘Easy mistake to make’, he replied chuckling, ‘though it wasn’t me who messed up my interview’ he added sombrely.

‘I know that now’

He smiled, happy that he had made her understand

‘But I also know that I need some time to think about all of this’ she continued, flapping her hands in the air. ‘This change that’s suddenly heading my way. I need to know if I can live as I am now, I need time to think whether I should confront Simon or forgive him or wait or..’ she faltered. ‘I just don’t know’ she concluded.

Lewis continued smiling but inside he felt his face drop. Had he come this far to let fall at the final hurdle? Had he told her so much only to let Simon, Sleazy Simon lie his way out of it like he had last night? He could probably talk her round, turn the blame on to him, tell her that he was insane. He hoped to God not. Suddenly he felt queasy and was glad he kept his feelings to himself – he couldn’t face the thought of being rejected if he had offered his heart to the girl from the photograph instead of just his story.

‘Of course you do’ he replied, masking his disappointment. ‘I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news but I felt you had to know.’

‘And is that why you engineered your transfer or was there something else?’ Her eyes widened and her face cracked into a half-smile.

Has she guessed? he thought. ‘I needed to get away’ he answered quickly, prepared as he was for the question. ‘A fresh start, a new challenge. I was given a choice of sites.’ Before he could answer further his mobile rang. He excused himself and took the call.

Perfect timing she thought.

She looked at her watch and was surprised to see that only half an hour had passed since she had sat down. The time check and the realisation of where she was suddenly allowed reality to filter back into her conscience. The hubbub of the pub, the smoky air, the clink of glasses and thud of darts slowly seeped back into her brain like a cold current in warm water.

She only had an hour for lunch so she should set off back to the office if she wasn’t to risk a snide remark from Mr Royle.

Lewis finished his phone call and noticed her change in posture.

‘I need to be getting back, Lewis. I’m not sure how much work I can do this afternoon but I still need to be at my desk by one’

‘Yeah I know, me too. Are you going to be ok?’

What a question. She sniffed. ‘I think so, yes. I’m still numb, none of it has sunk in yet but do you know what the weird thing is? I think I should be more bothered, more upset but.. I don’t know. It’s like I’ve known all along, like watching a film that you know the ending to. Not a good film but an easy film to watch, one you’ve seen a dozen times before but still watch because it’s a comforting movie.. but in the end you aren’t surprised by the outcome.’

‘I think I understand. So is this film worth getting out on DVD?’ he added solemnly.

She paused and sighed. ‘It’s not a classic. I’m sure they can make a better sequel’.

Chapter 9