And there it is, my phone ringing again and oh what a surprise, its Jay. I give Gabe a raised eyebrow 'this is your fault’ look as I pick up.
“You’re fucking dead to me you fucking slut” That's all he says and hangs up. Oh well, I'll take that, I actually feel grateful that he just wants to insult me and not argue. I look at Gabe and shrug. “Well apparently, I’m a slut”
“Yeah baby but you’re my slut”
We burst into laughter!
~
The next morning we are at the solicitors by 9am. It takes almost an hour to go through the divorce process and I fill in paperwork, there is basically nothing I can do other than declare that we are legally separated, he notes the separation and the fact that I now wish to be known as Lauren Day, not East; now I have to wait. Next I go to the bank and notify them of my new address and am promptly notified by the bank that all my cards have been cancelled and my name has been removed from mine and Jay’s joint accounts. Great! Bastard! And just to top it off, Gabe appears to be quite happy about all of this and insists that we go to his bank and get my name added to his account. No way, way too soon for that.
Next we go off to get me a new phone. Why I need a new phone is beyond me but Gabe is insistent, he takes care of this and adds me onto his business account.
I'm self-conscious walking along Main Street. Partly because of my now fading bruises on my cheek and under my eye but also in case I bump into anyone I know. Gabe’s holding my hand tightly and we are obviously a couple, if we do bump into anyone I know, they will unlikely be aware that I've left Jay, let alone that I'm now shacking up with Gabe
“You wanna grab a coffee?” he asks
“Sure” In for a penny, in for a pound, I think to myself. We then really live dangerously and go to the supermarket and do a food shop together. This is actually an eye opener as I can't help but notice the second looks and stares Gabe gets from women, of all ages; he on the other hand appears completely oblivious, that or he's just learned to ignore it. It’s so nice doing such normal things, our whole relationship has sped along at such a ridiculous rate, we have skipped the ordinary and dived head first straight into the extraordinary, so today, as dull as it sounds, is special to me, it’s our first day of being a couple, just an ordinary couple, out doing the food shop together, except one of us looks dead set like a male model and turns the heads of most women, and quite a few men, where ever we go!
We head home and on entering the house I can smell bleach and look across at Gabe, I don’t remember him using bleach before we went out.
“I smell bleach; did you clean something before we went out?” I ask him with a frown
“Ahhh no, aww it’s Wednesday, Sally would have been”
“Sally?”
“Yeah, she’s my cleaning lady, comes every Wednesday, cleans my floors, bathrooms and changes the sheets. Is that a problem, do you want me to cancel her?”
“God no, Sally sounds fantastic, sheets, floors and bathrooms, perfect, Sally can have them all” I say with a smile. A cleaning lady, fanbloodytastic!
We have a normal, uneventful evening. I talk to the boys on the phone and ask them not to give their dad my new number, I then text my new number out to just the people I know I can trust, with a message explaining that Jay and I have separated and I would prefer if this new number was not disclosed to him. I receive a few messages and calls from friends wanting to know that I'm okay and if there's anything they can do, all of that type of thing, I am grateful but I'm not yet ready to have full on conversations with everyone, apart from my girls of course.
We sit at the computer while Gabe messes with my play list on my phone, taking it off my old phone and syncing it all to my new iPhone, Gabe, laughing at my varied taste in music.
“How can you switch from Eminem to Neil Diamond to Luther Vandross to Tinie Tempah?” He asks.
“Because I can. Isn't that the point of iPods and iPhones, you can have exactly the mix you like” I shrug, “I like what I like”
“Bing fucking Crosby! Are you sure?” He's laughing again.
“Oi, leave my taste in music alone. I like White Christmas, reminds me of England”
I've always thought I had great taste in music but apparently not!
We spend the rest of the evening listening to old songs and me showing him the dance moves that went with them back in the day. He lies on the floor with a cushion under his head watching me and laughing. When I am worn out from dancing I straddle him and lean in for a kiss.
“It’s so good to hear you laugh” He says into my neck
“Well get used to it, you make me happy so I intend doing lots of laughing”