“Oh no Lauren, what a shame, are you okay, are you coping?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine; it was me that left him actually”
“Right, well, I always thought you looked very happy together, but no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, but I am sorry Lauren, it’s always sad when a marriage breaks down, but I’m sure you have your reasons” Okay, time for a subject change
“Actually I could get someone up here now, a builder I mean, if you know what it is you want doing” Gabe on the other hand, could work beside me anytime!
“Could you, on a Saturday lunch time?”
“Yeah, no worries just let me make a call”
I call Gabe and ask if he can come and have a look at a potential job opportunity, I explain that it would be a very small job compared to what his company is used to doing but it’s for a high profile couple so it could be a great bit of networking and free publicity for them. He’s back in ten minutes. I'm out the front when he pulls up and despite the fact he's only been away an hour my belly flips and my heart quickens at the sight of him. He kisses me full on the mouth; I think he missed me too. I lead him upstairs to Karen,
“Karen Palmer, this is Gabriel Wilde, the construction guy I was telling you about”
There's silence. I stand there, grinning like an idiot, waiting for that familiar look, the look most women get when they look at him for the first time, second, third time even. I look from Karen to Gabe and back again. My scalp prickles and I feel nauseous, I think my legs are going to give way as the room begins to move around me, it doesn’t spin, it sort of rolls, slowly. My mouth is so dry; I lick my lips as cold, cruel realisation creeps over me. She is giving Gabe a very weak smile, but her eyes are saying something completely different, there is nothing weak about her stare, there is the lust and desire and the oh my God, he’s so hot look but there is something else, something more that I so wasn’t expecting and as I look once more from her to him and I see him look at me with complete and utter panic written all over his face, I know for sure, that it’s a look of recognition! I can feel sweat running down my back, despite feeling icy cold and all I can think is no. Please let me be wrong, please?
Karen is the first to speak as she whispers.
“Gabe?”
“Hey Karen, how have you been?”
No, no, no, no, no.
He's fucked her. I don't believe it, he's fucked her, I just know it!
I hadn't given him any details of my client other than that her name was Karen and that I had done previous work for her so he would have had no idea of what he was walking into. I swallow hard as tears prick my eyes, why am I getting upset? Like he keeps telling me, neither of us can change our pasts. It doesn’t stop it from fucking hurting though.
I carry on as though their little reunion isn't happening.
“Karen if you want to show Gabe the work you would like doing, I just need to walk around take some measurements and some photo’s”
I walk away from them and go into the master bedroom. I lean back against the cold wall and slide down onto my bum and try and catch my breath. I can feel sweat on my top lip. Unfuckinbelievable! She and Steve have been married longer than me so he must have fucked her during her marriage. Ha, a married woman, why am I surprised that there have been other married women before me? Fuck you Gabriel; you really don't do things by half do you?
I go and wait outside for them to finish out the back. My mind in overdrive thinking about what they’re talking about. What they have done together, in the past. I feel humiliated, upset, and very close to tears.
Gabe comes through the front door first and I can't look at him when he comes and stands beside me, way too close and most definitely in my personal space. Karen stands in the door way, she looks flushed and her make-up is smudged around her eyes, I can only hope it’s from crying. I really need to get out of here, even if that does mean getting into the Ute with him, something I really do not want to do, I do not want to be anywhere near him right now.
“I’ll get some samples sorted and call you” I say to her as I get in the Ute. She gives me a halfhearted smile and a nod; she actually looks devastated as she shuts the door. Gabe is in and has the engine started before I've even finished talking. I get in and close the door as he says “Lauren”
“Just fucking drive”
“Lauren please just let… ”
“Drive the fucking car Gabe else I'm getting out and walking”
“Please jus… ”
We are out of her drive now and I just lose it