A beef joint was roasting in the Aga along with roast potatoes, creating a really delicious smell; prosecco and wine were chilling in the fridge. Mary was getting ready to greet her guests.
Whilst having a sort out a few weeks before, she found a box of old photographs. In her teens, she had four best friends. One of the photos was of the five of them. Angela, Penny, Sarah and Florence. It was Penny’s 18th birthday; what a night that was: lots of music, drinking, food, and laughter. It was also the last time they were together; thirty years had passed. Life had taken them all in different directions, and they had lost contact till now. It was also when Mary met her husband, Steve. They married a year later and, thirty years later, were still going strong.
Feeling very excited as she put some lipstick on, there was a knock at the door. The first to arrive was Penny.
‘Penny, darling, please come in,’ Mary greets.
‘How have we let so much time pass by?’ Penny says as she follows Mary into the kitchen.
After pouring them both a glass of rosé, they were then joined by Florence and Angela, and closely followed by Sarah.
There is lots of happy chatter as Mary hands out glasses of prosecco to celebrate them all getting together after so long before she dishes up.
‘I’m on husband number four, been together five years now,’ Penny said
‘I’ve never been in a relationship always been to focused on my business and am proud of it’ Angela owned a chain of department stores and spent a lot of time travelling searching for beautiful and unique things to sell there.
‘Does anyone remember Philip Jones?’ Mary asks as she joins them all at the table. Philip was the most good-looking and most popular boy at school; every girl fancied him, but only one got to be his girl at the time: Jessica Parker.
‘How can anyone forget him?’ Penny said, remembering the conversations they used to have about him, dreams about being his girl, and how jealous they were of Jessica.
‘I certainly didn’t forget him; I married him,’ Florence said. The room went silent with shock.
Wow, that was a turn-out for the books; she was always the quiet one of them. ‘We found each other on Facebook, met up, and have been together for ten years,’ she continued.
‘Is he as dreamy as everyone thought he was?’ Sarah asked, loving a gossip.
‘No, he’s a lazy, entitled bastard I’m always clearing up after, but he keeps me warm at night in every way,’ she cheekily told them as they giggled.
The room went silent again as they enjoyed the roast.
‘I’m getting married next year in Las Vegas,’ Janet announced as she finished and put her knife and fork at the side of her plate.
‘That’s great news,’ they all said together. Mary started collecting the plates and cutlery and putting them by the sink, pleased to see all the empty plates.
‘Here’s a photo of us; we are having a very small wedding.’ She gets a photo out of her bag and shows it around the table.
Mary was about to pour some more wine, but she went pale and sat down before she fell down when she saw the photo.
‘Everything ok, dear? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ Janet said, puzzled.
‘This is your fiancé?’ Mary was shaking as she asked.
‘Yes, dear?’ Janet said, puzzled by Mary’s reaction.
‘This is my husband.’ Mary could feel tears rolling down her face. Everyone looked around at each other, not knowing what to say.
Mary only saw her husband on weekends; he worked all week as a delivery driver and slept in the lorry, or so she assumed. It wasn’t the perfect situation, and she missed him greatly when he was away, but they were happy, or at least she thought they were. Now, after finding this out, she wasn’t so sure.
‘How long has this been going on? Mary asked Janet.
‘We met about three years ago, Mary dear. I hope you realize if I knew I would never have got involved with him,’ Janet pleaded.
‘I know it’s him I’m mad at.’ Mary was fuming, only just able to hold her wine glass as she knocked back nearly the whole glass, then immediately refilled it before continuing to stare at the photo she still held with bewilderment.
‘This is why I’m glad I never got married,’ Angela couldn’t help saying, not being at all bothered by the cross glances from Penny and Florence.
‘The scumbag has been taking us both for a ride,’ Janet said, a cross look on her face.
‘So, what are we going to do?’ Mary asked, still trying to take in her husband’s betrayal.
‘I’d say get him back here and confront him,’ Penny suggested.
Mary had to think she needed a reason to get him back here. It was Friday night; when Mary assumed he was working, he was actually at Janet’s, but she had told him she would be away for the weekend catching up with old friends.
Suddenly the room felt tense; they all jumped as the farmhouse door opened and in walked Steve.
‘Honey, I’m back,’ he called as he closed the door. He turned round and froze when he saw both Mary and Janet.
‘Janet, what are you doing here?’ he looked very puzzled, not knowing who to speak to first.
‘I said I was visiting some old school friends, and here they are,’ not liking the feeling of being accused of lying. After a few chats at the lorry depot car park, Steve and Janet started chatting on the phone, then met up. Janet and Mark had been together for nearly three years. She enjoyed Mark being away so much, but deep down she wasn’t really happy.
In fact, she didn’t really know what would. She had always been fiercely independent.
‘You two know each other?’ Having to think quickly, Mary decided she wasn’t going to confront him just yet; she was going to be smart and think of a plan.
‘I, I work with Janet’s husband! she, she drops him off and picks him up sometimes’ he stuttered nervously, it was the first thing he could quickly think of clearly a lie.
The ladies, a little disappointed that there wasn’t a big confrontation but wasn’t going to give the game away, took this opportunity to say their goodbyes.
‘I’ll call you; we will sort this,’ Janet, being the last to leave, whispered into Mary’s ear as they hugged and then winked at Steve to keep up pretenses on the way out.
Mary kept herself busy for the rest of the evening to avoid Steve who, after having some of the roast, settled in the front room watching tv and reading the newspaper oblivious to what had gone on either that or he was relieved thinking he had got away with it. She was fuming as she did the dishes; how dare he do this to her and Janet too. Mary went to bed before Steve, but she didn’t sleep a wink. They had been together for nearly twenty years.
She thought she knew everything about him and assumed they were happy, but all of a sudden, it felt like she didn’t really know him at all. What was she going to do? The truth was, she had no idea.
The next day Mary and Janet were talking on the phone.
‘What a mess. How are we going to sort this, Janet?’ Mary said, still at a loss as to what to do. ‘I say we get ourselves as far away as possible.’
Mary wasn’t sure. The thought of just getting up and leaving seemed rather daunting. Could she really do it? Who knows? It was a scary thought, but at the same time she didn’t want to be with a cheat.
‘If it’s money, you’re worried about, don’t be; we will be fine,’ Janet assured, as though she could hear Mary’s uncertainty.
‘Ok Janet, let’s do it; let’s get the hell out of here,’ Mary suddenly found a burst of strength and courage. Fuck it. Mary and Steve had a load of money ready for when he retired, which would certainly help until she sorted herself out. All it would take was a quick visit to the bank that afternoon.
‘That’s more like it send me a copy of your passport details, pack your things and I’ll sort the rest and meet you at the airport tomorrow,’ Janet said excitedly.
Steve had stopped to get petrol and a bunch of flowers for Mary. Things had been a bit tense between them since the night of the dinner party, and Janet had not been herself despite protesting she was fine. Had his secret been discovered? If it had, neither of them had said anything. He did feel guilty about his infidelity but just couldn’t help himself. It was no excuse, but he had always bored easily, had a low attention span, and always needed to be doing something. Sadly, unbeknownst to Mary, this had not been his only affair. Regrettably, he was a fool. He got home to find Mary and her things had gone. There was a note on the kitchen table from both Mary and Janet.
Steve
After finding out about your affair with Janet, I have emptied our joint bank account and left you.
Don’t try to contact me.
Mary
The End
This was written by our contributing writer, Emma Radford.
Image Source: Pexels, Benni Fish
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