CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

THINGS were frosty between them that week, Gill felt. Jake rang her as usual at her bedtime on Monday night, but he was dull and distant, clearly tired and troubled. When she asked what the matter was, he just said he'd had to work really late because he had a lot of problems at work. Their conversation lasted only twenty minutes, half their normal night time call to each other. He called off short, saying he was tired. At least they told each other, "I love you," at the end of the call. Gill wasn't convinced his words were genuine.

She lay in bed thinking about the conversation. It led to her first bad night's sleep in weeks. Jake was never tired, she thought, he never even worked that late, except on rare occasions, and there were no big issues at the bank, otherwise she would have been aware of them. It sounded like he was lying to her. He'd never lied to her before, not like Wayne had.

Wayne!

It occurred to Gill that Jake was clearly upset because Wayne was living under her roof. It wasn't that she saw much of her ex-husband though. He also got in late from work that evening, grumbling ungraciously at her about him having to warm up his dinner in the microwave. Then he moaned because, after Gill and two young Jarvis's had their three baths, the water ran cold when Wayne ran his own.

She spoke to him about his temporary accommodation in the morning, "I know I said you could stay for the week, but it is no longer convenient. Did you speak to ... Cheryl ... and patch things up between you?"

"Didn't get a chance to call her, I was working late. We've got a big takeover bid running, er, for a client and it takes a lot of arranging, as you know, plus some pissant bastard's begun suing the bank for defaulting on some stupid piddling little agreement."

"Well, you have to talk to her today because I need you out of here tomorrow before Jake comes around for dinner."

"But —"

"But nothing! You wrecked our marriage, Wayne, through your selfishness. I will not stand by and allow you to wreck my chances of happiness, or the kids'. Jake's great, he's good for all three of us. You've got your young partner and a new family, you should be thinking about what's best for them and then putting in every effort, to put their needs first and yours second, to get your relationship back on the rails."

Wayne stamped out in a temper. She knew he was pissed off because he kicked his wheel in frustration and clearly hurt himself, dropping his briefcase, which burst open, scattering his paperwork.

She stood back in the shadows of her kitchen window laughing, while watching him limp around her little driveway chasing his papers, before driving off. It was only on reflection later in the day that Gill realised that was the last time that she smiled on that Tuesday.

Jake left a verbal message with her secretary Kelly on Tuesday morning while Gill was in a meeting.

"Those were his exact words, Kell?" Gill asked after Kelly had passed it on, trying to keep the sorrow she felt out of her voice, thinking she could fall over in a dead faint at any moment.

"I think so, Gill, he just popped his gorgeous head around the corner to ask if you were in. He looked disappointed when I said you'd be a couple of hours, so he just said something like, 'tell her something's come up and I've had to go away, and I'll call when I get back.' Oh, he added 'Tell her ... Oh, just pass the message on.' I think he was going to say 'Tell her I love her' but got embarrassed, you know what men are like. He looked so sorry he missed you, just like a cute puppy."

Jake didn't ring or text Gill that day and she was concerned that he had forgotten that they had a tentative date for a family meal in her house on Wednesday night.

When she called him at bedtime, the call went straight to voicemail. She hesitated about what to say to the machine. It was clear they were finished. That was why he called in at her office to see her, to tell her to her face. That would be Jake's way, honest, upfront. A lovely man, who she let slip and fall through her careless fingers.

She didn't have the heart to leave any message and, with a heavy heart and a box of tissues by the bedside, closed the connection and switched off the light.

Gill was filled with reflections on awakening. In the cold light of day she was sure where their relationship was going as there didn't seem any opportunity for more progress and thought it must be her own fault. Perhaps hinting about moving in as lodgers were probably going too far even though she had been joking. His reply about moving in must have been a joke too, or maybe he was upset about her hesitation.

Things had been going well when she was bold and taking the initiative, but went sour when he was the one who made a bold offer and she had slapped him down by her reluctance to take it up.

Gill felt it was no wonder that Jake was now holding back on continuing their romance, in fact it seemed like he was in full retreat. He was a damaged soul who had seemed destined to live alone. Gill had given him a glimmer of hope for a future happy partnership together but destroyed his dream in a single stroke of indecision and, in so doing, destroyed her own dreams too.

Jake was not in the bank's print room on Wednesday when Gill popped her head through the doorway an hour before her normal start time. A girl, quite a pretty young girl, was bustling around pulling out copies and binding them. She looked very efficient. Her nameplate, when she turned to face her first customer of the day, read 'Christina'.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked brightly, with a beautiful open smile.

"Hello, is er, John around?" Gill asked.

The girl smiled sweetly, as she punched sheets and bound them efficiently while continuing to hold a conversation.

"No, he's off for a couple of weeks or so, although it's open-ended exactly how long. I'm filling in for him. Can I help you with anythink?"

"Oh, not really. I er, he er, he, I mean, he never takes a holiday. And this is all very sudden, he didn't say anything on Monday."

"That's what everybody says," she said, dropping the volume a little as if taking Gill into her confidence, "Jake never takes a holiday an' they seem to think he doesn't have any friends outside of the business. We at SWN thought the same. Looks like maybe, we was all wrong."

"So he's away with friends?"

"I think it's both actually, some friends' business what he's invested in and is helpin' them put their expansion plans in order. I think we're all quite excited about it actually. He's treatin' all the staff, every single one of us, to a weekend's pony trekking on Dartmoor in the summer. It'll be spread over several weekends, obviously, because there are so many of us goin', an' he's organising coaches to collect us an' take us down an' ev'rything. What a great boss, eh?" she beamed.

"He's the boss?" Gill asked, "You said Jake was your boss, I thought he just worked here."

"I know he doesn't act like most bosses do, but the rest of the guys say he's a brilliant boss. I've only been with the company for three months but I've known him for years anyway, an' before he went he confirmed me trial period an' assured us that I'd be included in the trip."

"So when did he go down there?"

"Tuesday lunchtime, he called me supervisor Sally, she's actually me older sister, and I came over mid-mornin' so he could show us the ropes."

"You look as though you're coping."

"Thank you. Yeah, hopefully I should be OK, we have pretty much the same equipment in each site and the trainin's brill. Some of me friends work for a rival company an' they just get a quick couple of days' learnin' the basics before being dumped on their own in a strange office with gear they've never seen before. Jake makes us follow a plan within a work folder so we have every piece of equipment covered, as well as made comfortable at several of the 30 sites, so we can easily cover for holidays an' sickness, not that anyone's ever sick. I spent me first week here trainin' with Jake startin' in Jan'ary, so I was already used to where everythink goes."

"So Jake's company is a good one?"

"The best, an' he makes sure all the staff, printers, security, IT staff an' cleaners, what have to relocate, or start early or work late, get cab rides to an' from home. It makes it so safe for us, especially as he owns the cab company as well, so they are all known staff, who are mostly relatives anyway."

"I didn't realise he was such a businessman."

"No, well, he don't shout it from the rooftops, an' I really shouldn't have said nothink but I'm so excited because he hinted that I might get this position here once he moves over to another branch. I think he's plannin' takin' over from me sister Sally over at Winstone's when she starts her maternity leave next month."

"Oh."

---

Then there had been more pressure from Wayne to get back into Gill's good books. He tried his hardest to lift her spirits on Wednesday, evening bringing her flowers and paying for a takeaway meal that evening so she didn't have to cook.

Gill didn't seem so eager to kick him out as she had earlier threatened and, although she was quiet all week, it looked like her relationship with this Jake loser was over. Wayne thought maybe he had a chance to mend some fences and get back in there.

Jenny and Clay also wondered why Gill was so quiet and Wayne had been permitted to stay, apparently indefinitely. They were so concerned there was a problem that they even discussed the situation between them, especially after Jake failed to show for their planned dinner on Wednesday.

Gill believed her fledgling relationship with Jake had cooled to the point of being over and was resigned to let Wayne stay on as long as he needed to negotiate his way back to Cheryl. That coming weekend was scheduled as Gill's family weekend, and she took them up to Derbyshire and back on Saturday to visit an old great aunt; stayed in Sunday to do the house cleaning and washing, which included all Wayne's laundry. It didn't look like he was moving out soon, and she was resigned to just leave him be.

The next weekend was supposed to be Wayne's turn with the kids, only he left them at Gill's house while he departed mid-morning on Saturday to go to a football match.

"What's going on Mum?" Jenny asked, "As this is actually your free weekend I thought you'd be out trekking somewhere with Jake."

"Looks like Jake and me are no more, I'm afraid, Jen. He, well he hasn't called me or answered any of my calls since last Monday when he dropped off the pastries and coffee."

"It's because Dad's staying here isn't it?" piped up Clay, sitting at the kitchen table, "he probably thinks Dad shouldn't be here, the same as we do. We can see it, it's so obvious that the only reason why Dad doesn't stay in a hotel is because he's burned all his bridges with Cheryl and is trying to get back with you. He's an arsehole."

"Clay! You can't call your Dad an arr- ... what you just called him."

"Yes I can Mum, he's an arse, while Jake's head and shoulders above him in every way."

"He's right, Mum," Jenny said, "Jake's the best man Clay or I know, and he'd make the best dad in the world too. We've only known him properly for a few weeks and we both think he's great and were hoping he'd be our next dad. Our old Dad is without doubt a complete arsehole."

"Jen!"

"Mum!" Jenny folded her arms and stared at her mother, "You do know the real reason why Dad's staying here in your house and not in his own house with Cheryl and the baby, don't you?"

"Yes, he told me they had a row last Sunday about the amount of time he spends with you two kids and he stormed out because she was being so unreasonable."

"No, Mum, he lied to you as he always lies to everyone. He's our Dad and you only have the one Dad you're born with, so we have to accept him as he is. But, unfortunately, our Dad is also an arsehole, pure and simple. He doesn't spend too much time with us at all. Look at today, he's buggered off and left us with you instead of with Cheryl. He cheated on you and now he's been caught cheating on Cheryl, who's been left at home looking after HIS three-month-old baby!"

"No! She can't have caught him...." Gill went pale, thinking Cheryl had found out about Wayne and her Christmas fuck!

"Yes she did! Caught him red handed!" Jenny said triumphantly, "She found a hotel credit card slip, which she thought must've been for a meal with friends, or business associates."

"Your father's always entertaining, Jen, it's part of the territory, I do the same when we're drumming up business or celebrate when the deal's signed, they're mostly boring rituals that we have to go through."

"Yeah, right, Mum. On his company credit card, yes I could understand, but this slip was in his name and on a different personal card to the ones that she knew about."

"Mmm, that does sound suspicious."

"Right! So she checked through the mail over the next few days, opened an envelope from that particular bank and read through the statement. She found the entry she wanted, which confirmed the slip she had found. She also found lots of payments she had no idea about —"

"Yeah," Clay chipped in, "they always argue about money being short as Dad used to reckon the mortgage was crippling him."

"And this credit card statement was for eight grand and he'd just settled up the previous month with a five grand payment. He just paid it all off just like that. Cheryl had called the hotel, posing as Dad's secretary, querying why the bill was so high and was told it was for a double room, checked in mid-afternoon and checked out mid-evening, signed in as Mr and Mrs Jarvis."

"Oh oh! And we know our grandparents never come back from Spain until the summer," laughed Clay.

"Exactly," Jenny continued, "and this credit card slip was dated the last week of February, when Dad was celebrating being appointed Managing Director of the bank, apparently with some high class escort."

"Oh my god!"

"We were there as they had a full-scale stand-up row on the Friday night, either side of their locked front door." Clay added.

"As soon as we pulled up at Dad's place, all his clothes and stuff were strewn all over their gated front drive." Jenny continued.

"Yes, she'd changed the locks before chucking all his stuff out the bedroom window," giggled Clay.

"What's this gated front drive?" Gill asked.

"Yeah, their place is a lot bigger'n ours," Clay confirmed, "A drive in and out, a triple garage and Jenny's room has an en suite bathroom."

"Shower room," Jenny added quickly, "OK, it's bigger, a four bedroom house on a gated estate, but not as well finished off as this house. I don't think either of them have the same eye for detail that you have, Mum."

"He lied to me, the ... the ...

"Arsehole!" the kids chorused.

"You can help me put his stuff into plastic bags and leave them in the hallway." Gill was resolved. "I'm not going to be seen washing our dirty linen in public but he's definitely not sleeping here another night. No wonder he brought so much laundry with him, the arsehole!"

The kids grinned, "told you!" they chorused.

"Although I think she kept his shoes," Jenny said, "we didn't pick up any, and he's been wearing the same stinky ones ever since."

"All right...." Gill said, "we'll pack everything except his underpants, those are going in the bin!"

The kids grinned again, "Right you are!" they chorused.

There was no doorstep confrontation with Wayne, who was not allowed to enter the house. An email to his office told him that he was no longer welcome; if he wanted his stuff, he had a finite period of time to collect or they would be taken to the recycling bins at the side of the shopping centre. Clay had kept an eye out for him from the corner of the street and rang his Mum when he saw his father coming up the road. That gave his mother and sister time to move the plastic bags out onto the front steps for Wayne to pick up when he arrived at Gill's home.

He didn't make a fuss, he simply put his bags into the boot of his car and drove off.