Nine Gates of Hell (10/?)
Part 10
Jaime was standing in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil when we emerged from the bathroom, luckily the set up of the house did not allow her to realise that we’d been in there together. Or maybe that was unlucky, I wasn’t sure anymore.
“Wish me luck” he muttered taking a dramatic gulp, I smiled reassuringly and pushed him forward waiting a few seconds before I trailed into the living room. James wasn’t there, I didn’t expect him to be, he was probably on the beach or something, he didn’t want to be around me anymore, I couldn’t blame him. Jaden was still sitting in front of the tv watching cartoons, I didn’t have the faintest idea what was happening as I joined him, my ears straining to hear what was going on in the kitchen.
“Hey Jaime” his tone was soft and apologetic, as it should have been.
“Good morning David” terse, and clipped. She definitely wasn’t over the previous night.
“I talked to Emily and she said she’d take Jaden down the beach for a while so we can talk” I winced, even I knew that was the wrong thing to say, surely my name was taboo between them, especially after the previous night.
“I don’t want that skanky bitch anywhere near my kid David” I recoiled on against the cushions, as far as I knew nobody had ever referred to me as anything like that, and I hoped it wasn’t the image I portrayed to the world, although logically I had to assume that she was just angry and taking it out on me.
“Excuse me? Don’t you dare call Emily that” As much as I appreciated his defending my honour, there was a time and a place, and it was currently neither. I listened as cupboards were opened and slammed shut, water run and then shut off before David continued talking.
“Look, you and I need to talk and our son doesn’t need to hear any of it. Please Jay just be rational for a minute” he was begging, so quietly I could barely hear, Jaden still seemed oblivious that anything out of the ordinary was happening one room over.
“You want me to be rational?” That I heard loud and clear, she was practically shouting “You call out her name repeatedly when we’re having sex and you want me to be rational”
“I don’t see what me saying Emily’s name has to do with rationality” Jaden hard turned away from the tv by then, his eyes trained on the entrance to the kitchen.
“Emily, what is sex?”
“It’s just something adults do honey, nothing you need to worry about” What else was I supposed to say? He was seven.
“Oh... then why is mum upset that dad said your name while they were doing it?” Damn seven year olds and their curiosity about everything.
“Well your Daddy was meant to say your Mummy’s name but he accidentally said mine instead. Don’t you get upset when people get your name wrong?” God, I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t have any kids, I wasn’t equipped to deal with those sorts of questions. I strained me ears again to try and guess whether the pair would be coming back anytime soon and relieving me from my teaching duties.
“Yeah I guess so” Jaden turned back to the tv and I couldn’t hear anything in the kitchen so I could only guess that they had both calmed down and all I had to do was wait.
It was a long wait too, punctuated only by occasional snippets of conversation, mostly just words or phrases spoken a little louder than the rest, none of it sounded good for David and his marriage. The only way I kept track of time was through the changing characters on the television set, from cartoon to puppet and back to cartoon again. Sometimes they were humanoid and sometimes animal, and a few I couldn’t guess about.
Finally they reappeared, Jaime first and then finally David a few minutes later. Jaime merely crossed the living room area and disappeared into the bedroom David collapsed onto the couch next to me looking thoroughly drained.
“What happened?” I whispered, he motioned to Jaden and then to the front porch, I nodded and followed him outside.
“The good news is you and I are now both blissfully single”
“Oh David, I’m so sorry” I was truly sorry, he looked like he was about to cry as I steered him over to the small porch swing, his head dropped immediately to my shoulder.
“Don’t be, it was my own fault”
“If that was the good news I don’t think I want to hear the bad news”
“Bad news is I’m hardly gonna get to see my kids, and I have no idea what to say to them.” My brain shifted into overdrive.
“Kids? As in?”
“Yeah, due in September”
“Wow, congratulations” Given the circumstances, congratulations probably wasn’t the right thing to say, but I didn’t know what I should say.
“Thanks”
We were both silent for a long time, his head still on my shoulder and our palms resting together on his thigh.
“She’s taking Jaden and getting a lift back with James” he finally admitted, that was a shock to me if nothing else “She told me we should stay and have a good time” he added wryly.
“I think she was joking”
“Not about the staying bit. She doesn’t want me back at our place until she’s had time to clear out, and I don’t want to be alone” It was his roundabout way of asking me to stay and there was no way I could turn him down.
“Well this whole thing has taken a strange turn” I muttered finally. One day we’d probably look back and laugh we’d both gone away happily attached only to go home depressed and single.
“Em” he begged “No talking” I nodded, neither or us moved or spoke after that until James’ brother pulled up around lunchtime. I’d only met the guy a couple of times, and he offered no indication that he remembered me as David and I sprung up from the swing guiltily and stood awkwardly on the front porch with him for a few moments until I finally forced myself to speak.
“Hey Alex, James is inside, why don’t you come in” he nodded and followed us through the door, in barely fifteen minutes all three passengers bags were packed into the car. James planted a soft kiss on my cheek before slipping into the car, Jaime barely spared a glance for David and a confused Jaden clung to his father, not sure why he was being forced to leave his vacation early while his father was allowed to stay.
Then they were gone and we were alone and it was my turn to provide the shoulder to cry on. We made it inside and to the sofa before he broke. His head nestled in my lap pressed against my stomach, one arm lay across my thigh the other wrapped around my waist. With every tremor that wracked his body I wanted to offer some comfort but all I could do was hold him until he finally stilled against me, my shirt and jeans soaked with his tears. I prayed for him to sleep, to find some comfort, but his breathing remained uneven and his body tense. I don’t remember ever sitting through a longer afternoon in my life and it was a complete haze, the cartoons continued in the background, apparently it was all that channel aired and David remained still long after I’d lost all feeling in my legs. Slowly he relaxed, though he never managed to find sleep.