Betrayal Page 9

  There was a pause.

  “Just? What have you been doing?” At this point in the conversation, I was a little confused.

  “Well, when I say just, I mean about half an hour or so. Why?”

  “No reason. I was just wondering.”

  “Right, then; if you don’t want anything, I’m going to go, OK?”

  “Well, I’ll see you later when you get home, then.”

  With that, I put the phone down. The rest of the shopping trip went smoothly, except for the eight phone calls I had from Jason. I was beginning to wonder why, as he had never rang me that many times before. It was strange and something that I couldn’t work out. So I put it down to Jason being bored because he was on his own.

  The next few days passed without a hitch. When Friday came, I arrived home from a slow day at work. After having a shower, I went and settled in the living room with a cup of tea. The phone started ringing. On the display was Megan’s name.

  “Hiya, Meg; what’re you up to?”

  “Hi, Beth. Are you busy tonight?”

  “No, why?”

  “Well, I wanted to go to that new nightclub ‘Squad’ in town, but I would rather go with someone. I thought that perhaps we could make it a girl’s night, so I asked Izzy and Rach and they’re up for it. D’you wanna go?” I thought about it for a few seconds.

  “Jason isn’t coming ’round tonight and I haven’t been to a club for ages, so, yeah! Why not?”

  “Cool. Get ready, and I’ll be ’round in a bit.”

  “Yeah, see you in a minute, then. ’Bye.”

  This was good. My life seemed to be on the upswing finally. I hadn’t seen or heard from Russell in over a week, and now I was going out with my girlfriends again. Without Jason, for once. This felt good! So, without more delay, I rushed upstairs like a whirlwind and got ready.

  Two hours later, I was downtown with the girls and dancing like I never had before. My feet would regret it the next day. With the music pumping at full volume, and the drinks flowing at maximum speed, I realised that this was how it was supposed to be.

  Then my phone began to ring. Lifting it up, I saw Jason’s name flashing on the phone’s screen. I didn’t care what he wanted at the moment, so I rejected the call. Five minutes later, it rang again. It was Jason. I ignored it again. Another five minutes passed, and again, Jason rang. This was doing my head in. It had better be important, I thought to myself as I answered the phone.

  “Hello?!” I’m sure I sounded agitated.

  “Hi, Beth. Where are you?” Jason also sounded strained.

  This was beginning to get ridiculous.

  “I’m in town, why?”

  “Because I’ve been ringing you for the past hour at your home number and your mobile and it’s only now that you have answered any of my calls!”

  “Look, Jason, there is no need to worry. I’m in town with Meg and we’re having a night out.”

  “Are you sure that’s all you’re doing?” His tone was becoming rather accusing. I really couldn’t believe I was being treated like this. What was wrong with him?

  “Yes! What else, pray tell, would I be doing?” At this point my blood was beginning to boil. I never go out, and the one night I do he rings me up, acting like an overzealous 15-year-old boyfriend. On the other end of the phone, you could hear that he was taking a deep breath; probably trying to think of what to say next.

  “Nothing,” Jason said. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just when you didn’t answer your phone, I thought the worst.”

  “Jason, if you’ve got something to say, I would rather you came out and said it.”

  “No, I haven’t. Honestly. I’m sorry.”

  “Jason, I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “OK. ’Bye.” His voice had gone meek, and it sounded like he understood what he had done. The phone went dead. The next morning, I was still mad at him for what he had done. What was he playing at? Why was he acting this way? Well, at 11 the next morning, I could ask him.

  The next day, as 11 came around, I sat in the kitchen ready and waiting for Jason. I had a cup of tea in my left hand and my right hand was tapping the cup in time with my swinging foot. The sky outside was grey and it looked like rain today. Trees were swaying in the wind.

  At last, the doorbell rang. Here goes, I thought to myself. Opening the door, my face was set in annoyance.

  To look at Jason, you could tell he had done wrong. He wouldn’t hold my gaze and he had an unsteady smile on his mouth.

  “Hi, Beth.” He moved in to give me a kiss. I grunted and moved my face away. I closed the door and followed him as he walked into the kitchen. Once we were in, I placed my cup down on the counter.

  “So what did you think you were playing at?” I asked him. My foot started to tap on the floor and my arms were folded. He reached into the cupboard to get a glass, filled it with water and turned ’round to face me.

  “Look, I said I was sorry last night. Please, can we drop it now?” He took a mouthful of water.

  “No! Do you know how embarrassing it was to be in front of my friends and have all that on the other end of the phone?”

  “Beth…”

  “Do you?” I was mad. Madder than I think I’ve ever been. Jason put his glass of water down.

  “No. Look, I am really sorry, Bethenny. It won’t happen again, all right?” He did look genuine. Only time would tell.

  “I suppose. You do though, and there’ll be trouble.” He walked closer to me.

  “So, am I forgiven?” He put his arms around me, and we kissed.

  “For the moment,” I said and smiled. He walked over to the counter where the morning paper lay, and sat down to read it. The way Jason had acted made me rethink our relationship. Perhaps we were spending too much time as “just the two of us,” and I needed to go out with friends more.

  I took a deep breath. “By the way,” I said, “I’m going out with Meg again tonight.” He looked up from the paper at me in slight shock.

  “What, again?”

  “Look, please don’t start. I haven’t done this since we got together. You and I’ll be together all day.” He wasn’t happy, but he accepted it. I had to put up with him and his bad mood, though, for the rest of the day. Getting ready that night, I felt like a teenager again. Full of excitement and anticipation about what the evening had in store for me.

  “Beth!” Jason called from downstairs

  “Yeah?” I shouted. I was still putting my makeup on.

  “Your mobile is ringing.”

  “Can you bring it up, please?” I could hear Jason’s footsteps coming up the stairs.

  “Here.” It was a text from Megan.

  Hi Beth will b at ur’s in bout 1 hr I needed to get a move on.

  When I was finished, I went downstairs to get my shoes, coat and bag. Once I had all the things I needed, I closed my bag up. Then I remembered my phone was still in the bathroom. I walked into the bathroom, and to my astonishment, it wasn’t there. I looked high and low and I couldn’t find it. Not under the basin and not behind the toilet. I even looked in the bath, but no phone. This was ridiculous. Where had it gone? I went down to where Jason was sat in the living room.

  “Jason, have you seen my phone anywhere?”

  Without looking up from the television, he shrugged his shoulders.

  “Dunno,” he said flatly.

  “Well, thank you. You’re a lot of help.” I carried on looking until I heard the chimes of the doorbell. I walked over and answered the door, then put the cushions back on the sofas, from where I’d thrown them in the course of my search. Megan walked into the living room, and just stared at me.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’ve lost my phone. I can’t find it anywhere!” I put my head back down to look beneath the sofa. Megan sat down in the nearest chair and watched me, resting her chin on her hand. After 10 minutes, I gave up.

  “Come on, let’s go.” I pecked Jason on the
cheek. “See you later. I won’t be too late.” Jason grunted back, still in his little grump, I guessed. I went out the door.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Meg asked in confusion once we were outside.

  I started the engine and drove off. “He’s just miserable that I’m going out again. Take no notice.” She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a slight grin. “So, where to first?”

  “How about McCaughey’s?”

  “Sounds good. Let’s go.”

  We sat down at one of the tables and took our coats off. The waitress came over and took our order. When she disappeared, I looked ’round the place. It was an Irish-themed pub, as you could probably tell from the name. On the walls were flags of orange, green and white. Brass plates with four-leaf clovers engraved on them. Pictures in black and white of what, I could only assume, were Irish people with beaming smiles. Some held vegetables that they had grown in the fields, and some held fish they had caught. Someone had even gone so far to buy little stuffed leprechauns, and place them in every corner. I also noticed that there was only a handful of people in the bar.

  “It’s quiet in here, isn’t it?” I picked up a beer mat and started swirling it around the table.

  “Yeah, a little. Don’t worry—we won’t stay here. We’ll wait for Izzy and Rach, have our drinks and go someplace else.” The next pub we went to was much livelier. There were more people in there, and they were all around our age group. We ordered our drinks, and the night progressed a lot better.

  At about 10, I realised that Jason hadn’t tried calling me all evening, and I started thinking that I had been a little hard on him earlier. Maybe he had learned his lesson. So I reached into my bag, and felt round for my phone. I then remembered that I hadn’t found it before I left the house. This began to play on my mind and I couldn’t enjoy the evening. I was starting to have a real guilt trip.

  “Hey Meg, I’m a little tired. I think I’m gonna call it a night.” Just like her though, she was in deep conversation with some handsome stranger. ”Will you be OK to get home?”

  She turned round and smiled. “Yeah, go home and smooch with loverboy,” she said. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Dean will take me home, I imagine.” She giggled, turning back to her knight in shining armour. I knew she would be OK because she had Rach and Izzy. They were on the dance floor. I thought I had better tell them I was going. The music was a lot louder where they were.

  “Hey!” I shouted “I’m going home now. Meg’s over there, talking to some guy. I’ll call you later.” I hugged them both and walked out of the club towards my car. I had only had two alcoholic drinks, so I was fine to drive home. It was now 11, and there were hardly any cars on the road, so I got home pretty quick.

  Walking through the door, it wasn’t the light in the living room that I saw on. In fact, the living room light wasn’t on, but the dining room light was. I put my bag and keys down without making a sound, and walked towards the light. When I got to the dining room doorway, I could hear tapping on the computer I kept in there.

  Looking through the gap, I could see Jason on the PC. This puzzled me. Also, next to the computer was my phone. This wasn’t looking good. For Jason, that was. I slid through the opening of the door, and Jason caught sight of me, but too late. He jumped up off the chair and moved in front of my mobile phone, probably hoping that I hadn’t seen it.

  “Hiya, love. You’re home early.” He turned ‘round and started shutting the computer down. “Bad night?”

  I walked towards him.

  “No, why are you on my computer? What were you doing?”

  “Nothing. I just needed to look something up on the internet, that’s all.” His voice was getting guarded, so I knew something was up and that meant that he was lying. I hated liars!

  “So, are you going to give me my mobile, then, or not?” That shocked him. He didn’t think I’d seen it on the desk.

  “What? I haven’t got your phone.” He began walking away from the desk and into the living room. I couldn’t believe he was lying to my face! This was taking the biscuit. I followed him.

  “So what was that I saw you put in your pocket then?” He rested his forehead on the palm of his hand. “Jason, what’s going on with you?” He sighed heavily.

  “I know that man you were talking to wasn’t just some old friend, Beth.” My heart started beating hard. Jason’s voice was so quiet, it was almost inaudible. His head still on his hand. “I saw you kiss him, too.” My heart stopped beating and sank instead. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out my phone. “Here.” Reaching out, he placed it into my hand. I felt terrible.

  “Look, Jason. It was nothing. He took me by surprise. If I would have known what he was up to, I would have moved away.” He looked up at me, with sad eyes.

  “How do I know that for sure, Bethenny? You could be just saying that to shut me up and make everything OK.” I sat down on the sofa.

  “All I can say, is you have to trust me.” I looked deep into his eyes.

  “That’s the problem, Beth. I don’t think I can trust you now.” That stunned me. I really didn’t think he would say that. I didn’t know what else to do.

  Finally, I spoke. “Well I don’t think that leaves much to say, do you? If you don’t trust me, I can’t see how we can be together.” I turned toward the living room door. “I think you should leave now, Jason. We’ve said all we have to say.” I opened the wooden door and beckoned him towards it. from the look on his face then, I think he realised that his plan had just backfired.

  “What do you mean?” Jason asked. He stood stock-still. I moved closer to him.

  “What do you think it means?” I said abruptly. “I told you it was a mistake and I’m sorry. That obviously wasn’t good enough for you, so you can go. Goodbye, Jason. Have a nice life.” I could only describe my feeling at that moment as relief.

  “I didn’t mean to be so harsh to you, Beth.” You could tell he was starting to panic.

  “No, I’m sorry, Jason. After your ‘mishap’ with your ‘friend,’ I forgave you, but you can’t seem to forgive me.” He stood there for a while, not saying a word.

  “At least you had some thinking time after it happened to you,” he said.

  “Jason, how much thinking time do you need? That happened days ago.” I could feel my anger rising again.

  “Please, Beth; just think about this first. I’ll go home tonight, we can both cool down and we’ll start again tomorrow.” I could see he was sweating. I was glad. How dare he treat me like this! He could sweat all night, then.

  “You go home and I will think this over. I’ll think this over very thoroughly!” At this point, I gently pushed him out of the front door. “Good night Jason.” I slammed the door shut behind him.

  Walking back into the kitchen to make myself a drink, I felt half-relieved, and half-guilty. I never normally acted like this. Why was I treating this poor guy like this? Why did it make me feel so good to hurt him? I decided that the next time I saw Jason, I would tell him it was over. Finish it for good and put him out of his misery.

  For now though, I would take my mind off all of it and see if Meg and Izzy wanted to pop ’round tomorrow and make a night of it. I would have asked Rach, but I remembered that she and Joe were busy.

  The next evening, I went out to buy some drinks and a DVD. I couldn’t stop thinking of Jason. I hadn’t heard from him all day and he said he would be ‘round. I really should have rung him to end it, but I needed to think about what to say to him. I reverted to my original plan of telling him when I saw him next.

  With everything ready for the girls’ night, I sat with a vodka lemonade, sipping it now and again. Giggling when the bubbles from the lemonade went up my nose. I was maybe a little tipsy. As I opened the door to put a bag of rubbish into the wheelie bin, I found Megan and Izzy.

  “Hi girls!” I went to hug them, and remembered that I had a huge smelly bag in my hands. “Ha, ha, sorry. I’ll just pop this in the bin first.” I walke
d out, lifted the lid and chucked it in. I walked back in and closed the door behind me. “Help yourselves to drinks, ladies,” I sang, grabbing my drink back up off the kitchen counter.

  “So, what’s the purpose of tonight, then, Beth?” Megan asked directly, pouring a vodka and lemonade for herself.

  “I don’t know what you mean, Meg.” She knew how to read me, that’s for sure.

  “Beth, come on. You never ask friends ‘round on a weeknight.” I walked into the living room and sat down. Meg and Izzy followed in after me.

  “It’s Friday. So it’s not like I have to work tomorrow or anything.”

  “Come on! Meg’s right, Beth. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve never done this before, and I’ve known you for five years. Spill!” Izzy demanded.

  Bloody girlfriends!

  “It’s nothing. It’s just, Jason and I had another argument, and I’ve decided to finish it. Once and for all. But I haven’t heard from him today.”

  Megan took a mouthful of her drink.

  “I’m sure he’ll call soon,” Izabelle replied consolingly.

  “Anyway,” Meg interrupted, “shall we watch the DVD, then?” I think she was just fed up of hearing about Jason.

  “I did tell you it was nothing, didn’t I?” I placed the DVD in the player and sat back in my chair. I pressed play and started the film. Jason was still in the back of my mind. The doorbell rang. Of all the times Jason could call on me. I walked to the door and swung it open to see his sweet face. He was really annoying, but he was still good looking. He smiled at me.

  “Hi, can I come in?” I moved to let him by.

  “I have company, mind.”

  He walked in to see Meg and Izzy.

  “Well, what I have to say can be said in front of your friends.” I was confused and so were Megan and Izzy.

  “I have a few things to say too, but you go first,” I answered. I just hoped it wasn’t embarrassing, whatever it was. He moved closer to the group.

  “Bethenny…” He dropped to one knee and extracted a small box from his trouser pocket. “Will you marry me?”