The Bastard Takes a Wife (14 page)

“I did but Patricia decided to play dirty.” I
began to tell her about what had happened but before I could reach
the conclusion to my story, she was off down the other end of the
bar for a second time.

“Sorry about that,” she said, returning at
last. “Continue,
Chica
.”

“So, then I sent her a photo.”

“Why?”

God, how did I know why? Alex was the one who
had a myriad of reasons why for me to consider. I did things and
she told me why. Had I done it to piss Patricia off? To make Sam
behave? All of the above. Now that it was done, I couldn’t undo it
and I wouldn’t anyway. That would be admitting I was wrong.

“I mean, do you think that was wise? You
know, red rag, bull. All that.” She bent under the bar and cursed a
little in Greek. “Bloody keg’s run out. Sam swore he’d changed it
over before he left.”

I watched as she dashed out the back door and
down to the keg room.

Alex came back a couple of minutes later.
Taking up a bottle from the shelf behind her, she went to refill
old Tom’s scotch on the rocks. Then she chatted to a couple of
punters and laughed and flirted. She rushed here and there opening
packets of nuts and putting them into baskets and getting buckets
of ice. It was like she’d forgotten I was there.

I sat and stared at my cold chips. The gravy
had begun to congeal into little brown globs on the top of them and
I pushed them aside. This was not a nice feeling at all. I wanted
to talk. I had to get this off my chest and get some direction on
where to go next. Alex was my best friend and bridesmaid. She was
my problem solver. How could I talk if she wouldn’t listen? I
hopped off my stool and got my wallet off the bar. I already felt
like crap. This was only making it worse.

“I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, text me,” she replied over her
shoulder. Then she picked up a cloth and began to polish glasses.
Seriously, they were already the cleanest glasses in Perth.

Where did I go now? Who was I meant to talk
to? Mel was working on a big case and Sasha had started a week of
night shift. In her attempt to give up smoking by the time the
wedding came, she had some bizarre theory that working nights and
seeing new born babies would help her cause. I didn’t want to share
with Kirby. Though I liked her and found her fun, there was only so
much pink I could have in any given day and I had a feeling my
quota had already been exceeded at the cake shop. That only left
one person. The one person who was guaranteed to listen. Taking out
my phone, I sent a text.

Late that afternoon, I parked my car in the
car park of the Nedlands Rugby Club and went around the back to let
the children out of their seats. It was a sunny afternoon and we
headed along the jogging path to a bench overlooking the foreshore.
Out on the river, boats were bobbing up and down on their buoys and
wind surfers jumped the white caps. An overweight man was
attempting to get in a kayak that was too small for the width of
his buttocks and he wobbled for a few seconds before plunging into
the river. I knew how he felt. I was plunging into the depths of
despair. I didn’t want to fight with Sam. I didn’t want to be
ignored by my friends. I wanted my life back the way it used to be
before this wedding fiasco had started.

“Can we play in the sand?” Paige asked, as
she raced towards the water with no intention of stopping, her
pigtails flying out behind her like ribbons on the wind. “Hi,
Josh.”

“Yes, but leave your shoes and socks on the
steps,” I called. “You know your mother will have kittens if we
drag sand through the house.”

Paige halted and turned. “Really, Millie. In
the grand scheme of things, what does it matter? It’s only a few
grains of sand. Justin Bieber wouldn’t care about a few grains of
sand on his floor.”

Tory and Michael must have thought the same.
They had run ahead of Paige and were wading up to their ankles with
their shoes still on.

“No, but Justin Bieber doesn’t have to live
with your mother. And he probably has servants to clean up after
him, so take the shoes off. And tell the twins to get out of the
water before they ruin theirs.”

Not that there was much point since they’d
already used them as flippers.

With an eye on my charges, I plonked down on
the bench next to Josh.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi. Thanks for coming to meet me.”

Josh smiled. It wasn’t his
I’m-in-love-with-you smile but more of an I’m-here-for-you type of
smile. Instantly, my tension began to drain away. Josh could have
that effect.

“Anything for you. What’s up?” He reached
across and put his arm around my shoulder. His fingers squeezed
gently. It wasn’t sexual, just friendly and nice.

“My life is shit. And this wedding is even
shitter.”

“Why?”

“Sam and I had a fight. A big one.”

Down on the sand, the children had bent to
inspect something between the rocks. I could see their heads close
together and their fingers pointing in the same direction.

“Is it okay if we get crabs, Millie?” Paige
called out.

Josh gave a lewd snicker and I shoved him in
the side.

“I don’t think so,” I called back. “Mummy
doesn’t like sea creatures.”

“But they’re only little. And they don’t
smell. We could keep them in the wardrobe. Mummy never goes there.
It’s very dark. Crabs like dark, I think.”

Josh smirked. “They certainly do.”

“No!” I replied.

“
Pleeeease
,” Paige begged. “We could
be like the Lion and the Witch children, but with crabs.”

Josh began to splutter. Oh my God. I had to
ignore that. I really did.

“Will you cut it out,” I hissed at him.

“At least it made you laugh. So. Sam. What
happened? Did he fall out of love with you after I informed him of
your tawdry past?”

I gave him another push in the shoulder.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”

He gave me a bit of a shove back. “I’m not.
Now tell me the whole story. Maybe I can have a word to the big
fella and sort him out?”

“You’re looking to get your face rearranged
then?”

“We could always have sex to make him
jealous. Despite the fact that you used to be quite shit in bed,
I’d be willing to take one for the team. Only to make Sam see
sense, of course.”

“Ha ha. Yeah. Not gonna happen.”

“So tell me.”

It was like the floodgates opened. I told him
everything beginning with Sam’s family and how they didn’t like me;
how I was convinced they were trying to make me look like a diva so
Sam would call off the wedding. I ended it with Alex ignoring
me.

“You have been in the wars,” he said, his
face filled with sympathy.

“And I feel so shit all the time,” I added.
“I shouldn’t feel like this. A wedding is supposed to be an
exciting, happy time. Why do I feel like I want to be sick?”

“It’s stress. I had a pain in my guts for two
months after we split up.”

Josh moved his hand from my shoulder and
turned to wrap both his arms around me. His warmth seeped into my
body. His fingers spread over my back, rubbing gently and I felt
better. It was as if he was sucking the bad feelings out of me and
leaving only the peaceful happy ones. “It’ll be okay. You’ll
see.”

I leant my head into the crook of his neck
and had a bit of a cry.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling away at last.
“You’re such a good guy.”

“But not the guy for you?”

I sat up straight. I rolled my eyes.

“I know you still fancy me,” he chuckled.

“God, you are so full of yourself.” Then I
began to laugh. I laughed so hard the tears ran down my face and
the snot dribbled from my nose but I felt so much better.

Down on the foreshore, the children were
chasing each other. Three crabs were being held hostage in their
outstretched arms as they ran. The kayak man had given up trying to
paddle and was sitting on the jetty watching them.

“Come on, kids,” I called. “Put the crabs
back and let’s get home.”

“Are you sure we can’t take them with us?”
Paige called.

“Absolutely.”

“What about a jellyfish then? They don’t make
noise and we have three bath tubs.”

“NO!”

Josh and I stood up. We walked over to the
shore where Paige, Tori and Michael had forgotten about the
wildlife and were wearing seaweed wigs and impersonating their
mother.

“Oh my God, get that off your heads now.” I
raced down to the sand and pulled the seaweed off, tossing it back
into the water. Adele was into natural therapies but there was no
way she’d go for the seaweed stench from the Swan River as shampoo.
Looking glum, the children followed me back to the steps where they
began to put their shoes on.

“Want me to have a word with Sam or your mum
maybe?” Josh asked, while we waited.

“Nah. It’d only look like I can’t handle my
own problems. He’d think I’d been talking behind his back. Thanks,
anyway.” I reached up and kissed his cheek. When I got back home, I
would call Sam and apologise. That cake was way over the top.

But I wasn’t changing it.

Josh walked the children and I back to the
car. I buckled them in and said my goodbyes. I felt calmer, as if I
could cope. I’d needed to take a chill pill that was all, and not
get so worked up over things that weren’t important. After all, the
main thing was that Sam and I were going to get married.

After waving goodbye, I turned on the
ignition and began to reverse out of the car park. That was when
Paige called out, “Hey, Millie. Hey. Look over there. Isn’t that
Sam’s sister standing next to that tree? The lady in the trainers
and running shorts?”

Oh God.

*****

About an hour later, the first text came
through.

What the fuck is going on?

It was Sam. Obviously. All the way home in
the car, I’d prepared myself for what I knew was going to happen
but still my fingers didn’t seem to want to press the keys to
reply. I don’t know why. I hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of.
Josh was my friend. Why couldn’t I have a conversation with him
without Sam being there? Of course, I realised this was all to do
with the marriage proposal but seriously; we were so far past that.
At least I’d thought we were.

Nothing. Let me explain
, I texted
back, at last.

He didn’t give me a chance. Before I’d even
pressed send, I heard the bleep of another text coming through.

You were kissing Josh???? WTF!!!

I slammed my hand onto the bench. I let out a
moan of despair. This was worse than I thought. I had to ring Sam
or better yet, speak to him in person. I had to make him see that
it was an innocent meeting.

I wasn’t kissing him. Gah!

Don’t lie.

How could he think I was lying? I’d never
lied to him. Ever.

I’m coming over.

Don’t bother.

I watched as the screen went dark. Did he
mean that? Did he mean it as in ‘don’t come over’ now or ‘don’t
come over’ ever?

Scrolling through my recent calls, I pressed
dial on his number. My fingers drummed against the counter top. Of
course, he didn’t answer. I knew he wouldn’t. He was angry with me
for something I hadn’t done which he’d assumed I had. This was
Amanda’s doing. God, I wanted to pull every hair from her emaciated
head.

On the other side of the breakfast bar, Paige
put down her oatbran muffin. She tilted her head at me, a puzzled
look growing on her face.

“That was a lot of messages.”

“It was Sam.”

“Is he coming over to watch Miley Cyrus with
us?”

I reached across the bench and gave her hand
a pat. I swallowed the tears I could feel welling. “Not tonight.
He’s a bit busy.”

Paige’s lip began to tremble. Her eyes
dropped. She tugged her hand from mine and began to pick a hole in
the top of her muffin. “But he promised.”

“I know, sweetie, but not tonight. Okay?”

“Is he mad at us?”

“No.”

Just at me.

With only three weeks to go until the wedding
and Sam playing Iceberg with me, I wasn’t overly enthused that
Johnny had organised a corporate box for us at a
Western
Force
home game. He’d planned it two weeks prior to the blow
up between Sam and I. At the time, I’d thought it sweet that he’d
arranged it so that everyone in the bridal party would be in
attendance but, now, it sort of decreed I had to be there too. I
didn’t want to. I wanted to stay out of everyone’s way so I
couldn’t cause any more friction and I told him so when he’d rung
to remind me. But Johnny was adamant that I was going. If Sam
wanted to be a big girl’s blouse, let him but we couldn’t turn the
opportunity down. I supposed he was right. If the Force had been
near the top of the ladder there was no way we would have got that
box.

Sam picked me up in a taxi on the Saturday
night of the game. The boys had been playing away that day, so I
hadn’t gone to their match. I would have felt like an idiot
cheering him on, as a dutiful rugby girlfriend should, especially
when he wasn’t talking to me.

I opened the door to find him standing on the
doorstep wearing his sea blue
Western Force
jersey and cap
that had been signed by the players at the pre-season function. I
stood for a second thinking how lucky I was to have such a handsome
man for my own. His dark hair was freshly washed and his whiskers
newly shaved. A waft of vanilla aftershave filled the air around
us. A brooding crinkle of annoyance that made me want to kiss him
had taken up residence between his brows. Why, oh why did he have
to be so hot when we were having a fight?