The Perfect Husband, page 15
Did you see what happened on St Agnes beach?
I had questioned her abruptness with Jay the following afternoon after the wedding. I initially assumed it was because Jay hadn’t answered their texts or calls when we were in hospital, citing he had no charge on his mobile. I knew it was a blatant lie as he had been using his phone while waiting with me for my X-ray results. Not that I had called him out on it.
‘Am I?’ Liv questioned.
‘Yes. You know you are,’ I replied, hearing an unmistakable quiver in my voice as I noted Jay knock back his wine before walking over.
I shook my head at him as he approached me. I didn’t need – or want – his intervention, but he ignored me.
Instead of sitting next to me, he walked around the couch and leaned over me.
‘Hey, Liv,’ Jay greeted, coldly staring at her.
She looked up at his figure behind me but didn’t reply.
‘Sophie?’ she demanded, her deep brown eyes ablaze. ‘Did something happen to you?’
Jay suddenly took my phone from me. ‘What are you implying? That I broke your sister’s arm on our wedding night? That I then beat my wife up on our honeymoon? Is that the kind of shite you take me for?’
‘Jay!’ I pleaded, trying to reach my phone.
‘IS IT?’ he yelled at her, stepping back from me.
I jumped off the couch, but I was too late.
‘I’ll talk to Sophie when she’s allowed a conversation without you policing every word!’ With that, Liv hung up.
Oh Christ!
I could see from the glint in Jay’s eyes that he was furious at Liv’s aspersion.
‘Did you say something to her?’ he demanded.
‘Of course, I didn’t,’ I answered, attempting to take my phone back.
‘Nah, not so fast,’ he replied, clicking on my WhatsApp messages.
‘Come on, Jay! I wouldn’t take your phone. Give it back to me?’
He didn’t react.
‘Please?’ I insisted. ‘I need to call Liv back and apologise.’
‘For what?’ he exploded. ‘She should be the one apologising to me!’
‘I agree,’ I placated, adding, ‘My phone? Please?’
He shook his head. ‘Give me a minute.’
‘No! What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ I protested as he started messaging her. I struggled with him to get him to stop, but he quickly moved out of my one-handed reach. ‘Come on! You can’t be serious?’ I implored.
He turned his back on me.
‘What are you doing?’ I demanded.
I grabbed onto his black T-shirt, yanking at him to no avail.
I heard the sound of the message being sent.
I gasped.
He turned to me. ‘That’ll put her back in her place. You need to stand up to her more and stop letting her push you around.’
I stared at him, dry-mouthed, feeling as if I was going to throw up.
‘Not that it matters now as you have me to fight your battles for you.’
‘Jay? What did—’
‘I promise she won’t have seen that coming,’ he said, cutting me off. He smiled to himself as he reread his message.
‘What… What did you say?’ I managed to ask. My voice was barely audible.
Ignoring me, he looked back down at my phone and waited.
‘Good, she’s just read it,’ he said, handing my phone back to me.
My hand was visibly shaking as I took it from him.
Oh God… Oh God…
I willed myself to read what he had sent. It couldn’t be that bad.
What the—?
I stared in disbelief at the words.
‘Good, eh?’ he simply said. ‘About time someone told her some home truths.’
‘What? Why didn’t you tell me?’ I asked, stunned by the message.
I stared at him, trying to see whether he was joking.
If he is, it’s one sick joke, Sophie.
‘I didn’t get a chance because I had to take you to hospital. Remember?’
‘But… Liv?’ I mumbled, rereading what he’d sent. I was struggling to comprehend what he’d written to her and the fact that he hadn’t told me. I had to find out via a WhatsApp message between them. ‘Why didn’t you tell me after? You’ve had plenty of opportunity.’
He looked at me. ‘Because I, like you, foolishly thought I’d protect her.’
‘But—’
‘She was drunk,’ he added, shrugging it off.
I didn’t have time to think about what had or hadn’t happened. I needed to make this all go away in case Liv told our mother.
Of course, she will. She thinks you sent it, Sophie!
‘Jay! She’ll think I wrote that. It’s sent from my phone? I would never write anything like that. Let alone to my own sister.’
‘Yeah? Well, maybe it’s time you started!’
I watched as he walked back to the kitchen area to pour himself more wine.
I stared back down at the message.
Oh my God… What has he done?
19
Jay told me you hit on him, telling him he married the wrong sister. How could you? After throwing yourself at Ben at our father’s funeral? What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking slut!
Liv had read it.
Oh God…
Trembling, I quickly messaged her back on WhatsApp:
Jay sent that message. Not me. Ring me.
She read it straight away.
I waited. Nothing. No reply.
She doesn’t believe you. She thinks you sent Jay’s message and then panicked that you crossed a line.
‘Jay?’
He took another glug of wine first before answering me. ‘Uhuh?’
I slowly walked over to him. ‘You need to call Liv? I mean—’
‘Why?’ he interrupted, putting the wine glass down.
‘To tell her you sent the message,’ I insisted.
‘What difference will it make?’ he asked.
‘Christ, Jay! You know that this will destroy my relationship with her.’
‘Seems to me she’s been sabotaging your relationship for some time now.’
I swallowed back the panic I felt. ‘Jay? Please?’ I implored. ‘I don’t think you realise what you’ve done?’
‘I’ve done nothing! Your slut of a sister tried it on with me when I went to the toilet. She followed me and started kissing me, saying I had married the wrong sister.’
‘Liv?’ I questioned, struggling to believe that she would even give Jay a second glance. Ben, yes. But Jay? There was no comparison.
‘Yes, sweet, innocent, fucking Liv! Who else?’ he fired back.
‘She kissed you?’ I sceptically questioned.
‘Are you calling me a liar?’
I shook my head. ‘No… Of course not. It’s just that doesn’t seem like her.’
‘What? And publicly throwing herself at your ex at your father’s funeral is?’
‘No, but—’
‘But what?’
I tried to swallow to dislodge the dryness in my mouth. ‘She… she was very drunk. And, well, it hit her the hardest. She was Daddy’s little girl because she was the youngest. She still lived at home while I’d moved out for uni, and—’
‘And what? That’s your justification for her trying to screw your ex, who you were due to marry the following month? You were still engaged! The two of you hadn’t even called it off, yet! For fuck’s sake, Sophie! Grow a fucking spine, will you! You let your mother and sister walk all over you!’
‘I don’t,’ I defensively replied. ‘It’s just that after Daddy died—’
‘I’m sick of you using his death as an excuse,’ he abruptly interrupted. ‘I’m sorry your dad died. It sucks. But it doesn’t give your sister carte blanche to screw your fiancé, does it?’
‘She didn’t!’ I protested, horrified.
‘No! Only because you pulled her off him. Good job I’m a decent bloke because I could have fucked your sister if I wanted to!’
I stared at him, sickened by what he’d just said.
But you saw her all over Ben, Sophie.
But that was Ben, and she was the drunkest she’d ever been and inconsolable. Ben was simply a safe place to fall and she had taken his concern for her drunken state one step further than she ever would have done if she had been sober. Whereas Jay was old enough to be her father. And she had no rapport with him. Nothing.
Even more baffling, she hadn’t drunk that much that night. But Jay, fuelled with alcohol, had a fatal combination of revenge and spite after seeing Tom and me dancing and reading Ben’s text.
Could it be that he hit on Liv to get back at me?
I thought back to the beach when Liv came running over after I’d broken my arm. There was something off between her and Jay. But I was in too much shock to read anything into it. There was no mistaking her coolness towards Jay the following day when we met up at the Driftwood Spars.
I then remembered that she had wanted me to follow her to the toilets that afternoon to talk to me. I had ignored her, not in the mood for any more drama. Not after she had called Ben. So, what did she say to Ben that had so concerned him? What didn’t she tell me? Couldn’t tell me? I tried to recall our phone call the other Sunday and remembered her reticence: ‘If I tell you, promise me you won’t lose it?’
Those were her words.
Because the day after my father’s funeral, I had lost it. I had gone ballistic with her for her outrageous behaviour and threatened Liv that if it ever happened again, I would cut her out of my life. Drunk or not, Ben was my fiancé, and she was my sister.
I checked my WhatsApp. But there was still no reply.
If Jay had hit on her, was she scared to tell me, in case I didn’t believe her? Fearful that I would accuse her of throwing herself at my new husband just as she did with my fiancé.
‘I need to call her.’
‘What? After what I’ve just told you? You’re going to go grovelling back to her? What the fuck, Sophie!’
‘She’s my sister, Jay?’
‘Yeah, and don’t I know!’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
He ignored me and took a gulp of wine.
‘I wish I’d never told you about Liv and my father’s funeral,’ I said, angry that he had used that information against her. ‘You know I told you the next day she was mortified and begged for my forgiveness? That it’s still an issue between us?’
Jay didn’t immediately speak, as if weighing up how to handle the situation.
How to handle me…
‘I know you’re pissed off right now,’ he carefully began. ‘And yeah, I should have told you about Liv, but, as you say, I knew things were already on shaky ground between you two. I didn’t want to make things worse. And as for her behaviour at your father’s funeral, not sharing that with me wouldn’t have stopped her hitting on me at our wedding.’
I just stared at him.
‘I’m sorry, babes. Really, I am,’ he said. ‘It’s so obvious that she’s jealous of you.’
‘Of me? Christ, no! Liv’s gorgeous!’
‘Maybe, but she’s not you, babes. Never will be,’ Jay pointed out.
I shook my head, unable to process it all. All I wanted to do was talk to Liv. To ask her what had happened on my wedding night. What it was she wanted to tell me.
Did she want to confess before Jay told me?
‘Ah, babes, come here,’ Jay said, walking around the kitchen island and wrapping his arms around me. ‘Shh,’ he murmured, brushing his lips against my hair. ‘We’ve got this, you and me. We don’t need anyone else.’
My phone started to ring. Panicking, I pulled back from Jay’s embrace.
‘Who is it?’ demanded Jay.
‘It’s my mum,’ I answered, unable to hide the terror I felt.
‘Don’t answer it,’ Jay instructed.
‘I can’t not answer it! It’s my mother, Jay.’
‘So? You need to start thinking for yourself,’ he suggested.
‘I need to take this,’ I said, stepping back from him.
Oh God…
I pressed answer.
‘Hi, Mum,’ I tentatively began.
‘How could you say those terrible things to your sister? How? Did Jay say that to you? Because it’s all lies!’
‘Mum?’
‘And as for Ben? Really!’ she continued, not letting me speak. ‘You know what a state Liv was in? Honestly, Sophie! I’m ashamed you’re my daughter. I don’t recognise you any more, not since you got together with him. You’ve changed, and not for the better!’
‘I didn’t write or send the message, it was—’
I stopped mid-sentence. She had cut the call.
I immediately called her back. It went straight to voicemail.
Oh my God! She declined your call.
I tried again. Again, it was declined.
‘What did she say?’ Jay questioned.
‘Just a minute, I’m trying to call Liv.’
It went straight to voicemail as well.
What the—?
I tried again. And again.
I realised my hand was trembling.
‘Oh God, Jay?’ I said as I turned round to him.
‘Hey, it’s their loss if they don’t want to talk to you,’ he replied, taking hold of me.
But I didn’t want him to hold me. I wanted him to make it all go away.
‘You need to call them,’ I said, freeing myself from his grip.
‘Why?’
‘To explain that you messaged Liv on my phone. That it wasn’t me,’ I pleaded.
‘And what difference do you think that would make? You’ve already sent a message stating that?’ he questioned, looking at me as if I had lost my mind. ‘Anyway, do you think either of them will talk to me now that I’ve told you what your sister did? When I pushed her off me, she begged me not to tell you what she’d done, terrified you’d never forgive her again. She’ll always hold that against me.’
I shook my head as tears started to fall.
‘Please, Jay? Please?’ I begged him.
I can’t lose them as well…
‘Come on, let’s sit you down,’ Jay suggested.
He guided me back inside and over to the couch. He then picked up my wine glass and took it over to the kitchen to refill it. I sat dazed, staring out at the ocean.
He returned and lifted the glass to my lips. ‘It will help, babes,’ he assured me. ‘You’re in shock.’
I looked at him, not understanding why he wouldn’t try to make it right.
Why won’t you just call them and tell them you sent that message? Not me?
20
‘Lost something?’ Jay asked, walking into the bedroom, as he watched me pulling apart the books and other items on my bedside cabinet.
‘I can’t find my phone.’
‘How much did you drink last night?’ he said, shaking his head at me. ‘You left it on the couch.’
He handed me the steaming black coffee.
‘Thanks,’ I mumbled. I felt like I was going mad.
I blew on the scalding liquid before taking a small sip.
‘You know, it will all work out. Just give them time,’ he assured me, stroking my hair.
I flinched at his touch. I was still mad at him. I hadn’t slept all night, tossing and turning, which was uncomfortable and awkward with a plaster cast. Unlike Jay, who, much to my annoyance, slept through my anxious wakefulness.
‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry? Yeah?’ he apologised.
I looked at him and waited.
‘If I could undo it, I would. But, let’s be honest here, Liv is in the wrong. She wanted me to fuck her in the toilets, for fuck’s sake!’
‘Jay!’
‘What? If I’d been the one hitting on your sister it would be a very different story. Why, after all she has done, are you being so protective of her?’
I shrugged.
Something didn’t feel right.
I heard Jay give out a frustrated sigh. I watched as he turned to Sebastian, who was curled up by my feet. ‘You know I don’t like him on the bed? I can’t stand the hairs everywhere,’ he complained as he threw a rather disgruntled Sebastian on the floor.
‘Jay!’
‘Don’t shout at me,’ he warned.
‘Well, don’t throw Sebastian down like that.’
‘Christ! You’re prickly this morning.’
‘If you hadn’t sent that message to Liv, then—’
‘For fuck’s sake, Sophie! I’m tired of you bleating on and on about that message. If you’re so bloody unhappy, do something about it?’
‘Like what?’ I snapped. ‘They’re ignoring my messages and won’t answer my calls.’
Jay sighed again as he ran his hand over his cropped, dark hair. ‘Fuck! I don’t know,’ he muttered, the fight leaving him. I waited as he shook his head. ‘Pointless me calling again.’
‘Again?’
He looked at me. ‘Yeah, I tried calling Liv and Joanna to explain while I was making you a coffee. I wanted to bring you some good news. But they both declined my call.’
‘Did you leave a voicemail explaining what happened?’
He shook his head. ‘No. I reckon they’ve blocked me, as both numbers declined my call, so they’d delete whatever message I left without listening to it.’
‘Oh,’ I mumbled, wondering whether they had blocked my number as well.
I had left countless voicemails and sent messages, all unread.
‘Look, I’ve been thinking, why don’t you write them a letter explaining what happened? That it was me who sent Liv that message and that I’m sorry and I’m happy to talk to them and say that.’
I looked at him, unsure.
‘They’ll read a letter, Sophie. Curiosity will win out. Also, you can say exactly what you want without getting drawn into a heated argument.’
‘Maybe,’ I said, accepting it might be a good idea.
‘We okay, then?’
‘Once I’ve heard from them, I’ll feel better,’ I answered.
‘You get writing, and I’ll drive to the post office and get it sent special delivery which guarantees to reach them by 1 p.m. tomorrow. They’ll call you tomorrow as soon as they’ve read that it was all my fault,’ he said, adding, ‘I just hate that I put you in this situation in the first place.’
