Page 15 of Part of Me
“Okay.” I can hear the wariness in his voice, but I choose to ignore it.
“See you later.”
“I love you,” Luke says, his words almost causing me pain.
“Love you too.” I hang up the phone and put it in my handbag. As Tori reaches me, I try to force a smile on my face, but the girl knows me as well as Luke does.
“What’s wrong?” she asks me without even saying hello. I let the fake smile fade from my face. I have no desire to hide my emotions from her.
“It’s Luke.”
“What’s happened?”
“Let’s go and get a drink and I’ll tell you.” I link my arm through hers and lead her to the nearest bar. I don’t take us to Bar Twelve, but instead to The Old Eagle. This isn’t a place that I would normally choose, but from my previous visits here, which are few and far between, I know that the place is quiet. Quiet is what I need right now. Tori grimaces as we walk in.
“What the hell are we doing in here?” she whispers to me.
“I needed somewhere quiet to speak to you.” I ignore her look of disdain and I proceed to go to the bar and order a bottle of wine and two glasses.
The barman, slightly balding and pudgy, gives us a quizzical look but I just smile politely. We clearly don’t fit in here. There are Tori and I, dressed in our work attire, looking smart, whereas the other people in here are sporting ripped jeans and biker jackets. We stick out like a sore thumb.
I feel Tori fidget next to me. When the barman brings over a bottle of house white and two glasses, I hand him the money and then I turn and lead Tori to one of the booths that line the window. As I sit down on the rickety seat, I see Tori inspecting the interior.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Char, but did you have to pick the dowdiest looking place to bring me for a drink?” she says quietly, her eyes still roaming around to look at the dark wood panelling and the red carpet that looks like it has been here since the nineteen seventies.
“Just sit down, Tori,” I say with a sigh. “This place is quiet, and no one will think to look for us here.”
She does as I ask before inspecting the glass in which her wine will be poured into. I undo the bottle with a roll of my eyes, and I pour us each a drink. I take a large gulp of wine and place my glass back on the table.
“Okay, lady, spit it out. What’s bothering you?” Tori says.
“You have to promise that you won’t tell anyone what I am about to tell you.”
“Okay,” she replies slowly, frowning.
“Not even Luke.”
“Well seeing as you said this is about Luke, of course I won’t bloody tell him.”
“No, I mean it, Tori. He can’t find out what I am about to tell you.” I have to reiterate this point to her. She may be my oldest and closest friend, but she also knows Luke and has done since we have been together.
“Char, I promise that I won’t tell another living soul what you are about to say. Christ, you’ve got me worried here.” She takes a couple of sips of her wine and looks at me expectantly. I take a deep breath, wondering how I am going to start this conversation off. I decide to dive in headfirst.
“I’m pretty sure that Luke is cheating on me.” I expected Tori to be shocked, but what I didn’t expect was for her to spit her mouthful of wine all over the table. “Oh jeez, Tori,” I say as I wipe some of her spittle off of my face.
“Sorry,” she says as she pulls some tissues out of her bag and hands me one. I wipe my face and then I start to mop up the wine on the table. “But do you realise what you just said to me?” She looks completely shell-shocked.
“Yes. Luke is cheating on me. I saw him with another woman, they got into a car, and––”
“Whoa, slow down,” Tori says, holding her hands up in front of her. I clamp my mouth shut as I watch her process my words. “Start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”
So I do. I tell her about going to Bar Twelve with Maggie, and I tell her about how I saw Luke with another woman. I then tell her that the same woman walked out of my boss’ office this morning. She listens intently, not interrupting me once. When I have finished, I almost feel a sense of relief at being able to share this news with someone.
Tori refills her glass and takes a sip before placing her glass back down and looking at me.
“You really think that Luke is being unfaithful?”
“What else could it be? He hasn’t mentioned this woman to me, so he is clearly hiding something,” I reply.
