Page 9 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

‘Um... Heather, love, this is Stacey. From work. The company made her redundant at the same time as me.’ Terry had the temerity to introduce her like this was a dinner party.

At least Stacey had the grace to blush in embarrassment. She was a little younger than me, a little slimmer—okay, a lot slimmer—and appeared to have the same poor taste in men that I did.

I fumed. ‘How long has this been going on? Is this what you do all day while I’m slaving away at school teaching those unappreciative kids? You spend the day banging one of your old work colleagues?’

Terry stood and moved to put on a dressing gown. ‘Be reasonable, dear. Remember, you’re not allowed to have sex for six weeks. The surgeon told us that.’

‘So, is that it? Stacey is your six-week fill-in?’ I glared at Stacey, who had edged over to the end of the bed to fish her clothes off the floor. ‘You need to leave and not come back. Both of you!’

I remained in the doorway until she had covered herself, but moved aside when she made her way out, not daring to meet my steely gaze.

‘What are you doing home at this time of day, Heather?’ Terry asked, pulling up his trousers. ‘You’re never home in the morning unless you’re sick.’ His eyebrows rose in shock. ‘Have you lost your job too? How will we manage?’

‘I’m sick, Terry. I’m sick of the school politics, I’m sick of being tired, and I’m sick of you.’

‘Come on, love, be reasonable.’

There he was with the ‘be reasonable’ again. The nerve!

Rose was right. My marriage had been over for ages. I simply hadn’t wanted to admit it.

‘Get out of here,’ I growled. ‘Go stay at one of your mate’s houses. Don’t come back.’

I pulled a suitcase out of the back of the wardrobe, wincing at the pain in my abdomen, and threw it onto the bed. ‘Pack some of your things and get out.’

He stared at me for a full half minute. I glared back. With obvious reluctance, he gathered some clothes and other things and put them into the suitcase.

I waited until he’d finished packing and gotten fully dressed, then I marched him to the door. He drove away in the only car we had.

My anger and disappointment threatened to overwhelm me. In the living room, I phoned Rachel. She’d be working, but if she wasn’t in a meeting, she would answer.

She picked up the call. ‘Hey, Heather. What’s up? Aren’t you teaching today?’

‘Hey, Rachel. I went home sick. You won’t believe this. I caught Terry having sex with some old work colleague of his.’

‘Fuck! What did you do?’

I took a deep breath. ‘I told him to get out and not come back.’

‘Good on you, girl. I’m proud of you. You should have left him long ago, you know. Your marriage has been on the skids for years.’

‘Yes. I needed a catalyst, something to make me take action. I’d been hoping things would change, that it would go back to the way it was when we were first married.’

‘Oh, Heather. You can’t live in the past. Let’s catch up for drinks at the weekend and talk about it. Sunday night?’

‘That’ll be great.’

‘I have to go. I have a client appointment in five. Call me tonight if you need to talk more. Or shall I come over with wine and chocolate after work?’

‘Yes, that.’

‘Great. See you then.’ She hung up.

Now I had to video call Rose to tell her what had happened.

***

DESPITE BEING FATIGUED, I pulled all the sheets off the bed and remade it before lying down. Only then did I start to cry.

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