Never a cross word

By Janet Baldey

Mild flavoured capsicum (5,6) 

Julia chewed the end of her pencil and squeezed her eyes closed until she saw dots but the answer still danced a tantalising step out of reach.  Snapping the puzzle book closed, she picked up a cigarette.  She was smoking too much but so what?   ‘Curse this bloody lockdown’ she muttered and drew in a lungful of smoke. She was sick of working from home.  Alright for some but she missed her colleagues’ banter and those zoom meetings just didn’t do it for her. 

         She got up, stretched and went over to the window.  There he was, busy as a little beaver. She watched as Joe pottered about the garden, planting, weeding, mowing… he was in his element,  couldn’t wait to get out there in the mornings and had to be dragged back inside come supper time. Then, low and behold, in the evenings he’d bury himself in his seed catalogues.  It had got so bad she’d started to hate everything green.

         Stubbing out her cigarette, she stared into space, as her mind drifted. Everything would have been so different if she’d married Nick all those years ago. He would never have bored her. She felt the lines on her face softening as she remembered magical evenings full of sparkle and gaiety. She had never been so happy, or laughed so much. Nick had been her soul mate. A perfect companion, he had a wicked sense of humour and even when they weren’t physically together, there were the text messages. Every time her phone chirped and a little yellow envelope appeared, her pulse raced.

         For over a year they were together and she had been sure it would never end. Then she was sent away on a course and during that time his text messages gradually dwindled before stopping altogether.  Abruptly she got up and began to fill the kettle, hoping the sound of rushing water would drown her obsessive train of thought.  She refused to let herself dwell on it, it was a long time ago and she was completely over him now.  Suddenly her mobile started to vibrate and her heart joined in although she knew it was hopeless.  She looked at her ‘phone and saw it was her boss.

         “Hello. Yes, that’s fine. I’m so pleased.  It will be nice to get back to normal again. I’ll see you next week.”

         Relief washed over her. She loved her job.  She supposed she lived for it, like Joe did for his garden.  Sadness replaced relief. She’d married Joe on the rebound and there’d always been something missing.  Not that she had anything to grouch about; he’d been a good husband and a good father to their two sons as well as being a superb handyman.  Their spic and span house and garden were all his work.  It wasn’t his fault that he’d never thawed the nugget of ice that had taken the place of her heart.

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         Flecks of granite embedded in the white stone sparkled in the sun as she hauled her load of legal papers up the steps of the courthouse.  They were heavy this week. It was a complicated case with several plaintiffs involved and was expected to drag on for days. Julia paused for a moment to catch her breath, only seven more steps to go. She saw three figures, pasted black against the front of the imposing entrance.  She easily recognised two of them, were local lawyers; she squinted at the third, wondering why he also seemed familiar. He took a step away from the other two and her breath caught in her throat. It was him, she was sure of it. Her heart hammered so fiercely that she clutched her chest, almost losing her grip on the document case.  Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to see him again and especially not here. He must have taken silk, she knew he was clever. She wondered which side he was on.  She was almost at the top of the steps now and could see him clearly. He was just as handsome, although he’d aged, the haggard look suited him.  A bit like Hugh Grant she thought. She wondered whether he would recognise her but his eyes washed over her and she was too busy swallowing the lump in her throat to speak.

         Her hands were trembling as she arranged the papers on her boss’s bench.  This was what she had yearned for all these years.  A reunion - he would see her again and realise what he had lost.  All thoughts of Joe were wiped from her mind as she made her way to her seat and waited for the judge to arrive.

         As she sat listening to the case unfold, she grew numb from top to bottom until she could barely move. She had watched the accused enter the dock and had gasped with horror.  It was Nick. He was not a high-flying lawyer, he was a criminal and the enormity of his crimes gradually became clear.  Posing as a man looking for love, he had milked unsuspecting women of their fortunes and then disappeared, leaving them with hearts as empty as their wallets.  One woman had even tried to take her own life when he and his promises had vanished like early morning mist.  

          Julia was forced to face the truth.  Her ex, the man she had longed for all her married life, was nothing less than a common crook.  Clearly, she too had been duped and had probably only escaped his clutches because she wasn’t rich. Without realising it, she had been lucky. She looked at Nick one final time before he was led away. He no longer looked like a film star but like the cringing thief he was.

         As she was driving home her thoughts were full of Joe, patient, long-suffering Joe. She’d make it up to him. This would be a new beginning. They could have a second honeymoon and this time she wouldn’t be thinking of another man.  Afterwards, she would take an interest in the garden and afterwards, in the evenings, they’d do a crossword together. Maybe, she would think about taking early retirement. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his dear, familiar face when she told him about her plans.  She pressed down hard on the accelerator.

         She turned the corner of her road and saw her house was in darkness. Joe was obviously in the garden and had forgotten the time. Bless him. A little smile played about her lips as she opened the front door and groped for the light switch. Making her way into the kitchen, she went to the back door and poked out her head.

         “Joe”, she called but there was no reply. She stepped outside and walked around the garden, it was neat and tidy as usual, his brassicas marched in straight lines down their rows and his onion sets paraded likewise.  She peered through the window of the shed and saw the luminous yellow handles of his fork and trowel set hanging in their usual spot, but of Joe, there was no sign.

         Turning to go back into the house, she jumped when a shadowy figure reared up from behind the fence.

         “Oh, it’s only you Paul. You gave me a fright for a moment.”  She looked more closely at their neighbour, “Is anything wrong?”

         “You saw the note then?”  Paul stared at her mournfully, looking a bit like Eeyore, she thought.

         “What note?”

         “Never would have believed it of Daphne. She was such a homebody. Loved her house and garden.  Said it made up for our lack of kids.”

         Julia frowned. What was he talking about?  

         “What note? Paul,” she repeated, in a slow and patient voice.

         Paul blinked.  Then he looked at her as if for the first time.  “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. You don’t know, do you?  Go back inside and look around, I’m sure you’ll find it somewhere.”

         Backing away from him, Julia escaped into the safety of her house.  What was all that about? She’d have to ask  Joe, when she found him, of course.  In the meantime, she’d brew some tea. She reached for the kettle and that was when she saw it. A small white envelope, it was propped up against the tea caddy where she had been bound to see it.

         Julia sat staring at its contents, waiting for the room to stop circling. Now she knew what Paul had meant. Joe had left her.  He had run off with the woman next door.  It sounded like a music hall joke but she didn’t find it funny. She read the note again.

         “I think both of us realise that our marriage has not been working for a long time. We have nothing in common but Daphne understands me and we want a chance of happiness before it is too late. You can have the house. Daphne and I are going away to start up a market gardening business. So sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

         In spite of everything, she couldn’t help smiling at the last sentence. Typical Joe, stuffy to the last.  She tried to remember what Daphne looked like but couldn’t bring her face to mind. It was a bit of an insult that, she thought. If ones husband did have to run away with ones neighbour, there would be some slight consolation  if the neighbour were beautiful, not some dumpy little creature that nobody remembered. 

         Then she thought of Paul, Daphne’s husband. Underneath the wrinkles, he wasn’t bad looking for a man of his age, a bit like….She shook her head, no, she wasn’t going down that route. Nevertheless, she got up and opened the back door again; perhaps he could do with some company,

         “Paul, she called into the still of the night. ‘Fancy a cuppa?” Or, maybe even something stronger, she thought.

Copyright Janet Baldey