Page 113 of Tomorrow Belongs to Us
That's all I can think of while Cassie and I are watching a movie. She's making her way through a huge bag of popcorn, and I love this daddy and daughter time. I must focus on this daddy and daughter time.
I must move on.
When the film ends, we file out of the theatre and while Cassie is enthusiastically recounting the film she watched—because my mind was elsewhere—I see her. In a crowded theatre lobby teeming with people filing in and out of the big movie theatre, I see Megan. I laser in on her, and everyone and everything blurs into the background. She sees me at the same moment, her lips twisting as if she is in pain. That’s when I note her unease comes not from seeing me so much as I will see who she’s with. It’s a cosy foursome, with her friend Arla and a man she is staring up at adoringly.
Megan is with the guy we saw at the art exhibition. The one who is younger, fitter. Younger, younger, younger. I almost stop walking because it feels like a bullet has hit me again.
But it’s unavoidable. There’s only one way down and we will have to walk past her to get the escalator.
“Daddy, it's your friend!” Cassie shouts, with the ignorance of a nine-year-old.
I can't now pretend I didn't see Megan. That's the path I was going to take. A nod of acknowledgement as I walked past her, but Cassie will find that odd. She tugs at my hand, which she's suddenly taken a hold off, this child who told me she's too old for us to hold hands the moment we got out of the car in the parking lot.
“Oh, so it is.” I look away, pretending to be mesmerized by a movie poster showing next month's offering.
“She's looking at you, Daddy!” And to my horror Cassie waves at Megan.
“Why are you waving?” I growl.
“She's your friend, Daddy. Don't be rude.”
By now, we're only inches apart. Her friend glares at me, and the guy from the art exhibition gives me a curious look. I have to veer away from the trail of people heading towards the escalator and I'm forced to take a few steps towards the group I don't want to talk to.
“Hey,” I manage to say, nodding at them all, and focusing on no one.
“Hi!” Cassie says to Megan.
I don't understand her exuberance.
“Oh, hey.” Megan's face breaks out into a smile that puts my heart back together again.
“Hey, Lance.” Arla interrupts us. “This is Chris, I don't believe you've met.”
“We've met.” I don't offer a handshake, but it's obvious that Megan is here with this douchebag.
Megan bends down until her face is level with Cassie's “What film did you see?”
Cassie proceeds to tell her, and enthuses about how good it was. I stand in painful silence, as do the other three, while my daughter and my ex-lover exchange pleasantries.
A long, painful moment passes, until Megan stands up. Cassie waves to someone else then turns to me and asks if she can go and speak to her friend. “Sure.” I'm about to follow, and make my escape, when my daughter runs off.
“Kids,” I say, grinning, and examining Megan's face. The hardness is back. She looks pissed, more than I've ever seen her.
“We'll see you inside,” her friend says, and the douchebag strokes her arm as he follows them, leaving me and Megan alone. I sense she wants to talk, so with one eye on Cassie, I turn my attention to Megan, my heart full of hope that she has changed her mind.
“Was it worth it?” she asks, venom in her voice.
“Was what-_”
“The student. The affair, the cheating on your wife. I found out. Were you ever going to tell me?”
I frown, and then as the words land and start to make sense, my eyes widen with astonishment. “The student? Heidi Byrne?”
“How many others were there?”
I shake my head. “It's not true. There was no affair, no cheating. I don’t do that.”
“You did that with me!”
