Page 2 of Best Served Hot
‘So, then, could you just do me this favour? I’ll pay—’
‘Look, if I let you rip open the packaging without paying for it, and then you do a runner—’
‘I could do that anyway. I could just steal it and run. Why would I go through this rigmarole?’ Nicole asked reasonably.
‘It’s not my job to ask those kinds of questions. I just ring shit up. So, are you buying the charger or not?’ the little shit demanded.
‘Yes. But as I explained, I just need to use it for a few minutes first,’ Nicole repeated, feeling frustrated, tempering it.
He sighed, ‘And like I said—’
‘I can give you my driver’s license first,’ Nicole said desperately. ‘You’d have it if I tried anything, and then you could hand that over with your security footage.’
‘That’s a lot of trouble for me to have to go to,’ he said. He looked exhausted at the thought.
‘It would be a lot more trouble formeif the police show up on my doorstep later.’
‘What if it’s a fake license?’ he shrugged.
‘It’s got the hologram on it,’ she said, taking it out of her purse and holding it up for him to see. ‘Look at it. It’s clearly real.’
Jayden rolled his eyes. ‘Fuck sake. Gimme the bloody phone.’
Nicole handed over her phone, and he grabbed a charger, unwrapped it roughly, and plugged it in behind the counter. The apple symbol appeared on Nicole’s phone as Jayden scanned the charger box. ‘Get your thumb on this thing,’ he said and handed it back to her.
She got Apple Pay primed up and paid for the charger, adding a cold drink. Jayden started to unplug the phone. ‘Can you leave it in?’ she said, hating how begging her tone sounded. But this kid was holding all the cards. ‘I need to call someone about my car.’
Jayden sighed again as though this was all too much for him, and he would need a really big lie down when it was over. He left the plug in, and she called her husband first.
If Ethan could come and pick her up, that would be the easier way to get home, but he didn’t answer. She tried him again… nothing. She gave it one last go, then called AA. They said they’d send someone out, but her coverage didn’t extend to a hire car. She’d have to find her own way home.
She called her brother to apologise for her incompetence, vowing that she’d come and see the baby when she had her shit together. After that, she texted Ethan to let him know what had happened. But she didn’t call him again. He was obviously busy.
Finally, she cracked open the water and drained it in one go, thinking, ‘Wow, talk about a shitty day.’
She didn’t know the half of it.
***
The Uber dropped her off at home, and she decided the first thing she was going to do was shower. She smelt like a wet dog. After that, she was going to drink every beverage the fridge held and—
She paused on the driveway of the large three-bed detached house she shared with Ethan. His car was there. Why was he at home? He should have been at work. She’d watched him leave for the morning. He’d straightened his tie, kissed her goodbye, and off he’d gone.
That was around the time Nicole started to have a really bad feeling in her gut, but she decided to ignore it. What the hell did her gut know, anyway? It didn’t even know when to put petrol in a car. Because as angry as she was about false advertising, it wasn’t the car’s fault, was it? It was Nicole’s. She knew cars needed petrol, and she’d ignored that fact as though it was the car’s responsibility to replace her own common sense.
She carried on up the drive to her home, her life, the whole kit and caboodle, and approached the front door. But she didn’t put the key in because she could hear a sound coming from within.
Laughter. A woman’s laughter.
She told herself a quick story. That Ethan was in there with his sister, Michelle. She’d had a blazing row with her boyfriend and needed a place to cool down for a few days. Ethan had offered her the spare room and come home to get her settled. That was also the reason he hadn’t picked up his phone. He’d been busy being a good sibling. Another thing she’d failed at today.
It was a nice story. It made sense. Shame it wasn’t true. And in Nicole’s heart, even she didn’t believe it. Because she wasn’t putting her key in the door. Instead, she was creeping around to the front window.
When she got there, she saw her right away. A woman she would come to know well in time. But at that moment, all she saw was a stunning woman with an easy way about her, standing in her living room, getting amorous looks from the person who had made a vow to love her and her alone.
The woman was everything Nicole wasn’t. Tall, blonde, young, slender, an obvious beauty. Nicole knew precisely what that beautiful young woman was doing there. She was there to wreck her marriage. Nicole hated that woman with every cell in her body—Ethan, too. But her more. Fair? No. But it was what it was.
What the hell should Nicole do about it? Many ideas came to mind. In a parallel universe, she picked up a plant pot from beneath the window and put it through the glass. In another, she walked into the house with the plant pot and bashed both of them over the head. In yet another, the plant pot didn’t come into it, and Nicole merely tapped the window and waved at them both. Then drew a finger over her throat.
