Page 93 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ I said, evenly, turning back to my teacup and finishing the process. ‘So, why are you actually here at all?’ I asked as I carried the delicate china over to the coffee table, set it down and took a seat.
‘Why do you think I’m here?’ he shouted. ‘Because of all this!’ He pointed towards the window. ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this to me!’
I took a sip of my tea before placing the cup back on the saucer and standing. Jeremy wasn’t an especially tall man and now we were on a more even level. ‘This may come as a surprise to you, Jeremy. In fact, having known you as long as I have, I’m certain that it does, and is perhaps something I should have made you aware of a long time ago – but not everything is about you.’
For a moment, he stared back at me, his mouth opening and closing a few times like a koi carp at feeding time, shock registering in his eyes. It was hard to tell whether this was due to him being genuinely flabbergasted at the news I had just imparted, or the fact I had dared to impart it at all. For so many years I had said nothing, letting him prattle on about things, allowing him to believe what he wanted because frankly it was too much effort for too little result to do anything other than that. But that was the old Sophia. And she was long gone.
‘Of course this is about me!’
I gave a small shake of my head and reached again for my tea while Jeremy blustered on.
‘You’re doing all of this just to try and humiliate me and ruin my upcoming wedding!’
‘So, firstly, I haven’t done anything but try to take care of myself, ensuring I had a place to live, and employment enough to cover all my expenses. I didn’t have a big exit plan, Jeremy. I just got to a point that I knew if I didn’t leave, I would be irrevocably broken, so I took what money I had and left. I didn’t spend months putting funds aside, preparing, so I had to be careful and sensible, which is why I got a job.’
‘Waitressing? Cleaning?’
‘Let’s face it, Jeremy. A Swiss finishing school doesn’t really provide you with a lot of skills for the world at large, so I took what I could get.’
‘Since when did you know anything about cleaning?’
‘The truth was, I didn’t. But I had to learn, so I did.’
‘Did you have to set up a bloody Instagram account about it? Honestly, it’s mortifying! Of all the things!’
‘Don’t be such a bloody snob, Jeremy. I wasn’t qualified for anything and I only had so much money. I was married to you for long enough to know how damn sneaky you can be when it comes to money and deals and I knew you wouldn’t want to make the divorce easy. As my so-called friends and family also made themselves scarce the moment I left, I was on my own and I did what I needed to, to keep a roof over my head and food on my table. I’d say that I’m sorry it doesn’t meet with your approval, but I’m not. I stopped trying to get approval from you a long time ago and I certainly don’t give a fig about it now.’
He opened his mouth to say something but I held up my hand. ‘I’m not finished.’
Surprisingly, he closed his mouth again. I’m not sure which one of us was the most startled by that particular turn of events.
‘As for your other accusation,’ I continued. ‘As I said, none of this is about you and as I had absolutely no idea you were even getting married again, it was certainly not in my mind to try and cause any sort of disruption to that.’ I gave him a glance. ‘That does, however, explain this new look you’re sporting.’
He gave me a glare and yanked at the crotch of his jeans.
‘Of course you knew. You had to! Why would you pick now to let the world know about your fall from grace if it wasn’t to upstage me?’
‘Oh, for the love of God, Jeremy!’ I slammed the teacup I’d just picked up back into the saucer, its contents spilling over. ‘Get your head out of your backside for two minutes and see some light! If I never had to think about you again, it would have suited me. You are welcome to go and marry whomever you want, so long as I have what I need, and what I deserve from our marriage. I signed the papers and I hoped that would be the last time I’d ever have to think about that life again! All of this,’ I jabbed at the window with a finger, ‘was brought about by someone else looking to be unkind and to make money. I was more than happy living here, having put my old life behind me. This is not about you! It’s about me and it’s my life that’s out there for everyone to gawp at. Me that people like you are sneering at for no good reason other than they think they are somehow better than people that do any sort of manual labour.’
‘That’s because we are!’ His voice had a tone of surprise that I could consider things to be otherwise.
‘No, you’re not! We’re all the same people, Jeremy. Just some of us landed, by luck of birth, higher up the financial tree which meant we were afforded opportunities not open to others. But the people who clean your house are just as good and valuable members of society as you are. In fact,’ I gave him a look, ‘possibly more so as they actually contribute something other than hot air to the world.’
‘Oh, you’re “one of the people” now. Is that it? I know what the divorce settlement was, Sophia, and there’s no way you’ll be staying in this pokey place now. You’re just the same as me.’
I spun at him. ‘I am not the same as you. I have never been like you. God knows it probably would have made my life a lot easier if I had been, but I’m not, and I’m incredibly thankful for that.’
‘You’ve humiliated me in the eyes of my friends and in the media! Do you know what people are saying?’
‘I don’t care what they’re saying, Jeremy! And don’t you dare speak to me about humiliation.’ He shifted his weight, looking a little unsure as I advanced on him. ‘Not very pleasant, is it? But maybe now you’ll have an iota of an idea how I spent years of my life, thanks to the person who’d vowed to honour me, cherish me, and respect me.’
‘Sophi—’
‘You spent our entire married life humiliating me in one way or another. Putting me down in front of people, laughing at me, having one bimbo affair after another. Sleeping with one of my so-called best friends!’ I stepped up to him, fury sparking in my eyes now, ‘So don’t you dare speak to me about humiliation because whatever misplaced embarrassment you think you’re feeling now, it’s an absolute fraction of what you caused me during our marriage.’ I was inches from his face and I saw, for the first time, him realising that he was no longer able to intimidate me.
He stepped back and made a small, dismissive sound but I’d seen the look in his eyes and that had said far more than anything he could do now. Snatching his phone out of his jacket pocket, he glared at the screen. There was clearly not enough room in the trouser pocket for it. By the looks of things, there wasn’t enough room for a lot at all in those, and sadly, I knew there wasn’t even that much for them to accommodate.
His phone bleeped again seconds before my doorbell rang.
