How’s it going? Will you be much longer? Xx
She sent the message and waited another half an hour before trying to call. Voicemail. She left a message for him to call her when he got it and finally, at six-thirty, she heard from him.
‘Hi, sweetheart, sorry I took so long. Things have been manic here. I swear, without me, this place would go under!’
‘Well they are incredibly lucky to have such a hardworking employee. I didn’t think it was going to take so long today. I thought you would be home by midday.’ She was being totally honest when she said this. When he said to her yesterday that he had to go in and sort some things out, she thought two, maybe three, hours maximum, and then they could go out and spend some quality time together. He had been working so much recently, it was actually a miracle she had even fallen pregnant. Had they not had that crazy weekend last month, she would have claimed miraculous conception or even tested the theory of ‘there must be something in the air’.
‘Yeah, well, so did I, but as soon as I sorted one problem out, another one materialised.’
‘Is it that Patrick again?’
‘Yeah, the guy is a liability.’
She sighed. This bloke who worked there, Patrick, seemed to be at the bottom of everything that got messed up at Jason’s work. Pippa was a very forgiving person, but this Patrick was really starting to get on her nerves. ‘How comes he hasn’t been fired by now? This guy has been causing you so much extra work; surely he’s had his quota of mistakes by now?’
‘You would think, but it’s out of my hands. I’ve told the guys up in head office about him but apparently he’s really good at his job, in general, so they seem to overlook all these little mistakes he’s making. It doesn’t seem to matter that it creates a whole barrage of work for other people.’
‘So it’s not just you, there are other people that have to go in of a weekend to catch up?’
‘Yeah, there’s a few of us here. The guy has a lot to answer for, causing this much additional work.’
Pippa gave up. There was clearly no point in this conversation. She really disliked this Patrick for taking up so much of their free time together. She could only hope that the guy would trip himself up sooner or later and she would get her husband back. ‘Anyway, never mind that, are you coming home now?’
‘Yeah, I’ll be home soon.’
‘I’ll wait for you then. I bought some bits in town today. I thought we could have a nice dinner together, you know, to celebrate?’
‘Sounds great. I’ll call you when I leave.’
Pippa hung up and after looking at the time, decided to put the dinner on hold. She went upstairs and pulled open her wardrobe. It had been a few weeks since they’d had some quality time together. She pulled out a little black dress and her make-up bag and quickly typed a text.
Let’s make this a night to remember and go out to celebrate. Text me when you leave and I’ll meet you at the station xx
She typed another message to Zoe.
Do you want to meet up for some celebratory dinner with me and Jason? You can bring the new boyfriend?
*****
Pippa had been sitting on the sofa watching the clock for the past hour. Every minute that went by, her mood worsened. First irritation (he’s always bloody late), then frustration (why can’t he be on time, just once), then anger (he’s taking the piss) and now, worry (oh my God, what if something has happened?) She took one last glance at the clock as it ticked over to 11pm and then pressed call on her phone.
It took Jason two separate calls before he finally picked up.
‘Pip?’ he called out, shouting over the loud music in the background.
‘Jason? Is everything okay?’
‘What? Oh yeah, fine. You?’
A surge of rage bolted through her body. ‘Where are you?’
‘What? I can’t hear you properly, hang on.’ She listened as the music gradually died down to a dull hum in the background. ‘That’s better, what’s up?’
‘Where are you?’ She was now pacing the living room.
‘I’m at the Bull and Hound; they’ve got live music in tonight. The band is fucking awesome!’
‘What are you doing there? I sent you a text asking you to let me know when you were on your way home.’ She was throwing her arms about as she spoke, not caring that he couldn’t see her. ‘I arranged for Zoe and her new boyfriend to meet us – I told you this!’
‘I know and I will. I’m not leaving yet, so I haven’t texted. Jeez, chill the fuck out.’
‘Why have you gone to the pub? I got dressed up; I thought we were going to celebrate tonight?’ The anger was subsiding but Pippa found herself getting emotional now. Bloody hormones.
‘I am celebrating. What’s the big deal?’
Annoyance dripped through her tone. ‘I meant, together!’
‘Well come down here, then.’ He had clearly started to make his way back into the pub as the music was getting louder again.
‘Jason, I don’t want to be in a pub full of drunken people and loud music. I thought we could celebrate together, you know, a meal or something.’ Like she was going to let everyone see Jason treat her like shit because he was drunk. No chance. She needed it to be just him and her when he was like this. She didn’t want to give anyone fuel for gossip.
‘What?’
‘Go back outside, it’s too loud!’ She was shouting now. She hated it when he had a drink. He was supposed to be cutting down now that she was pregnant. Guess there was no chance of that happening.
‘Listen, I’ll be home by midnight and I’ll bring in a takeaway, yeah? We can have our meal then.’ He then raised his voice to be heard over the music, calling out to a friend, ‘Yeah, get me another one. Same again!’
‘Jason, please. Just come home.’ She knew what he was like when he drank too much and she really didn’t want to have to deal with him later on.
‘Oh get off my case, Pip; I’m having a few drinks with mates. I’ll be home at midnight.’
And with that, he hung up. And Pippa knew he wouldn’t be home at midnight, so she took herself upstairs and after getting changed out of her dress and taking her make-up off, she got into bed and let the tears fall, where no one could see her. She looked through her phone messages to Zoe, cancelling the meet because of ‘nausea’. She hated it when Jason’s selfishness meant she had to cancel things and lie to her friends. If she didn’t want this baby so much, she would just walk out the door and never come back. She hated the financial hold he had on her.
‘Morning, sleepy head.’
Ellie opened her eyes as a stream of sunlight shot into the room as a result of Zoe opening the living-room curtains. She groaned and pulled the cover up over her face.
‘Here, I made you a coffee. It’s decaf, mind.’
‘Why?’ Ellie’s voice