She held her hands up. “Okay, that part you can speak to Cole about!”
“Prude,” I muttered under my breath.
Oakley shook her head.
“Jasper, if you’re worried you need to talk to her.”
“I can hardly come out with are you fucking around again, can I?”
“Maybe be a little more grown up about it… If that’s possible.” Oh, ha fucking ha! “You should be able to talk to her about anything.”
“Well sorry my marriage isn’t as perfect as yours.”
“Mine’s not perfect. I want to kill Cole fifty per cent of the time, but I’d sure as hell ask him if I thought he was cheating.”
It was easy for her; she knew Cole would never cheat. The guy had been in love with her since they were kids. He waited four years for her. They were each other’s firsts. They were pathetically perfect for each other. Me and Abby had hot sex and then we fell in love. And then she cheated and turned me into a whore; which was fun through my twenties but now I was twenty-seven if I had to be single again, sleeping around would just make me feel like a sad old man. A fun sad old man, but still a sad old man.
“Maybe I should do some snooping.”
“No, Jasper, just talk to her.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna snoop first.”
She sighed. “If she finds out you’ve been checking up on her rather than just–”
“La la la. I’ve made up my mind.”
“Oh my God my daughter’s more mature than you.”
“Mummy, I got two chocolate biscuits, and Daddy said I don’t have to share with Uncle Jasper,” Everleigh announced as she strut into the room. She was three going on fifteen.
“Well Daddy’s a–”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Oakley snapped. I grinned.
Everleigh and I swam for an hour – well, I raced around after her and constantly had to wipe the water she splashed at me out of my eyes – and then I dropped her home.
Oakley had told me to be grown up about things and speak to Abby, but let’s be honest, where did that ever get you? Pussy-whipped and fucked over, that’s where. Not a place I wanted to be, so I was snooping. Abby was in the shower, possibly getting ready to screw another man, so I reached into her jacket pockets and found just a lipstick.
Her bag was on the kitchen table. I got told off for leaving stuff on there, my surf board mostly, but her bag, new shoes, make-up and umbrella was fine – inequality at its bloody finest. The bag was open. If she left it open she was inviting people to look, and if I didn’t touch anything, technically, I wasn’t going through her things.
I peered in and saw the usual crap women kept in bags and a watch box. Armani watch at that, not a shabby one. My stepdad, Miles’ birthday present no doubt. I hoped.
Standing back, I took a swig of my beer. There was nothing incriminating. Maybe it really was all in my messed up head.
“Babe, I’m going now,” she said, grabbing her bag off the table and kissing my cheek. “You’re sure you don’t mind? Perhaps we can do something the day after tomorrow? Or we can stop off in a bar after Miles’ party tomorrow? I feel like we never spend time together anymore.”
Oh, whose fault is that!
“Sure. Day after tomorrow sounds good. I volunteered us to look after Everleigh tomorrow night.”
Abby smiled. “Yeah? That sounds great. We can rent a Disney film and make popcorn. Let her have a late night.” Abby loved having Everleigh over. She wanted a kid as much as I did; we couldn’t wait to be parents but recently she’d spoken less about it.
“She’ll love that.”
“Good. I gotta run. Love you.”
“Love you too.” I watched my wife walk out to spend her Friday night with people who were not me again and sighed. I didn’t care that she was going out. I cared that her going out made things different between us. I was now the one that she fit into a tiny slot in her schedule, rather than her friends. She might as well be married to her job and colleagues.
What the hell was I doing waiting in every night while my wife is out having fun? Shaking my head at how whipped I really was, I pulled my mobile from my pocket and dialled Brad’s number.
“Jasper, ‘sup?”
“Wanna go out and get shitfaced?”
He chuckled. “I’m in. I’ll drop Ben and Cole a text and meet you at the pub in thirty.”
I snorted. Like Cole would go.
“Right.”
I hung up and went to have my own shower and spend the night getting wasted with the guys. I love my wife, but I sure as hell wasn’t sitting around for her. If she didn’t give a crap about our marriage, which was clearly in trouble, then why the hell should I?
Chapter Two
I walked into the bar and Cole, Ben and Brad sat on a table in the corner. Well fuck me, the pussy came out! “Let you out then, did she?” I said to Cole as I sat down and took the unnatural green-coloured shot that was waiting for me.
He rolled his eyes. “So what’s Abby done that’s caused me to leave my horny wife at–”