few hours.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘See you later.’
‘That you will,’ she giggled, all smiles again. ‘You’ll see all of me later.’
Sighing, Charlie ended the call.
Nine
Charlie spent the next thirty minutes revising Ben’s report. After returning it to Drummond, he sent a hasty text to Willow.
Sorry, babe. Going to have to work late. Ben hasn’t arrived at the office. Something about him and Anna having a blazing row. Currently doing his work and mine. Don’t cook for me. Will grab a burger from the drive-thru xx
Ben slunk in just before noon. He quietly slid into his chair and, within seconds, made it seem as if he’d been about, if not visible.
‘What the heck’s been going on?’ Charlie demanded.
‘I don’t want to discuss it,’ said Ben.
He tapped his keyboard, then pretended to be studying a spreadsheet.
‘Mate, you owe me,’ said Charlie in annoyance. ‘I’ve had a crap time redoing your report and an even crappier time dealing with Drummond. So come on, spit it out.’
‘Ah, you know. Women trouble.’
‘You mean woman trouble.’
‘No, women. In the plural. You see, there’s two of them.’
‘What?’ said Charlie in confusion. ‘Are you trying to tell me you’re seeing someone else?’
‘Sort of.’
‘Sort of?’
‘Ah, you know. It just happened.’
Charlie knew only too well how something “sort of” became “just happened”.
‘Does Anna know? Is that why you had a row?’
‘Noooooo!’ said Ben with a shudder. ‘No way does she know. I’m not up for having the groin cut out of my suits, thank you very much.’
‘Okay, so if Anna doesn’t know about this other woman, why are you late to work? What was going on at home?’
‘The usual monthly nonsense. Full-blown PMT. Every flipping month she goes off her head with rage. This morning she was snarling like a Pitbull because I’d failed to put the lid on the coffee jar. She was absolutely gunning to turn a minor irritation into a major argument. When I refused to react, she snatched my toast and flung it across the kitchen. Seconds later the china plate had followed. It hit the ground and cracked the floor tile. She screamed, “Now look what you made me do”. I told her to calm down and said I’d clear up the mess, but she stalked off. By the time I’d put the broken china in the bin and mopped the floor, she was back looking wild about the eyes. She said she’d rung her office and told them she wouldn’t be in because she had an upset tummy. Then she said I had to stay at home with her to comfort her. I told her not to be daft and said I was going to work. I put on my jacket but couldn’t find my shoes. It turned out she’d hidden them.’
‘Well, why didn’t you put on a different pair of shoes?’ said Charlie.
He thought about his side of the wardrobe at home, the base of which was stuffed with footwear.
‘Surely you have loads of shoes?’
‘Mate, she’d hidden them all’ – Ben flung his arms wide – ‘even my flip-flops.’
‘You’re wearing shoes now. How did you get them off her?’
‘No, Charlie, you don’t understand. I grabbed my car keys and left the house in my socks. I drove to the local shopping mall and visited one of the shoe shops. I felt a right berk walking in with nothing on my feet.’
‘And this is all because Anna has PMT?’
‘Yes!’
‘Why hasn’t she visited her GP?’
‘Oh but she has. Ages ago. The doctor wanted to prescribe anti-depressants.’
‘Truthfully?’
Charlie arched an eyebrow.
‘Yeah. Well I believe so. I didn’t go with Anna to the appointment.’
‘Why anti-depressants?’
‘The quack thought they might stop the mood swinging. Except Anna went bananas at the doctor. “You want to add another statistic to our Prozac nation?” she screamed, before storming out. Mate, she makes my life a misery. Sometimes I wonder if the PMT is just an excuse for her to pick, pick, pick. She’s like a bird with a particularly sharp beak attacking me over anything and everything. Is it any wonder that I responded to the smile of another woman?’
‘A smile?’ Charlie quizzed. ‘A smile is one thing. Letting it become something else is another matter.’
Hark at him. If only Ben knew what he’d been up to.
‘Yeah, I know,’ Ben sighed.
‘Where did you meet her?’
‘In the local Chinese of all places. On that particular night, the trains had been playing up. We’d both got home from work late. Anna was in a mood. As ever. To placate her, I said I’d nip out