Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,70
that it would start the healing process.
When they had first received the devastating news about Dale’s condition, they had been offered counselling and Elise had been keen to go. They were both raw from all the tests and the final diagnosis however she had felt that it could only be beneficial to get some perspective and expert advice. Dale - in true Dale fashion - had decreed that he would deal with it in his own way and so the decision was taken out of her hands and they never went to counselling. Considering how things had turned out in the ensuing months and years, she really regretted now that she hadn’t pushed the issue with him more.
Releasing a sigh, Elise put the vegetables in the oven to roast. No good would come of going over old ground - she had to find a way to move forwards, whether that was with Dale or not.
Hearing his key in the door, Elise automatically tensed, wondering what kind of mood he would be in. Whilst she was fairly certain he wouldn’t have had a drink - it was far too early - he could be moody enough without it and sometimes that was enough to send him over the edge. Not that he generally got physical with her without the alcohol though.
He entered the kitchen “Well... if it isn’t my beautiful wife...” he drawled “Tied to the kitchen like she should be.”
Great. He was in a sarky mood.
“Hey, babe.” She turned to kiss him, trying hard not to be repulsed as she immediately smelled the alcohol on his breath. A myriad of thoughts ran through her head - he’d not managed to keep away from it for long. How come he had driven home? When had he had a drink? Was this a good thing or a bad thing in terms of asking him about the conference? She mentioned none of these things however, and instead opted for “Did you have a good day?”
“No, it was crap.” he said and automatically took the cup of coffee that she held out to him without so much as a thanks.
“I got roasted for being off sick again on Friday – apparently, my sick record this year is ‘below average’ and I’ve been warned that if I don’t make up the time, then there’s no way I’ll make partner this side of fifty! They can be such assholes sometimes.”
Elise remained silent. Privately, she felt that Dale’s bosses had every right to chew him out – he had been off a lot over the last few months, all self inflicted, and she wasn’t surprised that it was starting to interfere with his work.
“Took myself off for a drink with Keith at lunchtime – man, can that guy drink.” he said referring to his friend. Elise hated Keith with a passion and she knew the feeling was mutual. In the early days he had tried to come onto her and when he finally realised she wasn’t interested, he had spent the rest of his time trying to corrupt Dale and wind her up. Unwittingly it would seem that he was finally succeeding.
“Anyway – gave the whole career thing some thought and decided that I’d talk to the old man and see what I could work out. We’ve agreed for me to put in some extra hours over the next few days and then we’ll review the situation. Means I’ll be working long days for the rest of the week...probably won’t have time for anything other than sleep.” He yawned.
“Sorry, precious,” he added with a leer, “seems you won’t be able to take advantage of this for a while.” and in a deliberately lewd gesture, he grabbed at his crotch – his party trick these days, it would seem.
Elise tried not to register any emotion on her face and ignored the innuendo. For a minute there, he had been really lucid and she had been impressed that he had decided to sort things out at work. The problem with Dale was that he didn’t stray far from his natural path for long and with one quick comment and gesture, they were right back at square one.
“Why don’t you go and sit down?” she said, “Dinner won’t be long and there’s something that I need to talk to you about.”
“Oh yeah? My little wifey has something to say? That should be interesting.” Christ, Dale really was a complete bastard when he drank. God knows how he had managed to