Brenda, who was so cynical she should have run for election, would probably say she wasn’t in the least surprised.
And Evelyn . . . Telling Evelyn would mean admitting that, after years of watching Evelyn get over Rob, finally Callie was in the same boat.
The next day, she and Evelyn went to Pilates, and afterwards, Callie was ready: ‘Coffee?’
‘Definitely,’ said Evelyn.
They walked down the road to a chichi little café that served every coffee known to woman as well as a wonderful variety of paleo/gluten-free/dairy-free snacks. God forbid that any woman in her lululemon gear ordered a plain old bun.
‘We are about to undo all the good work we did,’ Evelyn said cheerfully, looking at the menu once they’d found a table and ordered coffees.
‘Yeah,’ said Callie absently.
Ev, who had known her for a very long time, said: ‘What’s up?’
Callie rested her elbows on the table.
‘It’s Jason, isn’t it?’
‘I, oh – I don’t know. I might be imagining it,’ blurted out Callie.
‘Tell me.’
‘You’re the only person I can tell. He’s so distant lately, he’s out a lot and—’
‘You’re wondering what that means,’ Evelyn finished for her.
‘Yes.’ Callie couldn’t help it, she nibbled her thumb, working her way at a tough bit of skin.
‘Go on.’
‘I hoped that maybe it was a hassle with work and things he needed to do at weekends and late-night dinners and—’
The coffee arrived and Callie put off finger-nibbling for the relief of stirring a quarter spoon of sugar into hers.
‘And?’ pushed Evelyn.
‘I feel something’s wrong. I have nothing to go on, Ev, but it feels wrong . . .’
Evelyn fiddled with her coffee spoon for a moment. Displacement activity.
‘You think he’s got a girlfriend, right?’
Callie looked down and hoped she wouldn’t start crying, not now, with half the Pilates class close by.
‘First, I don’t know anything, Callie, and if I did, I’d tell you. I wished I’d trusted my instincts from the start. It was always like that with Rob when he was seeing someone new. He’d become totally involved with her and there would be lots of’ – Evelyn put her fingers in the air to make quote marks – ‘dinners with clients and last-minute meetings.’ When I found out the first time, there had been a weekend trip away because someone they were working with had tickets to the opera in Milan and they needed to cement the relationship. Rob. Opera. As if!’ She rolled her eyes.
Callie drank some of her coffee as she listened but it tasted bitter.
She had consoled Evelyn plenty after she and Rob had broken up, but there was a difference between listening to your dear friend talk about betrayal and facing it yourself.
‘I knew for years that Rob was a serial cheater – not that we ever discussed it, how stupid was that? – but the real Rob would eventually come back to me and the kids. We’d have a glorious few months before it would all start again.’
‘Why didn’t you discuss it?’ said Callie and then thought pot, kettle, black. Why hadn’t she confronted Jason? Because she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Hearing him say the words and imagining it going on were two very different things to deal with.
Evelyn sighed. ‘I didn’t want to, that’s why. I was stupid and needy. I wanted to be with Rob because I loved him. I told myself that we had kids together and a history . . . Eventually, I ran out of space in my head for all the lies. One Friday afternoon, when we were all supposed to be going to a pizza restaurant that night, he rang to say he’d had to fly to London suddenly and he’d be away till Sunday.’
Evelyn stared into the distance, remembering.
‘I just flipped. I yelled at him that I was sick of his girlfriends and all the lying. He blustered, told me I was wrong and I hung up. Gave him time. Time to choose. Time to get on the plane and come back home. To us.’
Callie reached over and grabbed her friend’s hand. She knew what had happened.
Rob hadn’t come home. He’d stayed away.
‘Rob was an idiot, Evelyn, you know that.’
‘Yes, but I have to pretend it was all mutual to the kids because you can’t punish them,’ Evelyn said with the fluidity of someone who had told herself this often enough. ‘Although I’d say the poor counsellor I saw is now deaf from all my screeching. But I didn’t screech at home with the boys. I went off-site. That’s important – keep your nervous breakdown out of the house.’
Evelyn laughed without humour.
‘Tell me about it,’ she went on. ‘Gut instinct?’
Callie sipped a bit of her coffee.
‘My gut says something’s up and what else can it be? It’s hard to put my finger on it, but Jason has been working late a lot and he’s stressed. His picture is under the words “emotionally absent” in the dictionary.’
She realised she felt relieved to be saying this out loud.
‘He’s been away for a few weekends and he never used to work weekends, never.’
They both considered this.
Callie backtracked a bit.
‘Of course, you know how he loves going out and how he and Rob liked to have a dinner together once a month with us,’ she said, feeling suddenly guilty because once upon a time it had been Evelyn and Rob at those dinners and now it was Rob and the much younger Anka.
‘It’s OK, you can say it,’ said Evelyn. ‘I’m over Rob, it’s fine. I know you guys go out because he’ll phone and mention it, and I go out into the garden and pour salt on the slugs eating my plants. Great for inner rage.’
They both laughed.
‘Callie, I honestly don’t think that Jason has been cheating on you. I think I’d know.’
‘How would you?’ said Callie, desperate for consolation.
‘Rob and I talk all the time, mainly about the kids but he goes on about work and I think there’s something hassling them with the office right now. I honestly think that’s it and trust me, I would tell you if I thought Jason was seeing someone.’
She was quiet for a moment as if considering how to put this. ‘Rob’s a good liar but I’d pick up on it if he was hiding something about Jason. And he’s always admired you. He talks about you, Jason and Poppy like you’re a perfect family.’ Evelyn smiled wryly. ‘I think he fancied you a million years ago. I used to feel jealous of you in the early days.’