the wrong kind of love #14

Chapter 14
“I knew it!” muttered Mandy as white as a sheet.“I don’t know which trip she is going on. There are 2 different ones!” answered Brian, trying to make her feel better, “And I know of others going too…Martin…James…Keith…”“But she is going!” she spat.Brian looked at her and then looked away. He didn’t tell her about the office rumour, but she had sussed he knew something else by the fact that he was still avoiding his eyes.“You know something else!” she announced.“Huh?” he asked. How on earth could she know?“There is something else you are keeping from me. What is it?” she sighed.“I don’t know anything else!” he gasped, trying to sound as sincere as possible.Mandy rolled her eyes and got closer to him, “Look Brian. My husband is going away this weekend and I am not even going to see him on our anniversary. Now I wanna know the real reason why!” she growled, looking at him menacingly.Brian flinched, “Wow! He is going away on your anniversary? That’s harsh!”“Stop changing the subject Brian!” she scolded, trying to maintain eye contact with him “And stop trying to protect him. If my husband is up to no good then I want to know!”If only she knew it was her he was trying to protect. He didn’t want to see her heart breaking. But from the looks of it, it already was. He sighed knowing there was no way out of this conversation. He wished someone would ring hi with some kind of emergency where he had to dash off suddenly, but then again, she deserved to know about the rumour. Even if it was just a rumour.“There is a rumour going round at work!” he finally admitted with a sigh, chewing on his nails.“What rumour?” she asked, looking at him suspiciously.Brian remained quiet and tried to find an easy way of saying it.“Brian, what rumour?” she demanded to know, getting impatient.“Apparently, Charlene is seeing some married bloke in accounts and is going on a business trip with him!” he sighed, looking away from her.Mandy bowed her head down and scratched her forehead. Seeing her disappointment, he knew he had to react quickly.“It doesn’t mean it’s your husband though. There are loads of married men in accounts who are going away on business trips, Mandy. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s Nicky!” he added.Mandy shook her head, “but it’s his office she traipsed into that day!”“Course it was. She is his secretary!” he laughed.“He could not wait to get rid of me, Brian!” she growled.“Well, I dunno. Maybe they were discussion something else, like…a present for your birthday!”“My birthday is not for another 6 months!” she sighed.Brian thought about this for a while.“Oooh your anniversary present!” he shouted, hoping that made sense.Mandy shook her head, “No. There is something going on. I have that feeling!” she sighed sadly. Brian saw the tears threatening to come out and frowned. He sighed and grabbed her hand.“Why don’t you just go and ask him, straight out!” he rubbed his thumb over her hand.“What if he says yes?” she whispered, as a tear rolled down her cheek.Brian raised his hand and wiped it off with his thumb, “Then you can rest, knowing the truth. Suspecting is worse than It will be good to know the truth. Whatever happens, Mandz, I will be there for you ok? If you need to move out, you can always stay at mine!” he smiled.Mandy bit her lip and nodded, “Did you find out anything about that vacancy at your work?” she asked, changing the subject.Brian shook his head, “The boss has been away this week. I will ask on Monday when he gets back ok? But are you sure you still want to work there?”“Yeah!” sighed Mandy, “I will be closer to Nicky and Charlene and I will see for myself what my darling husband gets up to in the office!”Brian sighed and stared at her, “but it could get difficult if you split up!”“We are not splitting up!” she huffed.Brian gave her confused looks, “But you said…what if…” he stopped and thought hard about what he was going to say in the best way possible, “Well, what if your husband and Charlene…Well, wouldn’t you dump him?”“Brian, you dump boyfriends, not husbands!” she sighed.“You know what I mean!” he sighed back.Mandy just shook her head. This was really hard for her.“So if this rumour was true, and Nicky was seeing Charlene behind your back, you would stay with him. Is that what you are trying to say?” he gasped.“I would not give her the satisfaction of keeping him for herself!” she growled.“Even if he is shagging her behind your back?” he shrieked.“Don’t turn me against him, Brian!” she snapped.“I’m not…I’m not trying to turn you against him. God, I wouldn’t even dream about doing that, but would you be able to forgive him?” he asked.“I don’t know, Brian. I don’t know anything anymore. My mind is such a mess, I cannot even think straight!” She whined, letting her head drop on the table.Brian stared at her and sighed, as she lifted her head again, “If the rumour is true, babe. You will probably get a lot of mixed feelings. Feelings you probably never even thought existed. You’ll feel hurt, angry, grief, disappointment…you do need to think about all that!”“I don’t want to!” she whispered, as the next load of tears flowed down, “God, why is this so fucking hard?”“You don’t know anything for sure, ok Mandz? Don’t get yourself all worked up. He could be innocent for all you know! She could be seeing some other guy. You need to talk to him and the sooner you do that, the better!” he advised her, grabbing her hand again.“I know!” she mumbled, wiping her tears away.Brian stared at her as she distractedly stirred her half drunk coffee.“Listen. Let’s get your mind off all this, this afternoon yeah?” he smiled, trying to lift her mood a bit.“What will be hard when I cannot think about anything else!” she moaned, pushing her coffee away from her. The waiter came with the bill and Brian started taking his wallet out.“What are yo doing?” she asked.“Paying!” answered Brian, giving her blank looks.“No!” she answered, shaking her hands in front of him, “You put your money away. I’ll get these!”“It’s ok Mandy. My treat ok?” he smiled, taking his note back out again.Mandy shook her head, “Brian, you paid for the coffees the last time. It’s my turn now!” she insisted.“It’s ok babe. I don’t mind!” he laughed.“But I do, so put it away!” she repeated.Brian laughed and put his 20-euro note back in his pocket, “you are one stubborn mare, you know that?”Mandy half smiled as she placed a crisp 20-euro note in the dish in front of her, “And proud of it. The waiter took it away and brought back the change. Mandy picked up the change, except the coins, which she left in there for a tip.Brian looked at her and smiled, “How about we go for a walk down town and you could do some shopping to cheer yourself up! I hear retail therapy works wonders on women!”Mandy looked at him and laughed, “You’re volunteering to come shopping with me?”Brian smiled and nodded, “Why not?”“Wow! You’re brave!” she giggled.Brian grinned at her, “I just wanted to cheer you up!”“Let me explain something to you, Brian. Shopping with me entails going into a shop, spend hours, and I mean HOURS trying to decide whether I want that skirt, or that shirt, or that hat, or those shoes, etcetera etcetera, try it on, decide it’s not for me, continue looking around, trying on loads of other stuff, only to place them back again and buying the very first item I tried on!” she grinned, “You have no idea what you are letting yourself in for!”“Meh. I’ll risk it!” he grinned, “Anything to see a smile on your face!”Mandy laughed lightly and shook her head, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” she grinned as they both walked out of Starbucks and into the busy crowed town centre.