Lyn and Ron got married. Julie and I had attended the wedding. Sue, my wife was supposed to be in Sydney at a skating competition.
I had talked to Debbie who told me that Sue had left me and had cleared out all our belongings. I checked my accounts and found she had also cleaned out all our savings as well as my last month’s salary. I had tried calling Sue but her mobile was switched off and our home phone was not being answered.
We joined Ron and Lyn at their honeymoon house. During the evening Ron has sex with Julie. I had not expected it and combined with the issues of Sue leaving me, I broke down. When I had recovered we left and flew back to Perth the next morning.
I had not organized transport to get home. The only money I had was a couple of hundred dollars in cash. I knew that Julie had money but I was not going to ask her to help out. The only person who knew that we were flying back that morning was Debbie. I had called her to let her know that I would pick up the new house keys from her around midday.
We left the plane and when we walked into the baggage area there was Debbie with her son waiting for us. She smiled, gave a big wave and rushed over to me then threw her arms around my neck. When we disengaged, I found that she was crying.
“Why are you crying, Debbie? Is something wrong with Gloria?”
“No, Gloria is fine. I’m just so upset about what Sue has done to you.”
“Hey, Debbie, it’s OK. I have been expected her to leave. It’s a lot sooner than I had expected but that’s OK. I’d like you to meet Julie. Julie is a very good friend of mine.”
“Hi Julie, it’s good to meet you.”
“Hi Debbie, pleased to meet you.”
I thought I should explain a little more to Julie. “Julie, Debbie has kept house for us the last few years. When we first came over to the west, Debbie was our babysitter. She has a partner, Gloria. You may remember that I’ve mentioned Debbie and Gloria to you.”
“Yes, so this is your son, Gordon, Debbie?”
“It’s Goyse actually. We named him after his dad. His dad didn’t tell us that Goyse was his nickname.”
“Come here lad and give me a big hug. You’re a handsome little bugger, aren’t you? I’ll bet you have some trouble keeping the girls at bay when you get a bit older. You much be a very proud mum, Debbie. I’ve never had children but one day I hope to.”
“Yes, he’s a good kid. I’m very lucky. I’m hoping to have a little brother or sister for him soon.”
“Oh, are you?” Julie looked directly at me and then looked back to Debbie with a worried look on her face. It was a surprise to me as well but it told me what Debbie and Gloria wanted to talk to me about.
“It was a surprise to see you here, Debbie. Were you meeting someone?”
“Yes,” she kept us in suspense for a while then burst out laughing. “Of course, I am. I’m here to pick you up. I knew that because Sue had stripped your house she probably also stripped your accounts so I came up to see if you needed a lift.”
“We do actually but what if someone else was picking us up?”
“If that was the case, Goyse, then we would have had a nice, enjoyable drive.”
We grabbed our bags and headed home. The girls sat up front while the two Goyse’s sat in the rear. After about ten minutes, Debbie’s son was fast asleep. This wasn’t wasted on Julie who asked Debbie about her desire to have another child. She started the conversation by telling Debbie that she knew that I was the father of her son.
Debbie didn’t answer immediately but then she addressed me, “Goyse, Julie must be very important to you for you to share that information. I thought that we had an agreement to keep that confidential?”
“You need not worry about Julie. She will only ever discuss it with you, me and Gloria. I was as surprised as you were that she raised it. Perhaps you need to explain to us, Julie.”
“If Debbie is planning to have a second child, I was wondering did she plan to have it with the same father.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Goyse about it yet but yes, I was hoping that Goyse would help Gloria and me out again.”
“I’ve got an interest now, that’s all. I hope that when you decide to talk to him about it you don’t leave me out.”
“Goyse, is that what you want?”
“You heard Julie. She has every right to ask to be included.”
“Hell man, you’re a quick worker. Sue only left you a couple of days ago.”
“As I said to you before, her leaving was not a surprise. The only shock was the timing. We thought it was at least three years away. Julie and I met in the states. She came back with me.”
“That must have been a big risk for you, Julie?”
“Not really, he came highly recommended. I got a five years replacement warranty thrown in as well.”
We all burst out laughing. It was the break from the conversation that we needed. I was not comfortable with it at all. I had given Julie a rock-solid promise that she would be the only woman in my life then bingo up pops Debbie who wants me to bed her to get her pregnant. Not really the way to start a one on one, exclusive, long-term relationship.
When we got home, the house looked bare. Debbie had organized a bed, a table and chairs, a refrigerator and a washing machine. Not very lavish furnishing for a five-bedroom home designed for entertaining. What worried me most is that much of the furnishing belonged to the company. Not only did I need to replace it but it needed to be equivalent to the furnishings that Sue had taken.
Julie came to my aid by insisting that I move in with her for the foreseeable future.
Sue had however left me with my work car. She had taken the brand new Audi which I had saved up for and purchased with cash. This pissed me off no end. Losing the furniture was bad. Losing all our savings and having the credit cards taken to their limit was worse but losing my Audi was like the end of the world. I don’t get pissed off real easy but when I do I start to worry even myself. Sue had pissed me off real bad.
The bank manager was quite helpful. He immediately shut down my cards and issued me with credit cards with an increased credit limit. My boss had also heard via the grapevine and called to offer me a credit on my future salary. I expect the paymaster had notified him after my earlier query.
Life was looking up again. Each night Julie and I made love after which she went to sleep. Sleep for me was more difficult. Years ago I had written some poetry and the urge came back to me. The words fell out of my brain at the most surprising times, sometimes sitting on the toilet. Another time prose came to me in the middle of a work meeting to discuss productive with the team leaders. The urge was overwhelming so I set aside a couple of hours every night directly after Julie and I made love to write.