(Continued from last issue)
David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.
DAVID
I could not believe Diane had gone as far as to think up such an elaborate plot to get the doctor to the apartment, and could not understand why, or what for?
What had she hoped to gain by it? To drive a wedge between Julie and me? But how could she know I would be at the apartment when he arrived?
And if I was, he would, like he had, tell me what she had done to get him there; so, what purpose would that serve? It did not make any sense at all!
Having gotten rid of the doctor, I had gone on to the house as originally planned, but rather than just pack a bag for the trip with Julie, in my fury at Diane’s latest move, I had emptied out more than half of my clothes and belongings from the wardrobes, and wound up returning to the apartment with three large overflowing suitcases.
Julie did not remark on, or ask me about the three cases, and simply picked out some T-shirts, jeans, toiletries and underwear from them, that she added to the bags she had packed for the trip.
I appreciated her discretion, because the truth was that if she had asked me what bringing most of my belongings to the apartment meant, I would not have had an answer for her.
I stewed over the entire situation throughout the drive to the house and back, and for most of the journey to Jinja, (which I eventually picked for the simple reason that it was further than Entebbe), but still could not make any sense of it, or decide how I was going to respond, and once we crossed the bridge into Jinja, I forced it from my mind, determined not to think about it again for the duration of this short getaway.
Knowing Diane would call once she got home and discovered my things missing, I turned my phone off as soon as we checked into the small, intimate resort I had found online.
I had no doubt, my radio silence would infuriate her, but after the stunt she had just pulled, I couldn’t care less how she felt; I would deal with her after this break, when I could do so with a calm and clear mind, and not before then.
JULIE
Kenneth showing up at the apartment had been such a shock, that it took me a while to fully process what had happened, why it had happened, and my feelings about it.
Hearing that David’s wife was behind the whole thing was terrifying because while I could understand her showing up at the Katosi site to stake her claim over David’s property, that she could go beyond that to orchestrate Kenneth showing up at my apartment, was plain crazy, and clearly the actions of an unhinged, and dangerous person.
Suddenly, I felt like stalked prey. At the same time, there was also a sense of relief and gratitude that David had been at the apartment when Kenneth arrived, but for two very different reasons.
First, was that if Kenneth had arrived before David, and been around when David arrived, David’s reaction would in all likelihood have been very different, and his wife would have achieved her goal, which was no doubt to cause problems between David and me.
As it were, the only problems she had caused were between herself and David; he had been so angry when he left the apartment, that I had prayed for both their sakes that she was not at their house when he got there.
When he returned, laden with what looked like his entire wardrobe, I was dying to ask him what had happened, but I could still see the rage he had left with in his eyes; so, I bit my tongue and resigned myself to waiting for him to give me the answers I sought in his own time.
The second, was one that for all her manipulative scheming, David’s wife could not have predicted, and that was the impact that seeing Kenneth would have on me. Although I was certain I had made the right decision in choosing my relationship with David over one with Kenneth, seeing him again had stirred up feelings and memories that I had long since buried, but apparently had not buried deep enough, as here they were, playing havoc on my emotions.
I was mad at him for showing up at the apartment unannounced and uninvited, and yet, another part of me was touched that despite everything that had happened between us, once he had heard I was in trouble, he had come running.
Suffice to say, it was a good thing David had been there, for if he had not, I was not sure I would have had the strength to send Kenneth away on my own.
DIANE
When there was no response from David by the next morning, and with his phone still turned off, I grew desperate for answers and some sort of explanation of what was going on; so, once I had dropped the children at school, rather than head to the boutique like I normally would, I drove to the apartment complex instead.
I was not sure what answers I would find there, if any at all, but David had left our home in a huff over his whore the previous morning, and by the time I got back home in the evening, he and most of his stuff was gone; so, the apartment seemed like the logical place to start.
I got there a little after eight and was slightly relieved to see that there was no sign of David’s car in the parking lot, but when I went up to the apartment and found that his whore was not there either, that initial relief quickly faded as I realized there was a chance that they might be together.
After all, where else could he have taken his clothes, but to her? Since she was not at the apartment, the only other place I could think of to look for her at was the Katosi site; so, getting back into my car, that was where I headed.
With the morning rush hour traffic now in full force, it took me over an hour to get there, but, this time, I did not even need to get out of my car to see that she wasn’t there. The site was locked up and looked deserted with not even the workers around; I had come looking for answers, but now I only had more questions.
Why had work on the site stopped? Had David been so mad at his whore for asking for a share of the site that he had kicked her off it completely, and if so, and he was not with her, then why had he moved out his stuff from the house, and, more importantly, where was he now?
The only other possibility that came to mind was his mother’s house, and although she was the last person I wanted to see, and her house the last place I wanted to be, I was so desperate for answers, that starting up my car engine again, that was where I headed.
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