KARMA

19. VIOLENT DELIGHTS AND VIOLENT ENDS

A Note from Ashleigh

This chapter is brand new, except for a few lines.

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LISA

Jen and I and her two children, Carol and Sam, are on the way to my mum's house. She has invited us over for dinner. Charlie, Jen's husband, has a meeting, and will be coming on his own later this evening.

The radio is playing Rihanna's "Take A Bow".

And don't tell me you're sorry 'cause you're not
Baby when I know you're only sorry you got caught

"What did he get caught by?" asks Sam. He's five, and really smart. "A monster?"

Carol snorts. She's eight, and is very bossy.

"She's mad cause her boyfriend likes another girl, silly. She found out. She caught him. Right, Mummy?"

"The girl in the song is angry and her heart is bruised because her boyfriend went off with another girl and she's upset about it," Jen says.

"What's bruised, Mummy?" Sam asks.

"It's like when you fall down and hurt yourself, silly. What's her heart is bruised mean, Mummy?" Carol says.

"It means her heart hurts, sweetie."

"Oh." Carol goes quiet for a moment and then says, "He should have told her, shouldn't he?"

"He should have told her what?"

"That he was going off with the other girl. Then it would have been okay, wouldn't it? Then, her heart wouldn't be bruised."

"Well, no."

"Why not? They could have all gone off together," Sam chips in.

"I don't think that would have worked, baby."

"Why? It's okay for two girls to love the same boy, isn't it? Isn't it, Aunt Liz?" Jen sighs with relief. Two earnest little faces are now turned to mine.

"No, sweetie. The boy should decide between the girls."

"Why?"

They should be having this conversation with their granny because suddenly, I no longer have the answers. "It's just the way it is," Jen says helplessly. "Oh, look, here we are."

The car turns into my mum's driveway.

My phone buzzes.

Another text from Ryan. I delete it without reading it. There have been so many texts and calls from him, all unanswered by me.

He's already signed the divorce papers. The grounds for divorce: Adultery. His. Susan has signed her divorce papers. The grounds for divorce: Adultery. Hers. Ryan has given me almost everything without a fight. The house, his shares and stocks and assets, halved for me. A beach cottage in Wales. A monthly allowance, more than generous, to me. Susan wouldn't be happy about that. In contrast, she gets pittance. Maxim has provided indisputable evidence --- photographs and videos and incriminating texts detailing her year-old adultery. I hear from Maxim that both Ryan and Susan have been terminated from their positions. The Board of Directors were adamant that they had to be purged from the firm; its reputation was at stake. There had been an uproar among its clients, many of whom had threatened to take their business elsewhere if punishment was not meted out to the scandalous, shameless pair of cheaters. Online, social media continued to mock them. Ryan and Susan had had to delete their accounts; they had been flooded with a barrage of hatemail.