Chapter 14
It was mid-December and heavy snow had taken the place of the gales and rain. It felt a lot more bitter and remote now. Nothing was open, and the temperature outside was too low for kids to be playing in. The conditions were harsh and worsening and Jack didn’t feel good about being trapped in his own home.
Jack got up to answer the phone that Saturday afternoon. It was Marc’s mother.
“Hello? Myer’s house. Who is this?”
“Oh Jack, my, but you sound so grown up! Do you think you could put your daddy on the phone for me, please?”
“Okay. Daddy! Phone! He’s coming now, bye.” He scooted off back in front of the television to watch his cartoons.
Marc picked up the receiver reluctantly and went to speak.
“Marc! How could you be so stupid? Why did you cheat on Rachel?”
“Mom, calm down. You’ve only heard her side of the story; you haven’t even given me a chance. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m not talking about this over the phone. Sorry. She’s the one who’s decided on divorce.” He was close to breaking, but managed to hold it together.
“Div… oh, she didn’t tell me that you two were getting a... does Jack know? I wouldn’t tell him just yet, it’s too soon, it would just be too much for him to take in all at once... and also another point, now don’t tell me that you—”
He hung up, cutting his mother off; he’d had enough of her prattling. He was more concerned about something else, about where he would have to go to get his next fix. Now that he’d ditched Adele, who else could he ask? He didn’t think of himself as a full blown addict yet, but he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer. He had become so depressed with his life, this was the only thing that could keep him sane and, more importantly, give him something to live for.
* * * * *
The following day, Howard and Jeannie from next door popped round to see Rachel and Marc. They brought their daughter, Bessie, with them. She was ten, the same age as Jack. She had blonde hair, usually kept back in a loose ponytail and she wore lots of make-up. She tried to look like her mom and had all kinds of make-up stashed in her room, taken from her mother when she wasn’t looking. She and Jack didn’t mind playing together; they had been good friends since they started elementary school.
Rachel greeted them all with a false smile. Jeannie liked to think of herself as superior and was a snob. Everyone could see right through her pretentious and elitist attitude, but would never speak their minds, knowing that she would bite their heads off with her razor sharp comments and put-downs.
“Good afternoon, Rachel. We haven’t seen you in such a long while now. Funny, isn’t it, when we only live next door?” She greeted Rachel with a brief hug, whilst Marc and Howard stood there uncomfortably, not knowing what to say to one another.
“Come in, Jeannie, come in. I’ll brew us some fresh coffee and I know I have a box of cookies left somewhere in the kitchen, unless Jack has been sneaking them!”
Jeannie’s laugh was forced and sounded disdainful but she joined Rachel in the kitchen while Marc showed Howard into the living room and went to get two cold beers. Jeannie sat on one of the hard wooden kitchen chairs, looking quite uncomfortable as she watched Rachel prepare the coffee.
“Are you alright there?” Rachel asked her, receiving a silent grimace in reply.
At last the coffee was brewed and Rachel filled two mugs, handing one to Jeannie.
