This is more of a companion piece to 'A welcome break'.
*****
A lonely mid morning bench in an almost deserted little suburban park on a dry, cloudy Winter weekday. The morning frost has gone, leaving drying grey asphalt paths and stark leafless trees under grey, poorly-backlit English skies. A slender young woman wearing dark blue jeans and a maroon Helly Hansen crew jacket sits alone on a graffiti scarred wood. Her demeanour radiates a clear 'leave me alone' signal. Low heeled walking boots speak of a serious hill walker. A bright yellow chunky knit jumper peeps out from the jackets partly undone zip. She is ferociously reading an eBook, heart shaped face set in an unattractive frown of concentration under minimal makeup, long dark blonde hair tied back in a severe ponytail. A plain dark leather shoulder bag, discreetly expensive, sits beside her on graffiti scarred wooden bars.
Another more femininely dressed figure, half a head shorter, swaddled in scarves and a heavy red gore-tex coat enters the park and looks around. Spotting the seated woman she approaches, tan booted high heels tapping an elegant backbeat to the dance of her footsteps. "Marissa! Darling. It's so good to see you." She smiles as she arrives at the seated woman's bench.
"Hello Tanya." The seated woman looks up, tries to smile and fails.
"I got your text. Can we go somewhere warm?" Shivers Tanya.
"I like being out in the cold." Says Marissa, still reading.
"Well I don't, it's bad for the complexion."
"Please yourself."
"Well hello yourself grumpyboots."
"Can you stop being so relentlessly cheerful?" Pleads Marissa, looking up.
"Oh. Sorry to be so insensitive." Tanya says sarcastically, sitting down on the benches end.
"And don't gloat." Snaps Marissa.
"I'm not gloating. You're just being gloomy. I just thought you might like to talk to an old friend. You know, your bestie from home? The one who always brought along a shoulder to cry on?" Tanya chides her old friend.
"It's Tristan." Marissa states flatly.
"Okay. That's more or less what Peter told me." Tanya nods sagely.
"He's such a gormless twat."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"What's he doing?"
"More what he isn't."
"Oh you poor thing."
"Stop being patronising."
"Well pardon me for breathing. Shall I sod off and leave you to dissolve in abject misery, or should I stay and help out my oldest bestest friend? No pressure."
"Oh don't be angry with me Taz. I'm sorry."
"That's better. Oh come on darling, don't cry." Tanya hands over a tissue.
"N-no. I'm sorry."
"No need to apologise darling. Look, there's something I need to tell you and I need to tell you over a serious drink."
"Why?"
"Because I might want to help my best friend ever out of a deep dark pit she's dug for herself?"
"What are you going to tell me?"
"Just stuff."
"Oh no Taz! Don't tell me you've turned dyke?"
"No." Tanya's mouth twists in an ironic smile. "Well. Only a little."
"What!"
"Oh don't be so scandalised Maz. I don't recall you fighting off that rug muncher room mate you used to have at Uni."
"That was before I married Tristan, so it doesn't count."
"Everyone knew." Laughs Tanya. "Jules could always find your volume button."
"Stop that! Someone might hear!" Marissa looks around and blushes furiously.
"That you once danced with dykes? Oh my. You boarding school girls." Tanya laughs and feigns a swooning gesture, back of her hand to her forehead.
"Taz, no!" Marissa cringes.
"Fingers up every orifice if what I heard was true." Tanya grins at her.
"Stop it!"
"Now you're just a wrinkly old prude."
"I am not wrinkly!" Marissa puts a horrified hand to her face. "Oh God, please tell me I'm not."
"Well no, but you're still a prude." Concedes Tanya, shrugging prettily.
"I am not."
"Hypocrite then."
"I'm not!"
"I used to live in the student digs across the street from you and we all knew when Maz and Jules were at it. You weren't much of a study aid, I can tell you."
"Sorry."
"What for? Listening to you come from across the street was way more fun than reading some of the dusty stuff our professors set us as coursework. I used to quite look forward to you two getting it on. Chewing cold pizza and reading by an open window to save on electricity, listening to my old schoolfriend getting eaten out. It was thanks to you I almost didn't get a law degree at all."
"Was I that bad?"
"Bad? From what I could hear you were absolutely bloody superb darling. Come on. Let's go get that drink." Tanya says with a bright little smile.
"I don't want a drink."
"Better a miserable drunk than just bloody miserable." Tanya stands.
"Thank you Tanya bloody Voltaire."
"No seriously. You need a bit of a stiffener. Or maybe you just need a good stiffie. How long has it been?" Tanya teases.
"Taz!"
"Soz old thing, can't oblige without a toy. Now get off your arse and we'll both go get a bit squiffy and rattle about old times."
"Taz, what has got into you?"
"That's what I want to talk about."
"This isn't going to get perverted is it?"
"Don't be silly, we're just two old friends going for a chat over a drink. You need cheering up."
"My marriage needs cheering up."
"Oh come on, we'll talk about that too. You can spill all your woes on the table and I'll try and help clean them up."
"Lovely metaphor."
"I do corporate law, not poetry darling. I fall a bit short on that front. Now get off your bum. I could do with a coffee." Tanya stands up, shouldering her bag.
"I thought you said alcohol?"
"An Irish coffee."
"It's a bit early for alcohol."
"All right." Sighs Tanya. "We'll have a Latte, but let's get out of this cold."
"All right." Marissa picks up her shoulder bag and gets up to follow. "Where do you want to go?"
"Come on." Tanya turns and leads the way out of the park. "Lets find somewhere private we can talk." She says with an edge in her voice.
'Somewhere private' turns out to be Tanya's BMW X5 in the car park at South Mimms services with two cardboard-clad Latte's sitting in the centre console.
"All right sister. You tell me you and Tris are miserable." Tanya stares out of the windscreen at the drizzle. "You keep on arguing every time he comes home."
"It's like he doesn't care any more." Marissa sniffs. "I think he's having an affair."
"Not according to Peter."
"Yes well Peter wouldn't know his arse from his elbow when it comes to marriage."
"Oh I don't know." Tanya smiles enigmatically. "He's a bit more aware than you might think."
"He's just a man."
"He's my man sister, back it up." Tanya snaps. She looks away angrily, then takes a deep breath and sighs. She looks sidelong at her friend.
"Oh I'm sorry." Marissa starts crying again.
"Oh for heavens sake, Maz. Blow your nose. I didn't mean to be harsh. It's just that I get a little tired of the 'all men are bad' stuff. When it comes to Peter, I got lucky. My first frog did turn out to be a prince. So far." Tanya pats her friend on the hand reassuringly. There is an awkward silence. "Do you regret marrying Tristan?" Tanya asks.
"I don't know." Marissa snivels.
"Have you told him that you're unhappy?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Well, he knows I'm angry with him."
"You two need a good long dunking in cold water and a good long talk. Together." Tanya shakes her head sadly.
"But I don't know how, neither does he..." Says Marissa plaintively. Another long pause follows.
Tanya sighs and brushes a lock of glossy dark hair out of her face. "Maz. Marissa. Darling. I know what you need. You and Tristan."
"What?"
"A good old fashioned honest to goodness fuck. A complete balls to the wall shagging. No holds barred. At least an hour."
"Like that's going to happen." Marissa replies.
"Well something's got to give."
"But we do have sex. I mean, not very good sex, but we do have it." Marissa looks down, her face a study in misery.
"Worse than nothing at all." Tanya stares out of the windscreen for a while. "You know, Peter and I were where you are not so long ago."
"So what did it for you?"