"Hey, why don't we -- well maybe we should just let him be? As Tam said, he's obviously already had enough of his life being interfered with, his wife has left him and he has suffered something awful at our hands -- why can't we just let him pretend that he's never met us?"
Tamara and Helena jumped in response to Alanna for very different reasons. Tamara got there first,
"Because babe, I want to make things better, and I feel bad and I think he's a nice guy." She looked pointedly at Helena, "For the right girl."
Alanna sighed, realising that the scene was already set and there was no room for manoeuvre. Helena's response was a lot simpler,
"Because honey, while you're saving your relationship with the crazy one -- I wanna have a go on that big bucking chocolate bronco."
*******
A mix tape. That's what his life had come to. And to make matters worse, it wasn't even a tape, it was a CD. He was a thirty four year old man sitting on the sofa listening to a self compiled mix tape of rejection and he was crying. Crying because his wife had left him, crying because she had found someone else better than him, crying because he wasn't sure what he wanted out of life anymore, and crying because during said crying session, he had forgotten the pasta on the stove and had burnt another pot. This in turn meant that he would now have to go to the superstore with the kids again which he had sworn he would never do again due to the stressful nature of the experience last time.
He looked to the floor where the pile of photos of his soon to be ex wife sat at his feet. The top one was Roni smiling to the camera just before she did her bungee jump in New Zealand. He leant down and rifled through the others. It struck him as he looked through the pile that there were not very many photos of them together. In fact, he barely registered in any of them at all. He had paid for each amazing experience, but hadn't been deemed worthy enough to share the limelight with Veronica Collins nee Grayson. He wondered how he had never noticed that before - that his wife was happier to be in a photograph by herself and for him to be her photographer and cheerleader. Looking back over the time they had spent together, she had always been the centre of attention and he merely a spectator. He had just wanted her to be happy and now he realised that her happiness had been to his cost.
Mike sat back on the sofa knocked out by the revelation and felt tears well up again. This time his sadness was due to his idiocy. He couldn't believe he had spent so much of his life with someone who so patently didn't want him. His sobs intensified as he noticed the photo of Ava and Sebastian grinning at him from on top of the piano and he felt his heart break for them.
The sound of the doorbell jolted Mike out of his sobbing session. Sitting up and removing the tissue which was stuck to his face, he tried to decide whether he actually wanted to answer it. It couldn't have been the kids as they had left him very happily two hours ago when their mother had arrived bearing gifts and promises of a wonderful weekend. The only other person it was likely to be was Tori, Roni's sister, who was prone to checking up on him after hearing about his drunken endeavour and flashing to his neighbours. But given that it was Friday night, Mike was also aware that Greg would currently be convincing Tori to try position number whatever of the Karma Sutra as he did every Friday. So Mike was rather puzzled as to who could have been at the door.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Mike got up from the sofa and made his way to the hallway, stopping to shut the kitchen door firmly and wincing again at the smell. He checked his reflection before opening the door hoping that it wasn't Mrs Ramsbottom who had become quite a frequent visitor since he had made his semi naked appearance at the bottom of his drive a few weeks earlier.
***** Alanna was sure that the surprise she could see on Mike's face as he opened the door was probably mirrored on her own. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure if this was indeed the best idea. If she were honest with herself, the whole time she had been talking herself into making this visit she had changed her mind constantly. She'd decided to go as she'd changed out of her baking clothes and found her good jeans. She'd decided not to go as she found her comfortable boots and decided she'd prefer to go shopping. However, as she had wrapped her scarf around her neck and put on her earrings, she had decided that actually she should make this journey as she really did owe Mike the apology and it would be the best for everyone, especially so that she and Simon could start their new leaf or life or whatever over together.
But as she jammed her hat very heavily on her head, she had resolved that as there was a really good film showing at the local cinema (French, subtitles, death and love) she would much rather go there than have to face Mike again and that was the end decision. The fact that she was now on his doorstep worried her; especially as she didn't even remember travelling there or ringing the doorbell.
But she must have done both because here she was and there he was. While he greeted her, she found herself distracted by just how attractive he was. She tilted her head to look up at him, charmed by the dimple in his chin, and the way his smile revealed white straight teeth. He was smiling with curiosity as if perplexed to find her standing on his doorstep. She, in the meantime, was wondering just why her heart was pounding so quickly and if it was ok to be so utterly beguiled by someone your friend had publicly set their sights on -- let alone the fact that she already had a boyfriend of her own.
Best to be formal, "Hello Michael."
"Umm, hi?"
Alanna bit her lip, and started again,
"Look I know this is out of the ordinary, me showing up on your doorstep without calling first, but I just wanted to come by and apologise for what happened at Tamara's. It shouldn't have and I'm sorry that it happened to you."
She listened to him growl and watched as he grasped the top of the door, leaning his body weight against it, noticing for the first time just how tall he was and wondering what he was wearing under his t-shirt and then she promptly lost her train of thought. The sound of his voice brought her back
"I'm sorry, I missed that -- what did you say?"
He smiled,
"I said, that as polite as your apology is, you have nothing to apologise for. Unless, you're some sort of shapeshifter, as I recall it wasn't you that hit me."
She took a breath to apologise again but he held up his hand.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure that if you were my girl and I came home and found a half naked man in your hall cupboard, I'd have tried to kill me too."
She barked out a surprised laugh and covered her mouth in embarrassment,
"Oh God, and I'm sorry about that too -- I don't know what came over me ---- I've never done anything like that - I think I just panicked."
He nodded once,
"Yes, it seemed you did. Look, do you want to come in rather than loitering on my doorstep -- I've given the neighbours enough to talk about in the past couple of months -- Mrs Ramsbottom needs no fuel to add to her fire at the moment."
He pushed himself off the front door and opened it wider welcoming her into his home. As Alanna looked past him into a wide lobby painted sage green, she inhaled the scent of pine needles and something else, and wondered just how wise an idea this was. She had made her apology and he had accepted it. So really, now, she should just say "no, I won't come in thank you very much", she should step back from the front door, turn on her heel and make her way home, ready to start afresh with Simon and at peace for having done the right thing. And yet, what was her body doing? Her feet were taking a step forward to the door which had opened further, her hand was taking her bag from her shoulder, and she was smiling and saying,
"Sure, thanks." Traitor!
Before she knew it, she was in the rather large and bright hallway inhaling his musky aftershave as she followed his beautifully broad back along to what she supposed to be the living room. She sniffed. Something didn't smell right -- in fact, something smelt burnt.
"Do you want a coffee?" he asked over his shoulder.
She nodded mutely as he put her to sit on the large cream sofa and made his way to the kitchen. She took a moment to look around the room which was decorated in a pale cream. Lavish was how she was going to describe it to Tamara who she knew would be desperate to hear about it as she hadn't made it that far during her visit. Heavy olive green silken curtains hung at the wide sash windows, facing into a large room. The large marble fireplace was the feature of the room surrounded by two large spotless cream sofas, and was peppered with empty photo frames. There was a large flat screen TV hanging over the fireplace and a writing desk with a chair was pushed up against the wall parallel to where she sat. Along the wall behind her stood a mahogany upright piano with two little stools which stood in front of it. On top of the piano stood a couple of photo frames. One was filled with a childlike drawing detailing "Daddy, Ava and me" and the other was of Ava and Sebastian grinning down at her surrounded by bubbles. It made Alanna smile.
Getting up to take a closer look at the photo, Alanna looked down as her foot slid on something slippery. She looked down on the carpet and found a pile of photos which it seemed had previously inhabited the now empty frames. There were a pair of scissors on the top of the pile glinting in the sunlight, and Alanna began to wonder just what she had interrupted.
His voice brought her back,
"If you were wondering if I was about to cut up some photos - the answer is yes. I was about to cull all of the photos of my soon to be ex wife as long as there were no photos of my kids in there. Well, at least that is what I was going to do once I had finished feeling sorry for myself."
She looked over to find him standing by the sofa holding two mugs of what seemed to be fresh steaming coffee. She closed her eyes inhaling the smell and wondered just how much better it could get; hot man, hot coffee -- she opened her eyes quickly berating her libido for its lasciviousness.
