Anthony waved as he, and a rather upset Dave, headed up the garden. Jennifer closed the door on them and headed straight for the sixteenth Century bureau that sat against the wall to the right of the fireplace. She lifted its partially open cover and removed a cassette from a camcorder that had been sitting within.
"Wait till you see what I've been up to, you bastard!" she said to herself, her pleasure quickly giving way to anger. She made her way over to the sofa and flopped onto it, holding the tape in one hand and her head in the other. Her face wrinkled up whilst a couple of tears escaped from her eyes and ran for it down her cheeks.
A few hours passed. Jennifer had tidied up the living room, cleaned the 'spattering' off the door to the study, returned her outfit to the closet, and had cleaned herself up. Her time in the shower was spent playing out in her mind what was going to happen when she saw Andrew but it kept making her feel sick, so she settled for 'taking it as it comes' - at least this way she didn't feel quite so ill, and her mind didn't seem so fragile. This way she could hold on to how it all was, because as yet nothing has happened. Nothing's definite, she thought, although the intermittent stomach churning that just wouldn't go away no matter what, was suggesting otherwise.
Back in the living room, Jennifer sat upright on the sofa. She was holding the cassette in one hand and tapping her lips with the fingers of the other, staring at the cassette all-the-while.
I think I'll hide it for now, just in case. There might be an explanation. In fact, in all likelihood, there probably is. Where's this tape going to get me then? I'll end up going through all this fucking turmoil again, only it'll be my fault, and I just can't. Jennifer started to tap her lips a little faster. I really just can't, she thought, as she stopped tapping her lips. Jennifer's eyes began to wrinkle up and that horrible, sick, weak feeling started to overcome her again. She jumped to her feet, throwing the cassette down hard at the floor as she did so. She furiously stamped at the cassette until several bits of plastic cracked off to expose the tape it concealed. She snatched what was left of the cassette up from the floor and frantically pulled at the tape, repeatedly. Within seconds Jennifer collapsed onto the sofa. She looked rather flustered and was holding a broken, but empty, plastic box. The tape was strewn all about her like a bird's nest. She felt better for it. It was as if destroying the tape made Andrew innocent and that was why she'd destroyed it, because there wasn't any need for revenge. And to sit there and watch Andrew, watching her, getting fucked by another man was just too much, she'd decided, even if he has been having an affair.
Jennifer jumped to her feet again and quickly gathered up the tape and pieces of broken plastic. She hurried to the outside bin and stuffed it all underneath a bag of waste as best she could. As she returned to the living room, shrugging her shoulders as if a huge and weighty rucksack had just been lifted from her, she glimpsed Andrew's Saab convertible rolling up onto the drive. Jennifer rushed up to the window and looked out; just to make sure it was him. She already knew it was but she just couldn't stop herself. She watched him step out of the car, and then reach back in to grab his travel-bag. She tottered about the living room, not sure as to where to put herself. The churning in her stomach had escalated now, and she could feel her breathing getting shallower and faster. She heard his key in the door. She jammed her hand down the side of the sofa and hurriedly retrieved part of the incriminating evidence β the letter (the Paris tickets were still in his jacket pocket upstairs). The sound of his footsteps coming through the hallway made her heart thump almost as loud. She quickly stuffed the letter down her joggers (she couldn't put it down her knickers because she wasn't wearing any).
"Jennifer," he rumbled, opening his large arms out as he did so whilst at the same time dropping his bag down with a dull thump onto the floor. Jennifer rushed toward the athletic build that stood some six foot three inches and wrapped her arms tightly around his trim waist. As his muscular arms closed firmly but gently around her body as if it were one of a child's, she pressed her face into his broad chest. His scent, even though he wore deodorant and aftershave, was the scent of a man, and it made her feel...safe, secure, loved, wanted, and more...all the things she ever wanted to feel when a man held her close. She found it odd how a scent could change so much just by wearing it. "Are you alright, Jen?" he whispered into her ear and breaking her chain of thought.
"Mmmmm, I am now you're home," she replied, nuzzling deeper into his chest and losing her self in the warmth and security that Andrew's hug offered. The ill feelings she'd been experiencing just seemed to melt away, as if by magic.
"I know exactly what you mean...I've missed you too," he said softly and deeply as he cupped her head in his one hand while the other slid down her body and onto one of her buttocks, squeezing it playfully. Jennifer looked up at him adoringly, finding it impossible to even consider the prospect of his being involved in some sordid betrayal in the form of an affair. And for him to be taking his supposed mistress to Paris of all places; it wouldn't happen, she'd decided.
"Let me pour you a drink while you take the weight off your feet - then we can snuggle up and do whatever you want," Jennifer whispered, winking her left eye.
"Some wine and a good woman sounds like an offer I just can't refuse," he replied as he released her from his clutch. The words penetrated her like a knife-blade. They went deep inside and caused her to momentarily stiffen with the pain. She noticed Andrew notice. "I've had some terrible cramps lately, I think I'll go easy on the training for a few days," she said, thinking on her feet as she headed out to the kitchen. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in anticipation, until she heard Andrew slump onto the sofa that is. She breathed a sigh of relief the second she was in the kitchen and out of ear-shot.
"You'll never believe what that bloody Edward's gone and done," Andrew said as Jennifer returned carrying two generous-sized glasses of white wine.
"Won the lottery," Jennifer suggested enthusiastically as she handed one of the brimming glasses of wine to Andrew and sat next to him, being careful not to spill hers in the process.