Diane, we need to talk. FTDS.
My version of "Honey we need to talk". One valid criticism of 750-word stories is there is no suitable ending, it's too sharp and leaves too many questions unanswered. So, I have started doing a FTDS follow on. This is one of them.
It will probably not make sense if you have not read "Diane, we need to talk 750". I am going to assume you have read it., so no need for my usual warnings.
It is just a story, please enjoy it.
Revenge.
As Donaldson approached his car his mind wandered to the upcoming evening. It had taken quite a while to get Diane to meet him for dinner. She knew exactly what was expected. He wanted the whole night but she insisted on just the evening. She would have to be home before ten, but no later than eleven, so her husband did not get suspicious. He was planning to push for eleven o'clock and later if he could. He would have to play it by ear, it was never a good thing to upset the husband, he had learned that the hard way.
And she said it would just be the once.
Well, he had plans for that as well. That was when he saw his car, and it was at a strange angle, it leaned to one side. He saw that the two offside tyres were flat, well not flat but compressed, even run-flat tyres get squashed when there is a share of over two and a half tons of 7 Series BMW on them. He pulled out his phone to call the recovery service and an Uber or taxi to get him to the Marriott.
He was not paying too much attention so just after the phone call was answered he was surprised to find a person in front of him, he looked up into a face full of pepper spray. Donaldson screamed and dropped the phone as his hands went to his face, the next thing he felt was the spine of a cricket bat separating his bollocks and the swell of the bat crushing them against his pelvis. He did not know what to hold to ease the pain, it suddenly got worse as the face of the bat smashed into his left knee. He fell to the floor screaming louder, relief was at hand. His assailant jumped on his right knee with both feet. Donaldson fainted. He never saw his attacker.
The assailant picked up Donaldson's phone and noticed a voicemail from a number they recognised. The recovery service woman was asking what was happening. The assailant hung up and dialled 999, when it was answered they said. "There has been an assault in the carpark of Jackson and Smith Electronics, he needs an ambulance, better send the Police as well."
With that, the assailant dropped the phone onto Donaldson's chest and walked away with the sound of the Emergency Services operator's voice in their ears.
When the CCTV cameras were checked they would show someone wearing a balaclava and overalls spraying the lenses with paint. What they would not have seen after the assault was the assailant walking to a dark corner of the car park, opening the back doors of a Mini Countryman, take off the overalls and balaclava, then shake her blond hair free, then remove the oversized cricket boots putting them in her boyfriend's cricket bag. From her cricket bag pull out a plastic bag, removing the linseed oiled rag and wiping down the cricket bat before putting it into her bag. Then she put the rag, the overalls and the balaclava into an old rucksack. There was a house brick in the bottom.
After getting to the Mini she sent a one-word text from the burner phone and the phone went into the rucksack as well, after removing the battery, there was no point in polluting the rivers more than necessary.
She pulled down the LBD where it had ridden up whilst she was wearing the overalls and slipped on the four-inch heels. She drove out of the car park before turning the car lights on.
As she headed to the restaurant to meet her boyfriend, she thought back to how she got here. Her big sister Diane had asked her to go to a company party, Dave was away fixing aeroplanes, that was what he did. Diane didn't want to go alone so Rachael went with her. That was where she met Steve, they clicked. Diane spent most of the evening playing gooseberry. Steve was in HR at Diane's firm.
Steve instilled in her his love of the noble game. She loved the elegance of the sweep of the cricket bat, the sound of leather on willow. Smiling, she was not averse to the sound of flesh on flesh, as long as the flesh was on her backside and on the receiving end of Steve's hand, and not too hard. Steve might get lucky tonight. Well not might, definitely would.
She had joined the local women's cricket team. The coach would have been proud of the straight drive she made into Donaldson's bollocks, even if it was the wrong side of the bat, he would have understood there was no follow through as Donaldsons body was in the way. But he would not have been impressed with the leg sweep into Donaldson's left knee, she could have swung better. At least it was the correct face of the bat, not that Donaldson would have noticed. Jumping on Donaldson's right knee was definitely not cricket. However, that was behind her now and Steve was waiting for her at their favourite restaurant, Giovanni's. She felt there was something big coming, she was praying it was the engagement ring she had been longing for. Her first call would be to Diane, hopefully she would still be at home.
She quickly stopped in the middle of the bridge over the river and threw the rucksack in, there was a lot of rain up on the moors last week and the river was in full spate, in a few days the rucksack would probably be in the North Sea.
Her detour to Steve's workplace would make her fashionably a few minutes late.
When he saw her coming Steve went to her chair and pulled it out for her. He leaned forward as she sat down and he whispered into her ear. "Done?"
Rachel gave a slight nod of the head, then looked up into Steve's eyes and smiled at him.
The Confrontation. Diane, her reason.
Diane pulled her engagement ring towards her, looking longingly at her wedding band now firmly on David's side of the table. She needed to get that back and put it on her finger. Diane felt she had made the first step by quitting her job.
But the envelope was still there on the table, she surmised it would contain divorce papers. David's ring and broken chain were still beside it.
Diane had a thought, she took another long swallow of her wine, stood up, looked at David and said. "I need one minute." Not waiting for a reply, she ran to the stairs and up into their bedroom, yanking open her jewellery box, she poured the contents on the bed and there was the ring. The one she got David when they got engaged. Men don't wear engagement rings so Diane got him a signet ring which he wore until she replaced it with a wedding band. It mocked her as it lay there. She grabbed hold of the first gold chain she saw and ran back downstairs and plopped in her chair out of breath.
Diane had considered taking the chain from around her neck and using that, but it may have seemed like she was giving her husband something she had worn around Donaldson and probably would have worn it this evening.
She removed the broken chain from David's ring, holding it up in her hands she looked at him and said. "I
will
get this repaired, but in the meantime please accept this?" She threaded her chain through David's ring and closed it. It was long enough for him to slip over his head. She laid the ring in front of David, just over halfway over the table. He reached out and pulled it all the way towards him. Diane was hoping he would put it on, he didn't. At least it was another step to repairing the damage she had done to their marriage.
"How did you find out?" Diane asked quietly.
"Jayne gave me the heads up just over a week ago and Rachael's Steve, not as much as what he did say, as what he didn't. I had already worked out something was going on. I just wasn't sure what it was but I had my fears. She just confirmed the worst of them."
"If you knew a week ago, why not stop me, why did you let it get this far?"
David carried on. "I wanted to give you a chance to call it off yourself. It had to be your choice and it still is. Go to him now if you wish."
"No, no point now. I was doing it for the promotion and now I am not working for that company anymore there is no need." Looking at David square in the face. "And I want to stay married to you. I'm sorry darling, it was only going to be one night, well only an evening. I told him I had to be home by ten. You were never going to know, so you would not get hurt. I had steeled myself to live with the guilt. I'm sorry."
"Then tell me why, why would you cheat on me with that snake?"
"There were threats and I made a promise. Yes, I know. I made one to you as well, but you were never supposed to find out I broke that promise, so it would never hurt you. Obviously, that didn't work. Sorry."
"You keep saying sorry. What are you sorry for, getting caught or missing your night with Donaldson?"
"Neither, I'm sorry I hurt you. Part of me is glad I got caught, if I had gone ahead, and despite all of my precautions you obviously did know about it, you would have definitely divorced me, but you are still here talking. I might have a second chance?"
Diane reached over the table to take David's hand. "Do I have a second chance?" He pulled his hand back and took a drink of his beer. Diane could see the bottle was nearly empty.
"Maybe. Tell me the story. One lie and you get these papers." He said tapping the envelope. "And keep in mind I know a lot of the story and some of how he convinced you to cheat on me and your marriage."
Diane thought to herself. 'At least he hasn't divorced me straight away. There might still be hope.' There was no way she was going to tell any untruths. She knew it would cost her, her marriage. If what she and Donaldson had planned to do hadn't already.
David's beer bottle was empty, he stood up and went to the cabinet, got himself a wine glass, sat down and helped himself to Diane's wine. He even topped hers up a bit. Diane thought that was a good sign.
Taking a sip of her wine. "I had better start from the beginning, some of this you know already, but if I tell you bits I might miss something and you will think I am trying to hide it and if I do that, I will get those papers." Diane nodded to the envelope. "Plus, I really don't want them.
"Donaldson joined us six months ago as director of sales and hire. You've met him, you know what he is like, elegant, charismatic, suave, engaging, energetic and yes, handsome. Ideal attributes for head of sales. He let it be known he was not in a relationship at the moment. The single girls and women in the office started smartening themselves up, even some of the married ones. I found I was being left behind and looked frumpy, in fact, some of the girls started taking the mickey out of me for looking so dowdy, well that was their words. I called it functional. That was when I started wearing smarter clothes, trust me David there was nothing in it. I know that might be hard for you to believe, but it is true.
"Three months after he arrived Karen, his PA handed in her resignation because she was getting married and moving away.
"When her job came up, we talked about it and we agreed I would go for it even though it might mean working a bit later. Although you were concerned about Donaldson and his attitude, I couldn't see a problem. I found out that three of us applied for the job, Roger, Jayne and me. Jayne and I are both good at our jobs. I had no idea how good Roger is as a PA, he is from accounting. I thought Jayne and I equally stood a chance. When I compared how Jayne and I looked, I was still dowdy even though I had smartened up. She is stunning and she dresses so well I had to up my game. I know it should not be about how you look but about what you do, but I was certain if we came out equal it would go down to looks. Even Roger got himself a couple of new suits and learned how to tie a proper Windsor knot. That was when I started working late. You knew I was going to work late to help my prospects for the promotion, you didn't complain. Both Roger and Jayne were doing the same. I didn't do anything wrong, I swear.
