by Kaylie Kay
She thought it through; there was Luke, surely he didn’t have any energy left for Laura now, what with his girlfriend and her? Then Tony, but he didn’t even know she was in town, and perhaps he would have dropped everything for her if he had done. Mark, well she was pretty sure he was still infatuated, and Mario, well what about him? He was still available and playing by the rules. In fact, they all were, all still playing by the rules, her rules, she was the only one that wasn’t right now, with her overthinking and analysing.
She sipped her coffee, about to head to the gym, and scolded herself. She had to reset her mind, stop this madness, everything was still good, exactly as she liked it, wasn’t it? She still had Jeff here, and Susan Harrison still had her men there, and that was how it was, how it worked. Perhaps Luke blurred the lines a little, but he was a separate entity, he was Susan Kennedy’s secret pleasure, and surely she was allowed one?
Lucy came into the kitchen, head down, broom in hand, and distracted Susan from her justifications. She caught a waft of perfume that smelt vaguely familiar, realising that she had never noticed Lucy wearing perfume before. She studied her employee, who had her back to her now, and thought she looked different, her clothes a little nicer, her hair blow-dried and not just brushed as it usually was.
‘You look nice today, Lucy,’ she complimented her.
‘Thank you.’ Lucy didn’t look up and Susan suspected she was embarrassed, not used to receiving them.
‘And you smell wonderful, Lucy, what perfume are you wearing?’ Susan asked, pushing Lucy to get into a conversation about herself, doubtful that she did very often.
‘Um, I can’t remember.’ Lucy had stopped sweeping now, and turned around. ‘Chanel, I think.’
‘Oh yes, I thought I recognised it, one of my favourites,’ Susan smiled at her, thinking how sweet it was that she was blushing, ‘and I do believe you are wearing makeup, Lucy!’ She didn’t think she had ever seen her wear any obvious makeup before and the difference was quite striking. ‘You look really lovely, Lucy.’
‘Thank you, you’re too kind.’ She was smiling now, and standing up straight, confident, bolstered by the compliments.
‘No honestly, Lucy, you look so lovely, not that you didn’t before,’ she added quickly, ‘but even more lovely.’ Susan finished the last of her coffee and put her mug in the sink. Lucy was still smiling, clearly loving the novelty of such nice things being said about her appearance. ‘Right, I have to get to the gym, see you in a bit.’
‘Okey doke,’ Lucy replied cheerfully and went back to her work.
I wonder if it’s a man, Susan mused as she drove away from the house, wondering what had brought on the change in her. It made her smile though, to see her make the most of herself and embrace her femininity. Lucy deserved a bit of happiness and she hoped that she had found it.
Lucy couldn’t help smiling as she carried on with her work. Mrs Kennedy had been so kind with her compliments, and although for a brief moment she had felt guilty, it hadn’t lasted for long. Guilt was nonsensical, pointless. Sure, Mrs Kennedy had smelt her own perfume on her, but she had no reason to suspect that Lucy had borrowed it, that it wasn’t her own that she had simply had at home. Nor would she ever notice the few scraps of makeup that she had taken from her drawer, they were just ends of products after all, not the things she used, wasted, and Lucy appreciated them so much more herself. Even Mrs Kennedy had noticed what a difference a few choice things had made to her face after all.
She looked down at her clothes and sighed; that was the only thing she knew she couldn’t risk, but she so missed the designer wardrobe. Sure, she had made a few changes, buying a few nicer things, but she couldn’t afford a lot, and the cheaper clothes just didn’t do as much for her as the expensive ones had. Oh well, she couldn’t have everything, not yet anyway, but maybe one day. She shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts that had been coming these past weeks, despite the return of sleep. She knew they were wrong, that she shouldn’t be having them, that despite her infidelity Mrs Kennedy was deep down a good person, but she couldn’t help wanting this life, and imagining ways to get it.
Chapter 36
Susan walked through the doors triumphantly, a sea of expectant faces looking at her. They were probably wondering what the crazy flight attendant was smiling at, it wasn’t as if any of them were here to meet her after all. If only they knew, if only they had any idea how good it felt to be waved on through with the rest of the crew and not sent to that awful room like a convicted criminal, then they would be smiling this much too, she thought. Heck, it was all she could do not to skip! It looked like her appeal had worked and she was off the hook. Susan 1 - Mark’s ex 0.
Perhaps she was being a little brave but she hadn’t been able to resist telling him that she was coming here today either. Susan Harrison was quite looking forward to seeing her handsome man, the balance restored somewhat between her personas. It probably would have been sensible not to have seen Mark, to not risk upsetting his wife again, but then why should she? Besides, she needed his attention, his compliments and adoration, she needed her confidence back at its peak. The small victory in customs just made her surer that things were going right again, just how she liked them.
‘Who’s coming out for drinks?’ asked the captain, as he handed out their room keys from the pile the receptionist had just given him.
‘Sorry, I’m shattered. Early night for me,’ Susan lied, trying her best to look weary.
‘That’s a shame,’ he said. In her renewed confidence she thought that he looked disappointed but he recovered himself quickly and looked to the other girls for companionship. Susan quickly made her excuses and headed off to the lift, the others still making their arrangements in the lobby.
‘Excuse me,’ she heard, as a glamorous American lady jumped into the lift just as the doors were about to close. Susan smiled and moved aside to let her in. She was older than Susan, but still slim and dressed nicely, in the understated American way. Her hair was blow-dried big, reminding Susan of the eighties pictures her mum would show her, like the original Charlie’s Angels.
The doors opened on the sixth floor and Susan stepped out. She was about to smile goodbye to the lady but she followed her, her room was clearly on the same floor. She pulled her case and crew bag behind her, looking for room 626, eventually reaching the last room in the corridor and holding her key against the lock to open it. She always hoped when she got the last room that it was a corner room, and she eagerly placed her case against the door to hold it open.
Not disappointed, she found her room was huge, with windows on two sides, and views across the bay, beautiful on this clear sunny day. She quickly checked for hidden attackers as per training, before returning to the door to retrieve her other bag. As she turned she noticed the lady from the lift still standing in the corridor a few rooms down, looking down at her phone with a serious expression on her face.
‘Is everything okay?’ Susan asked. She’d been stuck outside her room enough times when she’d forgotten her key, or when it had reset itself. The lady looked up from her phone. She seemed confused, as if the question had thrown her. ‘Is your key not working? I can phone security to come up if you want?’
‘Oh, um, no,’ she stuttered, looking down and putting her phone back in her handbag, ‘I’m fine, thanks.’ She didn’t smile, in fact she seemed annoyed, and Susan almost regretted asking if she was alright.
‘Okay, well just knock if you need anything,’ Susan offered, not sure what to make of her strange behaviour, but some Americans were a bit strange. Not all, but definitely some. She smiled at her anyway, and went into her room, closing her door behind her.... she had a bath to run and a good-looking man to prepare for.
Sitting in the penthouse lounge of the Intercontinental on Nob Hill, she thought the Top of the Mark cocktail bar was up there with some of her favourite places already. She quickly scanned through the list of speciality martinis, overwhelmed by the choice
, her mind distracted still trying to take in the breath-taking views that were all around her. The city was getting dark and the lights outside were beginning to turn on, illuminating the landmarks and the edge of the bay. The Golden Gate Bridge seemed to shine even more golden in the twilight across the water.
‘I can’t make up my mind, you choose one for me.’ She handed the list to Mark, who she knew was a man of habit and would only drink the beer and brandy, making his own choice much easier than hers. He put up his hand to signal a waiter as he read them, obviously confident that his decision would be made before one arrived. It was one of the things Susan liked most about him, not only could he read people, but he could just see the answer in a split second, no matter what the question.
‘I’m so sorry, Susan, that my ex-wife found out,’ Mark said slowly, looking directly at her once the waiter had left. It was the first time that the whole matter had been mentioned, Susan not wanting to have the conversation in the confines of her hotel room when he had arrived. She obviously hadn’t spoken to him at any length, and certainly hadn’t mentioned her dramas with secondary search, but now that it was all over she found it almost comical to see this man who was always so in control hold his head in his hands, his face pulling horrified looks as she told him about each ugly time.
‘I’m so, so, sorry.’ His face had dropped, and he looked different somehow. ‘I never knew she’d do anything like that. I can’t believe she would be that way.’
‘It’s okay, honestly.’ Susan felt almost sorry for him, needing to make him feel better so that he could return to his happy self. ‘It’s all over now, she’s made her point, I’m sure she won’t do anything else. Good job she’s not FBI, hey, then I’d really have something to worry about,’ she jested, trying to lighten the mood.
‘I’m just so sorry.’ He was leaning forward, elbows on his thighs, and looked so cute looking up at her, forehead wrinkled, that she was pleased to see the waiter coming over with their drinks; it was time to change the conversation to something much lighter and end the poor man’s suffering.
Hours later, fuelled by most of the martinis on the list, Susan clung to Mark’s arm as they staggered down the steep hill back into town to her hotel. The evening had been fabulous and now she couldn’t wait to get him back to her room.
The bellman tipped his hat at them as they passed him on the way to the lift, and once inside she hit the button to the sixth floor. She suddenly realised that she had forgotten to go in separately and was grateful that they hadn’t been seen. The doors closed and Mark grabbed hold of her to kiss her, unable to wait until they were in the room, the tension too much. She took his hand as the bell signalled their arrival, and led him quickly down the corridor, fumbling in her bag for the room key.
With the door open Mark picked Susan up off the floor, carrying her over the threshold as if they had just married, and Susan laughed, probably too loudly for a hotel corridor, covering her mouth quickly.
The smell should have stopped them going any further but whether it was because they were laughing, and as such not breathing in deeply enough to notice it, or whatever, it was too late by the time that he had thrown Susan onto the wet bed to stop it happening.
Confused, Susan lay for a moment, hands feeling the wet sheets around her, wondering if it was really possible that the smell of urine was coming from the bed on which she was lying or if she really had had too much to drink. Mark was standing at the end of the bed, having quickly jumped back after he too had noticed it.
‘What the hell.’ Susan got up, shocked and disgusted, Mark turning the bedroom light on to reveal a yellowing patch on the duvet, which coupled with its odour could only have been one thing. For the briefest of moments Susan was about to deny that it was her that did it, before realising that no one in their right mind would ever suggest that she had. The way that Mark was standing with his hand on his head, anger on his face, told her who did it, and that Mark knew exactly who it was too.
Chapter 37
‘Mark, show me a picture of your wife,’ Susan ordered him as they caught the lift back to the lobby.
A look at the picture that Mark showed her confirmed what Susan was beginning to suspect; the glamorous American lady that had been in the lift with her earlier was Mark’s wife. The realisation that she had actually managed to find out that she had flown in, find her hotel, and recognise her made Susan feel very uneasy, and almost relieved that all she had done was take a pee; the madwoman could have done something much worse!
The night had been ruined, obviously, and the embarrassment of Mark having to explain to the duty manager that his ex-wife had somehow got a key to her room, and peed on her bed was almost more than she could bear. She had insisted that he do it though. Why should she have to be embarrassed the next day when the maid cleaned the room to which her name was allocated, even if he paid for them to sleep elsewhere like he had offered? So, he had gone to the desk and explained, whilst she tried to sober up behind him, glad that these people were clearly on the night shift and wouldn’t be around when she checked out. The shock on the young man’s face was quickly replaced with a different look when Mark pointed out that one of his staff had given a complete stranger a key to Susan’s room, and that the repercussions could have been so much worse. Susan was grateful for his insight, for distracting the focus from what had happened.
‘Would you like us to call the police, ma’am?’ Miguel, the manager asked her. She could see the look of hope in his eyes, hope that she would say no and he could go back to his easy night shift.
‘That’s not necessary,’ Mark said quickly.
‘Really?’ Susan asked him, quite annoyed at how he had answered for her. Maybe, just maybe, she would like the filthy bitch to suffer for just a moment like she had done all those times in secondary, to understand that it was just not okay, ever, to pee on someone’s bed! Susan shivered, unable to get away from the smell despite having scrubbed herself sore in the shower. ‘Excuse us one moment,’ she said curtly, taking Mark’s hand and pulling him out of earshot.
‘Mark, what the hell, you can’t just let her get away with it!’
‘I know, I know.’ He was shaking his head, as if for the first time in his life he didn’t know the answer.
‘No, I want her to be arrested, Mark, it’s not up to you, it’s not you that she’s stalking,’ Susan said decisively. This time she wasn’t letting him choose.
‘Stop.’ Mark grabbed her arm as she walked off, pulling her back. ‘Look, I think the same, but if she gets arrested she’ll lose her job, and if she goes to jail the kids lose their mom. Can we just hold fire? I promise I will sort it, she’ll do what I tell her, and I promise you she will never bother you again.’
Mark was standing close, looking straight at her, and she believed him, believed that he would sort it out, whatever it took. Whilst she had no sympathy for her, the thought of the kids, who were utterly blameless in this messed up life that only Mark could take credit for creating, made her understand his reluctance. She nodded, defeated.
He had stayed that night, in a new room of course, but things weren’t the same, and when he suggested they do something the next day, Susan had had to say it.
‘Mark, I think it’s best you go; go and sort your wife out, go and be with your kids.’
He looked at her, accepting, as if he had expected it.
‘Will I see you again?’ he asked as he left her room with his belongings. She just shook her head, sad to say the final farewell but knowing that there was no way they could carry on, things had got way too complicated, and that just broke all of the rules.
A few hours of retail therapy around Union Square did a bit to lift Susan’s spirits. She hadn’t wanted to end things with Mark, but she hadn’t had a choice. She stopped for a pedicure in the small nail bar near the hotel, and as the Vietnamese lady massaged her feet, she closed her eyes and ran through the memories of Mark, from the day they had met. She felt like he had died, al
though she couldn’t say she was grief-stricken, just sad.
As the afternoon turned to evening she felt tired and made her way back to the hotel. It was only 6pm, but 2am at home, and with the lack of sleep from the night before she was exhausted.
Susan put the key in the door and turned the light on before she let it shut. Despite years of checking her room for hidden attackers this was the first time that she had really taken her trainers seriously, for this time there was a real chance that someone was there.
She nearly screamed when she saw the object on the bed, unable to focus on what it was as her mind panicked, jumping back through the door and letting it close behind her. Her heart was racing, and she wondered what to do, whether she should call security to come up perhaps? Taking a deep breath, she put the key back in the door and pushed it open, again.
The object that had seemed so scary looked innocent now, a brown box with flowers on. She couldn’t help but be nervous though, and propped her case against the door so that she could get out quickly should she need to, before going any further.
Slowly she approached it, reasoning that it was a harmless gift, probably an apology from Mark, confirmed when she took the lid off and to her relief was faced with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. She took the card that was tucked into them and turned it over.
To my beautiful wife
I miss you
Love Jeff
Her eyes stung before welling up, and tears trickled down her cheek. What she would have done to be at home, with Jeff, safe in his arms in their lovely life at that moment. Why had she made things so difficult when she had everything that she could have wanted? Why was she risking it all for people who didn’t matter? Why wasn’t what she had enough for her?