“Is Jon okay about it then, it must be a surprise?” asked the other woman, confusing Steph as to why he would be surprised that his wife was pregnant after he’d been screwing her.
“He was a little shocked at first. I mean he only found out about it at breakfast this morning, but once the shock had worn off, he was thrilled,” said Lucy happily.
The sound of the door opening was followed by another voice speaking.
“Lucy, here you are. Your husband is desperately searching for you, he seems most attentive to your needs this evening,” laughed the third voice and her laughter was joined by the other two.
“Then I ought to find him and put his mind at rest,” said Lucy.
Steph waited for the sound of the door to close and then for silence to fall on the room beyond the cubicle she occupied. She tentatively opened the door and viewed herself in the mirror and shook her head at her own reflection with a mixture of contempt and disgust. How could she carry on seeing Jon now? She couldn’t. She was no better than Janice, Janice that she judged and despised for being her father’s bit on the side and if she continued seeing Jon once he was a father she would be his Janice as far as his child was concerned.
“Fuck!” she shouted tearfully, shocking herself, the attendant and the woman who stood next to her at the sink. “Sorry,” Steph stammered.
“Are you okay?” asked the attendant while the expensively dressed woman next to her merely looked at her with the same disgust and contempt she’d viewed herself with.
“Not really, but I am going to rectify that right now.”
Storming out of the toilets into the corridor she jumped with a start as Jon’s voice sounded from behind her.
“I thought you’d run out on me it’s been that long since I saw you.”
She turned to face him and stared at him for a few seconds before approaching him and saying quietly and calmly, “That is exactly what I am doing.” Before she knew what was happening she had raised her arm and landed a very loud and hard slap across his face rendering him speechless momentarily as she turned on her heels and almost ran down the corridor towards the foyer of the hotel. She had almost reached it when Jon caught up with her and grabbing her arm tried to lead her back in the direction she had just come from.
“Take your hands off me!” she protested loudly as she shook him off her, drawing attention from the people around them.
Jon stared at her wildly, obviously confused by her reaction to him and her current state. “Will you tell me what the hell is going on here?” He sounded calmer than he looked.
“Work it out for yourself.” She was already walking off towards the exit.
Jon caught her arm again and spun her around to face him, “No way. Talk to me,” he said holding her elbow firmly.
“Fuck off!” she shouted, her voice full of anger as she shook him off again.
Jon stared at her still and rubbed his cheek where Steph had hit him leaving a very red mark she noticed now and for a split second had a desperate urge to rub it herself, to soothe it and to kiss it, but then she remembered why she had hit him.
“Goodbye, Jon.” She turned away again and prepared to leave. To leave him.
“I don’t think so, darling,” she heard him say and found him in front of her now, blocking her path. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I deserve an explanation for your behaviour,” he said coldly.
She wondered whether he had figured it out yet or perhaps he thought she was crazy and that he was just angry with her now.
“I am going home and for the record I don’t think I am able to give you what you deserve. And as for my behaviour,” she huffed sarcastically and tried to sidestep him.
“Stephanie, you are not leaving here until we have talked, until you have talked,” he said firmly with determination.
“I have nothing to say to you, now or ever again.” In that second she believed that and hoped to keep that level of determination.
“Well as you work for me you may have no choice but to speak to me at some point,” he said icily.
The realisation of just how wrapped up in every area of her life he was hit her in that second and hit her hard. “Then I resign.”
“Then I suggest you submit your resignation in the morning and your six months’ notice will commence on the first of the next calendar month,” he replied, totally business like.
“You’ll hold me to that?” she asked incredulously.
“You betcha! Why do you think I had such a clause implemented? To stop you making this kind of fucking rash decision,” he told her seriously before continuing. “And I will still expect you to remain completely professional at all times and always have my company’s best interests at heart, even when you try to get a new job, although you may struggle with that as your recent employment history is a little patchy andmost employers are unlikely to wait for you to work your period of six months. Oh, and I will keep you to that, right down to the minute. Now talk to me because I don’t know what the fuck is going on here and I am getting really, really pissed off.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” she spat feeling even more irritated by his ability to flit between concerned lover and aggrieved boss.
