“That would be a first,” he said and allowed his lips to curve slightly.
Steph saw this as her chance to wrong foot him and as she took a tentative step towards him, she quickly tried to duck behind him and escape, but he saw it coming judging by the speed with which he side stepped and literally scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder and carried her off in long strides across the foyer as she kicked, screamed and hit him with clenched fists in his back. She looked up and immediately felt embarrassed as people stared at the scene in front of them.
As she was dropped to her feet she realised they were in an office and Jon was standing in front of the only exit.
“I take it this place is one of yours?”
“Yes. I am not in the habit of charging into offices that don’t belong to me, just like the one where Charlie and Lindsay had their wedding reception, remember?” He knew full well that she would indeed remember, she may never erase the memory of him kissing her and pinning her against the wall before putting his hand beneath her dress and finding his way into her knickers.
She flushed at the memory and resented the immediate reaction of her body to that moment. To that man.
He smiled as he realised that not only did she remember but was reliving every second of it.
“Now would you care to tell me what is going on? You know, like why you are trying to storm off, dump me and resign? Ohand let’s not forget the fact that you slapped me across the face.” He sounded shocked but confused more than anything.
“Maybe you should tell me what is going on?” she said curtly.
“Stephanie, I really have no idea what is going on here, darling. Please talk to me,” he pleaded.
“Don’t you dare call me darling, you bastard!” she hissed at him venomously making him frown at her.
“Steph I don’t know what to say to you because I don’t know what has got you so riled.”
The audacity of this man to plead, to portray himself as the injured party, feigning confusion when he knew exactly what he had done, even if he hadn’t yet realised that she knew.
“Fine, have it your way. I am hurt and I know it’s my own fault for ever giving you the time of day because my first instincts about you were obviously spot on and I should never have got involved with you, personally or professionally. And whilst I may be stuck with you for a while professionally I don’t have to continue personally and under the circumstances I think it’s best for us both to just draw a line under things and move on.” She felt conscious of the fact that she may be about to ramble incoherently.
“I still don’t understand, what circumstances?” He sounded totally perplexed by the situation he found himself in.
“You really are going to play dumb to the bitter end, aren’t you?” asked Steph rhetorically before continuing, “I was in the toilets and Lucy came in with another woman and I heard them talking.” Despite every ounce of control she had, she couldn’t stop the break in her voice as she said, “She’s pregnant, Jon. Why didn’t you tell me? I can’t do this anymore. God knows I was struggling with being your bit on the side as it was, but I would find it impossible to have an affair with you as a father, so you go back to your pregnant wife and I will go back to, well whatever part of my life that doesn’t include you.”
“Fuck! You were not supposed to find out like this. I have been trying to talk to you for weeks, since I first met you and this fucking ridiculous mistress plan came into play. I wanted to tell you everything, but every time we tried to talk, something or someone interrupted and we got put on the back burner so I need you to remember that this is not how I wanted to do this, and that I tried multiple times to avoid you finding out incidentally or from someone who wasn’t me.” Jon’s voice was as serious as she had ever heard it, yet his face looked sad and scared.
None of this was making sense. He had been trying to talk to her for weeks and they got interrupted or she shut it down, but what could he have said weeks ago? “How? How could you have told me this weeks ago? I heard Lucy say that you had only found out about it this morning. Jon, I don’t understand.” With her anger replaced with confusion and heartbreak at the thought of him lying to her face now on top of everything else, she allowed the first of her tears to fall.
“Darling, please don’t cry,” he pleaded. “Sit down and let me try to explain. This is not what you think. It’s all going to be okay.”
Steph sat down in the armchair in the far corner of the room and nervously waited for his explanation, willing him to make it right but also warning herself to not be taken in by any more lies or deceit.
“For the millionth time this is not as it seems; Lucy is pregnant and I did find out about it this morning at breakfast with my dad,” started Jon.
“She told you she was pregnant in front of your dad?” asked Steph confused.
“Yes, but there is a very good reason for that. The baby isn’t mine,” said Jon before Steph interrupted.
“What? Is this some kind of reciprocal arrangement the two of you have? You can each screw around and then what? Do you get a kick out of telling each other what you’ve been up to? That is seriously fucking sick and I feel sorry for a kid being born into this, but I for one am out of it. Goodbye Jon.” She was back on her feet. She had heard enough and needed to get as far away from here and these people as she could. With a deep breath, she attempted to leave.
“For Christ’s sake, Steph, shut up, park your arse and listen for once.” He sounded angry with her again.
She stared at him and considered pursuing her exit, but she didn’t, she sat back down and waited for Jon to continue. He watched her for a few seconds and then stood in front of her before dropping to his knees so that they were face to face.
“Right, Lucy and I do not discuss who we sleep with or what we do and I would never get a kick out of hearing her tales from the bedroom because she shares a bed with my father. She is not my wife, Steph. She is Mrs Brooker but she is technically my step-mother, as in married to my dad, not me. Her baby is going to be my baby brother or sister, as ridiculous as that sounds hearing it out loud, so hopefully you won’t need to feel sorry for their kid being born into a happy and loving family.” Jon now silently waited for a reaction.
“Let me get this straight. You are not married to Lucy and she is not having your baby? She is in fact married to your father and havinghisbaby?” asked Steph for clarification.
“Yes,” was Jon’s simple reply.
“So, if you’re not married to Lucy, who are you married to?” Steph’s confusion and upset was on the climb again.
