We both squirmed.
‘Maya?’ she pushed.
‘I tried cooking a special dinner for us but Hugo had already eaten so it ended up in the bin…’
He turned to look at me. ‘You never told me you were cooking!’
‘I wanted to surprise you.’
‘Oh dear, so communication is the real issue here. Perhaps if Hugo had known your plans, Maya, he wouldn’t have eaten earlier; would that be fair?’
‘Exactly! I’m not a mind reader,’ he said.
‘But well done, Maya for trying. I hope you appreciate the effort that went into it, Hugo. Perhaps you could reciprocate,’ she suggested.
‘I’m not a great cook.’
‘You don’t have to cook but you could do something nice for Maya.’
It was my turn to roll my eyes now. ‘That’ll be the day,’ I muttered.
‘Maya, comments like that aren’t going to help anyone,’ Julia chastised with a sigh.
‘Well, something else happened,’ I went on petulantly. Here she was giving me a hard time over something small when what Hugo was doing was far worse.
Julia raised her brows. ‘Okay, go on, Maya.’
‘Hugo had a work thing; we both went along. He spent the whole evening flirting with a woman he works with.’
‘I was not flirting!’ he said through gritted teeth.
‘He was all over the girl. She’s almost half his age.’
‘Is this true, Hugo?’ Julia asked.
‘No, it’s not! Maya got drunk and I didn’t want to be around her. That’s what really happened.’
‘I think he’s having an affair,’ I went on.
Hugo shook his head and raised his eyes to heaven. ‘That’s rich.’
‘What makes you think that?’ Julia asked.
‘It was just the way they acted together; they seemed very familiar with one another like there is something more going on between them than just work colleagues.’
‘I promise you,’ he said indignantly. ‘I swear on Elliot’s life that I’m not having an affair.’
This startled me. I knew he wouldn’t swear on our son’s name unless he was telling the truth.
I looked up at him, my eyes searching his. ‘But why won’t you talk to me? You’ve been ignoring me since Thursday evening.’
‘Because I’m still annoyed at how drunk you were. You made a fool of yourself. You know I hate it when you get into that state.’
I felt heat creeping up my face as Julia turned her focus onto me.
‘Is that true?’ she asked.
‘W-well, I can’t remember…’ I confessed. ‘But the only reason I drank so much was because I was upset. Hugo was flirting with that girl… and we were there with all his work colleagues and I felt humiliated.’
