‘That was fun,’ Maya slurred as she stumbled off the dance floor. After she had confessed about the affair, she had dragged me up to dance. She had had a lot to drink and was quite tipsy. I wondered if the alcohol had loosened her lips and she would regret telling me about the affair in the morning? I watched as she made several attempts to slip the strap of her handbag over her shoulder. Hugo had never reappeared for the rest of the evening and Maya said that he had sent her a message to say he had gone home.
After we had seen her off in a taxi, Jay drove us home. He had stuck to non-alcoholic beer. Although I had only had two glasses of champagne, my head was spinning from everything that had happened that night.
‘We have soooo much to talk about,’ I said as soon as we sat into the car. ‘I don’t even know where to begin.’
‘Let’s start with the table. How did we end up sitting with them? I thought the whole point of us getting there early was sowe could check out the seating plan and change the placenames on the tables if we needed to.’
I nodded. ‘I was just in the middle of doing it but Maya walked in and caught me with the place cards in my hands!’
‘Oh dear,’ Jay said. ‘What did you say?’
‘I pretended I was just checking where we were sitting but I think she knew. It was really awkward.’
Jay slowed to stop at a red light. He turned to me while we waited. ‘Well, it didn’t matter anyway because Hugo disappeared after the starter! It was horrible what he said to Maya,’ he went on as the light changed to green and we drove forward again. ‘Where did he go?’ he asked.
‘He went home, apparently. I don’t know how she stays with him.’ I bit down on my lip, debating whether I should tell him what Maya had told me. I didn’t want to betray her trust but it was so big that I was struggling to get my head around it and I needed his perspective. Although Maya was my friend, I was grappling with this new side of her that she had revealed. I had done my best not to appear too shocked but suddenly, everything I thought I knew about her relationship had now been flipped on its head. Previously I had seen her as the victim so it had been a shock to realise that she had been one of the actors in the demise of her marriage. Maybe Hugo wasn’t the bad guy after all? It was understandable that he might be angry given everything Maya had just told me. Although it wasn’t fair that he made a dig at her at the table in front of me and Jay, who could blame him if he was feeling sore and hurt after everything? I didn’t want to be judgemental, but it felt as though I was re-examining everything that I thought I knew about her under a new lens. I needed to talk to Jay about it all and I knew if I confided in him that he wouldn’t tell anyone else. ‘Maya told me something tonight, Jay…’
‘Oh, yeah?’
‘She had an affair last year.’
His head spun across to look at me in the passenger seat. His jaw dropped. ‘What?’
‘Eyes on the road,’ I warned.
He turned back around. ‘Who with?’
‘Her personal trainer. Hugo walked in on them together.’
Jay groaned. ‘There’s a cliché if I ever heard one. I was feeling sorry for her but I don’t know which one of them is worse. Him or her.’
‘I know,’ I agreed. ‘Apparently, Hugo was working long hours and she felt lonely in the marriage. It only lasted a few weeks but that’s why things are so strained now. Maybe Maya isn’t as innocent as we think and Hugo has reason to be like that.’ I hated thinking like this about my friend but her revelation tonight had twisted everything I thought I knew and changed my perception of their marriage.
‘Well then why don’t they both just cut their losses and go their separate ways?’ Jay reasoned.
‘She’s adamant that she doesn’t want Elliot to come from a broken home. She grew up in poverty and she’s worried that Elliot will experience that if she leaves Hugo.’ Maybe she was right; Maya had lived that experience in her childhood and perhaps financial securitywasworth far more than being in a loving marriage. I had grown up in a happy home and for the most part, Jay and I had a good marriage so what did I know?
‘What about him, then? Why didn’t he just leave when he caught her with the gym guy?’
‘Maya reckons he won’t divorce her because he’s afraid of how much it would cost him.’
‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Even if he had to give her half of what he has now, he’d still be a very wealthy man. How can someone be so greedy?’ Jay was stunned by Hugo’s warped relationship with money.
‘I know, so they’re both going to stay in a miserable marriage which is probably doing all three of them harm.’
‘It’s Elliot that I feel sorry for,’ Jay said. ‘It’s no wonder he has his issues growing up in such a fucked-up house.’
I nodded in agreement. ‘I want to help her, I really do, but I don’t think she even wants my help.’ I sighed in exasperation. ‘It’s a mess.’
‘Do you know what, Liv? I don’t like either of them. They’re both as bad as each other. They’re toxic.’
‘C’mon, Jay,’ I said, feeling guilty. ‘Maya is my friend. She might have made some bad choices but she’s a good person.’
‘I know you like her, but after what you’ve just told me, I’m sorry, that’s my opinion and I can’t help how I feel about her.’
I sighed and looked out the window, knowing he was right but feeling torn about my friendship with her.
50
