It was only a matter of time.
He distractedly left the lobby, forgetting even to bid Billy a good evening. He had this feeling, intuition almost, that Beth might had seen something, witnessed something that she shouldn’t have on her way to the Waldorf – and he couldn’t face the implications or inevitable questions, not yet.
Talk about timing…
He wondered if, rather than face her later, he should head out to his folks’ house in Queens, just in case. But no, his mom would naturally query an unplanned visit, and wonder why he wasn’t at home with Beth, especially when he’d been using the ‘flat out at work’ excuse to them, too. His mother was way too intuitive and, indeed, confrontational. Nothing would get past her, and she was much more likely than Beth was to tackle him straight out about anything untoward. So going home tonight was out.
Instead, he would just retreat to the office on Madison for the night and (again) blame his absence on the big work account. It was only a partial lie. Once the current campaign had wrapped up, maybe he could focus some time on landing a new client. After all, he hadn’t exactly been ‘on’ lately at work, that much was for sure. And as much as Danny didn’t like to spend the night there – not when there were more inviting and comfortable options available to him – he didn’t want to be around anyone else right now. His office offered a safe haven. It would provide him space away from all of this, and he wouldn’t have to face Beth tonight when she returned.
Tomorrow, though, was another story.
Chapter 28
Beth emerged from the hotel deep in thought after bidding Steve goodbye, at least for now; she wasn’t sure if he would make an appearance again sometime before this journey was over. As far as she could tell, she had to connect the tiny red marble with the quote: ‘You’re the most important thing in the world.’
And while she was searching her extensive mental encyclopaedia of movie knowledge, right now, nothing was ringing a bell.
But before Beth had time to think about it any further, she was pulled from her silent deliberation when she heard her name being called, angrily.
‘Beth! What the hell?’
She turned round to be faced with a very irate Jodi, who was currently emerging from a cab a little way down – slightly unsteady on her feet, and looking a bit sweaty.
But Beth didn’t have to wonder too hard why her friend was upset. Jodi had obviously figured out that she had given her the slip. And of course her destination had not been too hard to figure out either.
She raised a weary hand as her friend closed the distance between them, hoping to calm her down from the outset. ‘Don’t be angry, OK?’ she began before Jodi could get a word out. ‘You have to understand. I had to do this. I couldn’t just let it go. I was –am –unable to ignore it. Please don’t be mad at me.’
But Jodi wasn’t hearing Beth’s excuses. ‘No, don’t even go there. You have no idea what you are doing. You’re treading down a bad path and you are willingly walking into a spider’s web. If Danny didn’t set this up and Ryan did, then you have to know… it’s emotional cheating Beth – it’s—’
Beth cut her off. ‘No it’s not. And you don’t know the half of it, actually. I don’t know if it is Ryan, and even if it is, I’m not going to feel bad about this. You have no idea what has happened, Jodi. My entire world has been upended.’
Jodi rolled her eyes dramatically, unwilling to listen to Beth’s justifications any more. ‘Oh, please. Your entire world has been upended since the last time we saw each other – about say, an hour ago? Seriously, what type of idiot do you take me for? You can’t honestly expect me to—’
But Beth wasn’t going to be steamrolled. ‘Danny’s cheating on me, Jodi. I saw him here on the street earlier with my own eyes. He was with a woman. Along the avenue a while ago, not far from here. She was running after him – I think they were arguing and—’ Her voice caught in her throat, and for the first time she allowed the tears to flow freely down her cheeks. It was as if uttering the words out loud had made it all real.
At once, Jodi’s expression changed, softened, as Beth felt all the betrayal, frustration and confusion finally come to a head. She sobbed unashamedly.
‘Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Slow down, tell me what you saw.’ Jodi quickly pulled her into an embrace, beneath the awning of the hotel, not caring that they were attracting the attention of curious onlookers. She reached into her purse and found a Kleenex and handed it to Beth so she could dry her eyes.
Beth struggled to catch her breath and when she did, told Jodi what she had seen from the cab’s window. When she was finished, she found Jodi studying her, obviously churning over the details in her mind to try to make sense of the story.
‘So you just saw them – in a quarrel of sorts, you said? How did you know that they were together?’
‘I just… knew.’ Beth shrugged, guessing that Jodi suspected that her claim was based on little more than circumstantial evidence.
‘So you didn’t see them kissing or embracing? You didn’t see them being physical with each other… maybe holding hands? Acting like they were together?’
‘I saw her running down the street after him. He looked to me like he’d just got dressed in a hurry or something… Look, Jodi, I know what you’re thinking. You suspect I’m just making an assumption, but it all makes sense, especially taken with his behaviour lately. Him being protective over me touching his stuff, and needing to shower the moment he walks in the door.’ She provided her friend with a brief synopsis of what had been happening at home recently, and as Jodi’s scowl deepened Beth realised that she was coming around to her line of thinking.
‘Frank did that too,’ her friend whispered, her face solemn. ‘He’d come home. Shower before giving me a kiss or coming close to me. Like he had to wash the guilt off, and he did, you know. He’d been with that skank – every time he did that, he’d been in bed with her before coming home. He always blamed it on a busy day, just being a cop. Of course, when I caught him in the park that day with her, well, it all made sense.’ She turned her attention back to Beth’s situation. ‘Are you going to confront Danny? Tell him what you saw?’
Beth wiped the last tears from her eyes and looked around the street, as if noticing where she was for the first time. ‘I don’t know. Where do I start? How do I ask him about it? If I ask him, then I might have to explain what I was doing there in the first place and where I was going at this time of day. Don’t you think that complicates things too?’
Jodi shrugged as if Beth’s concern was no big deal. ‘So you don’t mention that. Don’t give him any ammunition to turn the tables; just ask straight out what he was doing with that woman. This is about him, not you.’
But Beth was already shaking her head. ‘No, no, no, I’m just not ready to do this.’
‘Beth, you have got to bekiddingme! Youhaveto talk about this with him. You have to ask him. Demand to know who she is. If he’s been screwing another woman while still in a relationship with you then that relationship is over and you need to get out of it as quickly as possible and move on. If he betrayed you on that level you have to kick him to the kerb. Immediately.’
