After this utterly mortifying episode, she owed him that much at the very least.
12
“How could she be sonaive?” Karen seethed, staring out at a crowded O’Connell St from inside the cosy cafe she and Tessa were in.
She’d felt somewhat disloyal telling her friend about Jenny’s situation but was so frustrated with her for believing Roan’s codswallop that she had to confide in someone.
And maybe Tessa might be able to shed some light as to how the guy got away with such bullshit.
“Maybe I’ve been a bit hasty,” Jenny had said when Karen asked her how it went. “He reckons I could’ve contracted it from Paul. Says there’s no way it could be him.”
“You and Paul broke up months ago. How would it take so long to manifest itself?” Karen ventured, unable to bite her tongue.
“To be fair, I’ve had the symptoms for a while – I justkept putting off going about them.” Jenny shrugged. “It could just as easily have been him?”
“Sounds a bit of a long shot to me. And you admitted yourself that you were having doubts about Roan before this.”
“Maybe I misjudged him though? You should have seen his face when I told him – he was really upset about it. I felt so guilty for jumping the gun when there could well be another explanation.”
Karen felt like catching Jenny and shaking her until she saw reason. Obviously, all her great intentions for dumping Roan had gone out the window.
And the sly sod knew exactly how to cover his tracks.
“I just can’t understand it,” she complained to Tessa now.
“What can you do? Jenny’s a big girl. But now I know exactly what they mean when they say love is blind.”
“Blindbeing the operative word. Seriously, could he bethatgood a liar?”
Tessa bit into her croissant. “Did you ever consider that Jen loves him and needs to believe that he’s telling the truth? And for all we know, maybe he is.” She shrugged. “These thingscantake a lot of time to manifest.”
Karen felt annoyed at the notion that there might be any weight to Roan’s pathetic explanation. But a nurse by profession, Tessa would know the ins and outs of the medical stuff.
“Well, for what it’s worth,Idon’t think he’s telling thetruth,” she grumbled. “I know for a fact that he’s a lying, cheating ...”
“How so?”
“What?”
“You said that you know for a fact. How do you know that?”
“Well, I told you about that girl he was with that time in the shopping centre.”
“Oh? And were they going at it there and then in the fruit and veg aisle?” Tessa inquired archly.
“No, but – ”
“So how do you know that shewasn’tjust a friend? Or that Jenny may indeed have picked up this thing from her ex? STIs are often asymptomatic. Maybe give the guy a break Karen, and try to accept the possibility that you might actually be wrong for once.”
She recalled Shane telling her pretty much the same thing.Couldshe be mistaken? Karen didn’t know. Plus her head was going to explode if she thought about Jenny’s situation any longer. Goodness knows she had her own problems. Shane was leaving the country soon.
She hadn’t seen him since that night at the cinema, and he hadn’t been in touch either. Karen was surprised; it wasn’t like him to hold a grudge.
She also had to admit to herself that she missed him. But what was the point? He was going to Germany and she wasn’t – end of story. Still, she couldn’t ignore the ache she felt in the pit of her stomach whenever she thought about it.
“Have you seen Shane around lately?” she asked Tessa then, trying to keep her voice light.
Her friend paused lifting her cup to her mouth. “Aha. I wondered when we might get to that.”
