Choosing Her Lover

*****

And I think, that is that….

Until, at six pm, just as I am about finish for the day, Ben marches in again. “Come on,” he says. “I want you to come with me.”

“Come with you? Where?”

“Up to Mike’s place.”

“What? You want me to go there? What for? I barely know them.”

“Mike’s not at home. He’s working late. I want to catch James and Charlotte in the act, and I want a witness, so the bastard, and the bitch can’t deny it when I confront them.”

“Ben, you can’t do this. And haven’t you forgotten something? James Alexanders is my boss. I could lose my job…”

He stands, arms akimbo. “Fuck you, then. I’m going anyway. If you won’t come with me, I’ll go by myself. I’ll take a camera.”

Jeez…. I’d better go with him. See if I can stop him doing anything too stupid….

“Alright. I’ll come with you. Let me get my stuff and clear up my desk.”

fetch the car and pick you up at the front

internal phone, trying to get an answer. First James.… No reply…. Then Charlotte…. No reply…. Francis maybe? Still no reply. It’s too late in the day. No-one’s here. And I have no idea how to

another go: “Ben, this isn’t right. You can’t

about? We’re discussing a man fucking my brother’s wife. Of course, I’m entitled

think

driving, he twists to face me, his face flushing. “I suppose you think it’s okay for my her to make a fool of my brother?” Then he

drives us out of the City and up the mountain. The views are amazing, but I can’t enjoy them, my stomach churning in anticipation of

hotel, ‘Life and Beauty’. It’s rather

back,” says Ben. “But I don’t want them to

rear and through gardens which are a mixture of well-kept and maintained, and hopelessly

a beautiful old house which also looks to be in mid-renovation, a mixture of old and new, dilapidated and restored. Standing over high meadows overlooking a lake, the position is incredible. In any

“the bedroom curtains

hang back, but he ignores me, walking quietly to the front door

Oh, please be locked….

and the

turning to me on the threshold. “Are

my head.

glowers at me. “I know where you stand, don’t