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.”

pick you up

is out of sight, I stab buttons on the 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

give it another go: “Ben,

about? We’re discussing a man

think you

for my her to make a

and up the mountain. The views are amazing, but I can’t enjoy them, my stomach churning in

‘Life and

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

leads me around to the rear and through gardens which are a mixture of well-kept and maintained, and

mixture of old and new, dilapidated and restored. Standing over high meadows overlooking a lake, the position is incredible. In any other

“the

but he ignores me, walking quietly

Oh, please be locked….

turns, and the door

on the threshold. “Are you coming or

shake my head.

where you stand,