The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 266
I took a sip of the coffee – wow, it was good and the hotliquid was soothing to my throat. I wish I had kept hold of this machine. Lilywould have loved it. It made me angry just thinking about it, how much I hadlost.
I thought I had got over all this, but sitting here now inthe kitchen of the home I had once made my own was bringing it all back to meand it was making me angry.
Part of me was tempted to hurl the coffee machine on thefloor and smash it, but what would that give me other than a brief moment’ssatisfaction? No, I was better than that, and besides, it could scupper myplan.
I didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardise what Ihad in mind. If I smashed up his beloved De’Longhi he might just begin tosuspect that I had rumbled him. It was OK to be angry but I needed to channelthat anger effectively.
My anger melted away in an instant as I heard a telltalescratching at the kitchen door.
“Tommy!” I squealed in delight as I opened the back door tolet in my beloved former pet.
After much affection and fuss which the poor cat probablydidn’t appreciate, coming in as he had for his breakfast, I heard the telltalecreaking of the aging floorboards from the bedroom above which told me Rob wasout of bed. We lived in a 1930s semi which, despite being lovely, with largerooms and big bay windows, was also showing signs of wear and tear.
Things went quiet for a couple of minutes which meant thathe would be sitting on the toilet reading yesterday’s newspaper. He insisted ontaking that in there with him, something that I considered to be another filthyhabit. What was it with men and reading on the toilet?
Shortly afterwards, there was this horrendous noise thatsounded like an aeroplane taking off which meant he had flushed the toilet. Iremembered that it had been making that racket for months before I left butnothing had been done about fixing it. I had suggested a plumber but hereckoned it was just an airlock and something he could easily fix himself. Hehadn’t bothered, though.
A few minutes later, here he was, waltzing into the kitchenin his ill-fitting shirt, bought before he had put on weight, and tie, all setfor his incredibly dull job as an accountant in the regional headquarters of aglobal finance company.
“Morning,” I said, attempting to sound all bright and breezyin order to conceal my contempt.
“Got any coffee on?” was the grunted response. He wasn’t amorning person – well, not with me anyway. I’m sure it would be different if itwas Emma sitting here. Still, she probably would be soon. In my world, the onethat had already happened, he hadn’t wasted any time moving her in after I left.Still, it might be different this time because what I had planned for todaymight wreck their future. Here’s hoping!
“I’ll make you one,” I said, turning back to the machine. AsI was preparing it, I felt another sneeze coming, but rather than cover mymouth, I freely let it fly all over his coffee cup.
What’s mine is yours, I thought, chuckling inwardly.What are a few germs between ex-lovers?
“Here you go,” I said, turning around and handing him hiscoffee. He hadn’t seen my act of sabotage and took it eagerly. He also hadn’tbothered to say “bless you”, uncaring bastard that he was.
Enjoy the cold, you bastard was what I had reallywanted to say and it took a lot of restraint not to say it out loud.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’d better drink this quickly – I needto get to work.”
I looked at the clock above our old-fashioned electriccooker. It had one of those grills at head height that you don’t see muchanymore, but I really liked it.
Rob didn’t agree. He said it was dangerous, having melted aTupperware box which he accidentally left on top one day when he was grillingsome bacon. The resulting mess of molten plastic that dripped through hadruined his breakfast. He reckoned the kitchen was in serious need ofmodernisation, not that he was ever likely to fork out any money on it.
It was nearly eight-fifteen and I was eager to see the backof him, but then a wicked thought struck me. I decided I would wind him up abit first.
“Relax,” I said. “There won’t be much traffic on the roadstoday.”
Although 31st December was not a bank holiday, many peopletook the whole of the period between Christmas and New Year off. It was one ofthe few times of the year you could actually move freely around Oxford’s roadnetwork without getting stuck in a jam. He had plenty of time to get to work.
“In fact,” I added, emboldened by the knowledge that I hadthe upper hand, “we could go back upstairs for a quickie if you like?”
“Sorry, babe, I’d love to, but we’ve got an early meetingtoday,” he blatantly lied. “Maybe later,” he added.
I knew he would say no, that’s why I had asked. I wanted tomake him feel uncomfortable. We hadn’t done it for months before we finished,as he always had an excuse not to. There would be no later either – he wouldjust say he was too tired then. The truth was, he was saving himself for Emma,as his next sentence made all too obvious.
“Listen,” he added, tentatively. “You are still workingtonight, aren’t you?”
Making sure I’m out so you can have the mistress around,no doubt?
Jeez, it was tough biting my tongue and not saying thisstuff out loud.
“You know I am,” I replied. “You suggested it, remember, forthe extra money?”
“Yes, of course,” he said. “What time are you leaving?”
“About six,” I replied.
“I probably won’t see you, then,” he said. “We’re going fora few drinks after work.”
He jumped up, placed a token peck on my cheek and said,“since I won’t see you later, that’s to say Happy