Derailed (7 page)

But what
really
disturbs me is the change in Ritchie’s behavior every time Liefie is around. He won’t hold my hand or put his arm around me like he usually does. And…he calls me “Rival” in front of her. Not “babe” or “honey” or “sweetheart,” like he does other times. It’s almost as if he’s scared of showing me affection in front of Liefie. Or ashamed of me. Sometimes I feel like Liefie is more my mother-in-law rather than Ritchie’s ex-wife, who happens to be married to another man and pregnant with his child. As the days go by, my patience starts to wear thin. With both Liefie and Ritchie.  

But as I lie in Ritchie’s arms at night, I think about how great Ritchie has been to me, his warmth and his caring, and how happy I am to share my life with him.

Why let Liefie get in the way of our happiness? I decide rather than fight her, I will win her over. I’ve never really had a proper conversation with her, so I think it’s time to try again.

The next time we’re all at Arena’s place, swimming and barbequing, I walk up and take a seat next to her. She rummages through Gareth’s baby bag and doesn’t acknowledge me.

“Your girls are really cute, Liefie,” I say. 

Silence.

“They say the funniest things and have me in stitches.”

After a cursory glance at me, she continues her rummaging. An awkward silence ensues.

“Look, I know you don’t care much for me, but I really would like us to work things out so that we can co-exist as a unit. It’ll make the children happy, and I know it will make Ritchie happy.”

She emits a sound, something like a chuckle. Or maybe a sneer? It’s hard to tell, but the thought of both causes my hackles to rise. As I ponder that sound, I fall silent. She doesn’t in any way try to fill the silence.

In the background, Ritchie goofs around in the water to “Ice Ice Baby,” dancing and amusing the kids. Somebody cranks up the music.

“Anyway,” I say, raising my voice above the music. “I love your kids and would like for us –”

“The music is too loud,” she mouths, pointing at her ears. “Can’t hear you.” She gets to her feet and turns her back on me. Dismissed. 

Fury takes over. “Too loud, huh?”

She spins around to look at me.

“Well, try to read my lips. Fuck you and fuck your shitty attitude! I am trying to be civil so we can co-exist. But you are mean and bitter and plain nasty, in spite of having married another wonderful man who dotes on you, and whose baby you’re carrying. You’re jealous, unpleasant, and unhappy. So from now on, you can go fuck yourself, because I will not be making an effort to be civil again. Get it?”

I have never seen Liefie look so shocked – her jaw drops and her eyes pop. Eventually, her jaw re-aligns to its correct anatomical position.

“Don’t you ever talk to me like that!” she says in a low, cold voice, her finger stabbing the air between us. 

“I just did. DEAL WITH IT!” At that particular moment, the music ceases abruptly. My angry voice rings out in the afternoon, causing everyone around us to gawk at me in surprise. I don’t care. I’m beyond that. I’m tired of being bullied by the bitch. I turn and storm off into the kitchen. Within seconds Ritchie is behind me, water dripping off his body, a shocked look on his face.

“Babe, what’s up? Why you yelling at Liefie?”

Arms akimbo, I spin around to look at him. “
Babe
? You, mister, are pissing me off. You act differently toward me whenever Liefie’s around. Think I don’t notice, huh? You won’t hold my hand, and you take away your hand when I try to hold it. Huh? Think I don’t notice the way you call me ‘
Rival’
whenever she’s around? You never call me Rival, but when she’s around…”

He scratches the top of his head, then the back of his neck before he shifts around.

“I’m not your girlfriend, I’m your future
wife
! She needs to respect that, and you need to
remember
that!”

“I’m sorry,” he finally says. “She was upset about us and…stuff and like, I was just being…understanding…considerate...”

“Understanding and considerate to
her
. Not to me. I feel left out and…” To my horror, my eyes fill with tears. 

“Aw, baby!” Ritchie lunges to hug me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m sorry.” He hugs me tight. “I’m sorry.”

In spite of my tears, I’m glad to have finally spoken my mind.

“What happened between you and Liefie?”

I explain.

“I see.” He glances behind him at Liefie talking to Bear, Arena, and Vlad. Judging by her animated hand gestures, she’s giving her side of the story. 

Ritchie looks back at me and smiles.

“What?”

“Liefie’s just discovered what a spitfire you can be,” he says in an amused voice. 

I smile.

His eyes turn to slits. “You know, your feistiness, it kinda turns me on.”

I smile.  

“Wanna check out the upstairs bathroom again?”

I playfully punch him.

With a chuckle, he hugs me again. “Now let’s go outside and have some fun.”

He slaps my butt with both hands. “You need to cool –”

We hear a throat clear. Both of us turn around and look into Arena’s face. Behind her, watching us, is a tightlipped Liefie. I look at Ritchie, eager to see his behavior. He looks at Liefie, a tad hesitantly, then at me. I hold my breath as a strained silence ensues.

Ritchie turns to me. “Babe, honey, sweetheart, let’s go cool off in the pool.” He kisses my lips in front of both women, scoops me up, and walks past them over to the pool.

“Gee, you’re getting heavy,” he says as he stumbles around with me, eliciting laughter from everyone around. “You must have had a huge lunch.”

“Don’t throw me in,” I warn under my breath.

“I’m not going to,” he says as he pretends to stagger with me.

“I will get in myself.”

“Okay, sure my love,” he says before he throws me into the deep end, then pummels his chest.

RIVAL

I’m really excited – I have managed to secure a date to petition the court for shared custody of my kids. And…Bradley says he will support my petition! I’m thrilled. His support will prove to be most valuable to my petition. Even if I get just one court-scheduled day a week, it’s a start to more days.

To add to my elation, Ritchie and I are shopping for a ring. To wear a ring again is going to be a thrill, as it was really painful to stop wearing my wedding ring.

After looking at trays of diamond rings, the one that catches my eye is
de Fleur
– a three-karat, flawless, solitaire on a platinum band. Problem is, it is in excess of seventy-five thousand dollars. Sure it’s expensive, and I can easily afford it, but I know that Ritchie wants to buy me the ring. Mindful that he is the breadwinner in his family and that he is spending a fortune on a new home, I quietly put the ring back. Even though we are getting married, we haven’t got to the stage where our money is combined.

I look at a few more rings, but my eyes keep drifting back to
de Fleur.
It is beautiful.

“Which one?” Ritchie asks.

Wriggling my mouth, I look at them and frown. “Gosh, they’re all so lovely, Ritchie. I don’t know which to choose.”

“Mm.”

I take his arm. “Why don’t we talk about rings over lunch? I’m hungry.”

“Okay. After that we can try The Dollar Shop. Check out their selection.”

“What!”

“I know someone who works there so they will pass on their discount –”

I elbow him in the ribs.

“Kidding!”

When we head off home, it’s without a ring.

De Fleur
– what a beauty. How the hell do I get it? How do big stars like J.Lo and Julia Roberts handle a situation like this? They earn millions but have to consider their partners financial situation when choosing a wedding ring. What a dilemma for them.

It sucks to have rich-girl problems.

RITCHIE

I’m on my way to have dinner with Bradley. Even though I’ve not mentioned a word to Rival, I plan to tell Bradley about Rival and me. Tonight. It is time. He’s the only one who doesn’t know about us and it’s best he finds out before someone tells him. I’ve really been struggling with my feelings of deception and am eager to get it off my chest. Rival copes by not thinking about it. Me, I am different. I tense up when I receive his calls and I feel like a huge fraud each time I talk to Bradley. Whatever happens, I’ll just have to handle it. I mean, Bradley is married with a motorized stairway to Kirribilli house, so he has a lot going on. There’s no reason for him to come between Rival and me.

“Big, my man, how you going?” Judging from Bradley’s slur, he’s already a couple drinks ahead of me.

“Good, mate. Long time no see?”

“Yeah, boring shit gets in the way, Big. What can I do except to handle it?”

Now. It is time.
“Listen, Brad, there’s something I wanna tell –”

“Hey, before I forget, check this out.” Bradley fishes into his pocket and brings out a little red box.

No, no, no, no! Please don’t tell me that’s a ring.

He beams as he opens the box and flashes a diamond ring at me.

I’m speechless.

“She’s gonna love it, Big. I know her.”

I look at him with a mixture of disbelief and anger.

“Sixty thou. Lot more than Scarlett’s.”

Sixty thousand. Way more than I can afford.

“Couldn’t afford much when we married, but now, I wanna make it up to her, Big. She deserves it, seriously.”

“I’m sure.”

“But…” He taps a finger on his lips.

“Why?” I demand. “Why keep it quiet?”

“Timing is everything, mate. If I get her at the right time, it’ll be a yes.”

“But…but…Brad, what about your
wife
?” I can’t help but have a dig at him. “Scarlett? The woman you married? The one you left your wife for? Remember her?”

His dismissive wave is accompanied by a snort. “Only a matter of time before that ends, Big. You know that. That bitch, she’s history. You know that.”

I know that, true.

At a loss for words, I silently spin my glass around. The situation is just crazy. How the hell do I tell him about Rival and me now?

“Man, Big, Rival, she’s so…so sexy these days.”

Okay, those are not the kind of words I want to hear.

“Can’t wait to bang her.”

Definitely
not the kind of words I want to hear. My ears feel hot and I glance at the exit. What if I just got up and walked out of the bar? I mean, he’s talking about the woman I love and share my bed with every night. The woman I want to marry and have kids with.

“Her lips…they’re so…so big and juicy…”

I take a gulp of my whisky and try my best to zone out.

“Her arse, it’s so firm and…” his hands form claws in the air, “sweet. She never was like that before, Big. But now, she’s got arse and tits and her body…” His hands outline a female shape in the air. “Banging, man. It’s like she’s another woman. Another version of Rival. A
sexier
one.” He laughs.

“Mm.”

“She tells me she owes it to the swimming sessions and all the running. You know that she ran a marathon?”

So they’ve discussed her body then? That’s a pretty intimate conversation. Where were they when they discussed the firmness of her body? Alone in the car? In the
backseat
of the car? Shit!
Keep your cool, Ritchie!

“Pity she’s such a lousy lay, though.”

I freeze, my glass in midair. “H…have you …you fucked her?”
Please say no, please say no, please say no. please…

He smiles.

My collar feels tight around my neck. “Brad, have you? I mean, I thought you said you didn’t…”

He swivels his neck, catches the attention of the bartender and drags his fingers across our glasses, then looks at me. “In the past, I mean. She was such a lousy lay, Big. Seriously. Compared to Scarlett, she is…mediocre. Pity.”

In the past. Slowly, my shoulders relax, my hands unclench, and I wipe away sweat from my brow.

If anything happens between Bradley and Rival, anything physical, it’s curtains for us. I’m not mature enough to overlook that. I’m not reasonable enough to handle that. It will be over. A feeling of loss overcomes me at the thought of having to say goodbye to Rival. I love her so much.

“You okay?”

I nod at Bradley and remember my drink. “Yeah,” I say as I take a sip. 

Bradley links his fingers, stretches out his arms in front of him and cracks his knuckles. “I’m gonna have a lot of fun
educating
her,” he says in lewd voice, his eyebrows wriggling like hairy caterpillars.

That’s it. Enough of this shit – I signal the bartender for the bill.

“What? So soon?” Bradley cocks his head at me.

“Kids,” I say as I remove some bills from my wallet and throw them on the table.

“I got this,” Bradley says.

I shake my head. “Need a lift home?”

His wave is dismissive.

“Okay.” Today I don’t try to convince him to go home and spend time with his kids. I just don’t want to be in the same room with him. In the same car with him.

To keep my cool, I try to slot things into perspective as I make my way to Rival.

Bradley hasn’t banged Rival. Rival shares
my
bed every night. She loves me. I know that for a fact. Nobody can fake the kind of love we share. Rival has to be this way with Bradley in order to worm her way into Bradley’s good books so that he will not contest her upcoming court petition for shared custody.

Bradley’s just drunk. He means no harm.

Bradley’s my friend, so I’ve got to get a grip on things or I risk losing Rival.

I now have two secrets to keep. I have to keep Bradley’s ring a secret from Rival and I have to keep my relationship with Rival a secret from Bradley. Talk about conflict of interest.

RITCHIE

When I get home, Rival is alone. My girls are with Liefie and Girly is gone to her sister’s. I say nothing to Rival about my conversation with Bradley. He’s asked me not to mention the ring, so I won’t. I’m dying to tell Rival, bring it out in the open, but I keep my word and say nothing.