Under the Surface

Chapter 16: Martin

Martin was in the middle of working on his laptop in his office at home when he heard the front door open. He looked at his watch, it was 8:45 pm, he knew it was Stella arriving back home from her PTA meeting. He hadn't spoken to her - except for their awkward exchanges at dinner with their children. He felt immensely guilty about what he did on his business trip. He cheated on his wife of seventeen years. No, he cheated with his twenty two year old intern. He felt bad, but he didn't exactly regret doing it. Himself and Jamie have been texting ever since so he constantly has to ensure his phone was with him, but he strangely liked the danger of it. He started typing away on his laptop until he looked up and saw his wife standing in the doorway of his office. He stared at her, waiting for her to say something. "Can we talk?" she smiled, as she walked in and closed the door behind her and sat on the leather chair at the other side of his desk, facing him. "Sure," he said, moving his laptop to the side. "Are you going through a mid life crisis?" she blatantly said, staring at him. "What?" he replied, taken aback. "I was researching it whilst you were away and well, you've got about 85% of the signs and symptoms." she replied, fixing her skirt as if she just didn't accuse her husband of having a mid life crisis. "What the fuck Stella? No I'm not having a mid life crisis, but thank you for worrying," he replied, rolling his eyes in disgust. "I just asked because I'm worried about us, Martin. I miss us. I think we should maybe make a reservation to go out to dinner together some point this week, it would be nice, just the two of us," she said. "Making a dinner reservation isn't going to fix our issues, Stella," he scoffed. She stared at him and said "well what do you want to do then? Go to couples cancelling or something? I'll do whatever to get us back on track!". He let out a loud sigh. "Maybe stop trying to be perfect all the goddamn time then," he spat out. "I...I don't try to be perf..." she said before he interrupted her and said, "please! You ever stop and think why all of a sudden Danielle is acting how she is right now? It's probably because you put too much pressure on the poor girl...get A grades, look perfect all the time, be friends with these people, do ballet...you're the reason she's acting out right now. Think about that!" he said angrily. "I don't think that's very fair!" she replied, eyes widening. "Hmm, well I think it is," he replied, not looking at her as he dragged back over his laptop to continue typing away. She sat there for minute before getting up and walking out and slamming the door. He let out a sigh and took out his phone from his pocket and typed,

Martin:

I need to see you, meet me at Heralds Motel in 20.

He bent his neck back so the base of his skull was resting on his chair and stared up at the ceiling, only to get interrupted by his text chime.

Jamie:

See you there,

xx