Atticus and I had not spoken since the dining encounter and though it was a setback in my plans, I would have it no other way. I didn’t like the emotions that were running through my mind, they felt foreign as though they belonged to another.
I kept asking myself if it was worth it and why I kept acting this way especially if I told myself a thousand times that I didn’t have any feelings for him.
I was hurt and angry and had no reason behind my behaviour. Do I just give up and live my life in the shadows like he wanted me to?
My phone rang loudly and startled me out of my thoughts. I looked at it and saw it was Danielle calling. I almost didn’t want to pick up but I was tired of staying indoors.
She had called me several times to invite me for lunch over at her place with the rest wives but I had denied it every time giving her silly excuses and I was sure she knew the reason I wasn’t accepting her invitation.
I remember asking her why Samatha was attending the club if she wasn’t married. It was then I found out she was married but lost her husband just a month into the wedding. The man had been a media mogul and was very influential.
The only question that ran through my mind was why she was after my husband if she already had one. Could one move on so easily from a spouse or was it an arranged marriage like mine so she didn’t have any feelings towards him?
Apparently, she had attached herself to Atticus a few months after her husband died and it was really suspicious to me.
“Hey Danny” I greeted her with a small voice because I felt guilty for not answering her calls the last few times she had called.
“I am so mad at you. You have been ignoring my calls and I promised myself that if you didn’t pick up today, I would never call you again”. She spoke angrily on the phone. I guess I hurt her. I didn’t think she thought of me at all.
“I’m sorry. I’ve just not been in a good mood lately. I am exhausted mentally and physically” I confessed with my millionth sigh in the last minutes.
“Oh my God, is everything okay?” She exclaimed worriedly and I almost burst out crying at how concerned she sounded. I missed my dad. He was the other person who reacted dramatically when I was hurt.
“I don’t even know. I am confused, angry and hurt but I don’t know how to talk about it and I don’t think I even want to talk about it” I told her with a gloomy tone.
“Tell me what’s wrong Hun, you’ll feel better when you let everything out, trust me” I considered her words and wondered if she was right. I have heard countless times that talking to someone you barely know had a certain bliss to it but I had never tried it out.
“It’s Atticus. He keeps bringing women home and I can barely tolerate it any longer. It’s getting to me in a way I don’t like. It’s like an itch I can’t scratch and it’s very frustrating” I all but rambled to her in one breath and I wouldn’t be surprised if she barely heard a word I said due to how fast I was speaking.
“Oh, you poor baby. You are going through a lot and I am so sorry that someone as nice as you is going through something this ugly.” she consoled me through the phone.
“I think I should give up on that stupid plan. There is no use”
“No, don’t say that. This is only the beginning and you don’t expect him to fall in love with you overnight, do you?” When I was silent for over a second, she let out a gasp of surprise.
“Don’t tell me you expected to see results in like a week?” I shrugged at first but then I remembered that she couldn’t see me.
“Not a week or maybe two weeks?” I asked sheepishly.
“You are joking?” she was finding it hard to believe me.
“Okay, maybe it was a bit too much on my part but that is not the main problem here. How do I get him to stop bringing those girls home, it is an insult to me and I am tired of being looked down on in my own home” I was so close to ripping my hair out.
“Have you maybe tried talking to him?”
“Talking to him, how? Tell him to stop bringing them home?”
“Yes, that. Who knows that might work”
“I already did that this morning but he walked out on me without saying anything. I may or may not have spoken a little too rudely”
“Well, that may just be the wake-up call that he needs. Let’s wait it out to see if he would listen” I was having doubts that he would actually listen to me but Danielle was hopeful and I could hear it in her voice.
“I don’t think so but let me say hopefully just for your sake.”
“Would you still come to lunch at my place tomorrow?” She asked and I could not stop myself from letting out a groan. I knew she was going to throw in the invite that I had been avoiding ever since.
“I would love to but I can’t and you know why. I don't want to see her or hear whatever nasty words she has to say”
“Seriously? You are hiding from your husband’s mistress? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
“Not in a case like mine. She has more power than I do at the moment” I replied and if I didn’t know better, I would day I detected a little jealousy in my voice.
“And she would continue to have power over you if you do not show her that she can’t mess with you” Danielle spoke with a firm tone.
‘I don’t want to show her anything, I just want to be left alone” Am I going to keep on fighting every woman he fucks just because I didn’t want to be tossed aside like a ragdoll, just like lots of women with arranged marriages?
“You think you would have peace if you let her do what she wants? You are giving her the go-ahead to bully you and the moment she realizes that, you can kiss your so-called peace goodbye” She scoffed and I could tell that she was getting mad at me.
“You are just trying to get me to come to your house” I accused her and she laughed at the other end of the line which in turn made me smile as well.
“I mean I am but that is not the sole reason I am doing this. You are my friend and I would do anything to make sure you are happy” she said with conviction and I felt my eyes water. So, this is what those who had friends enjoyed? It was nice.
“Thank you, Danielle. For everything. You are a friend everyone should have” She groaned on the other end of the line and I wasn’t asking her why before she spoke.
“Don’t make this sound like one of those heart-wrenching moments in movies please” I couldn’t help but laugh at how horrified she sounded as if she was truly scared of my words.
“You are so fucking dramatic. Fine, I will come to lunch tomorrow. I feel like if I don’t come, you’ll come over to drag me over” I replied with a knowing tone and she laughed, confirming my accusations.
“You bet I will. And make sure you dress to kill” she warns playfully and I rolled my eyes because I knew what she was hinting at.
Danielle was such a lover of drama.
“Yes, Mom.”
We talked some more about random things before she finally ended the call and made me promise to come else she would drag me over by my hair if she had to.