The Other Woman (11 page)

If she notices my stress, Arena says nothing.

“Arena, I…eh, I don’t…think I can come today,” I say.

She looks at me and nods.

“I mean, like, it’s too much. Leaving here…”

“Okay, I understand.”

Feeling a little bad that I made her come all that way only to turn her down, I try to make amends. “Maybe in time, but…” I lift and drop my shoulders, waiting for that look of disappointment to cross her face.

It doesn’t, to my surprise, and I am perplexed at her tiny smile.

“That’s all right,” she says, but makes no attempt to leave. For a moment we stand in silence. Well, I stand in awkward silence.

It is then that I hear the tiny sound. It’s coming from the huge shoulder bag she’s carrying. Like a whimper. With a frown, I stare at her, my ear cocked. I hear the whimper again.

“You got a dog in there or something?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says without hesitation.

I gawk at her. “You’re joking, right?”

She shakes her head and opens the bag for me to look inside.

Curious, I peer inside the bag and shriek at the sight of a tiny Beagle moving around. Just like the ones on the tissue box. “Ohmygod!”

“She’s needs someone to look after her,” Arena says, removing the puppy from the bag and handing her to me. “So I thought, how ’bout I ask Rival to help out. Some days, whenever you can.”

“Ohmygod!”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“Noooo!” I whisper, cradling the little body to mine. The puppy licks my hands and wags its tiny tail. I laugh and stroke its soft body.

“I think she’s hungry, so we may have to feed her soon. I have milk at home.”

“Puppy milk? I ask. “She’s too little for normal milk. You have to give her puppy milk. Have you got some?”

‘N…o.”

“You have to get some, Arena. Puppy milk.”

“Oh.” She scratches her head. “Mm. Where do I get…?”

“At the vet in Hornsby. I know the place. I can show it to you. Let’s go.”

Arena and Eden exchange conspiratorial smiles, but I don’t care. I’m too busy falling in love with the beautiful puppy who burrows into my armpit. She has won my heart and allayed my anxiety about leaving the prison I call home.

If the puppy was a ploy to disarm me, it was a damn good one. It’s nothing but love at first sight for me, and judging by the way she’s licking my hands and face, I’d say the feeling is mutual.

“Would you like to name her?”

My eyes turn large. “Me? Yeah! How ’bout…how ’bout…” I’m so overwhelmed, I can’t think of a name right now.

Sensing my dilemma, Arena smiles. “Let’s wait a week and see what name fits.”

“Okay. Let’s go,” I say, and with the beautiful puppy firmly in my grasp, I hurry out of Dunhill with Arena.

“For now, I shall call you…Puppy,” I say and laugh out loud.

****

RIVAL

Even though Bradley and Arena’s husband, Bear, are friends, I’d never been to Arena’s house before. It’s big, homely, and warm, and immediately, I feel comfortable in it.

Bear is not around, so I am relaxed. We spend the day swimming, playing with the kids in the pool, and preventing Puppy from jumping into the pool. She’s never far from me, and when she barks, it’s like someone has struck a chord on a harp. I love her, love her little, plump body and her lilting bark. Over pizza and with Puppy snuggled inside my jacket, we spend the afternoon watching
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
on TV.

At 7 p.m. Arena drives me back to Dunhill. I’m reluctant to leave Puppy behind and it shows.

“You can come back over the weekend,” Arena says.

“She’ll forget me by then,” I say in a surly voice.

“I don’t think she will.”

Back at Dunhill, the butterflies have flown, and I find myself badgering the doctor for day passes. Even weekend passes.

Luckily, they grant it to me so I can be with my precious puppy.

Bear, Arena’s husband, is a man of few words. But he’s warm, makes me laugh with his silliness, and I love the way he goofs around with Arena and the kids.

My nights at the Shaw residence are spent in their lovely guest suite, which is attached to the house.

“This is where you can stay when you get out of Dunhill,” Arena says as she turns down my bedcovers.

The butterflies return and lodge in the pit of my stomach.

“I will be with you every step of the way, Rival,” Arena says in a reassuring voice. “We’ll walk this together, one step at a time, one day at a time, and I promise, I will never let go of your hand, unless you tell me to. I just need you to be willing to take a chance and leave Dunhill.”

Leave Dunhill. Leave my sanctuary? Imagine I was once terrified of staying in Dunhill, now I am terrified of leaving it – the irony of it.

“We have to start somewhere if we are going to get your children back.”

We
. I feel a little more confident to think I am now a "we." For a long time, I was just an "I". My surge of confidence is followed swiftly by a surge of sadness and I hold a pity party for myself.

“Plus, Puppy needs you.” When I nod, her face lights up.

Puppy
needs
me
.

****

RIVAL

It’s been a week since I’ve taken the plunge and left Dunhill. In spite of my precious puppy, in spite of Arena’s warmth and care, reality has sunk her sharp teeth into me – my safety blanket is gone.

I long for Dunhill, the familiar smells, the routine, my minders. I expected to struggle with life outside Dunhill, and I do. I struggle with
everything
. Living in the real world means having to deal with issues, make choices, and interact with people. And decisions – that’s the most difficult thing to handle.

Like, how do I get to see my children?

How do I handle Bradley when I see him?

Do I confront Scarlett about her insidiousness?

Do I move out of Arena’s and rent my own place?

How do I cope with living alone?

To be honest, I don’t want to do
any
of the above. They all scare me. All I want to do is sleep with Puppy. And I do.

Eventually, I sleep without Puppy, because she wants to play all the time, even at night. I hand her over to Arena and her kids, shut my door, and sleep. Some days, I sleep till 4 p.m., wake for about fifteen minutes, then go back to bed. Arena enters my room and reminds me to eat, to shower, and to take my medication.

I dislike crowds, become anxious and fearful of loud sounds, and whenever I am out, I can’t wait to rush back into my bedroom where I can lie in the dark and wait for sleep to claim me. To me, I have made little progress. I exist in a bubble of blur and I fear that I am heading back to the Dunhill.

When I mention this to Arena, she gives a dismissive wave. “That’s not going to happen. It’s okay and even
expected
that you will be scared of the outside world. Time
will
heal. Just be patient and never be afraid, because I’m with you. If you do have to go back to Dunhill, it’s okay. Maybe for a short period, like a hospital stay. Then you’ll be back. Nothing to fear, Rival. Nothing at all.” She gives me a hug.

“How do I thank you?” I murmur, clinging to her, on the verge of tears.

“Don’t thank me. Just pay it forward when you can. That’s all I ask of you.”

“What if I can’t? What if I never heal? What if I spend the rest of my life in Dunhill? What if I let you down, what if I become too much to handle and…?”

“Shhh!” she says. “It’s going to be better. All we’re going to do today is think about what you are going to do from now till dinner time. Not tomorrow, okay? One
hour
at a time. Not even one day at a time.”

It works. I can do
now
to dinner time, so I relax and play with Puppy, who is now making every shoe a sandal.

“Hey, do you wanna make dessert?” Arena asks.

“Oh, I can do an amazing chocolate mousse,” I say.

“Really? We love chocolate mousse.” She points to her waistline.

I spring to my feet. “I’ll grab the recipe from my Hotmail account. I stored it there.”

“Okay, great. You do that while I stick a chicken in the oven.”

Till dinner time. I can do that.

****

RITCHIE

“We have a situation,” my sister Arena says as she stirs a pot on the stove.

I peep over her shoulder to check out what’s responsible for that great aroma. “Beef stew! I knew it.” I love my sister’s cooking. She’s the best. Whenever I visit, the first thing I do is dive for her pots.

Girly, my Thai housekeeper, only makes noodles. Plain, boring noodles. The kids love it and I sometimes eat it when I’m hungry, but I am tired of it.

“What time will it be ready?”

“Ritchie! Did you hear what I—”

“Yeah, yeah, what situation? There’s always a situation with me, Mrs. Shaw.”

She elbows me. “Your client and good buddy Bradley Mur –
Irish
Stew, not beef.”

“Even better. What time is it going to be ready?”

“Thirty minutes…? Anyway, his wife, Rival, she’s living with us.”

I step away from the pots and squint at Arena, then at my brother-in-law Bear, who’s peeling a heap of potatoes. “What…do you mean?”

“He’s ditched Rival, you know that, right?”

I nod at her. “Yeah.”

“He’s moved his mistress into their family home, secured sole custody of the kids, and basically cut Rival off. Took just about…everything, Ritchie.”

“Nah!” I shake my head, my eyes flitting between Arena and Bear. “Bradley wouldn’t do that. No way.”

“Evidently, he did,” Arena says. “She’s sort of destitute now, so we’ve lent her our guest suite.”

“
Destitute
? That’s a strong word, ’Rena.” I shake my head. “That can’t be right. C’mon.” I look at Bear to confirm my sister’s exaggeration.

Bear nods, a morose look on his face.

“Really?”

“Took some jerk to the hospital with him, had him keep watch while he made her sign documents she wasn’t supposed to sign – a power of attorney. Then he backdated it and robbed the fu…heck out of her while she was in hospital. According to her, that is. True or not, she’s left with barely anything.”

“Some jerk? That was me, Bear.
I
witnessed
it.”

Arena looks at me with her mouth open.

“What?
You
colluded with him and robbed her while she was ill? Why would you do that, Ritchie?”

“I…I…Arena, she’s a druggie, okay? She was high, they found drugs in her bag. She was so high she left her kids in a mall, for Christ’s sakes! Two tiny little things. Bradley was only protecting his family, his kids, his assets. Like I did. That’s all.”

“That’s not altogether true, Ritchie,” Arena says, shaking her head. “And there’s more to this story. Way more. And you shouldn’t have done what…”

“Hey, he just asked me to accompany him, then he asked me to witness her signature and… and…like, she was okay with signing over everything to—”

“Well, she wasn’t, Ritchie,” Arena says. “She was not drugged, she was
ill
. And she was in no state to make such decisions. He knew that, and he pulled a dirty on her by coercing her into giving him that power of attorney while she was ill. Then backdating it a month prior to her breakdown.”

I stroke my chin and stare at my sister. I don’t want to throw stones, because I did the same thing to my wife. It had been the only way for me.

“Her share of the house? You wanna know what it is, Rich?” Arena asks. “Three hundred thousand dollars. That’s it.”

“
Three
hundred thousand? No way! That can’t be right. I’ve been in his home – it’s like at least—”

“—More than two million? I know,” Bear says. “I was surprised at first that he sold it at that price.”

“So…you mean to say, he sold the house for—”

“Six hundred thou,” Bear finishes. “At that price,
I
would have bought—”

“I
would have bought it,” I finish. “I can’t believe it. Six hundred?”

“Well, he spun some yarn about the property having structural underpinning problems,
major
wood beetle problems that weakened the structure and—”

“Whaaaat?!”

“—yet—” Bear raises his potato peeler at me, “here’s where it gets better…nine months later, he’s still
living
in the property.”

“Still? How’s that possible?”

“He sold it to his…
mistress
,” Arena says.

I’m stunned by what I’m hearing. “This…this…man, Arena, I find this hard to believe. Brad, he…he’s not like that.”

“Well, believe it,” Arena says in a voice my mother used when I wanted to borrow the car on a school night. “That’s what he’s done to his loyal, faithful, ill wife. Taken her to the cleaners, then dumped her along the roadside. She now sleeps in my guest suite.”

I fall silent as I ponder my bit in this whole affair.

“Look,” I finally say. “I’m behind Bradley on this. I trust him. She’s a druggie, and I have no patience for them. Sorry.”

“Well, I understand your loyalty toward him considering he saved your butt a couple of times, but we now have one more problem.”

Bear and I turn to look at Arena.

“Rival doesn’t know the jerk he brought over to the hospital to help swindle her is my brother. Let’s keep it quiet for now. With her memory lapses, all those gaps, maybe she won’t realize you were the one who helped stiff her. I don’t want her to get mad and leave here. She’s fragile and vulnerable.”

I nod. “How long is she going to be living with you guys?”

“Until she finds a place of her own. She doesn’t have the kids, and Bradley’s not entertaining any visitation until she is well, so she’s pretty down right now. Needs support and understanding. Sleeps a lot because of her medication, and when she goes for walks, she walks past her old house and comes back in tears. Bradley ignores most of her calls and only replies by texts. He’s
totally
rejecting her. It’s really hurtful. She’s in so much pain. Heartbreaking, I tell you.”

I look at Bear. “Have you talked to him about this?”

Bear shakes his head. “He doesn’t know she’s living with us. Thought I’d wait a while before I tell him. Don’t know how he’s going to react when he hears that we’ve taken her in.”

Slowly, I nod. “So I’d better keep quiet then?”

“For now,” Bear says. “Let Rival get well first. Then maybe she can challenge Bradley in court over the house.”

“But that will eat up the little money she has,” I say. “And she could lose the case. Might not be worth her while in the…”

“That’s probably what hot-shot attorney Bradley Murdoch is banking on,” Arena says.

“Damn! I can’t believe he’s with Scarlett,” I say. “I mean, I knew he was having an affair, but I thought it was a fling, you know.” I scratch my head. “Well, guess I’d better leave then. I’ve done enough to her already and I don’t want her to see me and go ballistic.” I snatch my car keys from the table.

“You haven’t eaten,” Arena reminds me.

I give a dismissive wave. “Not hungry. Anymore.”

“Okay, I’ll send you some food,” my sister says. “Bear will bring it over to…”

“Thanks!” I fling over my shoulder and hurry to my Jeep.

****

RITCHIE

As I drive off, I think about Bradley. He’s become as close to me as Bear is. Months ago (long, complicated story cut really short here), when my life and the future of my children were threatened by my ex-wife, Olga, I needed Bradley’s help. Not only did he accompany me to Bali without charging me a cent, he also managed to obtain, illegally at that, a power of attorney from Olga.

When he returned to Sydney, Bradley cashed in some favors. Got me a quickie divorce and full custody of my children. After doing all of that, he still refused to charge me a cent. So yeah, after all that, he is my brother from another mother and I owe him.

Every Thursday we play squash, try to outplay each other, then squabble about who the better player is over beers and steak.

When he began his affair with Scarlett, he constantly talked about her. Bragged about her. The more he drank, the more graphic he was about his affair, regaling me with tales of his sexual escapades.

“Big, the sex, it’s out of this world. She’s…man, Rich, she is
artful
.” He calls me Big Mac or Big because of both my size and my surname.

“Yeah?”

“She’s come alive in the sack. But you know what I like most about her, Big?”

“What?”

“Her focus. It’s solely on me. One hundred percent. When I’m with her, I think of nothing except what she is going to do next to blow my mind. No work, no kids, no bills to pay, no family to handle…nothing. And her tricks are always fresh and new. I’m like a kid in a candy store when I’m with her.”

“Okay. Sounds like you are getting what you need.”

He shrugged.

“But now, is it like…you know, serious and shit?”

He shook his head. “Just having some fun on the side, that’s all. What Rival doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” That’s what he said then. But now, it seems like everything’s changed.

Most men would have been envious of Bradley. He had a faithful wife, two beautiful kids, a good business, and a hot and sexy mistress who fulfilled all his needs.

Anyway, Bradley’s business is just that, I tell myself. I’m not going to judge him in any way. He is my friend, I will support him every step of the way.

Besides, he is also one of our biggest clients. He constantly hooks us up with other big clients. Sure, he gets his cut for introducing us, but we secure some pretty lucrative contracts because of him. Win-win all round.

When he asked me to accompany him to Dunhill Mental Health facility to visit his sick wife, I was only too happy to help. And now…

I decide to call him.

“Big Mac!” he says, answering on the first ring and sounding upbeat. “How you doing?”

“Hey, mate, whatchu up to these days, huh? You don’t call, you don’t text, you don’t email, you don’t come around…I’m feeling neglected, man.”

He chuckled. “Mate, you sound like a bitch.”

“I know, I know, but it’s all your fault. You’re neglecting me and it’s making me heaps emotional.”

“Sorry, Big,” he says with a laugh. “It’s been crazy around here. Let’s do squash on Thursday, then grab a bite, huh? You free?”

“For you I’ll make time, buddy.”

He laughs. “For me, you’ll make time?”

“For you I will. Seriously. You’re
that
special to me.”

More laughter. “Okay, Big. Thursday it is then. Loser pays, so I will beat the shit out of you, then make you feed me.”

“That sounds like a dare, Murdoch.”

“That
is
a dare. Bring your wallet.”

“You’re so on, motherfucker!” I say before I hang up.