One Wild Night

After her phone call with Lucy, Evelyn paced around her bedroom contemplating if she should give Lawrence a call or not to ask him if he knew anything about what had happened between Tom and Kimberly.

She hoped not. She really hoped he wasn’t in any way involved in it and that it had all been an honest misunderstanding on Kimberly’s end.

Now that she knew Kimberly was the lady in question, she couldn’t bring herself to reach out to her.

She feared that it might not be a coincidence. How could it be when Lawrence had visited the Moore family recently?

Was Tom aware of this? Had he made the connection between Lawrence and Kimberly? Was that the reason Harry suggested she let things go as Tom had said?

Perhaps it was best if she left things the way they were since Tom was willing to.

She glanced at her phone when it began to ring and she quickly picked it up when she saw it was a call from her father-in-law.

“Lawrence…”

“Is Desmond there with you?” Lawrence asked before she could speak.

“No, he’s not here. I’m alone. I was just contemplating whether or not I should call you,” Evelyn said and Desmond who had been about to walk into the bedroom to ask her to come down for dinner, paused at the door when he heard she was on the phone.

It was something about her tone that actually made him stop to listen to her.

“What did you want to call me for?” He asked, wanting to stall a bit before telling her why he had called.

“I wanted to find out if you know anything about Tom and Kimberly Moore?” She asked, not wanting to give him the details in case he wasn’t involved.

Desmond frowned, wondering what business Tom had with his father’s goddaughter.

Lawrence cleared his throat, “That’s the reason I called…”

“Please tell me you are not involved, Lawrence,” Evelyn pleaded knowing that this was all going to come back right to her. 𝒐𝗏𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

Lawrence? She was talking to his father? What was going on? Desmond mused.

Lawrence winced, “You asked me to do something…”

“For God’s sake Lawrence! I asked you to find a way to convince him about getting married and starting a family, not ask your goddaughter to accuse him of being the father of her baby! What were you thinking?” Evelyn asked as she lowered herself to the bed weakly.

“It was supposed to be a harmless prank,” Lawrence said and Evelyn frowned.

“How can something like that be a harmless prank? Do you have any idea how worried he was? I was upset he chose not to pursue it and punish the lady involved, but now that I know who she is and how it all happened, I’m relieved. Tom doesn’t know you are involved, right? It’s best if he doesn’t know and we can all just pretend this didn’t happen,” Evelyn said and Lawrence sighed.

“He’s aware of it all. Lucy is aware too. And she threatened to report it to the whole family if I don’t do so myself. That’s why I called,” Lawrence said and Evelyn massaged her temple.

Lucy was aware? Was that why she had so willingly told her about Kimberly? Evelyn mused.

“We can’t let Desmond know about this. He would be furious if he got to know you were involved in this. I will talk to Lucy and plead with her to keep it to herself and…” she stopped talking when the door opened and Desmond stood there looking at her.

Evelyn immediately hung up the call as she rose and forced a smile, “Des…”

“Are you married to me or to my father?” Desmond asked before she could say anything and her smile faltered.

“What sort of question is that? I’m married to you of course,” she said with a frown.

“So can you explain what I just overheard right now?” Desmond asked in a flat voice.

“That was your dad…”

“I know that much,” Desmond said, and Evelyn sighed.

“The whole stuff with Tom was a prank and your father was behind it,” Evelyn said and Desmond nodded.

“I see. And what was your role in it?” He asked, and she frowned.

“What do you mean my role in it? I had no idea about this until now! I’m only just hearing of it,” Evelyn said defensively.

“If that is the case why were you talking about keeping it away from Tom and me?” Desmond asked and Evelyn shook her head.

“What good could come from it? Everyone is going to be angry and overreact. This is a family issue and we…”

“Am I expected to believe that you do not have a role to play this? Just a while ago you were overreacting and talking about punishing the girl behind this, and now that you know you have a hand in it you no longer want everyone to be angry and overreact? Isn’t that hypocritical of you?” Desmond asked, trying to control his fast rising temper.

“I don’t have a hand in it. I never asked your father to do that. I only asked him to try to convince Tom to change his mind about getting married and that was before I spoke with Lucy,” Evelyn explained weakly.

“I told you to let Tom be and not meddle in his business. I clearly said if he says he doesn’t want to get married, leave him alone to make up his mind when he is ready! Why did you have to involve my father in his business?” Desmond asked as his voice rose angrily, surprising Evelyn who had never seen him that mad.

“Des…”

“You never listen, do you? You prefer to do as you please because you think you know what is best for everyone, don’t you? Now that you know you have a hand in it your tune has changed.” Desmond cut in harshly.

“I just thought….”

“You thought what? That I was not being a good enough father because I didn’t want to interfere in Tom’s private life? That man was a bad father to me but you expect him to be a good grandfather to my kids? Am I that incapable to you?” Desmond asked and Evelyn stepped forward.

“No, Desmond! I swear I never thought of any of that,” Evelyn said as she tried to touch him, but Desmond turned around and left the room angrily and she immediately followed him.

“I’m sorry,” Evelyn pleaded as she tried to catch up with him and Desmond stopped abruptly and turned to face her.

“I’m very much upset and I want to be left alone right now. I don’t want to say any hurtful words to you that I might regret,” Desmond said as calmly as he could before walking away.

Away from there, Jeff rose very quickly from his seat on the couch when Mia walked into the house that evening and he looked at her with a worried frown.

“Where have you been all day? I kept trying to reach you but it seemed your phone was turned off,” Jeff said as he approached her and then paused when he noticed that she was not very steady on her feet.

“Why?” Mia asked as she very slowly made her way to the couch so she wouldn’t fall on her face.

“Are you drunk?” Jeff asked in surprise as he stood still while watching her.

“Just a little bit,” Mia said and Jeff frowned, wondering what had come over her.

She had left the house earlier that morning without his knowledge and he had been so worried about her that he had gone to Alicia’s to see if she was there and when he didn’t find her, he had called Bryan to enquire if she was with Sonia.

It wasn’t like her to go out without saying a word hence he had been very worried, and seeing her so drunk made him feel even more concerned about her.

What was the deal with her? Since they moved in together he had noticed that she was either out at night meeting strangers on a blind date or she was in her bedroom crying in the middle of the night.

He looked at her for a moment without saying a word and then left her there and went into the kitchen.

By the time he returned a short while later with a mug of warm honey water, Mia was lying on the couch with her eyes closed and he sighed as he dropped the mug on the table and crouched down in front of her.

“Mia,” he called softly as he shook her shoulder to rouse her and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“Leave me alone,” she said as she pushed his hands off her shoulder and Jeff moved back a little because of the stench of alcohol on her breath.

Ignoring her protest, Jeff took her by her shoulders and lifted her so that instead of lying on the couch she sat upright, and then he picked up the mug of warm honey water and sat down beside her.

“I will leave you alone after you drink this. It will help you not to feel like shit in the morning,” Jeff said calmly and Mia reluctantly opened her eyes to look at him.

“Why do you care? Why should you?” Mia asked, and he frowned as he raised the mug to her lips.

“Because you are my housemate and I have to look out for you. Now drink this and stop talking. I fear I might get drunk just by inhaling the alcohol on your breath,” Jeff said and as she opened her mouth to speak again, he placed the mug between her lips so she would drink instead.

Mia who was feeling thirsty, took the mug from him and gulped down the content because it was warm and sweet and once she was done Jeff took the mug from her and placed it on the table.

“Come, I will escort you to your room,” Jeff said as he rose and reached for her but she shook her head.

“I can go on my own. I’m not that drunk,” she said without budging.

“Alright,” Jeff said as he rose and picked up the mug while Mia looked at him from under her heavy lids as he headed for the kitchen to rinse and keep the mug.

The conversation with Harry earlier had left her in a scattered state of mind and she had resorted to alcohol to get herself out of the pit the painful memories had thrown her into.

But she still wasn’t feeling any better. Perhaps she was not drunk enough yet, Mia decided as she rose to get herself a bottle of wine.

As Jeff stepped out of the kitchen, he saw her by the dinning taking out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and snatched it out of her grip before she could open it.

“What?” She snapped at him in annoyance.

“I didn’t give you the honey water so you could get even more drunk. Go to your bedroom and sleep off whatever is bothering you,” Jeff ordered and she glared at him.

“Do I look like your daughter or wife that you can order around? I bought that wine with my goddamned money and I can drink it whenever I want to!” She yelled at him, and Jeff frowned, slightly taken aback by her unexpected outburst.

“I’m not ordering you around…”

“You are not? Are you sure about that? Because you sounded very well as though you were trying to tell me what to do with my life!” She said, and he frowned.

“Mia, you are drunk…”

“I can be drunk if I choose to! It has nothing to do with you. Absolutely nothing. So get your butt out of my business and leave me the fuck alone!” She said as she snatched the bottle of wine from him and he let her have it.

“Did I say something to upset you?” Jeff asked, not sure what was going on with her.

She had seemed pretty drunk when she walked in, but she didn’t sound so drunk right now and he had no idea why she seemed so mad at him like he had offended her.

Mia said nothing as she raised the bottle of wine to her lips and took a long drink, not minding that most of it was pouring on her dress.

She inhaled deeply and let out a deep breath as she dropped the bottle of wine on the dining table and sat down while Jeff continued to watch her.

Seeing as she was not retiring to her room yet despite the fact that she seemed upset, he thought she might want to talk so he took the seat opposite her.

“Are you hungry?” He asked, and Mia raised her head to look at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Do you want me to fix you something to eat? I doubt you’ve had anything to eat all day,” Jeff said, and Mia shook her head.

“I’m fine. Thanks,” she said, feeling guilty for going off on him a while ago. He had done nothing to deserve that. She had transferred her aggression to him when he wasn’t the one she should be saying those words to.

She should have stood up to her family and her husband that way instead of being a coward. Maybe she was yet to heal and move past all that had happened because she was hiding instead of confronting it.

“Do you want to talk or you want me to leave you alone?” He asked, and she nodded.

“I want to be left alone,” she said, and Jeff gave her a nod as he rose to retire to his bedroom.

“I don’t know what the problem is, but whatever it is, I hope you’re fine by morning,” Jeff said as turned to leave.

“Jeff?” Mia called, and he turned to look at her.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. And thank you,” she said, and he gave her a nod before walking away.

Right from the first time they started working together he had noticed that she both dressed and acted strangely but now that they were living together under the same roof he was beginning to realize that she was quite a complicated lady, Jeff mused.