Two

OLIVIA

“What’s going on here?” I asked as I approached the table where Cyril sat with the other woman. Kate’s voice faded away as Cyril turned to look at me, his expression shifting from relief to surprise to a mix of disgust and confusion.

“Olivia... I didn’t know you’d be here,” he stammered, standing up.

I looked past him and took a good look at the lady, who had lowered her gaze, trying desperately to make herself invisible. “Are you ashamed?” I said to her, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Liv,” Cyril said and held my arm. “What are you doing?”

I ignored him and kept looking at her. Her red hair glittered in the light as she kept her eyes on the ground. I leaned forward and looked at her dress. It seemed familiar, a replica of a teal piece I had at home.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said and stood properly.

I pulled my arm away from him and glanced at the other guests. Kate was giving a speech that had them clapping and chuckling at what I hoped to be appropriate jokes about me. This wasn’t the place to cause a scene and, quite frankly, I wasn’t in the mood to embarrass myself any further. Cyril was doing a great job, as it were.

“What are you doing here?” I said and smoothened my dress. “You could’ve picked anywhere else to do this nonsense, do you have any…”

“Look, there’s no need to make a fuss over this. I’m out here with a friend, that’s all,” He interrupted, and I chuckled.

“A friend? At least she can’t look me in the eye. You have zero compunctions about lying to me. You’re a piece of…” I started to say, fighting with the urge to pick up the bottle of wine on the table and pour it over his head.

“Hey… hey,” He interrupted again, this time holding a finger up. “Anyone can come to a restaurant. I don’t have to tell you where I’m going or who I’ll be there with. No need for this. We’ll leave. Did you follow us here?”

“Don’t be silly,” I retorted in an annoyed tone. “Some of us have work to do. We can’t all skate through life, going out on dinner dates with… friends,” I added and moved backward.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I make enough money to take care of everything I’d ever need for years,” He responded and folded his arms.

I shook my head and glanced at Kate once more. She seemed to be wrapping up her speech. I was barely paying attention to her words, but I knew she was going to be looking for me any minute now. The last thing I wanted was to have everybody witness my husband philandering at my birthday dinner.

“What day is it, Cyril?” I asked, and he shrugged dismissively.

“I don’t know, Thursday?” He replied with an air of indifference and I smiled.

I shook my head. “Yeah, it’s Thursday.” I walked away, muttering, “I don’t even know why I bother.”

Kate’s face brightened up as she saw me approach her, she held out her hand with a huge grin on her face. As I turned to the crowd, I forced a smile on mine too. It didn’t matter if they knew my husband was an asshole.

At this point, even if it was my birthday, it mattered more that I kept the show going. Contrary to what Cyril thought was going on, he wasn’t making enough money to afford his extravagant lifestyle, I was. All he does is spend it on parties, different women who he calls his friends and heaven knows what else.

While he traveled every weekend, I went to the business meetings. I kept the partners interested in doing business with us. I was tired of doing it but we had to survive, “smile Olivia” I mumbled and took the mic from Kate.

Those were the words I repeated to myself, a way to remind myself that I needed to keep it together. My mother often said the same thing, at ballet classes, music lessons, and when she made me perform songs for the guests that came to the parties she hosted. I loathed it every single time but if there was one thing I knew how to do, I could put on a good performance and I wasn’t going to falter now.

I said a few words about how special the day was to me and how happy I was, I hoped I sounded as convincing as I intended to be. For Kate’s sake at least because personally, I couldn’t wait for the day to be over. I had seen enough and I wanted to go home. I ended the speech by thanking everyone for being there and hoped they’d have a great time.

A few hours later, we were standing at the door handing out souvenirs as the guests left. I braced myself to see Cyril and his date as they walked past us but when the last person walked out the door and they were nowhere to be seen, I realized they had slipped out of the establishment during the dinner.

“That went well,” Kate said, shutting the door and turned to look at me.

“Yes, you outdid yourself. Thank you, Kate,” I replied, sitting down wearily.

“Why do I feel like you have something to say?” She asked and I shrugged.

“I don’t know, is there anything I need to know? Why my husband was on the guest list for the party? Did you know he’d be here?” I replied and she exhaled slowly.

“He’s your husband Liv, he’s always going to be on the guest list. I didn’t think he’d come,” She said.

I smiled and shook my head, “At least you’re honest with me.” I replied and looked at where they had been sitting.

“You know I don’t mean it like that,” She answered and I shrugged.

“I’m not offended, you’re right. I don’t think he was here for the dinner though, he didn’t even remember my birthday” I said and she lowered her gaze.

“I’m sorry you had to experience that, if I could’ve prevented it, I would’ve,” she said and I stood up.

“Maybe… take him off the lists for any plans that revolve around my personal life. Leave the meetings, he never comes to those” I said and walked to the door. “Let’s go home, I’m going to be sick” I added and exited the room.