Shelby jolted awake with an uneasy feeling. She had no idea what was the cause of it and put it down to the pressure Ben had put her under yesterday about taking their relationship from friendship to more.
‘Sorry Ben’ she thought ‘I know Jason has hurt me real bad, but he is still my husband and I love him. My priority is to be with him and work through our problems together’.
All those years of her and Jason not only having been husband and wife, best friends and partners, but also all the love they shared, she could not just forget about it, throw it aside and move on.
‘Jason did try to talk to me after that disastrous evening, not only once, lots of times, but the hurt was still too fresh to even look at him. Maybe the time has come, to have an honest discussion and see where it will lead us to.’
She had made up her mind already the previous evening to contact Jason and meet with him face to face. Could she forgive him? Will the love she still feels be strong enough? Will his remorse be genuine and how deep are his feelings towards her now?
Lots of questions she does not know the answers to yet, but the thought of Jason not to be a part of her life anymore seemed unimaginable.
Shelby dialled Jason’s mobile and got no reply. She then called the hotel he is staying in and was told that Mr Hadley had left yesterday morning and had not returned so far and no, he did not check out, the room was still his.
‘Ok’ Shelby thought ‘I am going to grab a cup of coffee on my way to the office and try and get hold of Jason from there’.
When she arrived at her office, she called her husband’s firm and was told that he took a leave of absence for two weeks and did not tell anyone where he was going.
Shelby asked to be put through to their mutual friend Oliver to find out what he knows.
“No, I have not spoken with Jason yesterday, very busy you know. Listen, while we are talking now, you really should sit together with him and have it out. He has not been the same anymore for the last couple of weeks. All he could talk about was you, how much he misses you and how he is going to try and win you back. I have no idea what has happened between the two of you besides his occasional philandering, but believe me, Jason is a changed man.
Oh yes, hold on, now that I remember, last time I spoke to him, a few days ago, he mentioned something about a cabin on the mountain”.
At this moment Ben stuck his head into her office “Good Mor…..” he started to say and then
“You look worried, has anything happened?”
She waved her hand towards Ben and said into the phone “please let me know if you hear from him ok?”
Ben lifted a questioning eyebrow.
“I am trying to get hold of Jason, but he seems to have fallen off the map. He has not been at his hotel since yesterday morning, he does not answer his mobile and I just heard he took leave from work as well”.
“He probably went with one of his floozies on a pleasure trip” Ben muttered under his breath and then louder “so what’s the emergency?”
“I have to talk with Jason face to face” Shelby said “where could he have gone too?”
Then it struck her. “He mentioned our cabin to Oliver, he always liked to go there to clear his head, that’s where is, I am sure of it. Listen Ben, I need to take a couple of days off, will you please clear it for me”.
“You mean you are going to follow him there?” Ben was aghast “Isn’t that in the middle of nowhere? What if he is not there. I am going to come with you.”
She looked at Ben standing there with what looked to be anger on his face.
Suddenly it was like scales were dropping from her eyes and she remembered something.
It was Ben who kept on telling her about Jason’s real or not always real, as she wondered now, indiscretions. Ben who kept on whispering into her ear how bad Jason was for her and that at a time she was the most vulnerable.
‘Friend Ben’ she thought ‘maybe expressed more self-interest than friendship after all, but I can’t be bothered with that now’.
Aloud she said
“You will do no such thing. This is between Jason and me. Between husband and wife”, she added.
Shelby left Ben standing glaring after her and left the office.