chapter 44

The next morning she woke up, moving towards him, quickly filling up the empty space that divided them, a result of their night’s natural sleeping movements. She hugged him, snuggling into his body, strongly holding him to her as she kissed the top of his nose. He opened one eye at her, smiling in a cheeky manner, letting her know that he wasn’t asleep at all.

She giggled as she stroked the stubble along his face, the product of four days without shaving. “You have little blonde hairs” she said as she began to count them, standing out from amongst the black growth.

“I was blonde when I was little.”

“Really? I thought you would’ve been a dark child.” She slipped back into silence as she continued counting the random light coloured hairs above his lip, mouthing the numbers as she went. “Or maybe you have become Aussie from all the Vegemite I have been feeding you.”

He laughed and pulled her on top of him, wiping the hair off her face and securing it behind her ears with his fingers. “Stay home with me again.”

“No, I need to go to work and you need to rest anyway, you are still probably jet lagged. What’s the time?” she asked herself as she leant over to grab the alarm clock that had shifted position during the activities of the day before. “Shit, it’s eight-thirty. I gotta get up, I’m gonna be late.”

He grabbed her arms, forcing her to stay on top of him. “No, Judie, please… stay here with me. Just for today. Please.” He begged her, his eyes pleading with her as if he needed her.

She ignored his pleas, getting off the bed and heading for the shower to clean and dress as fast as she could. She left the bathroom door open, her husband looking at her as he sat up in the bed silently, wishing she would stay for one more day. He watched as she re-entered the bedroom, quickly slipping on a long sleeveless black dress, threading her arms through her blue cardigan and loosely wrapping her scarf around her head, planing to pin it when she stopped at a traffic light on the way. She quickly kissed him, backing away before he grabbed her arm again and pulled her onto the bed once more, kissing her more intimately. “I will miss you” he said into her face, his breath hitting her cheeks. “Stay home, please” he pleaded once again.

“I can’t Khalid. I am already late. Just sleep and I will be home before you know it. Besides, we have the rest of our lives to stay in bed together.” She kissed his face, the forced smile he gave trying fooling her, trying to make her believe it was sincere although she noticed his eyes didn’t smile along with his mouth, a common trick to look for when determining if an expression was genuine. She put it down to tiredness and not getting his way, she didn’t entertain the thought much longer as she quickly ran down the stairs, past his newly arrived suitcase that sat upright next to the door, closing the door behind her as she made her way to work.

She arrived ten minutes late, although none of the staff seemed to notice as the school was thronged with students standing outside classrooms, walking down the hallway, spread out over the property. A late teacher briskly walking into the crowd didn’t stand out too much. She entered the classroom to find a few concerned and polite students questioning her on her health, asking if she had improved after her day off. She kept the students and herself busy all day, concentrating on her tasks, hoping the day would speed by so she could get back to her waiting husband.

She took a sheet of paper to the front desk, greeting the receptionist as she walked behind the workstation to make photocopies during her lunch break later that afternoon. Her teeth sunk into a green apple as she pressed the copy button, waiting for the duplicates to come out the other side of the machine.

The fifty year old receptionist swivelled around in her chair, getting Jude’s attention as it squeaked under her weight. “I didn’t know your husband was leaving us” she mentioned casually in her thick Scottish accent.

“Hmm?” Jude asked, not fully taking in the question.

“It’s a shame your husband is leaving. We liked seeing his happy face around here” she remarked, still sitting in her chair.

Jude shook her head in casual disbelief at the woman sitting in front of her. “What are you talking about? He is just got in yesterday; he should be back in class tomorrow” she said, picking up the photocopies, lifting up the lid to take out the original.

“What? No, he just rang to tell me he is cancelling his enrolment. I just took him off the system.” She looked at Jude, puzzled.

Jude casually laughed it off, sure that the older woman had made a mistake. “No, Sarah… he only just got back. I think you removed the wrong student” she said while still laughing.

“No, I’m positive it was your husband. It was his voice, I know his accent, plus he gave me all his personal details and his credit card number to pay off the remaining fees” she said as she passed Jude the receipt as proof.

Jude looked at the receipt, fear gripping her, the past night’s little insecurities washing over her, seeming bigger as she connected all the tiny looks, words, tones, the way he clutched to her desperately… all the things that seemed somewhat strange. “Are you sure it was him?” she asked again, needing to be finally convinced.

The Scottish woman’s instinct told her something was wrong, the feeling persuading her to outstretch her hand, touching Jude’s in a motherly manner. “You ought to go home and check, Love. I will tell the boss that you turned sick again.”

Jude grabbed her bag from the classroom, frantically searching for the keys that were lost somewhere in the bottom of her bag. She got to the car, drove as fast as she could without being reckless and killing pedestrians, swearing at the red lights to turn green before finally arriving at the front of their townhouse.