Page 6 of The Best Friend
‘Missed you, too,’ I say, giving him a hug.
‘Where’s the little man?’ he asks.
‘Having a sleepover at his new friend’s house.’
‘Really? Who’s that, then? Do we know them?’ Jared frowns and heads for the kettle. ‘Tea?’
‘I’ll make it.’ I start making tea and fill Jared in on Joe’s playdate, and on Darcy’s incredible house.
‘One day soon,’ Jared says, ‘we’ll live on the beach in one of those houses.’
‘I’d rather have an older house with character,’ I say. ‘Like the one we’ve already got.’
‘You can have whatever house you want if my new idea works out.’
My heart sinks. Every time Jared has an idea, it usually involves buying something we can’t afford. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask, sitting next to him and accidentally slopping some of my tea onto the table. I turn to get a cloth but Jared takes my arm and guides me back down into my seat.
‘Leave it,’ he says. ‘I want to talk to you about something important.’
I hope the mention of Darcy’s swanky house isn’t the catalyst for this conversation.
‘I’ve been thinking about a new business opportunity,’ he says.
‘Since when?’ I ask, making patterns in the spilt tea with my finger.
‘For quite a while. You mentioning that place at Sandbanks makes me even more determined to do it.Weshould be living that lifestyle.Weshould have that great big house by the sea.’
Shit, I definitely should have kept my big mouth shut. I look up at my ambitious husband, his eyes glittering. ‘What’s this idea?’ I say, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my words.
‘Well…’ He suddenly looks boyish, just like Joe – his excitement spilling out. ‘You know how I work crazy long days…’ He takes a swig of tea.
‘Yeah.’
‘And you know I love my job, right.’
I nod.
‘Okay, so at the moment I’m the creative director. I do all the work – get everyone motivated, organise the big picture. But all that creativity, all that work, I’m doing it for someone else. I’m lining someone else’s pockets.’
I now know where this conversation’s heading. My stomach lurches as he continues.
‘How about…’ He takes my hand and squeezes it. ‘How about if I set up my own ad agency?’
I’m not sure how to answer. I don’t want to dismiss his idea, but I really do think it would be a mistake to set up a new business right now. I hear the irregular drip, drip, drip of the kitchen tap. We must get that fixed.
‘What do you think?’ he prompts.
I have to be careful how I word my answer. He wants my approval. He wants me to confirm that his idea is amazing, when all I can think about is the fact we have this huge mortgage and a child at private school – a school Jared insisted we send Joe to because he wasn’t doing so well at the state school, where he was in fact perfectly happy.
‘It sounds interesting,’ I say. ‘But wouldn’t it be a lot more work? We’d never see you.’
‘No, that’s where you’re wrong.’ Jared thumps the table and grins.’ Gary’s always off on some swanky holiday or another. He’s rolling in it. We’re all working our asses off so he can go on a hundred holidays a year. That could be us.’
‘His agency’s been going for years,’ I counter. ‘Surely, in the early days, he never had the time for holidays.’
‘Maybe. But we could sacrifice a few years of hard graft for a lifetime of holidays and dosh, couldn’t we?’
My heart rate speeds up. I know what Jared’s like when he gets a thought like this into his head. He won’t let it go. He’ll force it through with charm, or brute force – whichever works best. It was the same when we bought our house, and it was the same with Joe’s school. I remember our ten-year wedding anniversary where Jared arranged a surprise trip to the Caribbean for a two-week, five-star holiday while my sister looked after Joe. Poor Beth didn’t feel like she could say no to my husband, even though Megan was only nine-months-old at the time. Jared made it a surprise trip because he knew I would never have wanted to go. Yes, we had a good time, but the guilt and stress marred my enjoyment to the point where I couldn’t wait to get back home.
