Chapter 10

‘Excuse me’ Steven said clicking his fingers impatiently at the passing waiter. We’re still waiting for our bottle of wine.’
‘Do you have to speak to him like that Steven, he’s is a person too you know’
‘This guy's lucky to have a job in this country at all, the least he could bloody well do is do it properly.’
Selia looked across the table at Steven as he peered eagerly across the bar at the waiter who was actively ignoring him.
‘You look tired Steven’ Selia said trying to move things in a different direction and to keep things light. Steven had been so aggressive lately. He always blamed it on the stress of work and usually apologised afterwards but lately his bad temper had been the norm.
‘No more than usual, so what are we having’ Steven said clicking his fingers in the direction of a passing waiter.
‘These people are bloody useless, did you see that one, he could hardly fucking speak English.’
Selia ignored this. She knew any form of response from her would turn into an argument and she didn’t' feel like spending the rest of the night sitting silently pretending they weren't fighting.
‘Really? I wasn't paying attention. Ignore all that. How's everything at work.’
‘For Christ’s sake Selia do we have to talk about work!’ Steven was still upset by the lack of respect being paid to him by the waiter.
‘Keep your voice down and don’t speak to me that way ok, this is supposed to be enjoyable. Selia felt herself blushing and looked around to see if anyone could hear him them arguing. Selia leaned forward and lowered her voice to a tone which she hoped would offer them some privacy. ‘Steven I really don’t understand what the problem is but I’m really tired of arguing all the time. All this sneaking around just isn’t helping things. If we could do something more normal, more public then.’
‘Do we have to go through this again? Honestly I’m not in the mood for this conversation now Selia.’
‘Yes we fucking well do. All we ever do is get drunk on overpriced wine and then go back to your fucking apartment. If you’re really happy to have affairs behind Clare's back surely you should realise that it’s a dysfunctional relationship and that you need to move on.’

‘How many times do we have to go through this’ Steven said shrivelling into his chair and closing his eyes, exhausted. ‘It's not a good look dating someone from work when you’re already in a long term relationship. It’s not seen as professional. I'm at a very important stage of my career right now Selia and unfortunately I can’t take the risk of jeopardising all that.’
‘Then what was all that shit you told me about Clare, about the relationship being over.’

‘It is over Selia. But you’re not listening to me. What we do privately and what we do in public are two very different situations. You’re just going to have to be patient ok now where is that fucking bottle of wine!’

Steven didn't know what Clare knew now. They had been living a vacuous parallel lifestyle for so long now it was anyone’s guess. There was a chance she believed him when he said he was working late or perhaps, it was just as likely that she knew perfectly well what he was up to and that he had been having affairs on and off for the past fourteen years. She certainly wasn't stupid. Perhaps she just liked the lifestyle and was prepared to sacrifice a little to maintain that. Once early on, one of Clare's best friends had seen Steven having an intimate lunch with one of the young girls from the office. Clare had confronted him the next day hysterical and in tears. Steven had reacted calmly, cooly explaining that part of his roll as a Lawyer was to train and act as a mentor for younger lawyers and trainees and that this required the occasional bit of socialising including lunches. His ability to lie convincingly had matured over the years and now he had spun so many webs of incrimination around himself in one way or another, that lying seemed to come to him as easily as telling the truth. Ever since then there had been a fairly constant stream of young women he helped to ‘develop’. He was careful though. He knew Clare’s ability to shut her eyes to the obvious was different to ignoring something dangled in front of her face.



’As the waiter begrudgingly filled the glasses, Steven looked across at Selia, her sulking face flickering in the candle light.

He had felt an immediate attraction towards Selia the moment she joined the group, a sentiment it hadn’t taken her long to pick up on. She was the sort of woman who was well aware of her hold over men and she dressed and acted accordingly. She was the new breed of professional women who could be both intelligent and sexy. There was no denying that. Her hair, probably naturally nothing more exotic than a mousey brown had been dyed a soft blond which she usually wore tied up in a heap, exposing her cream neck and the back of her fitted shirts tucked into the back of her tight knee high skirts which she always wore with high heals.

Steven loved the way she dressed. There was none of that sensible shoes crap with Selia. He couldn't stand these hard nosed women who dressed like bloody men in the office. Selia was a sexy woman and she wasn't afraid to act the part. She had flirted with him from the first day in his office.

Ever since the Christmas party it had been all on. But he wasn't stupid. Some of his colleagues seemed to have a problem with his enjoying himself outside the nucleus of the family, if you could describe Clare and his relationship as either family or nucleus. People certainly knew Clare. She was his public face at work events when the family was invited. But when he looked at Clare and then at Selia with her tight little body and flirtatious smile, there was no decision.


She had been sitting in his room for six months during her training. In the first few days she had caught him staring from across the room and had pretended not to notice but from then on there had been a constant stream of flirtation. She worked subtly but effectively. She would lean against their shared secretaries work station which sat directly in front of their office with her backside in full view forcing him to hurriedly look down at his papers as she made an abrupt return to the office.

He had lost track of her when she moved on to her next seat but at the Christmas party they had stumbled into each other on the dance floor. With the confidence of several glasses of wine to balance him he had suggested they go somewhere else to catch up and she hadn’t hesitated. That's when he had suggested Luciano’s. He had pushed twenty quid into her hand and told her the directions and said he'd just say his goodbye’s and follow her there. That's how it had begun. She had slept with him in his apartment that night and they had been coming to Luciano's ever since.