…continued from He loves me, he loves me not – pt.1…
Driving home that night, Alicia’s vision was blurred with hot tears. She had cried a bit in the kitchen, then stopped. Packed up the rest of the food in Tupperware bowls, and made coffee for Parker and their guests. When she came into the den, their friends looked at her in concern but said nothing. Parker paid some compliment about her being the best thing that had ever happened to him; she heard nothing, she wasn’t listening. Two hours later, after they had said goodbye to their friends, Parker hugs her and says thank you. She challenges his violence to her and he starts to shout that she didn’t realize how bad he felt that she was becoming so fat and that if she cares about him at all, she would watch what she ate. Alicia, too stunned to speak, just said ok to him, and went to gather her things.
Back in her apartment, she made a cup of decaf coffee and curled on the sofa, with Enya playing on the stereo. She proceeded to examine the day. Maybe Parker was stressed; it had to be that he was stressed. He wasn’t normally mean. Maybe she had added some weight. Ok, so she needed to watch it right. Ok, she would go jogging in the morning before work. She had cancelled her gym membership a while back due to not having enough time as a result of her work schedule. She cried some more, and prayed that things wouldn’t be okay. She really wanted this one to work. She wasn’t working tomorrow but their flight was at 1pm. She had asked him to take the day off from work and she was going to drive them to the airport under the pretense of picking someone up from the airport. She knew where his passport was so she would get that when she went to pick him up. Better g to bed now, she thought to herself, while yawning. She checked the doors were locked, checked her mobile; no message from Parker. Bedtime.
Friday arrived, her alarm said 7a.m, but her body felt it was 3a.m. More sleep her body screamed, but then she remembered she needed to go jogging, she got her things out and went for a 30 minute run around the estate. When she got back in, her phone was ringing.
‘Hello.’
‘Hi baby.’ It was Parker.
‘Hi’
‘What you doing?’ He asked.
‘Nothing, just rounding up my packing.’ She didn’t want to say she had gone jogging. No need to give him the satisfaction. ‘Packing? Where you off to?”Nowhere, just packing some stuff up to take to the Salvation Army.’ Really Alicia; Salvation Army.
‘Oh, nice one. Right babes, could you swing by the Arcade and get some stuff for dinner tonight. I’ll be at work till a bit late.’
‘Work? Thought we were spending the day together. You said you were taking the day off.’
‘Yeah but I thought we could spend the evening together’
‘Day, Evening, two different times.’ Her mind was going into over drive.
‘Look we will spend some time together. I have to work. Deal with it. Money doesn’t just fly into my pocket. You might have dated losers in the past, but I know how to keep my priorities right’ His tone was so icy. ‘Pick up dinner.’ And he put the phone down.
Ok. What just happened Alicia thought, the receiver in her hand. First, he put the phone down, second, he was so vicious, and thirdly, their holiday. Well that’s what you get for trying to surprise someone. Anything could and has happened. She would just text him, and see if he can leave work then. She went out to the patio, and typed the text – Hi, Parker, I had booked a trip t St. Croix, as a birthday surprise to you, could you get out of work. Love, Lish. xxx.
He replied quite promptly – Not going anywhere, you selfish cow. You just make plans and don’t care about the things I want to do. You think I am one of those clerks at your office, well no I am not. I ain’t going. Maybe you can go and have a nice time. Don’t bother coming over tonight.
Wow, where is all this coming from. Selfish cow? That’s a first, and if history served well,, it won’t be the last. This is the man she was meant to be marrying in a year, selfish cow. She was beside herself with shock. What was going on. Had she done anything wrong to offend him, why was he behaving like a psycho. Well, she would go on the holiday. She would take Amelia, her younger sister. They would have fun. She figured if she wasn’t there at is every beck and call then maybe he would miss her; she hoped he would. Well that settles it. Ring Amelia, ring travel agent, then pick Amelia up. Sorted. She went to get ready.
Alicia had a wonderful time, oh what a blast. The pampering, the food, the time spent catching up with Amelia. They had a good time. No calls or texts from Parker. She had international roaming on her phone. No contact at all, maybe he was seeing someone else. Well she would drive over later and talk things through with him. Arriving at her apartment, she noticed a light on, in her kitchen. Hmmm, she didn’t leave that on, did she? Well its just one light. She got her suitcase out the trunk and struggled up the stairs leading up to the apartment building. She had also done a considerable amount of shopping. She turned on the lights in her living room, and the next thing she felt was a sharp pain at the back of her head. She fell to the ground, and turned round to see Parker descend on her in fury. She tried to protect her face but to no avail, he threw blows at her like he was attacking a thief.
