Page 21 of The Mistake
‘Pete?’ The phone doesn’t even ring before Natalie picks up.
‘Everything OK?’
‘Pete! Finally, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all afternoon.’ Her voice sounds thick, the way it does when she’s been crying, and Pete feels his heart sink.What is it now?Every day she seems to call him to rant about something that really could be ranted about when he gets home. Irritation scratches at his insides as he glances over to where the guy from the water board is waiting, his own phone in his hand.
‘I’m at work, Nat. I’m in the middle of something really important.’
‘Can you come home?’ There is a hint of annoyance in her voice and Pete finds himself reciprocating.
‘Natalie, I can’t just walk off site. I’m in the middle of a meeting with the water company, and I’ve got another meeting before I leave.’ Pete has had this meeting with the water board booked for weeks; he can’t just leave. If he leaves now without getting everything approved, not only is he going to hold up the entire project, but he’s also going to have to speak to Vanessa and tell her. Pete has somehow managed to avoid Vanessa since that awful eveningat her flat two weeks ago, despite the numerous messages from her personal email. The last email just readplease, and even now his stomach turns over at the thought of it. ‘Is it one of the kids?’ Pete signals to Dave, his foreman. If it’s one of the kids, he’s going to have to go. Maybe Dave can get the sign-off in his absence, just so long as he doesn’t have to tell Vanessa there’s a delay.
‘No, it’s not the—’
‘Then what is it, Nat? Because if I leave site without sorting this out, I’m going to have to go to Vanessa and tell her the entire project is delayed, for God knows how long.’
‘Well, if you come home, you can tell her immediately,’ Natalie says, ‘seeing as how she’s here, at our house, right now.’
Pete’s mind is going nineteen to the dozen on the way home.Why the fuck is Vanessa at my house?He should have responded to her emails, he thinks, even if he just reiterated the fact that there can never be anything between them ever again.Is she throwing me off the contract?His heart goes cold at the thought. This contract – it’s the making of him and his business. If she throws him off, then … Not only are there financial implications, but there’s also his reputation. There’ll be speculation as to why he was removed, and that brings his thoughts to his biggest fear.Has Vanessa told Natalie what’s been going on between them?
As he pulls onto the driveway the front door swings open and Natalie stands there, her arms folded across her body. He can’t help but notice she hasn’t washed her hair today, and she’s wearing the same jogging pants she’s worn all week.
‘You said Vanessa is here?’ Pete asks, as he reaches the threshold. He smiles, an attempt to hide the panic currently firing through his veins, as he tries to read her expression, to see if there’s any hint at all that Vanessa has dropped a bomb on his life, but Natalie just looks as she usually does. Tired and pale.
‘She’s through there,’ she says, standing to one side to let him inside. ‘In the kitchen.’
His heart in his mouth, Pete slides out of his jacket and heads into the kitchen, frantically trying to figure out how to play things.
‘Hello, Pete.’ Vanessa smiles at him as if the last time he saw her wasn’t in her bedroom, as he told her he didn’t want to sleep with her any more. It’s been a struggle to avoid her at work, and he does wonder if he was the only one who could feel the tension between them in the design meeting last week. ‘I did try to call you, but for some reason I couldn’t get it to connect.’
Natalie steps around him, moving towards Vanessa, and as she does Pete notices for the first time that her eyes are pink and swollen. He casts a frantic glance towards Vanessa, half expecting Natalie to slap her round the face.This is it, he thinks, as panic claws at his insides, and he tries frantically to come up with a reasonable excuse to counteract whatever Vanessa has told Natalie.This is the moment when it all comes tumbling down.
But instead of Natalie slapping Vanessa and then launching herself at Pete, she simply reaches over and switches on the kettle. ‘Vanessa, can I make you a cup of tea? Coffee?’
‘Not for me.’ Vanessa says, not taking her eyes off Pete.
‘Why are you here, Vanessa?’ Pete asks, as Natalie looks at him sharply. ‘I mean, why didn’t you see me at the office?’
‘You’re very elusive,’ Vanessa says. ‘I did try and catch you a couple of times, and like I said, my call to your phone wouldn’t connect. I was passing by and thought I’d drop this file in to you.’ She holds out a slim paper wallet. ‘Here. There are a few essential documents in there – it’s pretty urgent, so you might want to cast your eye over it now, before I leave.’
It’s with some trepidation that Pete takes the file, as Natalie stirs the tea and hands him a mug.
‘Excuse me one sec,’ Natalie says. ‘I’m just going to check on Zadie and the baby.’ She squeezes past Pete and leaves him alone with Vanessa.
Pete opens the file, his mouth going dry when he sees what it contains. He feels sick as he shuffles through the photographsin the folder, his stomach rolling. Vanessa, in various stages of undress, wearing the underwear he’d been so keen to rip off her just a week ago. Vanessa, naked, her lips jammy with glossy red lipstick as she pouts at the camera. Finally – worst, if at all possible – a photograph of Pete, lying in her bed, clearly naked as he snoozes after a particularly exhausting visit to her flat. He can almost feel the blood drain from his face as Natalie’s footsteps move overhead, and then there is the muted cry of the baby.
‘Jesus, Vanessa.’
She blinks, watching him as he slides the pictures back into the file. ‘I just wanted to talk to you, Pete. You’ve blocked my number, haven’t you? None of my texts are going through, and you could barely look me in the eye at the design meeting last week.’
‘So, you came to myhouse?’ Pete hisses, always aware of Natalie on the floor above. He runs his hands through his hair. ‘I can’t believe you thought it was a good idea to just turn up … Natalie and the kids are home, for Christ’s sake.’
‘How else was I supposed to get hold of you? Maybe you should have answered my emails, Pete. We need to discuss things.’
Natalie’s voice filters down the stairs as she speaks to Zadie, and Pete’s heart lurches in his chest again. ‘We can’t talk inhere.’ He takes her by the arm and gently manoeuvres her towards the front door, before raising his voice. ‘Thanks so much, Vanessa, for dropping this off. Let me see you out.’
Pete opens the front door and follows Vanessa out onto the drive, where he tries to give her the file back.
‘No, Pete, I don’t want it.’ Vanessa takes a step back, her eyes going to the first-floor windows above their heads.
