Betrayal

 I met her through a school friend because she worked near my home so we met for lunch, then my old friend wasn’t available but we kept up our twosome lunch dates. We also met socially sometimes. Her partner was very suave, French, a guitarist, well dressed, his hair always amazingly stylish, and he had an import and export business, said with a grin and a strong wink of the eye! They took their holidays in hot exotic places, always returning with a heavy sun tan despite her white skin and full freckles. She was depressed, not a good timekeeper, and would fight me to pay my part of the bill in the restaurant! Oh! Please just let’s keep it equal without a fuss! I have no time for attention seekers. Each time I thought would be the last time we met. 

Then one afternoon, we were alone in the restaurant, and she said, “Can I tell you something”, I looked and said nothing. “Do you mind if I tell you something private?” Lots of things came to mind. Her partner was a likely philanderer, was he involved with drugs I wondered? I knew he played in a band that probably took drugs. I wasn’t really wanting any kind of confession, and she blurted put “I’ve been diagnosed with melanoma! It’s quite serious” I felt sad for her. She was impossible to give up work since they needed the money to pay for a buy-to-let property that caused them considerable expense at a time when he was not bringing in much money. They were moving to be near her mother 90 minutes drive from her work station and the long commute strained her low energy levels. She decided she wanted to get married, having been with him for decades, her first love. She went to France to stay with his mother to receive treatment that was said to be better than the NHS but the appointments required considerable time off work. She was too unwell to travel. She got married in a wheelchair. His best friend’s sister was there at the wedding.

     A week after her wedding, she was taken to hospital and transferred to a hospice. I rang her every day. She was unable to eat, and struggled to hold liquids down. The person in the bed opposite was throwing up, the other patients made a noise all night, the days were endless and the nights worse. 

     He rang me to tell me she had passed. Can you believe he took this time to speak to me about her life insurance? Well, he did, and he said “My financial advisor has told me to try Sun Alliance, he has a brother in the claims department”.  His best friend’s sister was at the funeral. He was standing beside this young fresh smiling young woman when he told me that the Sun Alliance paid out on her swiftly arranged  life insurance. His best friend’s sister became his closest friend after her death. 

     I rang my friend’s mother rather than send a card. I said what a lovely person she was, how sorry I had lost such a lovely friend. Her mother was quiet and I suspected grieving. I ran out of things to say. I then said, “I’m sorry her last days were so difficult”. Her mother then erupted in aggression that made me glad I wasn’t there in person as I would have feared for my safety. “What total nonsense. She was extremely well looked after. They loved her. She was extremely happy and well cared for there”. And she slammed the phone down, ending my telephone call to bestow my sincere condolences. 

     Might I have said that I was sorry that her husband was unfaithful, that the French medical treatment was haphazard and unsuccessful, that she was working until she collapsed to pay for a second mortgage when her husband wasn’t contributing, and that she had a mother whom she didn’t confide in because she didn’t want to know the truth of the cause of her only daughter’s depression! 

A Story of Loneliness