Just Keeps Getting Better -9

"Do You know a lawyer?" Eva asked as they sat over dinner.

She had prepared the usual gourmet meal with matching wine.

She had this anxious look on her doughy face, just dying to get all the details of his encounter with his wife and child.

But Jeremy didn't want to give any details.

Amanda was not just the woman he had married and who had left him; Amanda was his lost future.

Seeing Amanda and their child forced him to confront the man he had been when he had dreams and a belief he would be 'something'.

And He Remembered....

Mandy had been a clerk, he had been a driver. They had so much romance, so much promise and they were happy. For four years they were happy.
Then she began to move up.

First she was promoted to Head clerk. Then she was the Assistant Supervisor of....
then she became an assistant manager. and he was a driver.
Jeremy was Still a Driver.......

No.
He wasn't going to share his confrontation with Amanda with Eva. It was too private.
Private, deceptive and so painful....

How Amanda had looked at the clothes he was wearing, (which Eva bought him),
the car he was driving (which belonged to Eva) and concluded he had 'made it'
and was now asking for a divorce so she wouldn't share in his 'success'.

On Top of everything ugly and sad and painful was now this..

It had not been his intention.....he had only wanted to talk to Amanda.
Not dazzle, not impress; just talk to her.

But it didn't work that way.
It didn't.....

Eva's question about lawyers jarred him to the now. He answered quickly before she contracted the most expensive attorney and the divorce went shooting through the courts like a comet.

And he really did know a lawyer.

Before Eva had dragged into his life he religiously attended meetings of the Chess Club. Arriving early, leaving late, Thursday night was sacred.

He usually paired with Diane Robinson. They were well matched in skill. He knew she was a lawyer, and took great pride when he beat her. She knew he worked for the Corporation but not that he was a driver.

They were friendly, he had her number on his cell.

Since he'd been moved into Eva's suite he no longer could attend meetings. It was not that he was under 'heavy manners' and wasn't allowed to go out by himself, it was just that he would have to tell Eva where he was going.
And when he would be back.

Of course, she might play as well, and then he'd have to play with her.

Jeremy didn't want to share this aspect of his life with Eva. He would rather not attend the Chess club, not play, to keep Eva out of his personal life.

She'd taken so much of him he couldn't give up any more.

Yes.
He knew a lawyer.

Diane Robinson was, or had been a friend. If Eva hadn't shoved into his life, he'd be playing chess with her every Thursday.

Playing Chess then going out for a drink and conversation...

It was wiser he tell a friend about his situation than a stranger.

Yes, a friend he had abandoned because of Eva.

After all these years he was going to divorce Mandy because... oh, he knew what was going to happen.

Yup, just keeps getting better.