Morning all. It is another hot one today. I swear I almost heard the water sizzle as it hit the ground around the tomatoes this morning. Fingers crossed they don’t sizzle up as well. Still I’ve done all I can for them at the moment so let’s see what we can do to this morning’s writing prompt, shall we?
I find this interesting. The dismantling of a friendship. Not sure where it is going, but it could be an interesting tale to tell.
Thursday, June 16th: “Sometimes you can be a little abrasive.”
“Sometimes, you can be a little abrasive,” she said.
Hugh stared at her. “Abrasive?” he repeated.
“Yes, Abrasive,” Rhea turned and walked out of the door no doubt heading toward her desk and the phone he could already hear ringing off the hook. All his calls were put on hold while he handled this one. He thought he had an idea of how to do it, but with his administrative assistant’s comment ringing in his ears, he wasn’t sure.
“Abrasive,” he repeated. It wasn’t something he planned. He generally planned on firm and no nonsense when he struck deals. He never thought of himself as abrasive before. Abrasive was something that described the powders he remembered seeing his housekeeper sprinkle in the sinks and in the bathtub before setting to work with the scrub brush.
“It’s not even a description for a person,” he decided. Hugh took a deep breath and reached for the phone. He mentally set the comment aside as he dialed the number from memory. He tried not to think about how many times he had called it. Tried to block all of the memories associated with it. It was better to think of himself as abrasive then to dredge up that past.
The phone rang on the other end. “Hugh, so glad you could call,” Jarod’s voice rolled out, smooth and soothing as always. Hugh fought not to growl into the phone. It was abominable that he could sound the same as he always had after what happened.
“I read the contract,” he said into the phone, trying to keep his tone level. I’ve made adjustments in red and e-mailed them. You should have them. Read and get back to me,” he said. Hugh was on the verge of hanging up when Jarrod laughed.
“I received them Hugh and I read them. You can’t expect my client to accept those terms,” he said smoothly.
‘His client,’ Huh thought. ‘My soon to be ex-wife. The woman you are currently sleeping with.’
Abrasive or not, Hugh found himself in no mood to be polite. “Those are the terms. Period. We can go to court to argue them but as the pre-nup clauses are stricter, I’d advise against it,” Hugh told him. “There are some pictures you might not want the judge to see.”
“Now huh,” Jarrod said. He sounded uneasy now. “There are pictures?”
“You have my terms. Have her sign or everything comes out if court.”
“I’ll advise my client and get back to you,” Jarrod said. The friendly same old voice was gone. It was replaced by something warier. Hugh hung up the phone. He had known Jarrod almost his entire life. He had gone to school with him, roomed with him in the dorms and socialized with him as adults. Now, Hugh could barely stand the thought of the man’s name. Right now things were as they had always been. Once the divorce was through, there would be changes. Over the years there had been various entanglements, legal and financial between himself and Jarrod. Once the paperwork was finalized he would extricate himself from those, cutting his former friend off from all aspects of his life.
Hugh knew there were some who would question his thinking and tell him that he was too harsh to end a life time’s friendship over a silly affair. Especially as Jarrod was not his wife’s only infidelity during their marriage. There had been numerous men, Hugh had an entire file. But with Jarrod a trust had been broken and he knew it would never be repaired.
Ten til Midnight 