In His Secret Life

Chapter 5-2

I was in Dayton’s washroom, leaning up against the door. Elsie was right, it was fairly clean. I needed a little breather. Some time to organize my mind.

I did enjoy this family’s company—especially Ingrid, Dayton’s mother. She was an intriguing woman. A bit of an eccentric, but so much fun. She was very vocal, and loved to play devil’s advocate on any given topic. Her husband had died of prostate cancer five years ago, and by the way they had all quickly changed the subject, the wound was still fresh. They were still grieving. Ingrid had spent her life working as an executive assistant for Molson, and during dinner she’d explained how the very day she’d retired, she’d thrown all of her skirt suits into a garbage bag and given them away. She’d never been seen in anything but long colorful tunics and flip-flops since then. We’d shared our horror stories about office politics, and all through our talks, I’d tried to be interesting, but had barely managed coherent.

Every time Davinder moved in his seat, I ended up muttering my words. He hadn’t noticed, I was sure of it. I didn’t think Davinder even knew what the people around him were saying. He was distracted. Always on his phone. He hadn’t eaten much and drank one cup of coffee after the other. I’d seen him sneaking away for a smoke a few times—I could smell it on him. His wife, Eileen, the striking blonde with the sad face, was clearly upset with him. Maybe they’d had a fight before coming here? At any rate, they were constantly hissing words at each other under their breath, or fussing over the two boys. Jude, the older one, was sullen and an observer. He’d sat in the living room most of the evening, playing video games. The younger boy, whose name I couldn’t remember, was very clingy and always crying about something or another. Eileen was agitated, rarely sitting, constantly moving. She made me dizzy.

From what I’d witnessed, Ingrid and she weren’t very close. There were definitely some unresolved issues between the two women. Davinder and his mother, on the other hand, appeared to have a wonderful, almost privileged relationship. Ingrid was the only one who could get his attention and keep it for more than a minute. Yes, his mother was the only one who could draw a smile out of him all night. And what a smile he had. There was something about Davinder that kept my attention. But he seemed so preoccupied. I hadn’t seen him interacting with his sons much, but there wasn’t any room for him to maneuver. Eileen controlled everything and often chased him away when he tried to. I’d watched them throughout the evening, observing their behavior and analyzing their words as I often did with people. Overall, our first get-together as a new family had gone perfectly fine. Yet here I was, hiding in the bathroom.

I looked up and watched my face in the mirror. “Okay?” I said. “Don’t be an idiot.”

Davinder was married. Married, as in straight.

And what was my first and only rule?

Never, ever fall for a straight man.