The trouble with Debbie

chapter 19

"Oh my goodness!" Debbie beamed and jumped up from her seat, "that's amazing! Congratulations..."

"It's not Tony's." Klara broke in.

Debbie sat back down, "Wait. What?"

Klara took a deep breath, "I've been having an affair," she finally spoke, "dumbest thing I've ever done."

Debbie was in shock. She didn't even know what to say. Affair?

"What the f**k?" she managed to ask, "with who? Why didn't you tell me? Why are you having an affair?"

"Marcus from work," klara sighed, "it just happened one day after a meeting and it's been happening ever since. I've called it off so many times but as soon as we see each other, we do it again..."

"Klara! What the hell?! How long has it been going on?

"Since my birthday." klara hung her head down.

"That was in November!"

Klara didn't need reminding. She remembered it perfectly fine.

"Tony and I were supposed to go out after work," she started to explain, "he called at the last minute and said he would have to work late so we agreed to just meet at home order some food and do something at the weekend instead. I rushed home and realised I'd left my phone on the desk. I called in to the office from the house phone and Marcus was locking up. He offered to bring the phone to me and of course, I was grateful. When he arrived, he handed me the phone and I had a message from Tony saying he had to pull an all nighter and wouldn't make it home until the morning. I was upset and Marcus asked if I was ok. I told him and he offered to buy me a birthday drink." klara started to cry. Debbie handed her some tissue and rubbed her arm.

"I told him I wasn't in the mood for going out anymore but, he could join me inside for a drink. One drink turned into 5, we smoked, we ate, we watched tv. It was getting late so, he said he was gonna leave. We walked to the door and he hugged me and told me happy birthday. I don't even know what happened after that because all I know is, I couldn't keep my hands off him! We went back into the lounge and we had s*x on the sofa."

Debbie sat open mouthed. This was not the Klara she knew. This was so out of character.

"we tried to stop," Klara sobbed, "but anytime we are alone, something happens. The last time was 6 weeks ago. We slept together in my office. Its the first time we did it without a condom and I forgot to get the morning after pill."

"Oh Klara," Debbie hugged her crying cousin, "baby girl, what are we going to do? You have to tell Tony."

"I know," she cried harder, "he's going to be so hurt. He'll leave me..."

"He will be hurt," Debbie replied, "but he loves you. He'll want to find a solution. Why didn't you talk to me about this affair?"

"I thought I could get it under control and finish it before anyone got hurt."

Klara hid her face behind her hands.

"Okay," Debbie tried, "first things first, have you been to the doctor yet?"

Klara shook her head.

"Okay, you gotta tell Tony. You have to tell him that you're pregnant and you have to tell him you've slept with someone else." Debbie knew her cousin had a huge task ahead of her, but it was definitely the right thing to do. She was ready to support her, no matter what.

Klara was a strong woman but this situation was obviously rocking her world. Debbie had never seen her cousin so conflicted. Tony and Klara were like toast and butter, they just made sense. Debbie couldn't deny that she was still very surprised that Klara had been having an affair all this time, it just wasn't something Klara did. This was a very messy problem. Keiron returned with a huge amount of ice cream, crepes and waffles.

They ate what they could and squeezed the rest into the freezer.

After a couple of hours, Klara decided it was time to face the music and go home.

"It was good to see you again," Keiron smiled, "we'll have a get together for drinks soon."

Debbie and Klara shared a look.

"Did I say something...?" Keiron tried to back pedal.

"You might as well know," Klara sighed, "I'm pregnant, don't congratulate me, my husband is not the father."

"Oh," Keiron wasn't sure what to say, "Okay then." he offered an awkward smile.

"Call me anytime," Debbie hugged her cousin before she got into her car, "drive safe."

Klara backed out of the drive and made her way home.

"What the hell was that about?" Keiron asked, stunned at Klara and her confession.

"She's been having an affair."

Debbie replied.

"Damn," he rubbed his neck, "I wouldn't want to be her husband right now. I know exactly how painful that is. Hopefully they can work through this somehow."

Debbie hoped so too. Klara and Tony were a great couple. Or so she thought.

Klara really loved Tony and Tony was besotted with his wife. If they couldn't make it, no one could.