No More.
Megan couldn’t refuse her friend because, at one time, she’d been a great help to her: when Megan had a car accident and was confined to a hospital bed for six months, it was her friend who stayed by her side, while her husband—then fiancé—showed up just twice: once with red, teary eyes right after the crash, and the second time on the day she was discharged. So, when Lisa called asking if she could stay with them for a while, Megan agreed.
“What, are you out of your mind?” her mom exclaimed when Megan told her that a friend would be staying with her for about a month. “She’ll be strutting around in her nightgown in front of Alex? You might find yourself the one moving out in a month’s time!”
“Mum, it’s my flat; you made sure of that yourself—I won’t need to move,” Megan replied soothingly. “Lisa really helped me out back then, and I can’t turn her away during a tough time. She lost her job, her boyfriend dumped her, and he even cleaned her out financially… Let her stay; we’ve got plenty of space.”
Changes began the very first day Lisa moved into their flat. The first thing she suggested was letting Nancy go.
“Why do you need Nancy when I’m here? I can handle everything!”
That was true, but Megan wasn’t sure she could ask her friend for the same things she’d request of Nancy.
“If you need me, you’ve got my number,” the resourceful cleaner winked.
And Megan felt reassured.
Next, her friend tackled the flat—it started with rearranging the furniture, then suggesting they replace the curtains and buy a heap of new gadgets that’d make life easier without Nancy. Yet Lisa wouldn’t agree to take decisions herself, even though Megan didn’t mind and would have been happy to hand over the reins. But Lisa dragged her along, making her pick curtain colors and blender models.
Then Lisa looked for something to distract her from sad thoughts. First, it was quilling, then oil painting, then sewing toys and baking cakes. She’d be upset if Megan wouldn’t join in with her new hobbies.
“How long is she staying with you?” Mom snapped angrily at one point. “It’s been over a month now—is she ever leaving?”
“Mum, where would she go? Even her own mother kicked her out!”
“Must’ve had her reasons.”
“No, you don’t get it!”
“No, you’re the one who doesn’t get it. She’ll take your husband before you know it!”
But Megan trusted her friend, even though she’d caught her chatting with Alex several times, moments they fell silent when they saw Megan. But what could they be discussing that’s so secretive? Megan specifically asked the next time.
“I was suggesting we change the carpet in the lounge,” Lisa said. “I was asking Alex if there’s money for it.”
“A new carpet?”
“Yeah—why keep that old granny rug? It’s so bright and covered in stains.”
A week later, a new, light carpet was laid in the lounge.
One day, Megan saw Lisa looking at something small, resembling a scrap of an image, slipping it into her planner, and she asked:
“What’s that?”
Lisa hadn’t expected Megan to be there—she’d moved in without a sound, and Lisa jolted at her question.
“Nothing!” Lisa snapped the notebook shut quickly and suggested, “Shall we make a peach pie? Alex loves it!”
“Sure,” Megan agreed, pretending she wasn’t curious about what her friend was hiding. “Though we’re out of peaches.”
“I’ll run and get some.”
In truth, Megan fibbed—there were still peaches, but she needed to get Lisa out of the house so she could check what was tucked inside her planner. Once Lisa left, Megan wheeled herself into the room Lisa had been occupying and began searching for the notebook. Her friend had hidden it in a cliché spot—under the pillow.
When Lisa returned home, Megan was already waiting in the hallway.
“What’s this?” Megan asked coldly, holding a torn piece of a photograph in her hand.
Lisa blushed like a cartoon character—her pale, freckled face instantly turned red.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have…”
“You planned all this, didn’t you?” Megan yelled. “You wanted to get close to my husband? Tell me, were you even sacked? And did your mum ever kick you out?”
Lisa didn’t respond, standing with her head bowed, and that posture said it all.
“Out!” Megan screamed. “Get out!”
Lisa packed her things quickly, left a bag of peaches in the hallway, and quietly closed the door behind her. Megan wasn’t sure if her husband would return home tonight.
But Alex did return. He didn’t ask anything about Lisa, which meant he already knew. Thus, it must be true—she’d been right to throw her out.
For a few days, Megan felt in a daze: seeing Alex off to work in the morning, then spending all day alone, staring blankly at the TV, ignoring her hunger and drowning it with wine and crisps. On the fourth day, when the phone rang, Megan looked at the screen indifferently. But when she saw who was calling, she grabbed the handset.
“Mom,” Megan sobbed, struggling to hold back tears. “You were right—she tricked me! I found a picture of Alex in her things—she’d torn off the part with me and kept it in her planner!”
Within an hour, her mom was at Megan’s place. She surveyed the messy flat and said:
“I knew letting Lisa in would lead to trouble! We need to call Nancy—get her back.”
“I’ll ring her,” Megan said. “Just need to get some money from Alex first.”
Her mom narrowed her eyes with a disapproving hum.
“Really now. Did you know it was your Alex who invited Lisa over?”
“Mum, that’s nonsense…”
But her mom cut her off with a gesture and took her mobile from her bag. She fiddled with it and played a voice message.
“You’re accusing my daughter?” a shrill female voice, vaguely familiar to Megan, barked. “It was your son-in-law who invited her over, and you know why—they used my girl and tossed her aside!”
Mom gave Megan a vindicated glare, then played another message.
“Why would I lie to you—if you want, you can ask Lisa herself. Alex begged her to move in with you!”
It all began making sense—Lisa’s deceit was driven by Alex’s request. Megan wheeled herself into the kitchen, pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge, and nearly finished it while her mom tidied up the flat.
Alex came home late; by then, her mom had long gone, back to feed Ed, Megan’s stepfather.
“Where were you?” Megan questioned defiantly, bracing herself for a difficult conversation.
“At work,” Alex muttered, slipping off his shoes and entering the room. He grimaced upon seeing her—of course, he’d have preferred to see Lisa.
“Funny how your working hours keep getting longer each day!” she noted sarcastically.
“You know why I don’t want to come home.”
“Yes, I do,” Megan said, holding back tears with difficulty. “You invited Lisa to live with us! You’ve been in love with her for ages but didn’t know how to get rid of me! But you failed, and now you…”
“What does Lisa have to do with this!” Alex suddenly shouted so loudly that Megan flinched in shock and dropped her glass. A bloodstained splotch spread on the light carpet, shaped like an elephant—with a trunk and huge ears on the sides… Megan couldn’t tear her eyes away from the stain—what a pity, it had only been laid a week.
“Salt should help,” she fumbled uncertainly. “Fetch some salt.”
But Alex remained still.
“Yes,” he sighed. “I asked Lisa to stay with us. I hoped she’d be able to stop you, explain to you… Megan, I can’t go on like this.”
He slumped onto the sofa and buried his head in his hands. Everything spun before Megan’s eyes, and she struggled to understand—what did he mean? She shouldn’t have drunk so much this morning.
Without lifting his head, making his voice sound as if it came from the next room, Alex said:
“I understand it’s hard to accept your disability, being confined to that chair, and I can’t always be by your side. But Megan—there’s so much more to life than drinking; you won’t solve anything that way! I love you, but there’s less of you here, only this eternally drunken stranger left…”
He finally looked up, and Megan saw through the haze veiling her vision the distortion on his handsome face.
“Do you love me?” she asked quietly.
“Of course I do! You know that!”
Megan shook her head.
“No, I don’t know. When I woke up after the accident, you weren’t there. You only came once! I waited for you, waited, but you…”
Her voice broke, and she fell silent—she didn’t want him to see her tears.
“If you loved me, I wouldn’t drink,” she finally uttered, fixing her eyes on the stubborn stain.
“But I married you!”
“Out of pity!”
“Pity?”
“Yes, pity.”
Megan finally found the strength to look him in the face. As always, she searched for some proof of love there, but she didn’t know what such evidence should look like.
Alex stayed silent. Too long to refute her concluding statement.
“If that were true,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t be here right now. Yes, you’re right—she asked me to go with her. She said she’d fallen in love and couldn’t help her feelings. But I’m here, Megan. I just don’t know how much longer I’ll manage.”
He rose, circled her chair, and vanished behind her. She heard the shoehorn clink, the door creak, the key turn in the lock. Megan was alone.
So mum was right, though it wasn’t Alex who fell for Lisa, but Lisa for him.
Megan went to the kitchen, grabbed salt, a whole bag of it, and poured it all over the now brown stain. The open kitchen window let in a draft that cleared her head slightly. She didn’t know what to believe, whether Alex would return, but she’d already made her decision: she methodically went through all her hideaways, retrieved every hidden bottle, and poured their contents down the sink. Then she blocked Nancy’s number, but that didn’t seem enough—she took out the SIM card and cut it in half. Anyway, she’d lived without a phone as a child, she could do so again.
Finished with her activities, the clock struck ten. She felt utterly exhausted, but for the first time in years, a glimmer of genuine hope shone through. She wheeled over to the window and waited for her husband…
