MIA
Mia couldn’t tell if she actually whimpered when she saw her. Seeing Rebecca at the climbing hall, and having Jack come up from behind her and nuzzle her neck, felt like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her.
Her feet were frozen to the ground, and her heart started pounding rapidly in her chest. She became strangely aware of the small details around her. The younger woman who was standing next to Rebecca, for example, had her nose but was a lot more attractive than Rebecca was.
Then the next realization hit her. Rebecca had mentioned on her promotion that her daughter had applied for the position but had lost out to her. Suddenly, everything made sense. Her going after Mia the ways she did, the snide comments, the looking for mistakes. Right up to the point where, just that week, she’d blatantly made things up.
Mia was angry. She wanted to march right up to her and wipe that smirk off her face. Instead, she turned wordlessly on her heel and left the way she’d just come in, pushing her way through the crowd that had gathered behind her when she’d suddenly stopped in the doorway.
“Mia!” Jack’s voice carried across the carpark as he jogged to catch up with her. “Mia! Wait!” He grabbed her elbow, but she pulled it out of his grip and kept walking.
Home. She just wanted to go home.
“Mia, slow down!”
“I can’t! We have to go, Jack. Now.”
“But she’s already seen us!”
She swung to face him, then. “That’s right. She has. Of all the people to see us out together, it had to be fucking Rebecca! And I will not give her more of a show, in case she comes out to make sure her eyes weren’t fooling her. So please Jack, let’s just leave!”
He nodded, taking her hand, which she pulled away. She didn’t want to touch him right now. She was mostly mad at herself. Honestly, how stupid, how naïve had she had been to think they could get away with it. Mia got straight in the car, angry tears already burning in her eyes while she waited for Jack to put his gear back in the trunk.
This was the end of her, before she’d even really started. All the dreams she’d built up in her head had never revolved around a man, but around a career, and that had just all come crashing down. Literally in the blink of an eye.
“Where do you want to go?” He asked, as he quickly pulled out of the space and made his way towards the street.
“I just want to go home.”
“Home to mine or yours.”
“I want to go to my home. I want to be miserable for the rest of the weekend while we wait for the axe to fall. You know it will, Jack. Just take me home.” The tone of her voice was flat and monotone. She ignored the imploring looks Jack sent her all the way back to Esperance.
He parked outside her house, and Mia silently got out of the car.
“Mia, wait! You can’t leave like this.”
She heard the car door open and then Jack was standing in front of her, taking her face in his hands. “Please, just let me deal. We can talk tomorrow, if you want. But I need to be alone right now.”
Taking a step back, he nodded wordlessly. The hurt and confusion in his eyes would have normally caused her to offer up some reassurance. But her mind was elsewhere. She was already planning in her head what she was going to say on Monday, and what wine she was going to open when she went inside the house.
Mia turned away from him and went back into the house she had left just two hours before, again impressed by how quickly and suddenly her life could change. But not in a good way, this time. Entering the house quietly, she sent up a silent prayer that she had the house to herself. She knew Annie would be at the community center till the afternoon, but she had no idea if Emilia had plans.
Walking towards her bedroom, she heard the shower running, so knew Emilia was home. She lay down very carefully on her bed, lying on her side, and let the tears come. Emilia would be in in a minute to have a glance in Mia’s full-length mirror. Maybe by then, the worst of it would be over. She was just quieting herself when her cousin bounded into her bedroom.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Mia, you scared the shit out of me!” Emilia let out a shocked laugh before taking a closer look at Mia’s face. “Oh, no,” she rushed towards the bed. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Rebecca.”
“No, you were with Jack, sweetie. Did you bump your head?” Emilia was stroking her hair, speaking in a consoling voice, and Mia couldn’t help the sad chuckle that escaped her.
“I didn’t get a chance to bump my head.” Mia sat up and put her head on Emilia’s shoulder. “Because when we walked in, fucking Rebecca from fucking accounting was right there. With her daughter, who will probably get my job now.”
“Oh. Fuck. Okay. I’m going to cancel my date—”
“—You don’t have to.”
“—And then open some wine and maybe make us some lunch. What would you like to eat?”