Spook

I’ve decided to have a dinner party to celebrate my upcoming birthday and invited Anna, Zoey, Molly, Sean and his friends, and Suzy, Dina, and Steve from work. I’m going to be making pot roast with roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, and dinner rolls for the entrée, a wedge salad with homemade ranch dressing, bacon crumbles, and parmesan cheese for a starter, and for dessert Sean wanted to get me a marble cake as a surprise. I’m also going to make those stuffed mushrooms that Sean really likes as an appetizer for my guests. I’m really excited about this. I know most people wouldn’t want to cook for hours on their birthday but I’ve never done a dinner party before and I’ve been getting a lot better with my cooking skills.

Suzy, Dina, and Steve were all really excited for the party and responded to my e-vites (which I sent out over lunch) right away. Everyone else responded later tonight except for Sean’s friends which he’s going to invite after their gig tonight. My social life is starting to fill up pretty quick because Molly wanted to come over with a pizza and some Netflix movies tonight (she just left, but I’ll come back to that) and I’m going to go on a shopping date with Anna for more maternity clothes next week and Zoey is coming with us. Molly and Zoey and I are going to hang out and go thrifting a little later this week and Sean and I are going to go grocery shopping for my dinner party the day of my birthday and then he’s going to take me out for a lavish date the day after!

I haven’t been so socially busy in a long time and it’s exciting. It also helps me keep my mind off of the Gerry thing. Speaking of Gerry, Molly practically invited herself over tonight and I had a feeling she was going to drill me about the unexplained bruise on my arm.

“I’ve got pepperoni with extra cheese, some ice cold sodas, and four Netflix movies with our names on them!” She trilled as I let her into my apartment.

I grabbed some plates and cups from my kitchen and met her on the couch. We decided to watch Sleeping with the Enemy first and it didn’t take long before Molly was trying to awkwardly ask me about my bruise.

“So….how’s everything going?”

“Fine.”

“Are you going to need help with cooking for the dinner party?”

“Sean’s helping me.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Oh.”

I looked at Molly, who had a sour expression on her face.

“What’s wrong? You like Sean.”

“I don’t like him if he’s hitting you, Faith!”

I looked at Molly with my mouth gaping in astonishment and confusion.

“My sister was in an abusive relationship and I-”

“WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Sean has never hit me Molly.”

“Then why are you lying about how you got that bruise?”

“…it’s…complicated. And besides…you heard me lie to Sean about my bruise. Why would I lie to him about how I got if he’s the one who did it?”

“Faith, who is hurting you?”

“It’s nothing, Molly. I bumped it.”

“No. You didn’t.”

Molly’s tone made it very clear that she wasn’t leaving until I answered her with the truth and I just gave up trying to avoid letting everything out.

“Sean’s tour manager came over the other day and we got into an argument. He grabbed me out of frustration and left shortly thereafter,” Molly’s face was filled with disgust, “He lost control for one minute, it was a mistake.”

Molly gave me a skeptical look and I told her the whole story.

“You have to tell Sean about this!”

“No.”

“Faith!”

“I can’t. If Sean finds out he might attack Gerry or risk his position in the band and I can’t let him do that because Gerry wants to play the stern father-figure. His contract isn’t being renewed so I only have to put up with him for three more months and then I never have to worry about him again.”

I was bordering on hysterical and was panicking with the thought of Molly telling Sean.

“You can’t tell him Molly!” I added.

“I’m not going to tell him, Faith, but you’re going to have to tell him at some point. He’ll find out some day, that’s usually how lies work out.”

“I’m technically just lying by omission, though.”

“No you’re not. He asked you what happened to our arm after Zoey’s party.”

“Dammit. I don’t think there will ever need to be a reason to tell him if I can make it until January.”

“And what’s going to happen if Gerry comes back? He knows where you live. He could come back and hurt you again. What are you going to do if you do have to see him again? Or, what if he’s able to reconcile with Sean and they renew his contract?”

“Molly, you’re raining on my poorly laid out plan.”

“The guy stalked your boyfriend to figure out where you live and then waited until he left so he could isolate you.”

“When you put it like that it sounds so wrong. Gerry doesn’t have anything else besides the band, Molly. He has no family, no kids, just his job and he thinks I’m the reason for that going south. It’s understandable that he would be so upset.”

“Faith, listen to yourself: ‘He thinks I’m the reason for that going south.’ Yeah…he sees you as the one obstacle standing between him and the only thing he has in his life. How unstable is he? Could he try to kill you?”

“You’re over-exaggerating.” I said reaching for another slice of pizza and trying to get that possibility out of my head.

“Really? Because I don’t think you’re taking it seriously enough.”

“I can’t press charges without letting Sean know, Molly. I’m stuck between hurting someone I love and taking the path of least resistance.”

“This isn’t your fault! Sean’s problems with Gerry aren’t because of you! It’s because he wants to micromanage and obsessively control everything about the band.”

I got really quiet. Molly has a point but it’s such an impossible decision. Sean could lose everything if I tell him about this and I just can’t do that to him. I think Molly could tell I was having a personal crisis and thankfully changed the subject to the movie. She didn’t bring the Gerry situation up for the rest of the night but she gave me a really strong hug when she left, almost like she was worried she might not see me again. Our whole conversation gave me the heebie-jeebies.