Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 31

'So how should we think then son?'

I went on the offensive.

'Whatever you want to dad because it's a joke and you know it. A man we don't even know delivers a set of photographs to our house and now I'm the bad guy. They should have been thrown in the bin. Cheryl already knew we were going out for the day. I don't know why we are even discussing it.'

I needed to talk to my wife.

'Go and get Cheryl please dad and put her on the phone. I can explain everything.'

But my dad was equally as adamant.

'She doesn't want to speak to you son. I've already told you.'

My voice rose with fury.

'Just put her on the fucking phone will you dad! This is crazy.'

But she wouldn't come. 

'So basically then,' I said standing up, 'my wife has been sent a couple of photos of me and my boss going out to dinner, something she already knew about, and now she's in a strop. Is that it? Is that what we are saying?'

'Son.' My dad only ever referred to me as son when it was serious.  'These are very intimate photos. You have to at least admit that. It doesn't look as if she is your boss at all.'

I turned to face the Stamford family portrait. I looked at a young Jennifer Stamford sat on the floor next to her mother with her slim legs brought back in on herself in an elegant pose. I turned away.

'Oh so now your saying that I'm having an affair then. Is that it? Don't you see how crazy that sounds?'

I huffed an exasperated sigh.

He said I should come home.

'You need to be here son. Someone sent these photos for a reason and you need to sort this out with your wife.'

But I couldn't not with a bandaged arm. 

'I can't.'  I said.    

'Why not?'

'Because I am working dad! Christ have you not forgotten I am their Captain. I can't just upheave everything on a whim. I have responsibilities.'

'Yes,' said my father rather too quickly. 'And it's called having a family.'

The phone went ominously quiet.

I knew what he meant but I just couldn't go home. Not now. Not in this state and certainly not until all of this had blown over.

He wanted to know where I was.

'I can't tell you.'

I could have said that I was back on board the Jupiter but he deserved better than that.

'Are you with her now?'

'It's not what you think dad. We all went out for a meal.  Cheryl knows that.'

I needed another story.

'Ok so it wasn't just a meal.'

I told him everything or at least the version I wanted him to hear.

'Cheryl knows all this dad. She knows the company owns a racing team and so what am I supposed to do? Say no to a once in a lifetime chance of being at the German Grand Prix. Be real dad. No one in their right mind would back away from that sort of deal. Not even you.'

It helped that my father loved motor racing. Even he would have found it hard to have said no.

'It was a thank you for all the hard work we had been doing in getting the Jupiter ready for her maiden voyage. Nothing more. So go on,' I mocked, 'shoot me for actually enjoying the moment. Call me all the names under the sun for actually smiling because you would have loved it just as much as I did dad.'