Reliable Sources

Jane

“Don’t repeat this, but…,” Tonya said, hoping to invoke the absolute opposite behavior. “I heard Ava and Leo are getting divorced.”

“Why would anyone think that?” Jane countered. The idea was absurd. She and Todd had dinner with them just the previous week and everything seemed fine, was fine.

“I’m not sure, but I heard it from a reliable source,” Tonya answered. Her eyes flickered toward the clock. “Shit! I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes. Talk to ya’ later.”

Jane squinted as Tonya disappeared through the door. What fresh hell was this? She had known Tonya for a long time. In fact Todd, Leo, and Tonya had all belonged to the same running club back when everyone was single. Even so, Jane did not invite Tonya to her and Todd’s wedding or include her in their annual Christmas card list. Inviting Tonya to anything seemed like inviting trouble.

At home that evening, Jane made the usual small talk before transitioning the conversation to Ava and Leo. “I had a good time at dinner with them last week. You know, Ava has a different personality. I can never decide quite how I feel about her. Of course she’s a lot younger than we are…”

“Yeah, it’s nice to get out and socialize occasionally,” Todd responded. “They’re both a little eccentric. I kind of miss the days when Leo and I were just two bachelors drinking at the pub.” He paused. “Actually, Ava is older than Leo, not that it matters.”

“Really? Hmph. Maybe just immature,” Jane said.

“Or well-preserved,” Todd suggested.

Jane glossed over his observation. “I saw Tonya at work today. She said something interesting…”

“Oh, yeah? Getting divorced again? Can’t figure how a slapper like that keeps lining them up,” he laughed. Jane shot him a disapproving glance. “So what did she say?”

Jane changed the subject, opting to stand by her original instinct not to repeat idle gossip from a nefarious source. Still, for a moment she wished she and Ava were closer; the conversation had made her uncomfortable.

***

Tonya

“Did she get anything nice for her birthday?” Tonya texted. Her screen lit up momentarily. Diamond ring! Shit, they had only been married five years. Hadn’t she gotten a ring when they first got engaged? Her fingers moved deftly over the phone screen.

Another message flashed across the glass.

“Two carats!” Fuck, she thought. She had backed the wrong horse. How could he have flown under her radar? How had she dismissed him as nerdy and poor, friend-zoning and breadcrumbing him for years just to watch him marry this new woman, buy a large suburban home, and shower her with gifts?

“Geez, trips to Europe, diamond rings. Must be nice!”

“Yeah, she doesn’t appreciate it though.”

“Maybe I should give the rich guy another shot,” she chanced. She waited for a response but there was none.

Half an hour later, Tonya was fuming. She should be able to figure this guy out. She’d known him for years. Longer than his wife had. It should be easier to get a rise out of him. After all, he had something she wanted. Lots of things, actually. Too bad she was going to have to get this other bitch out of the way to get at them.

Shouldn’t be hard, she thought. Tonya was younger and more fit than his wife was. She pulled off her t-shirt and adjusted her breasts, leaning over to lift one then the other, before deciding to lose the bra altogether. Then she reached for a tube of body glitter and smeared it across her chest. Better, she convinced herself, planting sunglasses on her nose, making the ubiquitous duck lips and clicking send.

Nice, she thought. She cocked her head to the left. On a whim, Tonya decided direct action could be the ticket to removing the obstacle faster. She opened her contacts and searched for a name she had only ever used in group texts, and then typed, “It was great playing hooky with you Tuesday.” Her lips twisted into a self-satisfied grimace as she slipped the phone into her pocket.

***

Todd

A week later, Todd and Leo met at the pub.

“Did I tell you that Tonya transferred departments? She works with Jane now,” he began. “Well, they don’t actually work together, but they are in the same offices - run into each other from time to time.”

“Oh, really?” Leo said, ears twitching involuntarily. He had no idea Jane worked in that building.

“Yeah, not sure why but I got the impression she’s getting divorced again.”

Leo grunted, “Ava said the same thing to me about six months ago when Tonya texted me to say hello. ‘She’s probably getting divorced again. Next thing you know she’ll want to borrow money.’”

“Harsh,” Todd chucked.

Leo wasn’t sure if Todd meant Ava or his pissy impression of her. “That’s what I thought. I guess I’m not allowed to keep in touch with any of my female friends,” he said pitifully.

“Did she say that?”

“No, it’s just the impression I get,” he replied. “She’s been going through my phone and looking at the bank balances.”

“Wow,” It was Todd’s go-to reaction. “I never got the impression she was that type. You guys hit a rough patch?” Todd asked, a niggling sensation at the back of his mind as he recalled the conversation with Jane.

Leo mumbled unintelligibly through an unusually large bite of burger and flagged the waitress over as he downed what was left of his first pint of the evening.

***

Ava

“Did you open a new bank account?” Ava asked.

“No, why?” Leo replied without looking up from his book.

“The direct deposit changed.”

“Oh, that. Our health insurance premiums went up,” he answered.

“By two hundred dollars a pay period?”

“Yes, there was a miscalculation and now in addition to paying a higher premium, we also have to make up for the shortfall from the first half of the year.”

“Really?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “Yes, really.”

“But you’re in charge of that,” she said.

“What does that mean? I can’t make a mistake?”

Leo’s reputation for excellence within his career preceded him. Ava found it hard to believe that he could be responsible for such a large mistake without some fallout at work. In fact, she decisively knew it was not so.

“Oh, well…I also noticed that we aren't getting paystubs in the mail anymore.”

“I switched to electronic delivery. It’s more secure,” he said.

“True, but they’re not coming to our joint email,” Ava said.

The color was rising in Leo’s cheeks. It was like watching blood boil. Despite his reputation as being charming and cool under pressure at work, Leo’s demeanor at home could be quite volatile. She blamed it on his increasing alcohol intake.

Leo buried his nose in his book again. “They probably just went to my work email by default.”

“I’d like to see those,” she said.

“Of course you would,” He answered. “Why? Do you think I’m cheating or maybe I’ve developed a drug habit?” he scoffed.

“No one thinks you’re on drugs,” Ava stated matter-of-factly. “But I have a vested interest in our shared financial situation, and we agreed on full transparency before we got married.”

He dog-eared the book and laid it on the side table.

“And I don’t think you’re cheating.”

“What does that mean?” he challenged. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re out to get you.”

“No? Explain this then.” Ava pulled the burner phone from her pocket. She disappeared into the next room and came back, throwing a duffel bag at him with more strength than he knew she had. “Here, take your phone, and get the fuck out!” she said. “And don’t worry. I’ve made copies of everything.”

***

Leo

Leo reeled. What the fuck just happened?

“Oh Jesus Christ!” he exclaimed. The photo on the phone was tragically comic. There she was, tits out, leathery orange-peel skin on full display beneath the hat and shades.

How had he been so stupid? He had let his ego get the best of him. Now finally reaching his peak in his late forties, he’d enjoyed a sudden rebirth. In a sort of reverse Pygmalion, Ava had dressed, encouraged, and refined him until over the course of a few years, he’d transformed from an average looking, nerdy guy to a suave, well-dressed, and well-paid executive. Too bad he never got past his self-loathing.

It went back to the “toos” of primary school. He was too poor, too smart, his hand-me-down pants and shirts were either too big or too short. And he had been too critical of his parents, who, he thought in retrospect, really weren’t too bad. In fact, they had been quite adequate. Good, even. Yes, like so many things he had taken for granted in his life, his parents were wonderful.

And he’d risked it all for what? To turn the tables on a woman who had led him on and snubbed him for years. A woman he had never wanted, liked, or even found attractive. He'd funneled approximately $5000 to that trash over the last few seasons for no better reason than to amuse himself. He’d first lent her money for the divorce lawyer. Then enjoying the surge of power he felt, had given her big cash gifts just to turn around and spite her by telling her about the much nicer gifts he’d given Ava.

But malice wasn’t the only thing driving him. He was embarrassed to admit how much he had enjoyed being pursued. He never deluded himself to think Tonya had any interest in him beyond usury. Tonya didn’t care for him or about him. It was his money, his power, his status that she desired. But still, after a lifetime of chasing everything from jobs, to women, to money, it was nice to be the object of pursuit.

And he had gotten a certain adrenaline-pumping excitement from sneaking around, leading her on and then snubbing her. He’d made a game of letting her think he was on the verge of leaving his beautiful, brilliant wife; letting her, even encouraging her, to say and do degrading things to ingratiate herself to him just so he could ghost her for weeks at a time.

There was a certain cruelty to it that he had savored and felt justified in. And the fact that Tonya was money-grubbing trash who was willing to ruin someone else’s happy home life for a little quick cash made it all the easier. They had known each other 17 years before he’d gotten married, and she had given him just enough attention to keep him in her orbit as someone to hang out with when she was bored or to call when something needed fixing. Whether she was single or divorced at the time had never mattered.

But he had never had any intention of leaving his wife. Every time he thought he’d gotten enough of an upper hand to make his point and toss the burner, the lure got the better of him. But the lure of what he wasn’t sure. Anyway, whatever he was looking for, it kept him ensnared in a costly game of mutual manipulation.

Of course, he had also justified his behavior to assuage his guilt. When Ava gave him even the tiniest reason to take offense, he had grasped the complaint like a newborn babe, cuddling and nurturing the foundling til it grew into a right proper monster. The epiphany made him even more ashamed; how could he be so immature?

His face was hot now. His pulse whirred in his ears like an engine. What had he fucking done? Did Ava know about the money as well? If she didn’t, she was definitely going to find out, assuming she still cared enough to try.

In his lust for revenge, Leo had lost sight of everything that truly mattered. Somehow, Ava - small though she was - had evicted him from their beautiful home. Lost in disbelief, he emerged from his thoughts to find himself crumpled in the driver’s seat of his BMW, forehead resting on the leather steering wheel, hot tears streaking his face, snot pooling on his upper lip.

He’d ruined everything for himself. And to make matters worse, he had really thought he was sticking it to Tonya, a symbol of all the women who’d ever snubbed him, made him feel ugly, weak, or unworthy. But really, Tonya wasn’t going to suffer from this at all. Certainly not like he was. Once again, the Tonyas of the world were going to be just fine. They didn’t have the emotional depth to understand the consequences of their actions on others or to care about it if they did.

But who was he to talk?

Ava on the other hand... Ava was earnest and honest and loyal. At fifty, she had the face she deserved, and it was beautiful. Ava was going to be devastated.