Just Keep Breathing, GS Rhodes [best book club books for discussion TXT] 📗

trying to brush him off, trying to run away from this like he had no say in what was going on right now. Kidd locked eyes with him. “So. Outside?”

Greg sighed and looked over at Beth who, bless her, looked so confused. Either she was none the wiser as to the fact that Greg was a married man, or she was just stupid. Either way, Kidd felt instantly sorry for her being caught in the middle of all this. Whatever this was.

“Sure,” Greg said. He turned back to Beth. “Do you want to come out in five minutes?”

“Sure, I’ll go to the bathroom,” she said.

“Better make it ten,” Kidd replied. “Really wash those hands when you’re done.”

Kidd walked ahead of Greg towards the doors of the restaurant. He saw John watching them as he walked past, several shades of confused. Kidd mouthed, “I’m sorry,” on the way past.

When they were out in the open, Kidd found the chill of the winter sun welcoming. He hadn’t realised quite how warm it had been in the restaurant, or maybe that was just his blood boiling at the sight of Greg.

He didn’t check to see if Greg was behind him, walking over to a little bridge that passed over an inlet next to the restaurant. When he got to the railing, he turned around to see Greg staring at him, his jacket now on, doing up the buttons on his blue, checked dress shirt. Kidd clocked the fingers. He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring.

“Ben, I can explain—”

“Okay,” Kidd interrupted. “Try and explain what I saw in there, I dare you.”

Greg took a breath. “Beth is—”

“And don’t you dare lie to me,” Kidd interrupted again, doing his best not to raise his voice, not to cause a scene. “I know what I saw and I won’t have you standing here and lying to me about it. Where the fuck is your wedding ring?”

Greg looked down at his fingers like he’d seen a ghost. Maybe he’d hoped Kidd wouldn’t notice. Maybe he’d forgotten that it was Kidd’s job to notice things.

“She’s a colleague from work,” Greg said. “I’ve been working late a lot over the past few months. She’s been helping.”

“I assume she’s been doing more than getting the coffees in,” Kidd spat.

“That’s not fair.”

“No, Greg, what’s not fair is the fact that you’re off with someone else when you’re married to my sister,” Kidd growled. “It’s not fair that I had to see what I saw in there. It’s not fair that I’m having to rip the shit out of you right now and that I can’t hit you.”

“You want to hit me?”

“I want to beat you to death,” Kidd said bluntly. “I want to beat you to a pulp and throw you in that water and never see you again. What the fuck are you thinking?”

“I-I don’t know what I’m thinking,” Greg said. “It was…it was fun.”

“Fun?”

“Yeah,” Greg said, joining Kidd at the railing and looking out across the water. “Look, I don’t know how much Lizzie tells you about our marriage, about how things are between us, but lately it hasn’t been too good. I’ve been busy at work, she’s been busy with the kids, we barely have any time for each other, and then there was Beth…” He trailed off, putting his head in his hands. “It all just went too far.”

“How long has it been going on?” Kidd asked, keeping his voice as flat as possible.

“Ben, please don’t ask me that.”

“How long?” Kidd barked.

“Two months,” Greg replied quietly. “They really started riding me hard at work when I came back because I’d been off with Liz and Tim for my paternity leave. So it was a lot of late nights. And late nights with Beth there. One night it went too far and…I never stopped it.”

“Did you want to stop it?”

Greg didn’t answer right away. “I love Lizzie so much,” he said finally, tears choking every word. “Her and the kids mean everything to me. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake that you continued with,” Kidd said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Keeping it all secret, taking off your wedding ring…” Kidd trailed off. “If you were trying to hide it, might I suggest not taking her to a restaurant in the town where your wife lives, where her brother works.”

“I didn’t think you’d be out on a lunch date,” Greg said. “Who’s the guy?”

“That’s John,” Kidd replied. “He’s…new.”

“Things going well?”

“Yeah,” Kidd said. “I could do without leaving the aforementioned lunch date to come out here and tear you to pieces, but here we are.” Kidd sighed and looked at Greg. He was still cradling his head in his hands. “Look at me, Greg. Please.”

Greg looked over at Kidd. His eyes looked like they were about to overflow with tears. He’d been caught, and he knew that he’d been caught. He looked terrified.

“Please don’t tell her,” Greg whispered. “Please.”

Kidd took a breath. He knew that the right thing to do would be to go over to their house right now and tell Liz what he’d seen, that her husband had been cheating on her. But then he thought of the kids. When he thought of Tilly and Tim potentially losing their father, all his own doing, of course, Kidd felt his fury fade. He didn’t want to be responsible for that. He couldn’t bring himself to be.

“I won’t,” Kidd said quietly. “But you need to end this. Whether you tell Liz or not, that’s your prerogative, I’m not getting involved in that part of your relationship, but you finish this today. You put your fucking wedding ring back on and you be the man you’re supposed to be for my sister, and your kids.”

Greg nodded. He took a few deep breaths, the tears vanishing from his eyes as quickly as they’d appeared. He calmed himself down a little before he spoke.

“Thanks, Ben,” he said. “You’re a really good person, you know that?”

Kidd wasn’t so sure. He and Liz didn’t keep