Rachel saw Emily, rugged up, head down so that her face couldn't be seen, walking up to a man – yes, that must be Colin. It looked like the man from the store. Emily didn't walk all the way up to him, stopping on the other side of 'Imagine' saying something, and then turning so that he followed her. 'Hey,' Ross said dazed, 'Who's he? She was supposed to be having lunch with her uncle…' Oh yes, thought Rachel, the story to cover up her deceit. She grabbed Ross's arm and started to follow Emily and Colin as they left.
'She lied, Ross,' Rachel told him. There was no nice way to say and he had to know the truth. 'She's been seeing this guy on the side.' Ross suddenly came to a stop, jerking her arm back.
'Wait,' he said severely, 'Emily's seeing someone else? You'd better – '
'We'll lose her,' Rachel urged, pulling him on. The pursued pair was walking into Central Park quite briskly. Going to make out in a private spot, Rachel thought. Lunch! It was odd that they weren't touching each other, but they were obviously saving it all up. 'That's Colin, the guy she said she dropped in favour of you,' Rachel said in a low voice. Though she obvious thinks she can have both…
'Colin?' They had lost quite a bit of ground, otherwise the guilty pair would have heard that.
'I – found a letter. By accident.' They were walking along quite rapidly and Ross was looking so rigid that any sudden stress would snap him in half. He took the letter she had taped back together.
'Why is it brown?' he asked.
'I don't know.' He read as they walked, Rachel steering him out of the way of a pedestrian, and then a tree. He handed back the paper without speaking.
'There could be some innocent explanations,' Rachel said. Like hell there was. But if Ross didn't get to see the full incriminating evidence, then Emily could wriggle her way out of trouble and there was no way she was going to do that. No way.
Emily and Colin had reached a secluded spot and Ross and Rachel ducked behind some bushes, getting in the undergrowth. They moved closer in order to hear – Colin was a challenge but Emily came though loud and clear.
'… you are way out of order.' There was a low male voice, indistinct, and then,
'Next time, I'll call the police,' Emily threatened. Rachel froze. She wasn't supposed to say anything like that. She'd come of her own free will to meet Colin, she must have… Ross was commando crawling in the undergrowth and she restrained him in case he went too far. Colin could be heard better now and they could hear the sneer in his voice when he said,
'You're not telling me that that wally you've married satisfies you.' Rachel had to grab Ross's arm again to stop charging out to respond to this.
'More than you ever did,' Emily snapped back.
'You're lying sweetheart,' Colin said. Yes, yes, Rachel thought. Do something, quick. 'I know every button to press. You've just forgotten. You and I, we got complaints from the neighbours about the noise we made – the noise you made, because of the things I did to you.' Ross was trembling beside Rachel. He hated hearing this, but this so clearly wasn't Emily's fault. There was a muffled sound and in the undergrowth, from where they could see only feet, they could see that the two figures had moved together and that Emily's woolly hat had fallen to the ground. Well that's it then, Rachel though. She'll stop pretending, because she must be pretending…
'Aargh!' the two figures moved apart, the one stepping back and the other staggering sideways. What the hell had she done? And what the hell had Rachel done? Emily had just cleared herself of any suspicion in the most unequivocal fashion imaginable. There was no room for doubt, not even in Ross's mind – and Rachel knew better than anyone how Ross could unjustifiably find doubt. If only she'd had the chance to show him that Mark wasn't important to her…
'Try that again and you'll be a eunuch,' Emily said. 'Clear off and don't come back. Ever.'
'You, you bitch,' Colin gasped.
'Gosh, that was hurtful,' Emily said witheringly.
Ross and Rachel heard footsteps leave hurriedly, and because they could still see Emily's black stockinged ankles, they realised it was Colin. Ross moved forward and snapped a twig.
'Is someone there?' Emily asked, nervously, taking a step back and then more loudly, though still with a tremor, 'The show's over folks.' She was about to walk away when Ross appeared from under the bushes.
'It's only me,' Ross said. Rachel shrank back. Oh no, he's given himself away. And the last thing she wanted was for herself to be discovered.
'Ross?'
'Yeah.'
'What are you doing there? You're absolutely filthy – ' It was then that Rachel realised just how damp the ground actually was – 'Were you spying on me?' she asked incredulously.
'Well - '
'You were, you were spying on me.'
'I – I was in Strawberry Fields just now and I saw you going off with that man. You were supposed to be with your uncle so I followed you. I wondered what you were doing that you couldn't tell me. W-why you were keeping secrets from me.'
'Oh, and are you happy with what you've found out by creeping around in the bushes?' Emily challenged.
'Well, yeah, of course, it's great, but I'd have preferred it if you'd told me you meeting that guy first,' Ross said, attempting to gain the moral upper hand.
'I very much doubt that.'
'It's true, everyone wants to know the truth,' Ross insisted.
'What would you have done with the truth, Ross? If I'd told you about it you wouldn't have been able to stop worrying about it. I know that by now. By keeping it secret, I was hoping to spare you even having to think about it, let alone worry about it,' she said severely, and then in a more conciliatory tone, 'I didn't want you to worry. Why go through that for nothing?'
'I'm sorry Emily, it's just that I found out you were keeping secrets, I thought…'
'You thought the worst of me!'
'No. Sweetie, please, it just looked odd today, that was all but I've never doubted you,' Ross said. 'It would break me up if anything went wrong. That's why I would worry about things, not because I think you're the kind of person because I don't, but because I just love you so very much. Maybe I shouldn't have followed but I couldn't help it.' Rachel looked at the ground, not wanting to see if they moved closer or not. After a brief silence she heard Emily say,
'I hope you don't expect me to wash those trousers for you.'
'I'll get them dry cleaned,' Ross said. Voices getting fainter, Emily said,
'No respectable dry cleaner would touch those. Why don't you get rid of them, they don't fit you properly'
'They're fine…'
Rachel stayed where she was. She had several problems, one of which was getting back to work in a presentable state. But right now, all she could think of was the problem she'd avoided for so long: getting used to Ross being married to Emily.
