JONATHAN

Jonathan sat on the mailbox, his head in his hands. A heavy hand fell on his shoulder. Jonathan looked up, alarmed. It was Peter, holding out a beer. Jonathan gratefully took the beer and started drinking it. "My old friend," Jonathan said, smiling weakly at the beer. The old man sat down next to Jonathan, and sighed. "You've really mucked things up, haven't you buddy?" Peter said. Jonathan nodded sadly.

"Not just my marriage," Jonathan said wearily. "My whole life." Peter nodded.

"You and Dess shouldn't really have ever started dating, should have you?" Peter asked. Jonathan shook his head. "No, we shouldn't have," he replied. "But I never meant to hurt her!"

"Of course you didn't," Peter said. "You just got a bit carried away, and then you dug yourself too far in to go back. Am I right?" Jonathan nodded.

"When we were kids, my girlfriend, Jess, um, disappeared," Jonathan explained, failing to add that Jess had really disappeared into a secret hour that only a select few had the faintest idea of. "And our friend, Melissa, was murdered." Peter nodded. "So I've heard," he said.

"So anyway," Jonathan continued. "Dess was Jess' best friend, and I was her boyfriend. We were both friends of Melissa. As you can imagine, we were both very sad when Jess and Melissa disappeared from our life. So we kind of, helped each other forget about our pain.

"It was more of a physical thing than an emotional thing," Jonathan said embarrassedly, turning away from Peter. "But we really helped each other. And things continued that way. And somehow, we kind of confused what we were doing as love, and got married."

"Too deep in to get out of it," Peter repeated, nodding.

"But then our pain sort of, went away, and then there was nothing between us," Jonathan explained. "And then everything that made us a couple was gone. I realised that love didn't hold us together. I reckon I would have left Dess then, but then she started feeling sick, and well….."

"She fell pregnant," Peter finished.

"And then, well, as you said, we were in too deep, so we kept on living a lie," Jonathan continued. "But I couldn't keep doing it!"
"So you went out there to try and find someone else?" Peter asked, sipping thoughtfully on his beer. Jonathan nodded.

"Which brings us to the affairs," Jonathan said. "But I knew deep down who I really loved."

"Jess?" Peter asked.

"Yep," Jonathan answered with a satisfied nod. "But she might not even be alive!" That was true. Peter stood up.
"You know, Jonathan, maybe you shouldn't feel so bad after all," Peter said, slapping Jonathan on the back. "I think Dess is just angry with herself, with her life, and not with your actions. She probably feels just as annoyed as you about living a lie." And with that, Peter left Jonathan and walked into the house.