He stares at me, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to find words to explain. He finally shakes his head and looks at me apologetically. "I can't" he says. "I can't explain it Lora. I really fucking wish I could, believe me, but I can't." "Let me get this straight, Jon" I say. "You spend god knows how much time with your face in a strippers tits, and who knows what else, and you can't explain it? That's a fucking shit excuse and you know it. Just admit it Jon, it's not that you can't explain it, you just won't." I start to stand up and he grabs my arm. "No, Lora" he says. "I can't. Well, the face in the tits I can. The guys got me a lap dance for the bachelor party I never had. Brian pushed my face in her tits and someone got a picture." "Quite a few people got a picture" I say. He nods. "I know" he says quietly. "But Lor, I swear, I don't remember anything else. You'd have to ask Brian what happened, I really don't know." I nod. "Ok" I say, holding my hand out. "Give me your phone." He frowns but hands it over. I stand up and he starts to follow me. "Stay there" I warn. "This is between me and Brian." He nods and watches as I walk out of the bar with his phone.
As soon as I'm outside I start to have second thoughts. Every scenario goes through my head. Brian is gonna tell me what happened, but I'm not sure I want to hear it. "Man up Lora" I finally growl at myself, sitting on the bench and going through Jon's phone to find his number. I hit dial before I can talk myself out of it, and it rings for what seems like forever before Brian finally answers. "Ambrose!" he says cheerfully. "What can I do for you bro?" "Almost right" I say. "It's Lora. Brian, I need to know what happened at the strip club. Please?" "Lora?" Brian asks. "Are you crying? Where's Jon? What's happened?" "Please Brian!" I beg. "Ok, ok" he says. "The guys all clubbed together to get him a lap dance, I mean, we would have done it for his bachelor party if he'd actually told us he was getting married. We were joking around and I pushed his face into her while she sat on his lap, I think there's a picture or two of that going around on social media." "What else, Brian?" I ask, through gritted teeth. "What else?" he asks, confused. "Lora, what do you think happened? We had a few more drinks, Jon stood up, announced he missed his wife too much and wanted to go home, so we grabbed a cab and brought him home. Nothing else happened." I nearly fall off the bench. "Brian, you don't have to cover for him" I warn. "I already know about the champagne room." "The what?" he yells. "Champagne room? Lora, have you been taking something? Jon never went anywhere near the champagne room. He was with us all night, Lor, he never even went to the bathroom alone. I swear, he sat with his phone in front of him all night with your picture on it. Until that dance his eyes never left your face. I've got pictures to prove it. I'll send them to Jon's phone for you to see. What exactly have you heard?" "Just that he went into the room with the stripper" I say. "Her words were she, well, relieved him." Brian laughs, loudly. "Seriously?" he splutters, finally getting his laugh under control. "He recognised her as being one of Renee's friends. He knew there was going to be trouble. As soon as he saw her he didn't want to be there. We made him stay. But I swear Lor, I'm not covering for him. He did nothing." "Sounds like I've got some apologising to do" I say. "Damn right" Brian agrees. "He's a changed man Lora. He loves you too much to throw it away. Maybe you should remember that before you go believing everything bad about him." "Thanks Brian" I whisper before ending the call.
I sit on the bench, staring at the phone for what seems like ages, trying to pluck up the courage to go back inside. I don't even hear him come up behind me, only realising he's there when he puts his jacket around my shoulders. "You're cold babe" he mumbles, sitting next to me and rubbing my arms to warm me up. I look up at him and crumble. "I'm so sorry Jon" I blurt before crying. "Why do I never believe you?" He shrugs. "We both need to learn to trust each other" he says. "We got a lot of learning to do Lora, we did all this backwards. Marriage first, introductions later." I nod, jumping as his phone vibrates in my hand. Brian. "Here" I read. "Hope these help." I click on the pictures, crying more when I see Jon in the club, his phone propped up against a glass, pictures of us proudly on display. "You're my wife Lora" he says simply. "Nobody else. Nobody compares to you. I don't need anyone else. But I do need you." I don't say anything, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly. "I need you too" I whisper.