There was to be a final twist in the tale of my relationship with Paula.

She had become friends with my two nephews after meeting them at the pub. She had particularly taken a shine to the younger of the two. He is a funny guy, as charming as me, but with the added benefit of youth. They chatted on Facebook and kept in contact after we split. A few weeks after the break up my nephew and I were due to go out for a beer but we both had excuses and reasons not to go so we cancelled.

The following day I was surprised to see a photo appear on Facebook that Paula had posted of my nephew grinning and standing with her in a bar. The caption on the photograph read “isn’t it funny who you bump into in Hornchurch”. There were two reasons I was surprised. Firstly he had complained of tiredness as his reason for cancelling. Secondly he had been gullible enough to allow himself to be used in what looked like a sting type operation designed to get at me. My response was predictable and probably the one she had hoped for. I went fucking mental! It felt clearly aimed at me and designed to cause maximum embarrassment.

My friend was on the phone within minutes saying he’d seen the Facebook post and what was going on? I told him I had no idea but that I intended to find out. First to get caught in the eye of my anger storm was my nephew. We had an argument that was probably more a reflection of my anger than a meaningful clearing of the air. My attention then turned to her and I warned her not to try and come between me and my family or friends. I was not proud of the situation we had ended up in but we both had to learn to live with it. It is rare for emotions like anger or bitterness stay around in my mind. They drift off like clouds when something new comes along to interest me. Yet in this case the resentment simmered away in the back of mind.

Paula eventually settled into a relationship with another acquaintance of mine. His relationship with his long term partner coincidentally, ended around the same time as he started seeing Paula.
I had known his partner and him for a long time and I had a real fondness for her. She was fun to be around and I was worried that we would lose touch now they had split.

I contacted her and we ended up arranging to meet for lunch. We had a fun afternoon exchanging stories and reminiscing about years gone by. As we walked back to the car a little devil appeared over my right shoulder and an idea popped in my head.
Ten minutes later a picture of the two of us appeared on Facebook with the caption ‘isn’t it funny who you bump into when you are out in Hornchurch!’.

Revenge was mine. Although it did little to change the overwhelming guilt I felt about my part in this whole episode.