by J. M. Colail
“You Excellency, my name is Lucas Carlton, Assistant Information Management Officer for The Right Honourable Marcus Boyles, and this is my fiancée, Lucy Marsh.” He indicated the young woman who disentangled her arm to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Glad for the forwardness of the young man, he first shook her hand, then his. Lucas’s grip was firm and his hand soft and dry. The familiar protocol helped Jack recover somewhat. “Ah, yes, our esteemed UK Ambassador. How is he feeling today?” They exchanged knowing looks.
“Still a little uncomfortable, but nothing that can’t be remedied,” the young man responded with a conspiratorial smile.
Jack had a hard time breaking eye contact with Lucas, but it was only polite to address the young woman as well. “Miss Marsh, you are American, I believe?”
Lucy smiled at him, clearly ill at ease. “Yes, from Boston.”
“And you decided only a Brit was good enough?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Jack wished he could take them back. That was awfully forward as a conversation starter.
Lucy smiled, a little unsure of how exactly she was to respond, but Lucas rescued her. “We met at Stanford, where I was studying International Relations. She made a foreigner feel very welcome.” He smiled at her reassuringly.
“Was it you I spoke to last night?” Jack asked Lucas, relieving Lucy of being the center of attention.
Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Ah, yes, we were expecting a call, so I stayed to co-ordinate. His Excellency was…‘ill’ already when he was dropped off, but he was determined to attend. I could only hope that you or your wife would save him from embarrassment, as you so kindly did.”
The understanding glances between Lucas and Jack were totally lost on Lucy, who clearly didn’t have a clue that the UK ambassador was not really sick.
“Well, we won’t keep you much longer, your Excellency. I simply wanted to introduce myself, since the US and the UK have always been close allies, and I expect we will be meeting again very soon. My boss has informed me I will become his liaison officer with your Embassy since I have strong interests in that area anyway.”
Jack expected Lucas to look at his girlfriend to acknowledge exactly where those interests were situated, but he did not, instead captivating Jack with his gaze for what seemed like forever.
Lucas finally nodded as he took a step back and guided Lucy further into the room.
Jack sighed, releasing a breath he’d apparently been holding. He then took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down his racing heart.
IT WASN’T until later that night, when he was alone in the bathroom of his private quarters in the Embassy, that he had a chance to think it over. What was it that made Lucas so special? Why had this young man awakened feelings he had buried long ago? He let his head fall into his hands and tried to ban the thoughts that kept creeping into his mind when he thought of the young Brit, of his chocolate brown eyes and his radiant smile, of his firm handshake that went straight to his groin.
He got up and threw some cold water on his face while he looked at himself in the mirror. Forget it Jack, he’s got a girlfriend and you have a wife. You’re both successful heterosexual men. It’s pointless to let your pecker take over.
After drying his face, he walked into the dark bedroom, trying not to wake up Maria.
“You don’t have to sneak around,” he heard her say, just before he slid under the blankets. She wrapped herself around him as he lay down on his back and rested her head on his shoulder. “Well, you seem to be happy to see me.”
Chapter Two
ONE OF Jack’s functions was to coordinate his staff and make them work to their full potential so they could be of service to the Americans that lived in Belgium, but an Embassy was more than that. Jack and his staff were considered “legitimate spies,” since it was also their task to be informed of the policies and politics of their host country and be specifically alert to what that meant for America as a country and for the Americans living under their wing.
As with every new Ambassador, Jack had a lot to learn, and he knew by now that every country was different. His staff briefed him extensively about the communities and regions of this small country and the sensitivities that lay in the fact that not only the North and South spoke a different language, but that their culture was also quite disparate. Jack knew that speaking French would not be a problem for him, but when he was told in no uncertain terms and by his secretary, no less, that almost sixty percent of Belgians spoke Flemish, he asked her to arrange for him to learn the language. She was a no-nonsense Belgian woman in her early fifties, and the fact that he answered her rant with this request almost made her blush. Jack realized this had gained him her undying respect and he made a mental note never to assume everyone spoke French around there.
Home life had by now returned to normal and the Christensens were no longer required to live at the Embassy. A comfortable and spacious house was provided for them in Tervuren in the green belt around the capital. Maria was all too used to packing up, leaving, and settling down again in another part of the world without too much advanced notice and made it her personal goal to make each house still feel like home.
“You know Jack, we should ask that young Englishman with the American girlfriend to dinner one night.” Maria was buttering a piece of toast in their kitchen.
Jack looked up from his newspaper. “Why?”
Maria gave him an “I don’t know how you’ve achieved what you have with that attitude” look. “He’s charming! Even the First Lady couldn’t stop talking about him after they met at the reception and they spoke for… what? All of three minutes? I just figured he’s an up and coming guy and his girlfriend could use a little help.”
Jack raised his eyebrows.
“I mean she’s a nice enough girl, but if she ever wants a chance at helping her future husband’s career, she’s going to need to be educated a bit. Did you know this is her first time outside of the States?” Maria was hugging a cup of coffee by now, settling down next to Jack, and stealing the New York Times from his stack of different newspapers.
“Well, he did tell me he was going to be the liaison officer to our Embassy, so maybe we should get better acquainted. Mind you, we will be talking shop all night, so it may get a bit boring for you girls,” Jack answered without looking at his wife.
Maria rolled up her Times and playfully flogged him with it. “Well, I’m sure ‘us girls’ can retreat upstairs and paint our toenails while the men do business.”
Jack looked up and realized he’d just offended his well-educated wife.
LATER THAT morning, Jack’s secretary stuck her head inside his office as he reviewed the new financial sanctions the Belgians had imposed an all non-EU imports.
“Mr. Christensen, security has Mr. Lucas Carlton downstairs. He’s the liaison from the….”
“I know who he is, Mrs. Claessens, just send him on through and…” he called her back just before she left, “…arrange with security to let him through next time? He’s CD like the rest of us, just UK instead of US.”
She nodded as she closed the door again to relay her boss’s request.
Just minutes later Lucas strolled confidently into Jack’s office, a small folder under his arm, wearing virtually the same clothes as Jack had seen him in at the reception. The ever present smile on his face, he leaned over the impressive oak desk littered with papers to shake Jack’s hand.
“Mr. Christensen, I’m glad….” Lucas stopped mid-sentence as Jack raised his hand.
“Please, call me Jack. If we are going to have to work together on everything that concerns both our countries, then you are going to drive me crazy with all that ‘Mister’ing, so just… Jack.”
Lucas smiled broadly. “Okay, Jack. But it was still nice of you to see me without an appointment. I’m usually better at sticking to protocol, but I wanted some fresh air and these papers needed to be delivered, so….”
“So you walked from your Emb
assy to mine? With….” Jack quickly leafed through the folder. “…three pages on the UK’s view on the import sanctions?” He realized he was amused by this as he watched the young man loosen his scarf while not quite settling in one of the chairs across from him.
“It’s only about a five minute walk and like I said, I needed the air. Taking a car would have been utterly useless.” His voice trailed off as he admired the rather opulent decoration of the office.
“So how’s old Boyles?” Jack asked, understanding that the young man wasn’t going to indulge him with a straight answer.
Lucas was still looking around at the intricately carved borders near the ceiling, giving Jack the chance to stare at the young man. “He’s had a bit of a… relapse, so we’re expecting that he’ll go home to England for an extended… rest, pretty soon.”
Jack chuckled. He had met the UK Ambassador only once and they had taken an instant dislike to one another. The man was notoriously inept at keeping his alcohol consumption to an acceptable level and always managed to insult a few people before he needed to be escorted out. Not Jack’s favorite kind of diplomat.
“Can I get you anything to drink? Since you walked… I thought you might be thirsty,” Jack asked a little hesitantly and not quite at ease.
Lucas jumped up. “Why don’t I get us something? Tea, coffee, water?”
“Lucas, sit down, you’re my guest here, Mrs. Claessens will get us something.”
The young man turned around. “What’s her first name?”
“Who?”
“Your secretary,” Lucas answered, stating the obvious.
“Oh, ehm… Gurdy or something. Something I can’t quite pronounce, it seems.” Jack watched the young man chuckle and walk out the door like he owned the place. As he looked down at his papers again he realized he couldn’t focus. He decided that working with this bubbly Englishman was going to prove more difficult than he thought, because looking at him sitting across from his desk made him think of lots of things, none of them even remotely connected with work, and those thoughts made him uneasy. So he started clearing up, putting papers in neat little stacks, trying to keep his mind on placing them in the correct order and….
“It’s Gertje.” Lucas pronounced it carefully, Jack hearing at least three sounds that were unfamiliar to him, “but she says it’s okay for her to be called Mrs. Claessens. That way you don’t make a fool of yourself, and it shows a healthy respect.”
Jack hadn’t even heard him enter the room again.
“I can’t believe she said that,” Jack rebutted with a smile, trying to hide his unease behind a little humor.
Lucas set the two cups down on the table and raised his hands in surrender. “I don’t know you well enough to lie to you yet, besides, what do I gain? She’s a feisty lady, and she told me you want to take Flemish lessons, so I told her I’d take you where I go for Dutch class. Then she kissed me and I always want to be at least on a first name basis with the people I kiss.”
“You were gone… two, three minutes? And you talked about all that?” Jack was quite amazed.
Lucas nodded as he sat down and took a sip of his cup of tea. “Oh, and she’s a cat person.”
Jack chuckled. “No, I’m sorry I don’t believe you.”
“Seriously,” Lucas answered, clearly not easily put off. “You should get your own coffee more often. There’s a picture of her and two tabbies in the little nook where the coffee maker is and her paperweight is a Siamese.” He pointed his cup at Jack. “Now drink your coffee, because she doesn’t seem to me like the kind of woman who would like her boss to waste a perfectly good cup of coffee.”
Jack couldn’t help but smile as he reached over his desk for the steaming cup, sat down again, purposely not looking up at Lucas, and took a sip. “I suppose she told you how I like my coffee too?”
Lucas shook his head as he swallowed some clearly still hot tea. “No, she actually poured it for me. Wouldn’t let me do it. She’s very protective of you, you know. Says you’re the best boss she’s had so far.”
“Smart woman,” Jack murmured as he thought how totally irresistible Lucas was. They continued to drink their beverages, making small talk about the importance of learning the local language as part of their job, and Jack relaxed as he enjoyed the effortless conversation.
“Well, I better leave,” Lucas stated suddenly, as he got up. “They may start wondering where I am pretty soon, and since I haven’t told them I’m liaising with my American Ambassador…. Well, they’re clueless… in more ways than one.”
After Lucas was gone, Jack let himself sit back in his chair, still a little dazed by the whirlwind visit. My American Ambassador. He shrugged. MY American Ambassador? You’re going nuts, Christensen. And reading things into someone’s words that aren’t there. It’s just a manner of speech. Still, he felt like he had just been made a pass at, like the beautiful Brit had just laid himself wide open to him. Take me, I’m yours.
Jack shook his head. You’re married and he’s almost married. Get your mind out of your pants. Oh God, and he had to invite him over for dinner.
“Mrs. Claessens? Can you get Lucas Carlton on the phone for me, please? UK Emba— Yes, I know he just left. No rush, just sometime today, please?” He put down the phone and glanced at the clock. Mrs. Claessens was right. There was no way Lucas could have made it back to his desk yet. The young man was surely getting to him.
Damn.
Chapter Three
AS LUCAS walked out of the US Embassy, he tightened his scarf and tucked his hands in the pockets of his trousers. It was early summer, but the freakish European weather made it a bit nippy. At least it wasn’t raining.
It was about a ten minute walk to the UK Embassy, if he took his time. The most annoying bit was the fact that he had to walk quite a way to the nearest zebra crossing, but he wasn’t about to risk his life trying to cross the Avenue that was part of one of the busiest inner city roads in Brussels any other way. He didn’t really mind the walk, it would clear his mind.
Why did he put himself in this situation? Why did he get himself smitten with a man again? And a married one at that. Even if there was a remote possibility that Jack was interested, the man had even more to lose than Lucas did. He had climbed to the highest ranks in diplomacy. A US Ambassador. And Lucas had seen his wife; she was the perfect Ambassador’s wife. He even had to admit he liked her. She was obviously a strong woman, and there was no doubt that even if Jack was a first class diplomat, he was not the one who was boss in that relationship. He almost felt sorry for Jack, but then he knew the value of having a strong woman to lean on. His own mother had been like that too, though when his parents were young, a diplomat’s wife was a trophy. She had to be beautiful and a good organizer, but she also had to be silent and no one ever acknowledged her strength.
In the past few years it had become painfully clear to Lucas that without the right woman on his arm, he could kiss a diplomatic career good-bye. Even in the lower ranks, the invisible masses, you needed the perfect background to push ahead. In the three years that he had been working for the UK Foreign service he had been sent from one menial job to the next, every senior officer telling him he was sure to get ahead because of his pedigree, but being brushed aside every time.
Until he brought a girl to one of the Embassy’s receptions. They weren’t even really dating, but she was the daughter of the new Economic Counselor and had actually asked him out.
He never realized that one date would get him noticed. Then coming back from a trip to California with an American girlfriend got him promoted to Assistant Information Management Officer, and now that same girlfriend seemed to be the basis for making him the liaison with the Americans. And she was nowhere near the perfect diplomat’s wife.
So going back to dating men was out of the question. He’d have to put his US Ambassador out of his mind. There. Done.
He took one last breath of the crisp morning air and entered the UK Embassy, openin
g the service entrance by sliding his security badge through the reader. He went straight to his broom closet of an office and had barely hung his coat on the hanger when his phone rang.
“Mr. Carlton, this is Gertje, Mr. Christensen’s assistant. Can I put him through to you?”
Lucas felt a rush of blood to his head. Fifteen minutes after I leave he’s already calling me? Calm down, mate, and answer the woman. “Sure, Gertje. Thank you.”
He heard the click of the transfer and then a slightly hoarse voice. “Hi, Jack here.”
Lucas swallowed as he heard Jack clear his throat. “Yeah, I know,” he chuckled. “You have a very efficient secretary, remember?”
“Did you get back okay?”
Lucas smiled at Jack’s attempt at small talk, but he had to admit he liked listening to his voice. “Yeah, the lunch hour traffic was murder, but I made it here in one piece.”
He heard the older man clear his throat again. Was this a nervous tic with him or something?
“What I forgot to tell you, well, to ask you was…. Maria suggested that I invite you and Lucy to come over for dinner. On Saturday, if you’re free. If not, then next Thursday maybe, because the Saturday after that we have a function to go to so….”
He heard Jack sigh and didn’t quite know what to think of what he was hearing.
“I’ll have to check with Lucy, but as far as I am aware my calendar is blank. Is it okay if I call you back tomorrow and let you know?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m sure Maria doesn’t mind last minute changes.” Another sigh. “That didn’t quite come out right. What I meant is, sure, tomorrow is plenty of time and if you need more, the day after is fine too. Maria is good at improvising.”
Lucas smiled. What more could he ask to keep hearing Jack’s voice? “Will it be just the four of us or will there be other guests? Just so I know what the dress code is.”