by J. R. Bonham
“It was just such a lovely day,” he started telling her.
“I wasn’t asking about the weather!” she complained.
“I was just about to tell you! Jan made it such a lovely day, just by being there. We went up to Dartmoor for lunch and walked along the river. There were rocks in the middle of the river like little islands. We stood on them and kissed. It was very romantic.”
“‘Islands in the Stream’ by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers,” Wendy suddenly interjected. “Do you know it? It’s a most beautiful song. You should get it and listen to it, the words are lovely. She also wrote and sang ‘I will always love you.’ That’s probably my all-time favourite.”
“That’s very interesting,” he mused.
He was thinking of an extra couple of CDs he could give Jan next time.
Chapter 31
They met up one day a week for several weeks and in between Mike would phone Jan. Each time they planned a bit more about how and when they were going to get together.
It wasn’t easy with the distance between them. They had planned that they would get Christmas out of the way and go for early February. They would obviously have to live near where he worked rather than him moving to Devon, for which she was thankful. She was very glad to get out of Devon anyway…
Mike looked around estate agents near his work and found places to rent in the vicinity of his workplace, within five to ten miles. He identified some that he liked the look of and then he would report back to Jan and see what she thought the next time they met. Sometimes he arrived with many pieces of paper that he had amassed from agents and they pored over them together. Jan would have to leave it to him to view suitable properties but she trusted him to find the right place for them.
He wanted to put all his cards on the table so that there would be no secrets. She knew he had been married twice before. His present wife, Rosemary, he had been married to for only five years. He married for the first time when he was 26 and had two children, Sonia and then Richard. They divorced after 11 years when the children were still quite young. His first wife married again and moved to Derbyshire. His daughter, Sonia, didn’t want anything to do with him and wanted to take on her step-father’s surname. Mike’s son, Richard, soon followed suit with changing his name although he had still wanted contact with his father.
“My daughter, Sonia, has left school now and is learning to be a hairdresser and beautician. My son, Richard, is at university. I’ve paid maintenance all along while they’ve been in full-time education, but I reckon Richard will finish his course in a couple of years. I used to take him out on a Saturday – either to cricket or football matches or out to dinner, but it was a long journey all the way up to Derby. Sonia never wanted to come. She would always hide away whenever I arrived. I don’t know why. Maybe her mother poisoned her against me.”
“So you were a ‘Saturday dad’ to Richard, but not so much to Sonia?” Jan asked. “Oh, well, that was her loss.”
“Yes, I guess it was – but it was a shame. So consequently I don’t know her very well.”
“Maybe she’ll come back once she’s grown up a bit.”
It was mid-October. They met up again as usual. Jan had been thinking for a while that it might be time to take the relationship to a new level. ‘But how? Am I supposed to instigate this? I want him to make love to me but he hasn’t made any moves as yet. Surely he must want to! Should I ask him? Is he waiting for me to suggest it first? I’ll try it and see what he says. How would we manage it? Would he be able to come to my house for the specific job of making love to me for the first time? We’ll have to do it before we start living together. It all seems a little clinical. Trouble is, Geoff has taken to coming home occasionally at various times of the day, if only for a short time. I wonder if he’s suspicious? I’m not sure. I know it’s a risk.’
“It’s so lovely to see you again,” she tried tentatively. ‘Go for it girl!’ “I was wondering if you’d like to come home and see my house?” she asked him with trepidation. “I’ve seen yours so now you could see mine. If you’d like to, of course?” she added. But she was afraid of a rejection.
“I thought you’d never ask!” he said, smiling. ‘He’s read between the lines!’
She thought it best that she drove him to the house and he would leave his car where it was. The neighbours would just think he was a visitor if they noticed anything at all.
She went into the kitchen where Hamish was and Mike took to him straight away. He stroked him and talked to him, and then she let him out into the garden. She made them both coffee and then she led him by the tie. Straight upstairs and into her bedroom. She put the cups down on the window sill and then she started to get nervous. ‘What now? I’ve never done this sort of thing before. Never made love with anyone else but Geoff.’
Mike took the initiative when he noticed her nervousness. He kissed her passionately and laid her down on the bed. He undressed her, slowly, all the while kissing her deeply. Then he started to take off his own clothes.
‘This is more like it. At last!’ she thought.
“I love you more and more every time I see you,” he whispered in her ear.
“I love you too,” she replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually loved anyone before.” This was music to his ears, just what he wanted to hear. They were both so happy. In seventh heaven.
Just then they heard a car backing up the drive and Hamish, still in the garden, started barking.
“Shit, it’s Geoff.” She jumped up when she heard his car. “You’ll have to get in the wardrobe,” she giggled as she gathered up his clothes Then she started shoving them at him and pushing him into the wardrobe.
‘This is like something out of the Ealing comedies!’ she thought.
“It’s too small, I won’t fit in there!” he cried.
“Oh, God! No, you don’t fit in there, do you?” she agreed. “Well, you’ll just have to lie low, down the side of the bed. I’ll get rid of him as soon as I can.”
She threw on her clothes which had only just been removed and, slightly dishevelled, was just going downstairs when Geoff came in through the front door.
“Hi,” she said to him nonchalantly, slinking down the stairs, very slightly out of breath, hoping he would just think it was her asthma playing up again. “D’you want some coffee? The kettle boiled just now, I was just about to make some.” She went into the kitchen hoping he would follow her, which he did.
“What have you been doing?” she asked him before he could ask her the same question. “How did you manage to get time off work again to come home?” ‘If I keep him talking, he’s not so likely to walk away, upstairs. Must keep him away from upstairs. I wonder if he’s suspicious? Am I overcompensating for my nervousness and feelings of guilt? How am I going to get rid of him? I’ll make his coffee and hopefully, he will go back to work. Coffee! Oh, no! The coffee I made is upstairs and one is black. No one here drinks black coffee! I must get rid of it in case he does go up there and sees it. Hopefully, he won’t discover Mike as well!’
“I was over this way on a delivery so thought I’d call in for a coffee and to see you.”
“That’s nice,” she lied.
She made another two mugs of coffee and put Geoff’s cup down on the kitchen table next to the newspaper. She hoped he would sit there and read it. He sat down and she excused herself saying she was desperate for the loo. She rushed upstairs and into the bedroom, put the two cups from the window sill into a drawer. She looked over at Mike who was trying very hard to get dressed whilst lying down. She nearly had a fit of the giggles again but had to compose herself before she went downstairs. She dashed into the bathroom and flushed the loo.
Geoff was drinking his coffee and looking around, wondering what was missing. He then realised that Hamish was still in the garden. He got up to let him in. Jan was even more out of breath tha
n before. She was glad he didn’t question her as to why she didn’t use the downstairs cloakroom. She thought he probably didn’t notice. ‘Men don’t.’ Or so she thought and hoped. Geoff finished his coffee and stood up.
‘Please hurry up and go. And DON’T go upstairs,’ she thought.
“Well, I’d better get back to work,” he concluded. “See you later.”
“Yes,” she said, trying not to say it too hurriedly. “I’ve got something nice for supper, it’ll be a surprise, OK?” ‘I really don’t know what, but it sounds good.’
“Fine.” He went out of the door and was gone. Jan waited by the front door as she always did and waved until he had driven down the road. Then she rushed back in and upstairs.
“Crikey, that was a bit close for comfort,” she was saying to Mike as she entered her bedroom, where she found him fully dressed, crawling out from beside the bed. “Oh, you’re dressed, that was clever!”
“Not very easy, though. I can honestly say I’ve never done THAT before!”
“Always a first time!” she laughed, and they both creased up laughing and fell onto the bed.
“Never again! I had to get dressed because if he’d found me and ejected me from the house it would have been slightly awkward with no clothes on!” Jan giggled some more as she imagined that scenario.
“We’d better go out I think, in case anyone else comes home. Steven is just as likely, and has done occasionally as he is out on the road sometimes with his job.”
“Next week I’d like to take you out on a proper date. Maybe to the theatre. D’you think you can get out one evening?”
“I can try. I expect Sheila might help. I could say I’m going to a Tupperware party and we could meet at her house. What would you say to Rosemary? You wouldn’t be home until what, midnight or later?” she asked him.
“Leave that with me. I’ll think of something. I’ll see what’s on and get tickets. I’ll let you know.”
“OK.”
They went to a local hostelry for a quick lunch. Then he kissed her and left. She went shopping for something special for supper. ‘Steak is special, I’ll get some. Geoff will never suspect it’s “guilt supper”.’
Next morning, she was busy in the house when the phone rang. It was Mike.
“Hi, darling. It was lovely to see you yesterday and I’ve booked tickets for next Wednesday evening at 7.30 pm. The play is called Run for your Wife. I thought that was rather apt, don’t you?” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“Absolutely,” Jan confirmed. “I’ll arrange it with Sheila to meet at her house. She’ll understand I’m sure. She’s in a fairly new relationship herself after her husband cheated on her, but she knows about us. She’s the only person I’ve told so far apart from my best friend Marian, in Thailand.”
They talked for about half an hour when Mike said that he had to get back to work as he had lost a lot of time the day before. He would ring again next day.
She put the phone down and thirty seconds later it rang again. ‘I wonder what he’s forgotten!’
“Hello,” she said brightly and waited to hear his voice. It was Louise and she sounded distraught.
“Mum!” she shouted. “Who have you been talking to? You’ve been ages!”
“A friend, why? What’s the matter? Why the panic?”
“The panic is… Oh, I can hardly believe it! Mum, we’ve had a hold up at the bank and some of my friends have been hurt. It’s terrible.”
“Oh, that’s shocking, how awful. Are you alright?” she asked, now very concerned for her daughter’s welfare.
“That’s why I’m ringing you! In case you heard it on the news. Our bosses told us we should phone home to allay any fears. I couldn’t get through for ages, I just kept on trying and trying.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, of course. I hadn’t heard the news either. Shall I ring your dad to save you the trouble?”
“Yes please.”
“OK. As long as you’re OK?” Jan asked her daughter, most concerned.
“But you don’t understand, some of my friends have been hurt, one quite badly. It could have been me!”
“Yes, but it wasn’t. You mustn’t think like that. What’s going to happen now?”
“I don’t know. I think they’re going to close the bank for today. There’s quite a bit of mess. There was a shotgun you know, let off. It brought some of the ceiling down on my friends here. No one was actually shot, luckily. I was out in the loo at the time when it was all happening. I wondered what all the commotion was. They didn’t get away with any money because the police were quite close by, so they scarpered when they heard the police siren. I think they’re talking about us having some sort of counselling. I’ll tell you more about it, later. I’d better go and let someone else use the phone. I’ve hogged it for too long and I’ve been getting funny looks.”
“OK, see you when you get home. I’ll be here, don’t worry.”
Louise came home mid-afternoon and Jan comforted her when she saw what a state she was in. She was trembling. Jan put her arms around her and led her into the sitting room.
“Sit down here for a while and I’ll make you a cup of tea. It’s good for shock.”
“Thanks, Mum.” Louise accepted her mum’s comfort and sat in a chair. When Jan came in with a cup of tea, Louise was fast asleep.
‘Sleep is good for shock too. Oh God, how am I going to leave them when they still need me?’
Chapter 32
Next day Louise didn’t feel up to going back to work.
“Can you ring work, please, Mum?” she asked her mother. “Tell them I just need some time to gather my thoughts. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow.” Jan agreed and rang Louise’s work who were very understanding.
“They say you can take as much time as you need,” Jan told her daughter. “You’re obviously well thought of, and they were mindful of the problems after yesterday’s crisis. That was kind of them, I thought.”
“Yes, it was. I think I’ll just go back to bed now.”
“OK. Do you want me to bring you up some toast and juice?”
“That’ll be lovely. Thanks, Mum.”
The phone rang a few minutes later as Louise was going upstairs. She heard Jan answer it and whisper. ‘Why would she whisper? Is there something she doesn’t want me to hear? What’s going on?’ thought Louise.
“I can’t talk, I’m sorry,” Jan told Mike in subdued tones. “Louise is home after an incident at work yesterday. They had a hold up with a shotgun and she’s traumatised. I think she might go back to work tomorrow. Bye for now. Love you.”
“Who’s that?” Louise called downstairs.
“Oh, just a friend,” Jan answered lightly.
‘She hasn’t got that many friends. How come she’s on the phone so much. It was at the same time yesterday when I tried to ring her.’ Louise was getting suspicious. She made a mental note to ring her tomorrow at the same time to see if she was on the phone then.
Louise went back to work the next day. She tried to phone home at about 9.30 am but it was engaged. Again. Over the weekend she monitored her mother’s mood. On the following Monday, she tried to ring her and it was engaged. Also the next day at the same time, it was engaged.
On Wednesday Louise tried to phone again but it rang and rang. Because Jan had gone out to meet up with Mike.
They met at the same pub on the seafront and walked and talked and enjoyed a nice lunch at a local restaurant. They put their wedding rings in the middle of the table, as usual.
“I’ve got the tickets for the play tonight. I shall go to Sheila’s as arranged and wait for you there.”
He knew he would have to kick his heels for a couple of hours until he was going to go to Sheila’s house and await seeing Jan again.
They kissed and Jan left to go hom
e. She had already told Geoff that she was going to a Tupperware party and would leave after an early supper.
After supper, she went to get changed and left home. She drove to Sheila’s house where she saw that Mike’s car was outside. So far so good. Sheila let her in and they talked for a while. Sheila’s new man Terry was curious as to how they met, and Mike had been filling him in on the details before Jan arrived. Terry himself had had several relationships including two marriages. Just like Mike.
“Well, you two, my only piece of advice is ‘go for it’ and ‘follow your heart’ – you deserve to be happy. From what little Sheila has told me, Jan hasn’t been happy for a while.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement!” Jan agreed.
Mike said they ought to go as the play would be starting at 7.30 pm and they said their goodbyes. They walked out to his car and drove off, leaving Jan’s car on the road. They had to drive to the theatre and park in the multi-storey car park nearby.
He drove up several floors of the car park. He was just starting to park when Jan looked out of her window and saw Louise in her car. ‘Is that a coincidence or has she followed us?’
“Oh no!” she said as she sunk down in her seat. “That’s Louise! I don’t know if she saw me. You’ll have to drive off; go somewhere else.”
He started up the engine again and drove back down the multi-storey car park at speed. He kept looking in the mirror and it looked like she was indeed following his car. They drove all around the streets of Torquay and into an open air car park where he found a spot and parked. Jan got out and told him to stay there. She hid behind another car and saw Louise go up and down, searching, then eventually Jan noticed Louise’s car disappear down the ramp and out.
‘I wonder if we did lose her? I can’t go to the play now, knowing she knows something. She was obviously suspicious to follow us like that. I shall just have to go home and see what she says. She’s bound to tell her father. What am I going to do then? I shall just have to bite the bullet and take the consequences of my actions. He’s going to kill me for sure. Or lock me up! Oh, hell, I’m not looking forward to this.’