“Daddy, I simply don’t enjoy doing office work. I’m sorry, Mom.” She always relied on her father to save her from the things that she didn’t like doing.
“Well, now that we are on the subject of what we all like doing and/or not doing, let’s hear it from you: What would you like to become in the future?” Everyone was listening for her answer to Sam’s simple question.
“Well, as you know, I would like to get into a drama school. The theatre has always interested me. I am aware of my inability to sing but that does not mean that I couldn’t act. They often have substitutes for such occasions, don’t you think?” She was blushing. “I want to be a star one day. Daddy, you always said: If we don’t try, we will never find out what we can do. I also heard Henry say the same thing while we were at the cottage.”
“You mean you were actually listening to any of us up there?” Trevor interrupted. “I thought you were on another planet from the rest of us.” By now he knew he could be in trouble for saying too much, but instead they all laughed, and his father mussed his hair in good gesture for being such a comedian. Only Olivia was a bit perturbed.
Barb tried to mollify her. “Olivia, we all know that you are taking drama at school but you never mentioned going to college and taking it so seriously. That is great, if you truly want to pursue the one most suitable career for you. There is a lot to find out about: tuition fees, transportation to and from the college, and so on.” Barb felt exhausted by the time she finished the sentence. “But wait a minute; what just happened here? I needed help with my overload and asked you to help but I didn’t hear you say that you are willing to help me earn the money to put all of you through college. Are we a family, or are we not? Your father and I work very hard to do our part, so how about you doing the same?”
Susanne finally decided she should call Barb and ask for a job.
“Yes, Susanne, I am right here. Does this mean that you would like to work for me?” Barb teased.
“You know what I mean and you know I need a job.” Susanne was almost pleading by now.
“Well, why don’t you come to the office in the morning, and we can discuss the necessary details right then and there.” Barb was bursting with anticipation. She had wanted this to happen all along but she knew that Susanne had to make the first move — otherwise, she would brag that Barb had begged her to come and work for her.
“Well, all right. I’ll see you then. So how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“There is plenty going on and little time to keep up with things. How are you keeping?”
“The children are keeping me occupied, as you well know. So I will see you in the morning.”
“Very well, then.” Barb felt a bit uneasy about the useless conversation but hoped they could work together. She could always fire Susanne if she got out of hand. As for needing more help, that was certain. In fact, it would take a lot of time just to catch up. She never expected to get off on such a good start. There was obviously a great need for a local accounting business, especially around income-tax time. She was delighted and grateful. At times, she secretly dreamed of buying a large house. Furthermore, she found it relaxing to come home and not find a pile of books on the dining table to be looked after. She never had any free time.
And Sam was happy to come home and find his wife willing and able to talk instead of staring at her books. He and John had acquired a contract with the H.D. Holding Company, the same one that owned the plaza where Barb had rented her office. They never had to leave the country and they had plenty of calls for shorter trips. That meant coming home every night, which suited them very much. Often, they simply picked up the load, delivered it to its destination, and then hooked up another loaded truck to take back. This was easy. In the winter, those manoeuvres were especially good because that way Sam was able to see more of Trevor’s games.
John also announced to Sam that he was getting married in the spring. He felt he could afford to do so, now that they were making a decent wage. His fiancée had given him an ultimatum: to get married, or they would be parting and going their separate ways.
“Well, good for you, John. It is about time you made up your mind. Will you be moving in with Gina? She has quite a place there. She also lives close to your work . . .”
“No, we are going to buy a house together.”
“That’s great, John. Have you told your sister about your plans? I know she will be happy for you. At times, I dream of buying another house for us. The present one we hardy managed at the time, but now we deserve a better one; as you said, we are safe as far as the business goes, so maybe we will all be buying houses in the near future. I would like to give Barb more than just a lot of problems.” Sam laughed. He also knew that pretty soon there would be college tuitions to pay and they would be easier to afford now. “We should get together and discuss all the possibilities with the girls. Anyway, we need to celebrate your engagement.”
After they had pulled into the yard, they met another businessman. The man approaching them was short and stocky but rather robust-looking.
“Bill Randall’s the name; and you are Sam and John, right?”
“Sam Preston and my brother-in-law, John Goodman; pleased to meet you, Bill. Now, what can we do for you?”
“I am not sure if you can help me — or I can help you?” This was intriguing, to say the least. “My partner and I are in the same business as you and we were wondering if you would be interested in a joint partnership? Your wife has just recently taken over our books and happened to mention your business.”
“Oh, I see. That makes more sense to me now. For a moment there, I wondered if I should even be talking to you. How would you and your partner like to meet us on Monday at Barb’s office, and we can discuss it then. Just don’t hold it against her, should we decide not to join forces. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”
“You have a deal. We will meet you then, at nine o’clock.” The fellow walked away and got into his late-model vehicle.
John spoke first, “Wow, this is weird. For a while there I was quite suspicious of him but now it makes sense. You know what? You are a brave man, Sam. Don’t get me wrong: I am no chicken, but how often does one get approached with a business proposition just like that? For all we knew, he could be illegal, and we wouldn’t want to get involved with anything like that.” Sam was so nonchalant that John wondered how he didn’t get into trouble for being so trusting. Nothing worried him. He had faith.
“I was plenty nervous until he told us about Barb. Having you there helped as well. I just pretended I wasn’t scared. One never knows who one is dealing with; right?”
On Saturday morning, Sasha Lambert started her first job. She was nervous but delighted to learn how to deal with everything that a cashier has to know. Marianne was expecting her and was happy to have that delightful girl with her for the day.
In the meantime, Dominic and Nicole went for their usual walk with Serge. Henry waited patiently for the visit with the young folks and he also wanted to know how Sasha was doing on her first day. But something was different this time: Dominic and Nicole were holding hands when they arrived at Henry’s place. Henry, being who he was, noticed this and said nothing. He was young once and he would never forget how beautiful it felt to be in love.
Nicole had been under the impression that Dominic was infatuated with her sister Olivia, so she never generated anything but friendship toward him. She did, however, wonder why he never asked Olivia out. But then, he was too busy with everything else and had no time for romance. Besides, Olivia never gave Dominic any encouragement. He was Sasha’s brother, and while Sasha and Olivia were best of friends, he was a presence in the picture and nothing else as far as Olivia was concerned. She liked a few boys at school but lacked that approachable presence. The boys that she liked were taken by the popular girls and she fell behind and suffered silently. She was unhappy about her weight and knew that other girls used that against her because she had a st
unning face.
Nicole finally discovered, on one of their walks, that Dominic was in love with her — by the way he looked at her. At first, she was quite taken and told him what she had thought all along.
“Nicole, we are no longer second graders. I know that you are younger than me and I have a long way to go before I could ever look after anybody.”
“Dominic, don’t talk that way. We can remain best friends forever.”
“That is precisely what I am talking about. I do want us to be best friends forever but I want more than that. Look at Henry. He found his soulmate, and I have found mine. Someday, I want us to walk our own dog just the way we walk Serge. We can name him Serge, if you like. I dread to think of ever losing Henry — or Serge, for that matter — but we both know that nothing lasts forever. Someday, we will be old together!” He kissed her and her knees went all weak.
“Oh, Dominic, you better make sure that you really feel the way that you are talking right now. A lot could depend on this. We are a long way from being together. I promise I won’t hold you to your words, should you ever change your mind about us.”
He closed her eyes with his fingers and gently kissed her on her lips. As she hugged him, tears ran down her face, and the whole world before her was beautiful. She felt safe.
Monday morning came, and there was going to be an important meeting at Barb’s office.
“By the way, how did it go with Susanne last Friday?” Sam asked. “Did she manage to stay and do any work?”
“She never showed up,” Barb answered with a certain amount of annoyance. “She was busy getting Sasha to work; or so I heard. That woman needs a good swift kick . . .” At this point she left to go to work without saying anything to Sam about his appointment.
Sam called out, “I’m sorry if I offended you somehow.” But Barb was gone. “Well, so much for that . . . I wonder what is bothering her.” He was puzzled by it. It was not like her to leave without saying goodbye. But Barb was tired in more ways than one. Too much was happening all at once.
When Sasha had arrived home on Saturday, she wanted to know how her mother had liked working at the office. But instead she found out that her mother had decided not to go.
“I was busy getting you off to work,” said Susanne. Both of them knew that she wasn’t making any sense. Nobody said anything to her and that annoyed her.
Now it was Monday, and Barb had only one girl to help her; she was short-tempered. The guys all showed up and had a great discussion but were unable to agree to anything solid. They left it for another time.
Other than that, the work progressed smoothly until later in the day, when Susanne showed up, apologizing, saying she wouldn’t be late again.
“I don’t believe what I am hearing. Susanne, this is not Saturday, when you were supposed to come for the interview regarding your job at this office. As far as I know, you have not been hired, so there is no point in your even being here.” Barb told her to go home and not come back.
“But Barb, we are friends. You can’t just dismiss me like that.”
“Oh, yes I can. We can remain friends, but I need reliable people here at the office. I am not your babysitter, Susanne.” She was at the end of her rope. Enough was enough.
That night, she went to Trevor’s game and enjoyed it. Her only son was quite a guy on the ice. He did his job and enjoyed it immensely. What a great kid he was, she thought.
“How was the game?” Sam asked. He and John had just gotten back, and it was late.
“We won, Dad!” Trevor was bragging to his father. “We creamed them right from the start and we are going to play them at the tournament on the weekend. You are coming, right?”
“You bet. I’ll be there.”
Barb said, “I’ll be there as well. It’s time we spent more time together on the weekends. Don’t you think, Sam?” She gave her husband a friendly nod and left the room in order to fetch some clean clothes for Trevor after he finished his shower. She felt good.
The first game was exciting, but Trevor’s team lost. However, there were to be others throughout the weekend. Overall, his team came in second at the end.
Henry, who never used to be interested in hockey, had made it a regular habit of going to see quite a few of Trevor’s games. This was quite out of his league (as people would say). While watching young Trevor playing, his mind often travelled to his childhood. From there, he started putting things in an entirely different perspective. He was feeling the void in his life: he had never been blessed with any children. He didn’t miss having them so much while Lily was still alive because he kept occupied with her and Serge; but now, all that emptiness around him started changing his outlook on life.
He also thought more and more about his unfortunate accident. As much as he disliked thinking about it, the more it kept coming back to him. They say everything happens for a reason; so what was the reason for the accident?
Henry was able to recall the sound of a male voice, screeching: was that intended for his ears? The screeching occurred around the time of — or just seconds before — the accident. That much he could scramble together in his mind. As far as he could remember, there was no danger in crossing at the time, as he did not recall any vehicle approaching. Then, all of a sudden, the incident happened, and Henry’s mind went blank. He could not recall feeling any pain. Everything happened so fast.
He never told anybody about his sleepless nights when he kept hearing that same voice. Henry was too proud to talk to anyone about it. Only his beloved Lily was privy to his most inner feelings.
Being close to the Preston and Lambert children likely had a big influence on Henry. Although the Prestons were a wonderful presence to him, and he enjoyed watching Barb scrambling and organizing her family, as well as her business, and the way she handled stress and willingly helped others as well, the Prestons didn’t need him. It was Dominic and Sasha who needed support in more ways than one.
It was Susanne’s lack of willingness to like him and/or trust him that puzzled Henry the most. He had always encouraged the children to have respect for their mother and treat her accordingly. Which they did. On the other hand, Henry had never met their father and never heard anything positive about him. To ask questions about their father would be prying, and Henry wanted no part of that. Their privacy must be protected under any and all circumstances. Those children experienced enough intrusions in their young lives just by being exposed to government assistance, etc.
“Mom, can I have a moment with you, please?” Olivia came into the kitchen, where her mother was about to get into preparing dinner. “If you are too busy, I can wait till later.”
“It’s all right, Livy; what is it you wish to talk about?”
“Well, I know this boy from our school and he has asked me to come to his sister’s birthday party. She is in Nicole’s class and I talk with her at times during spare classes. His name is Greg.”
“Is Nicole going as well? Or is this his way of taking you out as a date?”
“Oh, Mom, you have to know everything.” She was actually happy that her mother had asked that. “But if you must know — yes, he wants me there, and I like him as well.” She seemed happy and she knew that her mother would let her go; but not before talking to Nicole about it first. However, Olivia had already told Nicole about Greg some time ago, when they first started liking each other. She had liked the occasional boy before but not enough to go out with him. When she started hanging out with Greg, it was different. Greg was kind as well as smart and he was one of those young people who stayed out of trouble if possible. He was quite mature for his age and knew what he wanted as far as his future was concerned — very much like Dominic (they were in the same class).
When Barb asked Nicole about Greg, Nicole was able to speak well of him. Nicole was also happy for her sister to have a special relationship with someone. The two sisters had become closer as they grew older. At times, Nicole teased Olivia: “You better marry a millionaire som
eday because you are not interested in getting a part-time job and start saving for your future.” Olivia’s answer was always the same: “Yes, I know!” However, since she had started seeing Greg, she contemplated possibly helping their mother at the office, so she could claim to be more responsible.
So, as it turned out, Olivia slowly started coming out of her shell. That was good. Even her little brother, Trevor, now and then managed to produce a few positive comments about his big sister’s attempt to become normal; ha, ha. In fact, the whole family felt a sense of relief seeing how Olivia was changing since she became interested in Greg. The only one who wasn’t at ease was Olivia herself. Coming to terms with life in general was a start but getting over her fears regarding her past — especially when it came to Larry Lambert — was not so easy. She was still unable to come out and tell her parents about her fear of him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Spring had arrived, and as always there were signs of life all over. People come to life and so do their gardens. The children start looking forward to finishing school and then having summer holidays. Trevor had had a successful hockey season and now he was looking forward to new adventures. Summer sports would be ideal to get into, but his mother was overwhelmed with her work, as well as having all the others in the family to consider, and might not have time for taking part in this activity.
“There must be a way to find time for some relaxation besides working nonstop.” She found herself talking out loud, even though she felt quite sure that she was alone in the house.
“Mom, who are you talking to?” Nicole asked her. She’d had exams and finished early. “Is there anything to eat?” she said as she looked into the refrigerator. “I found pudding, okay? But you haven’t told me who you were talking to.”
“I was under the impression that I was by myself and since I am the best listener around here, it was the wise thing to do. How did it go this morning? Do you think you did well?”
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