The Way Back Ch. 08

THIRTY-SEVEN

From Monday to Wednesday everything else but the new building was shelved. It was stressful and tiring. Jenny phoned Ann and told her I would not be around until the contract was signed. Jenny and I ate out each evening and then we'd separate to our own flats to fall into bed exhausted.

On Wednesday afternoon the contracts were signed and we were the proud possessors of a two hundred per cent increase of floor area.

That night Jenny came back to my flat and we cooked a meal between us, and then stripped off and showered together before getting into bed half dry and celebrating success. There was plenty of sucking. I sucked and licked her until she was shouting her release and then she sucked me and I repeated the uncoordinated yelps and shouts. She swallowed. Then we fell asleep.

On waking we repeated the exercise though this time our orgasms came from old-fashioned missionary penetration and reciprocated pistoning. Then we lay still together closely entwined until we agreed we really ought to go into work. Late.

When we arrived, Geoff told us there would be a party after work on Friday for all the workforce who could attend. He had booked the upper room of the Cross Keys for seven thirty, and ordered an extensive buffet. A good move, I thought.

"Wives, husbands and girl- and boy-friends will be invited, and their offspring," Geoff said. "Susan is coming and so is David and Viv. Why don't you invite Ann and the children? After all they are part of all this."

"Good idea," said Jenny. "Ann must have been feeling quite cut off from this side of her life."

I saw the wisdom of it and agreed and we went back to my office. Where I phoned her, and after she had accepted with pleasure she made a request rather tentatively.

"Allan it's the children's half-term next week. You always used to work from home and look after them. Can you do that next week?"

I was delighted. What an opportunity to get closer to my kids after so long away!

"Brilliant idea," I enthused. "See you all on Friday evening."

"Oh," she sounded disappointed.

"What's the matter?"

"Well I know we had a problem last weekend, but you haven't been here for tea since then, yes I know you were all busy, but the children have been asking after you."

I thought about it. "Jenny might like to come as well," I said, "All right with you?"

"Yes, that's fine," she said, but I could tell by her tone it wasn't quite what she wanted. I smiled to myself. Two could flaunt their lovers as well as one!

Jenny looked a little thoughtful, but agreed to come.

I was thumbing through the paper over lunch when I saw an advert for last minute holidays in Wales. One of the offers was at a holiday complex at the coast, but in a wooded area. Lots of activities for children: sailing, outward bound, abseiling, football, horse-riding, all that sort of thing as well as having a private beach; accommodation in wooden cabins. Just the thing for the children and for me.

Time for me to think and get things straight. Time also for Jenny to go solo in sales and contracts without me to tweak them. I said as much to Geoff who said that I needed a holiday, and that Jenny would be fine. I didn't doubt it.

I phoned Ann and put it to her. There was a pause and she said she would ask them. She thought Greta would welcome a break now her exams were over. I booked the week's holiday provisionally.

Needless to say the lads were exultant and Greta looked happy when Jenny and I arrived. In the evening Jenny continued to get on with Ann and this meant that Ann and I did not have to interact much which was a relief for me. Jenny went back to her place that evening.

It was gratifying that there was a good turn-out for the party. It was not compulsory but the majority turned up, some with partners and some with children as well. Geoff had laid on a children's entertainer in an adjoining room; a clever idea.

I had a great time circulating and was surprised at the number of girls from the shop floor who flirted outrageously with me. I flirted back but more gently. I could see Jenny's raised eyebrows from time to time but she was grinning.

"You see why I wanted to keep our relationship quiet?" she said when she caught me for a moment.

I saw.

I ended up chatting with David while Viv was deep in conversation with Ann, which she followed with a three-way chat with Susan and Ann. Greta seemed to be having a good time chatting to a couple of teenaged lads. I lost Ann for a while but caught Viv and Susan talking quite seriously with Jenny. I wondered what was going on, but then was caught in conversation with one of the research bods who managed to bore me with a couple of really good ideas.

Geoff made a good speech celebrating our communal success and mentioning how much I had contributed in effort; he did mention my investment but vaguely. It went well, the food was good and the dancing followed. I danced if that was the word, some of the slow dances, some with Viv, Susan and Jenny, and some with a few of the flirty shop floor girls.

As the evening drew to a close I noticed Greta deep in the arms of one of the boys she had been talking to. Seeing how they were together, her arms round his neck and his on her waist, straying over her bottom from time to time, and their occasional kissing was a stark reminder she was now a young woman. We have to let go of our children, I knew that, but it was not easy, especially since I had missed three important teenage years of her life.

Jenny was waiting back at the flat.

"I won't see you for a whole week," she said, and stayed the night, strenuously and warmly affectionate.

I did one thing, feeling guilty about it, before I left with the children. I asked Keith to keep an eye on Ann. With me out of the way, I surmised it might tell me something about her. He promised to give me a report.

The week's holiday was a great success. In my condition I was not able to take part in the lads' activities but they seemed not to notice. Greta found two other girls about her age and they spent most of the time together. She did invite me to go horse-riding one day, and I noticed that the girls had acquired a couple of boys. Not at all surprising, all three girls were very pretty.

So I was left to myself most days and spent the time at the gym which was very well appointed. I was amused at the looks on the trainers' faces when the man with a limp and a stick raced round the weights and the cross-trainers.

At the cabin, on its porch on sunny days and inside when it rained, I caught up on reading a number of novels I had been promising myself for weeks, and on entering on my laptop the accumulated dictated diary notes for the previous few weeks. I had continued to recite each day's events into my recorder ever since Trish suggested it. and from time to time remembered to transfer the entries into my laptop diary, though I had been lax of late. It had the effect of crystallising my thoughts and ideas about Ann and Derek and the situation in which I found myself.

In the evenings we played board games or watched DVDs of various films. We ate at the restaurant some evenings, which gave me a break.

On the journey back home, our car contained four very satisfied and contented people. I in particular had found that we had bonded more closely than before. Stef in particular had grown very close to me.

It was Jan made a comment without a trace of embarrassment until Greta pointed out what he'd said.

"You know Dad, if it wasn't for your face it's as if you were never away."

I appreciated that.

And it was Jan, who, as he got out of the car told me how great it was to have me back.

"I just wish..." he said and stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said as he turned away, but I thought I knew what the 'nothing' was and I couldn't see it happening.

The lads bounded into Ann's arms, each outdoing the other in telling her what they'd done, and the various proficiency certificates they'd got. Greta hugged her and would wait until later to confide in her. Ann was wrapped up in welcoming the children back so I begged off staying for tea and went back to the flat, promising to get in touch early the following week.

Jenny was not there, but there were signs she had been. The post was neatly placed on the hallway table, apart from that day's, Saturday. I picked it up. There was one manila envelope I recognised: it was from Keith. I decided not to open it yet.

I made a pot of tea, and noted that Jenny had bought in the perishables I would need, not least some milk.

I sat in my armchair and thought over the holiday. More, I thought over my ideas about Derek and Ann. I felt relaxed since I now knew what I must do.

The only true things I knew were the fidelity of my friends, and of Jenny. Everyone else, Ann and Derek to be precise, could be liars. The contradictory signs made that obvious. One thing negated another.

Ann herself seemed a tangle of contradictions, and as such was either a guilty liar or totally misguided. Derek protested his innocence and behaved as if wronged but all the evidence pointed to him as the instigator of all my problems.

It boiled down to the question: were they having an affair before I disappeared? Was their affair the cause of Derek's divorce? If Ann knew she was the cause of Derek's break-up she may well have felt guilty, and that guilt may have contributed to her desolation when I disappeared.

I could not believe that she was in on the murder plot with Derek, I was a fair judge of behaviour, and she obviously felt a great deal for me even though she seemed to prefer Derek, though even that seemed contradictory. Were her feeble attempts to distance herself from him arising from guilt at her affair?

There was only one thing to do, and this would settle things one way or another. I must see Stephanie Fanshaw. I needed no other information. It was that simple. Nothing would come between me and that objective.

How wrong I was, and how quickly I was to find that out! After my evening meal, I decided to pop to my local pub before the crowds arrived and they got the music playing. A quick beer really appealed after the beer blight of the holiday park.

What I hadn't thought about when Derek was arrested was that I had become news for a short time. My face had been on TV, talking about the case, or rather, not talking about it. Now I was recognisable as myself though I looked nothing like I had before I was attacked.

So that early evening I was walking to the pub, for 'early doors', as we call it.

"Hey!" a girl's voice, or rather a woman's voice. I stopped. I turned.

Three women were on the opposite side of the road and waving to me.

"Allan Jonsson?" shouted the brunette, I nodded.

They crossed over.

"Allan, don't you remember us?" said the second woman who had really dark hair and a wide smile. The third woman was a mousy brown. They were all about my age, good-looking women but not head-turners. By now they all had big smiles which I liked. It meant they liked me; I can't have been all bad!

I smiled back ruefully and shook my head.

"Sorry ladies, My memory is not too good after this happened," I said touching my face.

The brunette winced and the others immediately looked sad and sympathetic. I liked it even more!

"We were off for a night in town, girl's night out," said the mousy one (by town she meant Manchester even though it's a city). They looked at one another and nodded, "but this is better, come for a drink with us?"

I nodded. I was going anyway; now I had company. Having been with youngsters all week some adult company was welcome.

Once the drinks were on our table thanks to my generosity, the three sat looking expectantly at me. I looked back.

"What?" I asked.

"You really don't remember us?" said Brunette.

"No," I replied, "You may have noticed I've had some trouble with my head. Memories tend to be stored in here." I tapped my head.

They didn't know whether to grin or look solemn. I grinned, it gave them permission.

"Sorry, but I have to keep telling people this."

They gathered themselves.

"OK," said the Brunette, "I'm Tracey Connor, this is Laura Russell," pointing to the raven haired woman, "and that is Bonnie Truscott."

We all shook hands over the table. I noticed wedding rings on all three women. I set my recorder running in my pocket.

"Pleased to meet you." I said. "How do you know me? Were we at Manchester?"

They laughed. "Ann was the clever one. We left after 'A' levels."

"You're friends of Ann's?"

"That's right," Tracey answered with a smile, "Laura was bridesmaid at your wedding, don't you remember?"

I shook my head.

"Hasn't she shown you pictures of your wedding?" she persisted, "I mean, to jog your memory?"

"No," I answered, "It may surprise you, but we've not seen very much of each other since the night I gate crashed the pre-wedding party."

"We were at Ann's party the night you ruined it, but we didn't see you then; you were in the other room. You really hit Ann hard. She just came back to us silent and unhappy, and then went home. Not a word. We were all left wondering what to do."

"Sorry about that," I said blithely, "but if she'd talked to me when I asked her to, weeks before, perhaps things would have been different."

"Oh," said Laura, then, "Yes, she was very angry when you came back, of course she didn't know the true story, but that's Ann all over."

I suddenly saw an opportunity. I smiled broadly. "Well, perhaps you can help me."

I gave them a brief account of what happened to me and finished by telling them of my problems with Ann.

"You see," I ended, "though she seems to want to take up where we left off, at least some of the time, I haven't got a full memory of our past life together, so I can't. I don't really know what she's like. I do know she can be stubborn and has a temper. You three know her better than most I think, so what can you tell me about her?"

There was a short puzzled silence while they digested the information.

"Where do we start?" asked Bonnie.

"Well," I suggested, "how about her anger at me, after two years! She was happily settled with another man in her life but she still hit the roof."

There was a look between them that I couldn't read, and Tracey muttered, "He'd never have been enough for her."

But Bonnie cut across her, "What you have to realise Allan, is that Ann has two strong qualities. She has a lot of qualities, but there are two which I think have always dominated her life. The first is loyalty."

"Yes, that's true," said Tracey. "Before you came along, the first time I mean, she went out with lads. She had plenty, being so fit, but she never let them get too close. They weren't getting into her knickers so most of them dumped her.

"Now she didn't seem all that fussed about that, yes she was upset but got over it quickly. She's the sort that falls for a guy, makes sure of him and then gives herself completely, and none of them kept going long enough for her to trust them.

"Then there was a lad called Graham. God he was gorgeous, but he was a rat. He played the long game, though I think he was doing some slag on the side. He took her cherry once he'd convinced her that she was the one for him. She was so happy. They were together for about six months; she was deliriously in love and she was totally loyal. He wasn't.

"We knew he was two-timing her and we told her, but she asked him and when he denied it, she took his side. That was her all over. Loyal to her man. We fell out for quite a while over that."

"Yeah," said Bonnie. "It took quite a while before Laura tricked her into going to a club where she knew he'd be. And there he was necking with some tramp with his hand up her skirt."

"That's where her temper comes in," said Laura, "She stalked over to the table where they were and upended his pint pot over his head before striding out, with me in tow. I got a taxi and we went to my place. She ranted the whole journey until we got inside my flat.

"Then she broke down. I've seen some girls cry after getting dumped but it was heart-rending, she sobbed for hours. I got her cool cloths and drinks of water. Then I put her to bed and held her hand until she fell asleep.

"Anyway, the next morning she was just very quiet and I tried, well we all tried, to talk about it but she bit our heads off. She simply blotted him out. From then on she was never again her former happy self until you eventually managed to get through to her."

There was a pause.

"She did start dating again," said Tracey, "But none of the guys she went with lasted more than two dates. She was, well, plain nasty to them. She basically had the opinion that all men are rats."

"You mean it hit her harder because she invested so much of herself into the relationship?" I asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Tracey, "She--"

"Hang on!" interrupted Bonnie, "There was one, you remember Tim?"

"Oh yes, Timmy," said Laura. "That brings us to her second quality--"

"Ah, yes," said Bonnie. "Sympathy for the underdog. Yes. I know she slept with him because they were in my flat when they did it."

"He was very depressed," said Laura. "For some reason he had no success with girls and she took him under her wing. I think she knew she had no intention of it being permanent, so she sort of tutored him, and it led to sex."

"Then Graham came back," said Bonnie. "He was full of apologies; really contrite. I think he realised what he was missing and what he'd lost, and the stupid cow took him back!"

"Yeah," said Tracey. "It lasted about a week and she saw him just talking to another girl. That was it. He tried to tell her the girl was just a friend but she would have none of it. That was it. Finish!"

"So there were no more men in her life," said Laura. "She had started at Manchester Uni, and she just blotted everything out but work. Until you came along. She was living at home. Do you remember that?"

I shook my head.

"I'm not surprised," she continued. "She was horrid to you. She went out with you and then dropped you. But you kept coming back and you were so persistent that she let you take her out again.

"Then she complained that you were no good because you didn't make any moves on her. So she set out to seduce you and failed. She wondered what was wrong with you. She actually asked were you gay!"

"It worked though," said Tracey. "Eventually you broke her down. I remember her coming home in floods of tears. We thought you'd dumped her but it turned out you had been stern with her and told her to stop messing you about.

"You forced her to talk to you, and apparently you listened while she poured out all this invective about men in general and you in particular. She accused you of insulting her by not making moves on her, you were as much as saying she was not attractive."

"Yes," continued Bonnie. "You told her, and it floored her, that you were serious about relationships and you were not going to make any moves unless there was commitment. What stung her was when you told her she had not shown any signs of commitment to you, because she kept dumping you, and you really did find her devastatingly attractive, but she had to show more loyalty to you."

"That did it," said Laura. "Loyalty. You accused her of lacking in loyalty. She thought she'd lost you, and now of course she wanted you. Then you phoned her and invited her out and she was jumping about with happiness."

The women watched me.

"Thanks," I said. "That helps a lot."

"So are you two going to make a go of it?" asked Laura. She clearly wanted to hear a positive response, a happy ending.

There was no point in sugaring the pill.

"Sorry, Laura," I said, "I'm with someone else now."