Educating Harry Ch. 07

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Susan makes a friend, Minister's wife makes Harry!
7.5k words
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Part 7 of the 20 part series

Updated 10/26/2022
Created 03/13/2011
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Aunt Diane invariably preferred breakfast on the verandah if the weather was fine, and as it was, that was where Harry found her.

"Good morning Harry," she greeted him, "If you want a cold breakfast everything is here, but if you want something hot, you'll have to cook it yourself."

He kissed her perfunctorily, not noticing her briefly quizzical glance at him. "I'll cook some bacon, would you like some too?"

"Hmm," she thought for a moment, "I hadn't intended to, but I won't be able to resist the smell, so yes please."

"Good," replied Harry heading for the kitchen, "Because I could eat a horse."

It was not long before Harry re-appeared with a huge plate of bacon and scrambled eggs, which both aunt and nephew applied themselves to, steadily and largely in silence for the next few minutes.

"Ah that was excellent," said his aunt contentedly as she finished, and then completely from left field she added, "You know Harry; your lady friend has quite exquisite taste."

"What do you mean?" he responded, more confused than she had anticipated.

"Her perfume," his aunt explained. "It's unusual; I noticed it when you kissed me." She didn't add that she had now remembered exactly what it was. Nor did Harry's aunt tease him with her observation, that only a woman with a healthy income could be likely to have afforded it.

"Well," said Harry changing the subject, "Today I'm going to have a day here, doing your lawns and generally tidying up.

"In that case," responded his aunt, "you will have the place to yourself, because I am going to do one or two visits, then I am going to the movies and having lunch with my friend Ellen."

Within half an hour Harry was occupied with the mowing, which considering the size of the block he knew would take him a couple of hours.

Later the same morning Maria Bunce was having coffee at Café Georgios in town. Her companion sitting opposite her was a black haired swarthy man about her own age. She was obviously not too happy with what he was telling her.

"I am sorry Maria," he said with a smile, but a determined smile. "I dislike intensely going back on the agreement you made with the former owners, but I hope you will understand that with the change in ownership of the business, we as the new proprietors want to look at some strategic issues first"

"I understand Joe," responded Maria, "obviously I am disappointed that you have decided not to go ahead with it, but can I call you again perhaps, in what? say six weeks or so, to see whether we can do anything for you."

"You can," responded Joe, "but I am flying back to Sydney late this afternoon, and as from next week will be on a ten week trip to the US and London, so your proposal will not be considered until after my return."

"Thank you," responded Maria, affecting more warmth than she felt in response to his obvious brush off, "I will ring you for an appointment as soon as you are back."

Joe looked up and grinned. He was impressed despite himself. He knew that Maria was disappointed that her project had been cancelled at the last moment, but he admired her tenacity. Perhaps it was his competitive instinct, but some small devil in him decided to wind her up a little, to put her, just slightly in her place. "There was one aspect of your proposal which I didn't quite see the value of Maria, that was the involvement of your accountant Mrs Tremaine; our local office told me she was a widowed lady, and a friend of yours. I am not sure that sending some old battle axe accountant around the franchises would achieve very much."

Joe looked up, and for a moment saw the light of battle flare in Maria's eye. But in a moment it was gone, Maria relaxed and smiled beatifically, "Joe," she said patting his hand gently, "your comment was timed to perfection, your battleaxe has just walked in; I'll introduce you to her."

There are times in life when the fates conspire against a man and they did at that moment to Joe Callaghan. As he stood up, a large severely formidable looking middle aged woman brushed past him. "Mrs Tremaine?" he enquired of her.

"No," the woman retorted rudely, and pushed on.

"I don't think I know you," said a voice from over his shoulder, and Joe turned around to meet a woman who two days later he described to his personal assistant as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, His jaw dropped, and for a moment he was lost for words.

"Maria," said Joe genially, "You're either going to introduce me, or I'll have to throttle you."

"Of course," replied Maria laughing, "Susan Tremaine, meet Joe Callaghan."

Joe knew from experience that when a situation is desperate the only option is to grab the initiative; "Mrs Tremaine," he explained, "Maria cannot stop laughing because I have just made a complete and total idiot of myself. I, on an all too obvious and stupid assumption have just called you an old battleaxe."

Susan laughed, "In that case you'll have to make amends. First you must call me Susan and not Mrs Tremaine, otherwise I might start to think I am turning into an old battleaxe, second, you can order me a coffee, and thirdly, you can tell me how you made that mistake, without omitting even the embarrassing bits, in fact, especially not leaving out the embarrassing bits."

Coffee was ordered, and Joe began a slightly rambling and apologetic explanation with Maria chipping in from time to time to make sure he didn't cut any corners. It gave Susan the time to examine him more closely, Joe was a little above medium height, maybe five ten or so, and had what she described later as a sort of attractive ugly appearance, which was characterized by a slightly bent and rather hooked nose, dominating a face which generally looked slightly battered. Heavy in the shoulders, but with slim hips, he nevertheless looked well balanced, like a dancer or boxer she thought. His best features were his bright blue eyes which she was very conscious never left her face, and his surprisingly elegant hands, spoiled by the fact that the top joint of his right little finger was missing.

"So there you have it," Joe concluded, "and" he added "to try and make it up to you, I would like to ask you out for dinner this evening"

"Why that is kind of you," responded Susan, rather surprised but not so surprised as to allow Joe to out manoeuvre her so simply. "We would be delighted, won't we Maria?" "Oh yes," responded her friend, knowing just as well as Susan that Joe hadn't originally intended to include her.

But Joe was not stupid either, he hadn't really expected Susan to say yes, so, although caught off guard, he wasn't going to try to cut Maria out and give Susan a chance to escape as well.

Maria took charge, "I'll make the booking as I know the local restaurants better than you would. We will meet at 7.15 at my place, which may be a bit early, but in the country people don't eat late."

"Thanks," responded Joe, "I'll see you at 7.15, but now I had better get back to work"

Joe left, and as he walked away from the café for some reason he couldn't completely fathom just why, he couldn't get the smile off his face.

Maria and Susan stayed where they were and ordered another coffee.

"Smitten," declared Maria decisively, "He is smitten, absolutely, bloody smitten," she repeated, "Sorry I swore," she added, "Couldn't help it."

"What on earth are you talking about," laughed Susan

"That man, Joe Callaghan," emphasised Maria, "told me, not thirty seconds before you came in that he had a plane to catch this afternoon. Then, as soon as he saw you his tongue was almost hanging out, he never took his eyes off you the whole time he was talking, and within five minutes had asked you out, yes asked you, not me, as you very well know."

Susan smiled, "I know he only meant to ask me, but he couldn't very well get out of it when I included you in the acceptance. Apart from that I think you're exaggerating hugely, he just took a bit of a fancy to me. But, I wonder, did he really have an early plane to catch, what do you think?"

"Susan you are hopeless," said Maria patting her hand, "you have no idea of the effect you have on men, most of them just gape after you like so many stunned mullet, they're scared to death to talk to you, let alone chat you up a bit, because to them you are some sort of goddess who only exists in their fantasies. Joe Callaghan is not an ordinary sort of guy, to him you're a challenge, you wait and see."

"Rubbish, absolute rubbish," replied Susan fiercely, "and even if you were right I'm not sure that I like the idea of being a challenge, or a target, or some sort of notch on his gun. "But," she added, "He did seem quite nice though, yes," she confirmed to Maria, "A quite nice ordinary man."

"Susan," an exasperated though laughing Maria responded, "Whatever Joe Callaghan has been called in the past, I can tell you it never included 'ordinary or, quite nice,' never... now," she concluded, "I am going to make that booking before I forget it."

Only a mile or so away on the other side of town Harry had parked the ride on mower under the shade of a big kaffir plum tree. He was taking a phone call, "Yes mum, Yes, Yes I see. Ok then, yes." It was a fairly typical phone call from his mother, she was doing most of the talking whilst Harry intervened from time to time just to let her know he was still there, and to agree, or not with what she proposed. Harry had narrowed his choice of post graduate studies down to two possibilities in the US; both had offered an excellent scholarship which took any financial issues out of the equation. He only had to consider which might be the more interesting, and which would benefit him personally the most. His mother, a science professor herself, had taken on the role of finding out as much as she could on Harry's behalf, especially the people he would be working for and with.

"So," she concluded, "there you have it. I have summed up my thoughts in an email to you, and for what it's worth have asked both your sisters for their opinion. They both agreed with me."

Harry responded, "Thanks mum, you're a terrific help, I'll now get on and talk to both of the professors and let you know how it has gone."

Then after a few pleasantries and enquiries after his sisters the call was concluded. Harry went to restart the mower but as he did the phone rang again. He picked it up.

"Hello, is that Harry? This is Trixie, Trixie Llewellyn-Jones," a rather breathless voice informed him.

"Hi Mrs Llewellyn-Jones, yes this is Harry, What can I do for you."

"Call me Trixie first, I just rang to remind you Harry, you'll remember we said that we would re-install the computers for Mr Benson's classes. Is Thursday evening at say seven o'clock still ok?"

"Yes fine" replied Harry, "I'll be there."

"Great," said Trixie, and 'umm," she hesitated slightly, "I was going to ask you to help me with another small thing, it won't take too long."

"That's ok," responded Harry, "I have the whole evening free anyway, so whatever you need, I'll do what I can."

"Oh, thank you so much," concluded Trixie, "I'll see you at seven on Thursday then, bye for now."

It occurred to Harry that Trixie had not mentioned what the other small job entailed, but with a smile and a brief uncharitable thought about ditzy blondes, Harry promptly forgot about it himself.

That evening, only a fraction after 7.15 a taxi dropped Joe Callaghan at Maria's house. She asked him in. "Susan isn't here; she rang an hour ago to tell me that she couldn't make it as she had a prior commitment." Maria then had the satisfaction, as she told Susan later, of seeing Joe about as instantly deflated as a man could be.

"However, only a few minutes ago," Maria added after a second or so, "she rang again to tell me she could come after all."

Joe recovered his bounce in an instant, "Oh that's great, I would have been so disappointed if she hadn't been able to make it," he added ingenuously.

Maria was tempted for a moment to comment on the evident inadequacies of herself as company, but the crunching of tyres over the driveway indicated that Susan had arrived.

"Sorry I'm a bit late. I had to sort out one or two things in a hurry, thought I couldn't come because of a prior commitment but then someone else sorted that out for me, so here I am," Susan concluded breathlessly.

"Well I'm glad you were able to make it," laughed Maria, "I am not sure whether Joe was looking forward to just my company for the evening."

Joe grinned, and giving as good as he got from Maria, suggested with mock seriousness, "Oh I don't know, you shouldn't underrate yourself."

"Now come on you two, cut out the sparring, I intend to enjoy myself this evening. Now as I don't drink, it might be best if I drive, ok?"

They both agreed with Susan, and within twenty minutes had arrived at the restaurant and placed their orders. Joe was once again able to sit back for a few moments. He had thought he was beyond falling for any woman so precipitately as this, but ruefully acknowledged to himself that he had never met any woman who had impacted him quite so much as Susan; 'you're in danger of behaving like a fifteen year old kid, don't be an idiot,' he reminded himself.

"Tell me," he said, "What was the prior commitment you were able to get out of? It was pretty decent of them to let you off for this evening."

"Oh," responded Susan blithely, "I had no intention of getting out of anything, I was practically ordered to come. This morning," she said, turning to Maria, "About half an hour after coffee, I received a text from Diane reminding me of her committee meeting. I rang you to say I couldn't make it this evening, and then rang Diane back late this afternoon to confirm my attendance. I couldn't get her earlier because she had gone to the movies. Any way, when we were talking I mentioned that I had been asked out, and Diane said, 'by whom?' I told her, 'a man called Joe Callaghan'. You would never guess her response."

"No, what was it?" said Maria.

"She, Diane asked, is his mothers name Ellie?"

"Well I told her, I hadn't a clue what her name is, then with hardly a seconds thought Diane asked Is the top part of his right little finger missing? Well, I said, I had noticed that, and Diane said, 'in that case you had better skip the committee meeting.' As you can imagine, I asked her why she was so adamant."

Joe grinned, "I think I know the answer, is the Diane you are referring to Mrs Diane Salt."

"Yes she is," confirmed Susan "And she told me that she was your mum's best friend at school. She also told me quite a lot about you, especially about when you were a small boy."

"Well, maybe we could slip quickly past that, I suspect some of her memories might not be that complimentary. Diane was a sort of unofficial Aunt to me and my older sisters when we were small. She still visits my mother when she comes down to Sydney."

Now they found they knew someone in common the conversation flowed easily with them able to learn a little more about one another. Joe learned that Susan had been a widow for several years, and that she had a daughter Alice, who was staying with cousins in Chicago. Susan was able to deduce that Joe had been working in what was originally a family business for some eight years. That business seemed to have grown significantly in recent years, both at home and overseas. Susan decided she would find out a little more later. Joe however didn't volunteer much about what he had done as a younger man, although Maria, who it seemed to Susan knew rather more about him, drew him out a little.

"You're still single then Joe?"

"Yes," he replied ruefully, "one near death experience was enough I guess;" he then explained for Susan. "I was engaged once but my fiancee called it all off at the last minute, almost literally the last minute, she got a better offer," he grinned. "Humiliating at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight, probably the best piece of good luck I ever had."

And so it continued, the three of them gradually learning more about one another, and liking each other a little more as a result. After a good meal Joe paid the bill and said, "I'm not too sure exactly where we are in town, so would it be more convenient for you if I got a cab back to my hotel?" Susan wouldn't hear of it and said she would drop him off; it was barely out of her way to her own home. So it was that they dropped Maria off first, before driving into the centre of Hawksworth.

"I will phone you tomorrow," Maria had told Susan, "oh but no, it won't be tomorrow," she corrected herself, "Because I am going up to Coffs Harbour, working for a few days." "Goodnight and goodbye to you Joe," she said, shaking his hand. I hope we will see you again in Hawksworth.

"You will," he promised, "You will."

Joe and Susan were quiet for a few moments as they set off, then Joe asked "You said you never drink alcohol, but you seem quite relaxed about being with others who do. Do you just not like it?"

Susan laughed. "No, I just cannot handle it at all, and my work did not allow it, but more importantly the first time I ever had a drink I had a glass and a half of wine and was hopeless in no time. Even more to the point, that was the occasion I got pregnant with Alice. I love my daughter dearly, but I am not too proud of the circumstances in which she was conceived, I was still only fourteen when she was born."

"Sorry,' said Joe "I didn't mean to step on any sensitive areas"

"You didn't, the only sensitive area is when Alice and I meet new people and they think we are sisters, and in those instances, Alice is the one whose sensibilities are offended; it is not every woman of my age who has an eighteen year old daughter you know!"

"Now," Susan said as they drew to a stop at Joe's motel, "It's my turn to ask you a personal question, it's only a small thing, but how did you lose the top part of your finger?"

Joe grinned, "Playing Rugby, one of my opponents, an Englishman bit my finger and obviously bit it harder than he should have."

"Oh you poor lamb," Susan burst out, and spontaneously grasped his long injured hand.

"Sorry," she said after a moment's reflection, "I can be a bit squeamish sometimes." Did you play much Rugby, it has always seemed a pretty nasty, violent sort of game to me.

"Just a bit," confirmed Joe laughing, "But not for quite a few years now. Let's not talk any more about me. Before I go I want to ask you a couple of things. Firstly, although I am going overseas for some time I hope I can see you again next time I am in Hawksworth. Secondly, a lot of my time in the USA will be spent in Chicago, and if there is anything your daughter has forgotten, or if you would just like me to stop by and say hi to her, please just ask."

"You're very kind Joe, I don't think Alice forgot anything, but I'll email or talk to her anyway and let you know. Now I had better let you go."

Joe wondered for a moment whether he should kiss Susan but decided not too, everything had gone well and he did not want to put her off at all. Susan was more aware of his indecision than he realised. He got out of the car and stood to one side as Susan turned the car around. She wound down the window and came to a halt very briefly next to him.

"Joe," she said "thanks for everything" and as he leant forward to listen she gave him the quickest and lightest kiss on his lips before accelerating immediately away.

He stood by the kerb for a few moments, slightly surprised, then grinned and said to himself, "Well Joe Callaghan, this has turned out to be a pretty good day."

A few days later on Thursday afternoon Harry's phone rang, "G'day mate, 'ow are yer goin;" it was the unmistakable voice of Billy Thompson. "I got them pallets ready for ya mate, I'll have one of the fellas drop 'em off at Mrs Bunce's place, probably Friday or Saturday. That be 'orright with you?"