Game of Life Ch. 03-04

Just before lunch on the following Monday Lizzie came rushing into my office without knocking.

"Jim, Alice on reception just called me, Vivian's on her way up." She blurted out in panic.

It was completely uncharacteristic of Liz to panic, but she had never met or even laid eyes on Vivian before, so she had no idea how her sudden appearance in the office should be handled or was going to go.

"No panic, show her in when she gets here will you. Oh and she doesn't drink coffee, could you organise some tea for her."

"Okay boss, no need for the tin helmets then?"

"I don't think so, Lizzie." I replied smiling. A very relieved Liz left my office heading for the lifts to meet Vivian.

Oh, I'd been promoted and changed to a larger office since Lizzie had joined the company, she knew without me asking that Vivian wouldn't know where to find me.

A few minutes later Lizzie brought Vivian into my office and sashayed out again. I saw the look that Vivian gave Lizzie's backside as it disappeared through the door.

"She's pretty. What happened to Grace?" Vivian asked as the door closed.

"She got married again and retired; I'd have thought the children would have told you. Now what can I do for you Vivian?"

"Oh, so that's why you're still in her flat. No, the children don't tell me anything about you, Jim; they never have. And I'm here to thank you, for what you did."

"I haven't done anything, Vivian."

"Jim, stupid I might be, but it's pretty obvious that you've been up to something. First the children come home unexpectedly with all those flowers and apologise to me for being so nasty since..." Vivian stopped speaking and I saw that she'd started crying, but she soon recovered. "And you have to have paid for Saturday evening, I saw Jamie sign the chit."

"The kids said they wanted to take you out, so what could I do but offer to help them financially."

"Jim, I just told you, stupid I might be, but daft I'm not. The kids would have taken me out for a hamburger, there's no way in the world they would have come up with Bailey's on their own. It's just not their kind of scene."

"I might have suggested where they went Vivian, but that's all."

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play it. But thank you anyway. And while I'm thanking you, what made you go up to my parents?"

"I don't know what you are talking about Vivian."

"Oh come on, Jim. First the children after treating my like the piece of crap I am..."

"Don't talk about yourself like that, Vivian!"

"Well after what I did, I deserved how they treated me. Anyway suddenly you bring them home early and they spend the whole day apologising to me, telling me how much they love me and then insist on taking me out for a surprise meal in the evening."

"So what's wrong with the children realising that they've made a mistake and trying to put things right."

"Nothing, Jim, I really appreciated it. I love our children, I wish it was as easy to put things right between you and me."

"Never going to happen Vivian, you know that."

"Yeah I do. But I had to come and thank you for whatever you said to my parents as well. They called me yesterday morning and they asked me to take the children up there next weekend. I know that's where you must have gone the other day after you dropped the children off. So I assume that you've no objections to me taking them up there next weekend."

"Fine with me, Vivian. You can take the children anywhere you want, providing they want to go as well; but what makes you think that I had anything to do with your folks calling you?"

"Katie tried to call you to let you know how the day had gone. We spent most of the day talking about what I'd done, you know ... I thought it was about time they knew the truth, and for some inexplicable reason Katie thought I might have acted in revenge for something you had done; I put her straight on that one."

Vivian smiled at me, whether Katie told her that I'd suggested that I might not have been as innocent as Katie had assumed, I don't know. But it was apparent that Vivian had put her right on the point.

"They are our children, Vivian, maybe we can't live together any more but there's going to come a time when they will need both of us and we are going to be little more than an embarrassment to them if we can't get along."

"Thank you; but now I want to ask you a favour, can I take you to lunch today?"

I didn't answer for a few moments, so she continued.

"Just as a thank you, Jim, please say that you'll come."

Then after a short break she added,

"If you'd like, your ... er, assistant could come along as well. Just so that you don't think that I'm trying to ... Oh you know!"

"Thank you, Vivian; lunch would be nice. It's up to you whether you invite Lizzie. Sometimes we do go to lunch together."

"I can understand why you would; she's a ... very beautiful young woman."

"And a good ten years my junior, Vivian, I don't cradle snatch."

"Touché, I walked into that, didn't I?"

"It's nice to see that you can still take a joke, Vivian. Come on if lunch is on you, we can live the high life."

Vivian surprised me as we passed through Lizzie's office, she invited her to accompany us. Much to my relief Liz made her excuses and although Vivian argued, she politely declined.

"Why were you so adamant that Liz join us for lunch?" I asked Vivian once we'd ordered our meal in one of the local pubs.

"I knew Grace very well, and I'd like to get to know Liz. Even if we're not together, surely there's no harm in me getting to know your new friends, Jim?"

"What are you up to, Vivian?"

"Honest answer?"

"Honest answer!"

"I'm just, sussing out the opposition, or to be completely frank; who's likely to capture your heart now that I can't have it any more."

"Liz is my PA and nothing more, Vivian, you know that. She's a very good assistant and I can't afford to do anything that might put our working relationship in danger. I've told you that many times."

"You did, but I also know that Liz will know who tilts their hat in your direction. I think Gracie knew more about you than I ever did; I assume that Liz will have a very similar relationship with you. Look Jim, if I could go back and live my life over again, I wouldn't change anything up until Stacie got pregnant that last time and then I would have smacked Bill on the nose, the moment he suggested what he did."

"Vivian, why do you have to talk rubbish again? You and Bill flirted whenever you saw each other for years. I don't know how it started and to be honest I really don't want to. But it strikes me that Bill Banks didn't have to work too hard to get into your knickers. Don't try to kid me otherwise, you sent him those suggestive photos."

"I told you, Jim. Once it started I just got carried away with the game. I was stupid and I'll regret it every minute for the rest of my life."

"Great okay, you regret it for the rest of your life. But do me a favour; I'll forgive you for what you did. But I won't forget it. There is no way in hell that we are ever going to get back together I could never trust you again, so don't even try to worm your way back into my affections."

"I don't really have to, Jim; I know what your true feelings are for me and regretfully I also doubt that you would ever take me back; but I have to live in hope that one day your resolve might weaken."

"Don't waste the rest of your life waiting, Vivian. No matter how much you say you love me, I could never trust you again. You know that!"

Vivian basically let the subject of us, drop after that. But she hinted that she thought the reason I'd sorted the children out and talked her parents into accepting her back into the family, was because I loved her; which in a way I suppose was true. But just because you love someone, that doesn't mean you can let them take the piss out of you as Vivian had done to me.

After that day Vivian would turn up at the office about once a month or so and we'd have lunch together. I gathered that her relationship with the children had returned to about as normal as it could be, in the circumstances. A couple of times she invited me out for a meal in the evening with her, but I always refused. I didn't want to give her any false hope.

As the months passed Vivian and my relationship did develop a little, she became more like a very old and dear friend, than anything else. When I did eventually take a couple of women out on dates, She - to all intent and purposes, and much to my surprise — encouraged me.

At first I wondered how she'd found out that I was dating. For some unknown reason I first suspected Liz of telling her, because on the days Vivian turned up at office to buy me lunch she always chatted to Liz for a little while. Later I was to discover that it was Katie who was feeding Vivian just about every bit of information she could about what I did and with whom, Katie even going as far as pumping Lizzie for as much information as she could as well.

"Mum needs James and me dad, you told me that. But I know she also needs you as well. You know except for work her social life consists of her monthly lunches with you and the odd occasions James and I take her somewhere." Katie replied when I tackled her about it.

"Katie, what you mother needs is a new boyfriend, what we had together is over. You're a clever girl and some of your friends have divorced parents, can't you set her up with of their fathers' or something?"

The expression that came over Katie's face was one of complete horror. However some weeks later I did hear that Vivian had a new friend that she was going out with. It turned out not to be the divorced father of one of Katie's school friends, but her mother. I have no idea how Katie managed to get the two women together but they started hanging around together. Shopping at first, but eventually even going out and socialising, dancing and the like in the evenings.

Vivian began to mention that she'd been out dancing at the odd lunch she was still in the habit of joining me for. I'd taken over paying for it by then and we tended to go to more salubrious places. Often I'd drag Liz along, if she wasn't having lunch with one of her many admirers.

As time went by I gathered that when I was out of the country on one of my by then regular trips, Vivian and Liz had the odd lunch together without me. During the school holidays Katie would even go with them. I suppose I could have objected but I couldn't see the point, to have told Liz not to get too pally with Vivian sounded a little vindictive to me.

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Chapter 4: Moving On

Often I was away from home for up to a month or so at a time, sometimes even longer, flying home for the odd weekend during the longer stints abroad to see the children. During those longer trips I did have a couple of tentative relationships, but there was only one that became anything like serious.

Semine was a Danish woman I met over dinner at a colleague's house in Sweden. Whether he set the pair of us up, I don't know. But if he did, he should branch out into the dating industry. Semine and I hit it off like a house on fire.

Divorced around the same time as me, I was to discover that she had two children about the same age as mine as well; Semine and I soon found that we had a lot to talk about. There were some remarkable coincidences in the circumstances - although tenuous to some peoples eyes - of our divorces as well. Semine had actually caught her husband in bed with her sister. Well surely infidelity within the family can't be that common.

Anyway Semine's husband and her sister had run off to the UK together, and she'd heard sod-all about them and never received a penny in maintenance from the bastard since. Although she did get the house; but she had two teenage children to support. I'd made a mental note to see if I could trace the bugger and stitch the sod up somehow when I got back home.

I went back to Semine's hotel room after dinner that first evening. She was only supposed to be in Sweden for a couple more days and I think we were both in somewhat of a hurry. I really can't explain why after sitting at the dinner table for no more than a few minutes I knew that some kind of a relationship was going to come out of our meeting. The way she was looking at me, I just knew that Semine was thinking the same as I was.

On the way back to Semine's hotel in the taxi — I was supposed to be dropping her off on the way to mine — we started kissing and cuddling like a couple of teenagers; I don't remember any groping or anything like that, it was just kissing, I think. Whatever, by the time we got to Semine's hotel there was no question of me continuing on to mine. We paid the cab off and proceeded straight to Semine's room where we sucked and fucked the rest of the night away.

Now some folks might think that Semine was a loose woman to climb into bed with a guy she'd met for the first time that day; I can assure you that she wasn't. I think we were both reticent about what we were doing, but we knew that time was short. Semine was supposed to be going home to Denmark the next day.

Semine — the name by the way means goddess of sun, moon and stars — didn't take the ferry home the next morning; after calling her daughter — who appeared ecstatic that she'd finally met a man — she moved into my hotel room with me and stayed for a further five days. Even coming with me to work during the day, we covered her presence by passing her off as my official interpreter. Not that I met a soul in Sweden who didn't have a reasonably good grasp of English. No, not a bleeding word, except maybe for hallå — hello- and tack — thanks or thank you; generally I rambled on in English and everyone appeared to know what I was talking about.

Semine had to return to Denmark at the end of that week though, and I flew home to the UK for the weekend as well. Katie seems to have a sixth sense about some things and almost the moment she arrived at the flat on the Saturday morning insisted on me telling her all about Semine. Well I didn't go into fine details, although my daughter shook me to the bone by asking if Semine was good in bed.

"Christ dad, I only asked." She said with a cheeky grin on her face after I'd chastised her for asking such a question. "If she can put a smile back on your face, then good luck to her. Do you think that you'll get married; I'd like to meet her before you do."

Marriage to Semine was not something that had crossed my mind at the time. It could be that my daughter was just giving me a warning not to let things get out of hand too quickly. However she seemed pleased that I'd teamed up with someone, even if Jamie didn't sound as pleased when he heard about my new girlfriend. Mind you, Jamie for some inexplicable reason seemed to get the idea that I'd be moving to Denmark to live with Semine. I have no idea where he got that notion.

For the next two months whilst I was based in Sweden, Semine and I made regular weekend trips on the ferry to be with each other. Katie and Jamie flew over one weekend to spend it with us in Denmark, Jamie wasn't too enamoured because he was without Frankie for the weekend. He seemed to get on well with a friend of Semine's daughter though.

On another weekend Semine brought her two over to the UK to spend it with me. Most of that weekend was spent in Oxford Street shopping, and doing the tourist sites. The kids seemed to get on quite well though.

At the end of my stint in Sweden, Semine and I went on holiday together for three weeks. We had a great time and fucked like bunny rabbits at almost every opportunity we got for the first two weeks. Half way through the third week though things changed a little; we both knew that decision time was rapidly coming upon us. Before we got home again we had to decide whether we were going to get married or just remain friends and opportunist lovers.

What I mean by that is, lovers when we could arrange to be in the same country together. My children were in the UK and Semine's were in Denmark, and on top of that none of them were young enough to change educational systems in mid-stream. And that didn't take into account our jobs; we were both in pretty good jobs that neither could contemplate throwing up lightly. Perhaps we were not in love enough, but the eventual decision was that we would remain friends, with benefits when the opportunity presented itself. Which it did several times a year for many years!

I had a couple of short liaisons after that whilst I was away, but for some inexplicable reason I never got anything like close to any other woman in the UK. Yeah I bedded a few but none that I wanted to get closely involved with except maybe for Anna; Anastasia to give her, her full name.

Now the way I met Anna was quite funny, even funnier to some folks than it was to me. Even to this day I have to wonder about the short relationship I had with her and was it all that it seemed to be. I'll let you ponder on the question the same way, as I always have.

It all started with a company seminar down in Torquay. The Palace Hotel if my memory serves me correct. Anyway the company had virtually taken the place over and Brass from our operations all over Europe were there. Including our PA's and that meant that Lizzie was with me, doing her dizzy thing and winding-up all the unattached — and some of the attached guys - as usual.

Anyway the Junket - because that in essence was what it was — had been thought up by the "powers that be" to bring the management of all the different operations together in one place to get to know each other. The company had been buying up smaller operations all over Europe for god knows how long, but they all remained essentially working as they had been before the takeovers; it was only the likes of me - that travelled around a lot - who had any kind of social contact with any of them.

This junket was to enable the management of all the different operations to get to know each other. Basically one of the board members got up on the stage every morning and for about an hour rattled on about group identity and interdepartmental cooperation etc. Then the rest of the day was spent playing sports or silly games of one kind or another. Your opponents always selected by computer to make sure everyone met as many people as possible.

Me, I knew just about everyone and my job for the week was to wander around making introductions. It was on the Tuesday I think, that I lost Lizzie just after the boring speech. I was pretty sure she was around somewhere with half a dozen randy guys in tow, all hoping they were going to get lucky. I had no real need of her services that day, so I wasn't looking for her when I spotted her in the dining room having a quiet cup of tea on her own. I was surprised that her little entourage of admirers had disappeared though.

"Hi kiddo, seen the randy buggers off have you? What you doing in here the sun's over the yardarm let's go and have a couple of bevies in the pub whilst it's quiet." I said plonking myself in the chair beside her.

Just for a moment a look of confusion came over Liz's face, then she smiled before replying that a drink in the pub would be nice.

Completely unexpectedly she took my arm as we walked out of the hotel to a pub just down the road. A drink in the hotel bar would probably have meant that we'd be pounced on by some of the wolves after getting into Liz's knickers.

Strangely that day Liz sounded a little more serious than usual. Several times I asked her if she was feeling all-right, usually I'd have got chapter and verse on who had tried to ply her with alcohol the previous evening and how she'd drunk them all under the table. During that walk Liz remained uncharacteristically quiet. And somewhat confusingly what conversation she did make for some reason was about Jamie and Kate, and when I had last seen Semine; as if she herself hadn't booked the plane ticket for me?