Get Lost

He turned around to see Eveline. "I think we're done here."

Eveline, who saw through the agent's intentions, was more than a little surprised at Harry's reaction and asked why as soon as the man left.

"First, he doesn't treat you with the respect you deserve. Second, he tried to weasel me out of an extra 100k for the house...and I know him from somewhere but I don't know why or where. I don't trust him now, so I'll call a taxi to take us back and we're going to check the last house ourselves after we get the keys from the agency."

After a short discussion at the real estate agency, they got the keys to the last house. In the car to Fourmont, Eveline asked, "Harry, am I your girlfriend?"

Harry smiled wishfully before he answered, "Officially? No. But the guy was hitting on you and together with the greatly exaggerated price for the house he pissed me off. On top of that, I know that face from somewhere, but I don't know where. Now to give you a complete and honest answer to your question; Yes, I was a tad jealous and I would like you very much to be my girlfriend. So, Eveline I know that we met only a few days ago, but it feels like it's been months. Would you be my girlfriend?"

Eveline looked surprised at Harry's face to discern if he was joking, but he looked dead serious. She asked, "You aren't kidding me, Harry? I am fighting my way back out of a very abusive marriage and I couldn't cope with something like that again. Please don't ask if you're not serious."

Harry smiled uncertainly and replied, "I am as serious as a heart attack."

"Harry, I told you that I already liked you at school and in this short time you just confirmed my impression of you. Yes. I would love to be your girlfriend."

The house in Fourmont proved to be the one but it had problems so Harry called in a specialist to check whether the house was structurally sound and a contractor to see what a new roof and other problems would cost to fix. Harry also had some other ideas but they had to wait. The house, because of its decrepit state, was well within Harry's budget, but the way the first estate agent had treated Harry, he rather spitefully bid 50k under the asking price. He told Eveline, "Now we wait. It's getting late, how about dinner?"

Three weeks later after some tough negotiations Harry could call himself the owner of the house in Fourmont. The owner was happy, Harry was happy, only the estate agency was far from happy. The owner got 10k more than expected and Harry paid almost 40k less than what the agency had listed the house for so they lost a lot of commission. It all came together when Harry's company offered him a new contract. It was far better than the old one and was for three years, so Harry decided to celebrate.

Harry and Eveline were celebrating in a restaurant when Eveline asked, "Harry, your company also handles company shares, don't they?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"When I divorced my ex-husband, he was fairly rich but tried to hide it. His twin brother knew it and thought, after all the abuse I'd suffered, that it wasn't fair so he told the judge. I'm well off now, but my ex is still trying to get his hands on those shares. I need to move them."

Harry replied that he would take care of it first thing the next morning. Later in the evening, he asked the other thing that had been on his mind. "Isn't it time that you meet Annika and Björn? If you want to, of course."

Eveline happily told him that she would be delighted and that, for her, it was a big step. So, Harry told her that he would ask them to dinner with them so they could meet.

====

Two weeks later

The four of them were sitting at a very good Turkish restaurant at a table laden with food, the delicious aromas wafting into their noses and making their mouths water.

After the initial awkwardness Björn and especially Annika got on very well with Eveline. They were joking with her and ribbing their father when, to their surprise, Inge appeared next to the table.

Harry bristled, "Inge, you're not invited, what do you want?"

Inge smirked. "I wanted to have a good look at your new floozy. Is she the fourth, or the fifth now?" And she walked away.

Harry looked around and asked aloud, "What is she talking about? How did she know we were here?"

Annika said, "We don't know, Dad. Maybe she followed one of us."

A few minutes later, Eveline excused herself and went to the bathroom, so Harry and his children talked about Inge's surprise appearance and the comment she'd made. When asked, Harry said, "Eveline's the first, and only, woman I've been involved with since our marriage exploded, and we didn't meet until the evening of the day the divorce was finalized, a year after it started."

He was about to say more, but Eveline came back, flushed and looking very angry.

"How could you? How could you mistreat that poor woman?" she exclaimed, practically shouting. "I don't want to see you again, ever!" Eveline ran out of the restaurant to the stares of all..

Inge returned then with a big smirk on her face, "So," she said, "now that's out of the way, you and I have to talk."

Harry stood with murder written on his face as he said with clenched teeth, "If we were the last two people on earth, I would rather kill myself than talk to you. Go to hell!"

Harry looked livid in Inge's eyes, but she saw him ignoring her through his anger as he turned to their children.

"I'm going to pay for dinner and then to find Eveline to see what the hell just happened."

He walked away and Inge was about to follow when Annika grabbed her arm. Angrily, Inge turned back toward her daughter, and then stood furiously looking in the direction where Harry had disappeared.

Annika said in a voice trembling with anger, "Inge, how could you? You are not my mother anymore. I don't want to talk to you anymore, I don't want to see you anymore. Lose my number and forget my address. You are dead to me, understood! Dead! Now fuck off!"

Björn was a lot less eloquent. "I concur. The same applies to me." And in the same breath, he added, "Come on, Annika. The air is polluted near this table."

They walked out leaving Inge aghast as the restaurant owner appeared at her side. Whispering, he said, "Madam you made me lose a very good customer. I urge you to leave before accidents happen."

Inge rounded on him. "Are you threatening me?"

The owner replied, "No ma'am, but my bouncer will evict you forcefully if necessary."

A few moments later Inge was outside without the bouncer's assistance. She was furious with Harry. How did he dare walk out of me like that? And then to walk away again before we could have it out? She was seething as she thought about all that had happened and came to the realization that she wouldn't be finding him this evening.

====

The next morning, Harry tried to reach Evaline, but she refused all contact. Even his letter came back unopened within days of being mailed.

Harry was devastated and went into his; "Sleep, work, eat and repeat" mode once again. With Eveline unexpectedly out of his life, all thoughts of socializing ceased and in the days that followed, he stopped seeing people in general, with exception of his children and those at work when necessary.

A couple of weeks after the events at the restaurant, Harry was called into the office of Gerard Derksen, the company CEO. The lawyer, Ella Herweijer, came in seconds later. Gerard's usual friendliness was gone as he asked, "Mr. van der Goos, are you familiar with the non-fraternization with customers clause in your contract?"

Surprised, Harry replied, "Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

The lawyer butted in. "Because we have evidence that you are socializing with one of our customers, Mrs. Eveline Goedhart. Do you have any comments on that?"

Harry was taken aback. He stammered, "Not really. I knew Mrs. Goedhart already before she was a client here."

Mrs. Herweijer immediately bit back, "You know this is the reason for dismissal, don't you? The company can't afford scandals if relationships go wrong. This conversation is also to indicate that your contract is terminated. HR will inform you about the procedures. We will want your laptop and phone, though."

Harry's blood pressure began to rise; he counted to ten and backward again but still by zero he exploded. The angrier Harry became the more softly and emphatically he spoke to his opponents. Now he almost whispered, "You've got it all wrong. Mrs. Goedhart and I were friends before she became a client from this company. In fact, I brought her business in when she needed someone to handle her account. We haven't been seeing each other anymore for two weeks, either, so if you carry through with the termination of my contract, I will see that as a 'wrongful termination' and act accordingly. And one other thing. The laptop and phone are private property. From me. I can show you the receipts. They're coming with me."

Now it was Derksen's turn to stammer. He didn't expect Harry to bite back. The whole affair with Harry's ex-wife made him think that Harry was a push-over. This time he stumbled over his words, "There is privacy sensitive information on those things, so I demand them."

"You demand what? Check your contracts. That information is privy between the account and the account manager from this company. I am the account manager. That is blatantly clear. Under all accounts I handle is my signature. Not yours. Now what is it going to be?"

The lawyer, clearly hurt in her ego said, "Your contract is terminated immediately. The reason will be fraternization with clients. You will receive a written confirmation when you get out. I will need a list of the accounts you handle so we can inform them that they will have a new account manager shortly. I also will have your laptop and phone impounded."

Harry laughed grimly. "Good luck with all that. You'll be hearing from my lawyer shortly."

====

Several months later.

Harry came out of court with a grim face despite it all having gone as he'd predicted.

The company had to pay Harry's the full amount for the rest of his contract including the bonuses based on the average from the three years before. In short, considering his way of living, he didn't need to work anymore. To make matters worse for the company, a number of account holders asked Harry to keep working for them and transferred their business from the company to Harry. The judge was deaf to the complaints from Mrs. Herweijer and Mr. Derksen that Harry 'stole' those accounts.

After leaving the courthouse, Harry called Annika and Björn to invite them to celebrate with him that evening.

But first, he went home. He needed a swim.

His house was now finally done and he had everything he wished for. His 'library', the big kitchen, a garage, and beside the master bedroom, two self-contained guest suites. At the back he had built an extension with a gym and a training pool. The pool was only two and a half meters wide, 8 meters long, and 1.6 meters deep but Harry had jets installed to create the effect of a fast-flowing river in it. Since the pool was installed, Harry used it every day.

Physically, Harry was in excellent condition. Swimming, running as cardio vascular training and Krav Maga for strength and resilience made him that way, but mentally he was slowly sinking. Not long before, he'd bought himself an old BMW R69S from 1968. It was still sitting untouched in his garage. Harry couldn't find the mental energy to work on it. Outwardly to his clients and children he acted the same as always. Inwardly, though, he felt insecure and depressed and he'd decided that he would never again be involved in another relationship. All trust was gone and, in the end, it just hurt too much.

Annika and Björn agreed to meet early at the restaurant, which, as fate would have it, was the same one where Eveline had run out on Harry. They both were very worried about Harry and they couldn't find a way to get him out of his depression. He'd refused counseling. He refused to go out, politely turning down every woman who expressed interest in him. The brother and sister discussed the situation, but seemed to be making no headway.

While they were talking, they noticed Eveline enter the restaurant with a man in tow but they had no time to say anything to her since Inge suddenly appeared at their table. Annika looked at Inge and very loudly and angrily said to her mother, "What are you doing here?"

Inge retorted, "I want to talk to you two. This charade has lasted long enough. I'm your mother!"

Björn rose and looked his mother in her eyes. In a voice resonating with contained anger, he said, "After what you did to my father, I don't have a mother anymore. You all but destroyed my father and I, nor Annika, will stand for it. You're not wanted here and you are not welcome. There is no chance, as much as a snowball in hell, that my father will take you back after you fucked him up so much, and I seriously suspect that you're the one behind his dismissal at his company. So, in your own words, be so kind as to get lost."

Ignoring her mother, Annika pulled out her phone, punched in a number, and said, "Dad we're coming over to you. We'll take something out. What would you like?"

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Oh, this restaurant is contaminated."

Harry's children went for the exit, but they saw the man, Eveline's apparent date, suddenly leave her and intercept them while they were going out.

"Hi," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jake Goedhart, Eveline's brother. It seems that my sister was lied to about your father by that schemer. Is there a way we can meet in private to talk about it?"

Annika was surprised at his revelation and proposal, but she was thinking on her feet. Here's our chance! At least, dear Lord, I hope so!

She quickly gave Jake her business card after she wrote her private number on the back, and then she smiled across the room at Eveline to show that she had no hard feelings toward her. To Jake she said, "Please call me soon. My father is a hermit now and we can't get him to lighten up. As you saw just a moment ago, my mother isn't helping at all."

Jake nodded and rejoined his sister before steering her to their table. Eveline, feeling apprehensive, asked her brother, "What are you doing? The man doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore."

Jake replied, "That remains to be seen. And you've not been on your best behavior either since you ran out of the poor sod. I suspect that you still have feelings for him. Take this chance. I'm calling, ah—"

He looked at the card as he realized he didn't even know the girl's name.

"—Annika—tomorrow, first thing in the morning to set things up. This must be done now, or the momentum is lost."

====

The next morning at half past eight, Annika's phone went off. She saw an unknown number.

"Annika van der Goos speaking, good morning."

"Annika, this Jake. We met yesterday. Good morning to you too. I hope I'm not too early but I don't want to give Eveline time to get cold feet. I'm quite certain that she still has very warm feelings for your father. When can we meet?"

"No, Jake. You're not too early. In fact, I hoped that you'd call soon. My father is slipping into a depression. He tries to hide it, but we see him breaking up. We are at the end of our wits.

Did you say that Eveline still has feelings for my dad?"

"O, yes, certainly. When we meet, we, or rather she, will tell you all about it. My sister has been moping around since she ran from that restaurant. I booked a table for us there twice already in the hope to meet you because I didn't know how you or Harry would react if I were to somehow be able to contact you. Third time's a charm, isn't it? Can you come to my place, say about five? I know it's early but I think we have a lot of ground to cover and we need to build some common ground, too."

"I'll call my brother to see If he's available at that time. I hope we can come up with something that makes two people happy. By the way, you must love your sister very much to do such a thing."

"I do. She always took care of me. Now is the time to return the favor. I'll see you at five. If your brother can't make it at five, then have him come as soon as he can. I'll text you the address and I'll cook."

"Ok. We take care of the drinks. Wine, beer? What's your fancy?"

"Can you do both? I like beer, but Eveline likes wine."

"Consider it done. Have a good day, Until five."

Just a few minutes after five o'clock, five people sat around a huge kitchen table. The fifth person was Jake's wife Lisa. She poured the wine while Jake loaded the table with food, including a large dish with turnips, carrots, baby potatoes and chicken legs slowly roasted in the oven with rosemary, lemon, and garlic, fresh baked bread to dip in the juices freed by the roasting, and, as a starter, a spicy chicken broth.

Looking at all of the food, Annika asked politely, "Do we talk while eating, or do we wait?"

"No," Jake replied. "We'd better start now."

Annika looked at Eveline and asked her, "Eveline, can you tell what our mother told you about my father?"

Eveline blushed. "I'll try. Bear in mind that she described my ex-husband to the hilt. That's why I panicked." She took a deep breath and said, "Here goes. I went to the bathroom. Your mother was already there. She asked me if Harry already told me why he was divorced. When I told her that he didn't and then she said that she would tell me because I needed to be warned. She told me that he verbally and mentally abused her for months. and on the first day of the holiday, when she was out for a walk, he went to drink with some strangers. When she came back, he was making out with another woman and told her to piss off because he was amusing himself. Later that night, she told me, Harry wanted to rape her, so she fled home."

Annika and Björn looked with big eyes at Eveline, shaking their heads, before Björn replied. "The story is almost correct, but for one detail. It wasn't my father doing it to my mother, but the other way around. On top of that, my mother arranged to get my father fired on false accusations. He was fraternizing with a client—you, Eveline—and they had a picture of you and Dad taken on that day that she had her dirty little talk with you."

Eveline went white as a sheet as Björn spoke. When he was done, with a small voice, she said, "Harry is all he seems in the first place? I threw away a decent man because I'm stupid enough to believe the lies your mother told me?" Eveline started to sob uncontrollably.

Annika ran around the table and softly whispered in her ear, "Maybe there's still a way to make you two happy with each other."

She looked around the table and said, "What shall we do?"

Lisa commented, "Whatever we try, your mother will always try to disrupt it. The mental state she is in now will always cause problems, so it seems to me that you two have to deal with that first. Now, I can think of something, but it's not something you'll like, so it's your decision."

Björn immediately replied, "Spill it. We'll do almost anything."

Lisa went on. "You have to let your mother back into your lives."

Both Harry's children looked up sharply at Lisa and both wanted to say something but she held up her hand. "Hear me out," she said. "To do this, there are conditions she must adhere to. One, she has to leave your dad alone and stop interfering with his life, and two, she has to visit a psychiatrist to deal with her issues. Something is not right with her."

Annika and Björn looked at each other for a few moments and then slowly nodded.

"That's an idea. We can do that, can't we bro?" said Annika. "Now, how do we handle my father?"