Jack and Diane Ch. 02-04

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Jack and Diane Chapter 2

My time at Milla and Simon's gave me some time to think about my life.

Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm John Nelson Winters. The Nelson bit is mothers maiden name and, yes, there is some connection to the Hero of the Nile and Trafalgar. At one stage the family had been quite wealthy, but that was before the First World War. My father was in the Army and my sisters and I went to boarding schools.

Home was an old farmhouse owned by my grandparents. We lived there as and when dad's postings allowed, but got to see a fair bit of the world as well. David and Camilla lived nearby. They studied law and I studied engineering. They went into practise from college and I went into the Navy as an engineering officer.

I had intended to make the Navy my career, but then the Berlin Wall came down. The government decided to cut back on the armed forces and asked for volunteers for early release, I.E. redundancies. They were going to do it in tranches. I quickly realised that would mean a lot of guys looking for jobs. I was only twenty-seven, had a degree, and experience. I did not want to be competing with a lot of others for whatever jobs were available and I certainly did not want to be pushed out further on down the line. I wanted some degree of control so I bid for release in the first tranche.

It was definitely my best move. I was offered a number of positions and selected one with a property development company. I was responsible for all the electro-mechanical installations.

I did very well and learnt a lot about the rest of building industry. That's how I met Diane. She was the P.A. to one of the architects we worked with. She definitely knew about presentation. She looked like a model, even on site she made personal safety clothing look glamorous. . She was three years younger than me, great fun to be, with and after about a year of courting I proposed and she accepted.

We married just before my thirtieth birthday and decided to get on with having a family straight away. Just over a year later Henry was born and two years after that Georgina arrived. Diane didn't lose all her curves after the births but you would be hard pushed to call her plump, even so. She was more the classic Marilyn Munroe, (or maybe I should say Sophia Loren, since she is brunette), which I preferred anyway. Diane became a stay at home mum.

As I said earlier, we lived in a property on Mum and Dad's land. It had been a fair sized farm at one time, but over the years bits had been sold off to pay death duties and so on. The cottage stood on the small patch of land which we had retained around the family house. Harry and Georgie, as the kids were known, had plenty of room to roam, and Mum and Dad had ponies for them both in the stables. Diane was an accomplished horsewoman and since I had been brought up with my own pony we would often ride out as a family. With my pay-off from the Navy, my salary, and no need for a mortgage we had a pretty good life style.

Once the kids were big enough, Mum and Dad would take them for a weekend every month or two. Diane and I would take the ferry to France, or book into a small hotel somewhere and make like honeymooners. Once the cheap flights began we would take the odd city break to Paris, Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, and so on. Then we bought a weekend house in Devon near the coast. When the kids were bigger, they and their mother would spend the school holidays by the sea. I would spend the weekends with them and also when we had contracts in the south west.

I suppose the rot set in when both Harry and Georgie were in secondary school. Diane took a job in a boutique. The whole milieu of the place was thin, thin, thin. Diane felt fat so she started fitness training and going to the gym. Lover boy was one of the trainers.

I was pretty broken up over the break-up. Milla and Simon acted as a sounding board when I wanted someone to talk to and gave me space when I didn't.

I had been Mr. Responsible Citizen all my life. For the first twenty-odd years I had done my growing and dreaming, got my education and entered adulthood. The next twenty-odd I had served the nation, contributed to the economy, and brought up a family. Now at 45 I was being dumped on. I realised that there was little chance of saving my marriage. Diane had changed when she re-entered the work place.

I suppose it's an inevitable result of our modern lifestyles. The woman watches her husband climb the promotion ladder. He puts up with the shit to provide for his family and then reaches to point where he dishes it out instead of taking it. She, in the meantime spends her time cooped up in the home thinking hubby must be having a great time out in the big wide world. Then the kids are at secondary school and can look after themselves till Mum and Dad get home so Mum re-enters the workplace. There she finds the excitement and buzz that she missed bringing up the children.

Hubby, meanwhile has time to review his life and starts to ask how it matches up to his teenage dreams. He looks at all the things he wanted to do, and the things he didn't do because he hadn't the money or the time because of work and family. He decides that now is the time to fulfil as many of his dreams as he can before his body stops him. So now the wife is moving in one direction and the husband wants to move in another. The common goal of raising the family no longer unites them.

This is where Diane and I had arrived. At least I could look at my children, my time in the Navy and in industry, and say I had done more than most men my age. I had few regrets. I still had at least another twenty years of reasonable health to fill with memories to mull before I got to the stage where Dylan Thomas says we have to "rage against the dying of the light." And believe you me I do not intend to go quietly into "that dark Good-night."

Sad as I was at the loss of what had been a good marriage, Diane had forced me into a decision. Time to move on.

Jack and Diane Chapter 3

Diane closed the door behind her husband and watched through the window as he loaded his cases into the car. She had thought she would feel more, but all she felt was a sort of numb relief. At least he hadn't made a scene; but then that was never Jack's way. He always seemed so in control. Just once she would have liked him to show some emotion.

She turned to see Peter waiting at the door to the kitchen. He held out his arms and her resolve broke. She ran to him, clutching him close, she buried her head into his chest and burst into tears. She couldn't see his face as he held her tightly and a small smile played across his face. He put his hands on either side of her face and tipped her head to look into her eyes. He looked so sad as her tried to reassure her.

"It had to be done my love. You couldn't live two lives. You said yourself he deserved better, and so do you," he whispered to her.

Then he held her in a full embrace and she felt a sense of finality. Her decision was made. Now all she had to do was live with it.

Diane went into the sitting room where Harry and Georgie sat side by side on the settee. Diane quailed at the look the children gave her. Peter had followed her in. As he did so, Georgie leapt from her seat, ran at him screaming, she kicked his shins and pummelled his chest with her clenched fists, and shouted, "I want my Daddy, I want my Daddy".

Her brother stood up and looked at his mother with dead eyes, and ran to his little sister. Engulfing her in his arms he led her from the room. Diane looked at Peter. He had been completely surprised by Georgie's tirade and hadn't even tried to protect himself. The look of shock on his face told her that he was out of his depth with the children. She had a lot of work to do to bring them all through this and establish a new family.

Diane said, "I'd better make supper."

"I'll help," said Peter.

As she went about the mundane actions of preparing the meal she thought of how she had brought them to this point.

Her upbringing was quite normal. She was an only child but her parents had been careful not to over indulge her. Not that she had lacked for anything, but it wasn't a given that she would get what she wanted. In her mid teens she had a job as a Saturday girl in a chain store to get those little extras that girls needed.

Academically she had been fairly average. Her grades hadn't been good enough for university so she had gone to technical college and taken Office and Business studies gaining both her certificate and diploma. It was at college that she realised her greatest asset was her ability to engage with people. She had a personality that clicked with people of all ages and both genders.

This talent allowed Diane to enter the workforce very easily. Starting as a receptionist with a printing company, she quickly moved through a number of companies. Each move increased her status and salary, until she became PA to Crispin Beauchamp, the senior partner of a major architects practice.

Diane was five feet eight inches tall, brunette, and slender. Clothes suited her. Any clothes. She was the original "look good in a flour sack" type. On site she was the perfect employee. Her dress presented a flair that complimented that shown in the cutting edge designs for which her employers were world-renowned. Her bearing was that of the consummate professional. Everyone noticed her...including the women.

But that was because she turned everyone's head. Romantically and sexually Diane was only interested in the male of the species. She could have anyone she chose and that's exactly what she did. She was extremely selective in her men. She was even more selective in those who made it to her bed. She had a great job, the best clothes, and drove a Honda- an S2000 not a Civic, so she sure as hell was not going to compromise in the bedroom.

Neither did she expect her partners to put up with second best. What she expected, she gave, and pity help the man who didn't reciprocate. If he couldn't find her c and g spots he was out of her bedroom so fast both his heads would spin. And if he knew where they were, he better treat them right or he was travelling just as fast. She took the time to learn about men's bodies so they had better take the time to learn about hers.

The first time she met Jack was at a site conference. The building was one of the first to include energy producing products in its design and Jack was responsible for their installation. They were discussing the linkage of the geothermal and solar heating. Jack seemed very aloof and detached, looking over Crispin's shoulder at the workers behind them. His contribution was cut short when he bent down and grabbed a piece of timber and barged past them. Diane thought at first he was going to hit Crispin

She barely had time to gasp when she heard a creaking, grinding, noise, followed by shouts from behind her. She turned and saw the scaffolding collapsing as Jack ran forward ordering the men clear of the area. As the dust cleared she saw Jack with the baulk of timber holding up part of the collapsed tangle of metal, planking, and building material. He was shouting instructions to the men around him.

"Get that fuckin' Load-all over here now. You, Jim, go phone the ambulance and fire service. Mick, Seamus, gimme a hand here. Davy, Get the Load-all driver to get his forks in there!" Jack indicated with a nod of his head to the place he wanted them. "Just get him to take the weight. Don't let him lift it. That's it! Enough! Mick, Seamus, pull them out."

Mick and Seamus dragged two bodies clear of the distorted pile of scrap construction equipment.

"GET THEM CLEAR"

Other men rushed forward to help the rescuers.

"GET BACK! Davy, get the driver to leave that where it is and get the fuck outta here"

As soon as he saw the driver leave the loader, Jack dropped his wooden prop and ran. He was shouting something but no-one could hear him above the noise as the rest of the scaffolding collapsed. The building materials that had been stacked, ready for use, tumbled and bounced as they hit the ground. Bags of cement powder burst obscuring everything behind a grey pall of lung corroding dust.

The workmen ran past the group of managment, shouting at them to get clear. Some of them grabbed the architects, managers, and promotion hunters, and hustled them away from the advancing billow. Diane lost a boot and her safety helmet as she was dragged backwards by someone who wrapped their arm around her midriff. She was dumped unceremoniously on a large bag of sand. Her rescuer turned and shouted for everyone to get to their assembly points and check who was missing.

Surprisingly quickly a sort of order re-established itself. In the middle of it all was Jack Nelson, barking instructions. There was no doubt about who was in charge.

Jack had been listening to the debate about the installation of the geothermal heat exchanger when a movement from the scaffolding triggered his peripheral vision.

He looked towards the scaffolding and saw a few bricks tumbling from a stack near the top. Then he saw a tremor in the scaffolding.

His instincts as Damage Control officer in the navy kicked in. He grabbed the first bit of heavy timber near him and leapt forward with a warning shout. He spotted two men wearing hearing protection under the scaffolding, working with a jack hammer. That was his target. They would know nothing ever again if he got this wrong.

The men must have sensed something because they looked round just as staging fell around them. Jack got his baulk of timber braced against the ground, a small mound of blocks, and his shoulder, as the weight settled on it. He was just in time to prevent the men being crushed to death, but they were trapped. Seamus and Mick helped him lever the weight just enough to relieve the pressure on the trapped men. The loader driver got his forks under the horizontal poles and took the weight. Jack held the fall off the men while the big Irishmen dragged them clear. Once they were out, it was run like fuck.

When he had joined the company Jack had felt that the health and safety, and accident prevention measures were not good enough and had insisted that a Safety Manager be appointed. He had contributed his knowledge of naval evacuation procedures, head counts, knowing who was in what department, muster stations and so on. They had just proved their worth.

Order was restored. The emergency services arrived and took control of the situation.

Jack returned to the group, combing his hair with his fingers, and grinning broadly.

"Sorry for the interruption." He turned to Crispin, "you were saying..."

Everyone looked at him in astonishment. Jack was pale grey, covered from head to foot in cement powder. The only relief in the greyness was his shining deep brown eyes and the whiteness of his grin. The sleeve of his suit was ripped from the shoulder where the timber had caught it as he ran from the final fall. His trouser leg flapped loosely where it, too, had ripped on something. The dust on his shirt sleeve started to darken.

Crispin spoke first. "I think we can postpone this for a day or two, Jack. I think you should head over to the ambulance and get that arm seen to. When was your last tetanus booster?"

Jack looked at his arm in surprise, "Oh! Yes. Probably a good idea. When..."

"I'll get Diane to set it up."

Jack looked over at Diane who was clearly shocked. "I think maybe you should come with me." He took her arm and led her to the ambulance. Four ambulances had arrived but fortunately everyone was accounted for. The trapped men had been evacuated to hospital. Two of the other ambulances had been released and one remained on site. Her crew was giving first aid to those with minor injuries. They recommended that Jack should go to the hospital to get his wound dressed and have an x-ray.

The crew buses were being used to ferry walking wounded to the hospital, Jack and Diane amongst them. As relatively minor casualties they had to wait for a few hours before treatment. Diane was the only woman to arrive from the site and rather than leave her, Jack sat and chatted with her, inconsequentially, until her parents arrived.

He explained to them what had happened. They thanked him for his courtesy and he left when he was called for treatment. Despite her condition, Jack had registered deeply with Diane and she knew this was a man she intended to get to know a lot better.

The opportunity didn't arise for two weeks. The Factory Inspectorate and police were all over the site investigating the accident. Until they had completed their examination no-one was allowed back to work there. The injury to Jack's arm meant he could not drive for a couple of days and Diane was off work for a week. The site then had to be cleared, and the collapsed scaffolding rebuilt and approved.

Crispin called a site meeting and Diane was responsible for arranging it. When she phoned Jack she took the opportunity to thank him for his attention on the day of the accident. She also asked him to dinner. Jack, being Jack, accepted gracefully.

Jack and Diane Chapter 4

Since she had asked him to dinner, Jack deferred to Diane. They dined in a stylish Italian restaurant. When it came to the choice of wine, he graciously referred the waiter to her. When it came to conversation, he made it flow easily. Jack was an absorbing dinner companion. Diane found he was interested in all the things that interested her and there were none of the dry silences where each looked around searching for something to talk about. Since this was ostensibly a thank-you to Jack for his assistance after the accident, they went their own way after dinner, with promises to dine together again sometime. When they parted, Diane had decided that Jack was not going to slip through her hands.

Jack had been attracted to Diane at the site meeting but his attention had been diverted by the accident. To him, his actions at the hospital were simply good manners. When Diane asked him to dinner, he again responded in what he considered to be a mannerly way. At the restaurant he adopted his "cocktail party" technique. He had developed this in the Navy.

Every time the ship docked somewhere there would be a cocktail party for the local dignitaries. It was the duty of all officers to entertain these people, usually with the assistance of the local consulate or embassy. His first Captain explained the technique of asking questions until he found a subject that the guest was interested in, and then using follow-up questions to keep the conversation going. Jack had mastered the skill and learned enough to ask sensible questions and look interested. People always left feeling that Jack was as well informed as they were, about the things that interested them.

Jack found Diane a sociable and attractive companion, someone he might be interested in getting to know. Certainly he wouldn't object if she got him into bed. But that was a far as it went. He sure as hell hadn't heard wedding bells. Diane had other ideas.

As she drove home that evening she thought about Jack. She had enjoyed his company. Whilst she had done most of the talking, she had done a little research beforehand and had used that to extract more information from him. He was interesting, good looking, and had displayed his masculinity in his original career choice. Equally he had demonstrated his intellect and ambition in his degree choice and his fleet-footed career change. He was more than ordinarily solvent and it wasn't just because of his pay-off. He was a rising star in a sector that was developing rapidly. But more importantly she had seen the glint in his eyes. The one that told of that one thing every woman wants in a man, even just once. Once she saw that dangerous, piratical, glint, nature told her that she wanted her children to have Jacks genes.