Sixes and Sevens Pt. 05

"Kathy I don't know about that - you know, us working together."

"No one else in the office likes opera. They all sort of agreed that I ask you."

"Sort of agreed?"

Vicky's voice came from across the corridor. "Tell him Kathy! He'll be all right, trust me."

"Tell him Kathy," he repeated, grinning. She coloured.

"You've been so sad, I - I mean we - have been worried about you. Vicky told me you like opera, so I thought it might cheer you up.

"Anyway, on Wednesday I told her I had these tickets, and we all discussed it and we thought you you might be persuaded to come with me. Then yesterday you were much more cheerful, but Vicky said you might still like to go. So, will you - come with me, my treat?"

"Go on, Aidan," Vicky called, "You haven't been out for weeks."

He had misgivings, but liked the idea, and gave in. "Thank you Kathy, I'd love to go with you. In return, you must allow me to take you to dinner beforehand."

She smiled, "Well thank you kind sir," she said, and she curtsied! It drew his attention to her beautiful legs. It came to him that she always, always, wore trousers to work. He had never seen her legs. Until today.

He shook himself and looked up to see her grinning. Busted!

"Kathy," he protested, "I've never seen you in a skirt before. Very nice!"

"Glad you like them," she laughed and waltzed off.

She had taunted him: 'Glad you like them.' Her legs, not the skirt. He would have to watch that girl very carefully in future. Far too forward! Especially if she started wearing those short skirts!

Vicky was still laughing. She came over.

"You've no idea how good it is to see you happy again," she said, and kissed his forehead.

He growled, she laughed, and went back to her place.

He took Kathy to his favourite restaurant. They talked and talked - opera. She was an opera buff of the first order. She had seen Die Fledermaus eleven times and she was only twenty one years old! She loved the food and he loved her erudition.

Yes, she was very pretty. Wonderful figure, delicate facial features - small turned-up nose, big green eyes, and of course, the legs. She wore the obligatory little black dress set off with a neat intricate gold necklace and matching earrings. Lovely girl, and much too young for him, he assured himself, but a wonderful, incredibly intelligent young woman.

The opera was good. He took her to her home. She kissed his cheek.

"It was a wonderful evening," she said, gazing into his eyes.

"It was for me too," he said mustering all his honesty. "You have been a revelation. I've never met anyone who loves opera as much as you do."

"And I've never met anyone who understands it as well as you do. Thank you, Aidan."

They kissed cheeks again, then she left the taxi and ran for cover under her umbrella. He waited until she disappeared into her flats.

On a wet and windy November Sunday when Aidan saw no reason to emerge from his flat, he finally got up to date with his work, and then cleaned the flat thoroughly. He chided himself that he had been neglecting it and it showed. He felt virtuous after his efforts and while it was still windy, the rain had stopped, so he went to the pub that evening. There was no one there he knew, but he read his novel while drinking a couple of pints before going home.

The following week he actually enjoyed life, especially being alone at home. He began cooking for himself, which cheered him further. On Wednesday he enjoyed the staff evening at the Plough, and on Saturday joined the group of husbands for 'early doors' at the pub.

Aidan was hailed as 'stranger' and 'the prodigal returned', with questions about his absence. They had wondered if he had been ill until he had been seen with a blonde woman. The comments then became ribald.

"She your latest?" asked one.

"She had some trouble and I helped her out."

"I'll bet you did!" came the reply, "I wouldn't have minded helping her out myself!"

"She with you now?" asked another, "lucky bastard!"

"No, she's gone back to Canada."

"If she went back, I'd be after her; God, Aidan she's a fox!"

"She has a boyfriend there," I said.

"The dirty slut! I bet you were gutted!"

"You're assuming we had sex. I knew she had a boyfriend. She was a good companion until her stolen passport was replaced. Can we change the subject?"

So he had lied to protect Sam's reputation. On the way home, he wondered if he was really over Sam, since he sought to protect her. The men did not know her; they would never meet her. He shrugged his shoulders; it did not really matter.

However, as he sat with his nightly malt, listening to the rain beating on the window, he looked back to that phone call, and realised that while he was back in the swing of things, there were moments of deep regret and wistfulness even sadness. He felt betrayed and cheated on those occasions, and this added anger to the mix. The moods would come and go, often when least expected.

He had stopped replying to her emails, and indeed had deleted hers without reading them. After a couple of weeks she stopped writing and he felt relieved.

Aidan invited Kathy to a symphony concert on the following Thursday, and she invited him to her flat the following day for dinner. They got on well, and felt comfortable with each other, in spite of him being her effective boss and a good few years older than her.

Beyond a chaste kiss when they met or parted outside of work, they made no moves on each other. It did not need to be said, they were not attracted to each other in a sexual way. Much. At least she wasn't, he thought. He smiled, c'est la vie!

He had spent some time rationalising about her. She was a pretty girl, vivacious, sexy. She wore sexy clothes - not sluttish, but sexy and demure. Biologically he knew his body wanted to nail her, but his superior brain (he laughed out loud at the thought), and his business acumen overruled his smaller brain below, and knocked that idea on the head. A relationship would be a recipe for disaster.

The following Saturday he was once again ensconced in the pub. That night there was no one from the group there, so he read his book while he drank his pint.

After a while he sensed a presence beside him. He looked up: Kevin. Wet. It seemed to have been raining and blowing hard for weeks.

Kevin was holding two glasses full of beer. Aidan nodded to the table and Kevin came round and put them down, though he remained standing, and Aidan realised there was another presence. He looked round: Caroline. Also wet, hair bedraggled. He sagged.

"May we?" Kevin asked.

Aidan gestured to the other side of the table with a resigned air, and the two of them sat down facing him. Aidan put his book down.

"We called at the flat but you weren't there," Kevin explained, "so I thought you might be here."

"You were right," he said facetiously. "Here I am. Good to see you Kevin."

The slight to Caroline was deliberate. She disliked him; he disliked her. After all, she had destroyed what Julie and he had had. Caroline was an adulterous slut, and she was dead set against him. So what happened next took him by surprise. No, it astonished him. Floored him.

"I know you don't like me, Aidan," Caroline said, "and I'm not surprised; I've been a real bitch to you. I was trying to break you and Julie up because I had this silly snobbish idea she was a cut above you. Before you started out on your own, I saw you as a bean counter with no ambition - boring and probably always poor. I was stupid. Look at you now.

"Aidan, I was wrong, and I'm very sorry for all the hurt I've caused. Because of my actions I've even kept Kevin from you, and made a split in the family. I feel guilty as hell, and I am guilty.

"I want to tell you I'm glad you caught us at the holiday house. If you hadn't I'd have been looking to cheat on Kevin again. That's another wrong. Kevin's always been very good to me, better than I deserve by far. The counselling showed me a lot about myself and I don't like any of it.

"So what I want to ask is, can we be friends? Can you forgive me for what I've done?"

She stopped and waited.

Aidan looked at her and needed to assimilate something so unforeseen. The pause unsettled Kevin, who had been sitting still listening to Caroline's apology and he started forward as if to speak.

"Give me a moment Kevin," Aidan said, "I need to think."

He thought. Caroline sat passively, whereas Kevin was edgy.

"Right," Aidan said at length, "You'll have to forgive me Caroline, if I'm uncertain what all this is about. My suspicious nature prompts me to look for an agenda. I think the hidden agenda at this stage is Julie.

"But," he hastened on, as Caroline sat forward to interrupt him. "The dilemma is whether you genuinely want to put an end to hostilities no matter what, or whether it depends on how I respond to some request concerning Julie."

Aidan sat back and waited. Kevin looked uncomfortable. Caroline seemed unruffled.

"You were always perceptive Aidan," she said with a smile, "and you're right, I do want to say something about Julie, but I realise I've been wrong about you and I've done wrong to you, so I'm asking your forgiveness and a new start regardless of what happens. Does that answer your dilemma?"

"Then I'm relieved, and happy to forgive and forget. There, you're forgiven. Regarding Julie, I really have moved on with my life."

"I think we all realised that," she said. "What I'm worried about is that she isn't moving on. She's moping around hoping for... well, something to happen, like you ringing or visiting us. If you could meet and talk with her, perhaps she could move on herself. As it is, she's stuck."

"She's about to move into her own flat," added Kevin, "and we're worried about her state of mind, living on her own."

"But she's been seeing this guy from one of her jobs, hasn't she?" Aidan asked.

"Oh, you mean Tim," said Caroline. "I don't think that's serious. You know she's now got a permanent job as a PA? Well he works there as well. In any case, she won't move on while she thinks there's a chance you'll come back to her."

"She's been going with him for quite a while, Caroline," Aidan said, "Could there be something there if she weren't hanging on for me?"

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she said, "but while she's like this, we'll never know."

He exhaled loudly and gave in.

"Ok," he said, dripping resignation. "She can phone me and we can arrange to meet somewhere."

Their relief was tangible. Both sighed deeply and relaxed completely and Aidan wondered what they or Julie hoped for.

He suspected he had been partly conned. Being reconciled with parts of the family is always good after all, but being conned into meeting his ex? He needed to counterbalance that.

"Julie needs to know that I will leave the moment she asks me to live together again," he stated baldy. "It isn't going to happen. She dumped me once, and cheated on me once. That's enough betrayal for me. Ok?"

Both nodded and Aidan caught a look of disappointment on their faces. Tough!

On Sunday he spent a day with Greg, a long time friend. They went hiking and took in a lunch at a hostelry in the hills. The clouds wore the dark grey of winter and It rained the whole time, though the winds had moderated somewhat. They were well kitted out in waterproof gear and enjoyed the battering of the rain while remaining dry and warm. He returned home in the dark, dry, tired, happy and late, hung his waterproofs up to dry and prepared for the next week.

It was Wednesday before he heard from Julie.