Only Twelve Days

Day One-3

“Calm down Bill. All you have to do is ask the girl out. If she says no, what harm will have been done? You're not old you know. Some people only marry for the first time at your age. Hasn't it occurred to you that she may have taken a liking to you? She agreed to go for the meal with you last night, didn't she? Besides, some women like 'older' men.” He stressed the word older and made quotation signs in the air. “Look here! I'm older than you, I have a lovely wife and two kids and I'm balding – well slightly,” he added, quickly, rubbing his hand across his head. “Yet let me assure you, I do not consider myself past it. So why on earth should you? You have a lot more going for you than I do.”

“You're making fun of me now. Perhaps I shouldn't have told you,” said Bill, looking down at his desk.

“No I'm not, Bill.” Colin said gently. All I'm trying to do is to make you see you're still a young, attractive man. If you like this girl then you should go for it, stop dithering about and ask her out. Sometimes it's very hard to get through to you.”

“I'm picking Joey up shortly; I may have a word with her then. I just don't want to make a fool of myself. I'd prefer it if you didn't say anything to Rachel for the moment, if you don't mind.”

“Anything you say, Bill. Now get away and pick up that son of yours. Say hello from me.”

“I have a few letters to sign and then I'll be off. Oh, and Colin, thanks for listening,” said Bill, feeling relieved Colin hadn't come out with any of his usual witty remarks about him and women.

“Anytime, old boy,” said Colin, grinning and emphasising the word old as he slipped out of the door.

Bill pretended to throw something at him before beginning to sign his mail. He decided he would ask Sally out for a meal when he collected Joey. Looking at his watch, he saw it was only one forty-five. If he got a move on, he could be at the nursery for two-thirty. That would show her he could be early sometimes.

It was almost half past two. Sally decided to waken Joey so he might get himself pulled together in time for his father arriving. Going across to where Joey lay sleeping, she took care not to wake the other children. She wanted him to herself for a while. She rather liked this delightful little boy and was certainly going to miss him over the next few days. She shook him gently.

“Wake up, Joey. Your daddy shouldn't be much longer now,” she whispered. “You'll be seeing your grandmother shortly.”

Joey looked up at her and stretched out his arms around her neck. “Nanna will have made some cakes for tea. She always makes cakes when we go to see her and Granddad. But I'm going to miss you, Miss Hughes.” He gave her a big grin.

“I'm going to miss you too, Joey. It's been so nice meeting you,” said Sally, standing up and pulling Joey up with her. “I really hope I'll see you and your daddy again sometime. You know, I like you both very much.” She gave him a hug

“Daddy!” Joey had caught sight of his father standing in the doorway.

Sally swung around. “I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Have you been there long?” She felt a little embarrassed that Bill might have heard her last remarks.

Bill walked into the room. He had arrived in time to see Sally awaken Joey and had heard and seen everything that passed between them. He was pleased Joey found himself able to trust Sally. One of his main concerns was that Joey would grow up to be shy like him. It was the last thing he wanted. It was also encouraging to learn that Sally liked him as well as his son. However, to save any further embarrassment he said, “I've only just arrived. My meeting finished early so I was able to get away.”

Joey ran over to his father and Bill told him to get his coat from the cloakroom. It would give him the opportunity to speak to Sally about them spending an evening together.

“Sally, I…” he faltered. “I… I was wondering… if you would…” He was interrupted when the telephone began to ring.

“I'd better answer that,” said Sally. “It may be Mrs Miller and I'm sure she would like a word with you. She was delighted with the flowers.”

Joey arrived back with his coat and Bill helped him put it on while Sally answered the phone. He wished he could be more like Colin. He would have simply breezed into the nursery and swept Sally off her feet. Instead, he was bumbling around trying to ask her out. Straightening up he heard Sally speak into the receiver.

“Hello, Mrs Miller's nursery school,” she said. “Oh, it's you Jo. I want to talk to you about this evening, but I'm with a parent at the moment. Can you give me ten minutes?”

There was a short pause before Sally replied, “Fine, speak to you later.” She hung up and turned back to Bill and smiled. “I'm sorry about that. It was a friend of mine. What was it you wanted to say to me?”

Believing Sally had been talking to her boyfriend, Bill was lost for words. He felt gutted; almost as though someone had punched him in the stomach. All he wanted to do was to get out of the nursery. However, Sally was waiting for a reply. He swallowed hard and shook his head. “It was nothing… nothing important, Sally. We must leave you to get on … err… We'll see you next week. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye both, I hope you enjoy your visit to your nanna's Joey,” said Sally.

Joey ran over to Sally and gave her a big hug. “'Bye 'bye Miss Hughes.” He ran back to his father, who quickly ushered him out of the door.

Bill fastened the seat belt around Joey and then climbed into the car. He sat there for a while, staring through the windscreen. He was bitterly disappointed. Of course he had known all along, Sally was likely to have a boyfriend. It was stupid of him to have believed otherwise. Nevertheless, he felt his whole world had crashed before him.

Finally, he started the car engine and set off to his parents' home; about an hour's drive away. Joey chattered to him from his seat in the back, but for the first time Bill wasn't interested in anything his son said. Normally he would listen attentively and answer any questions Joey asked of him. Today was different. Today, his mind was elsewhere.

Twice he was forced to pull into a layby, as he knew he wasn't concentrating on the traffic. On another occasion he bought Joey some sweets simply as an excuse to get out of the car.

What was he going to do next week when he had to take Joey back to the nursery? The way he felt about Sally, it would be better if he didn't see her again. Joey seemed to sense his father was tense and stopped chattering. He sat quietly on the bench by a frozen pond, eating his sweets.

Bill thought hard for a long while before he came up with an idea. If his parents hadn't yet bought their train tickets, perhaps he could persuade them to postpone their trip until the next day.

That way he could pick up Joey next Friday, run his parents to the station and take Joey back to the office for two or three hours. No one else would be there. The rest of the staff would have finished for the holidays. Only the security staff would be around and they were quite used to him being in the office at all hours. Surely Mrs Miller would be back in the nursery after New Year.

The more Bill thought about his idea, the better it sounded. Feeling slightly relieved he may have found a solution to his problem, he told Joey to get back into the car. As soon as I get there, I'll speak to Mum about delaying their journey until Friday, he thought.

Sally watched Bill from one of the windows in the nursery. He was sitting in his car and appeared to be deep in thought. She hoped he would see her and wave before setting off. Joey must be reciting the day's events to his father. If there was one thing she had learned about Joey, it was that he liked to chatter. When Bill drove off without even a backward glance she felt like bursting into tears.

However, not wanting the children to find her so distressed when they awoke, she tried to pull herself together. Hopefully they would sleep for a little while longer. Just then the telephone rang and she rushed to answer it. Lifting the receiver, she glanced around to see if anyone was awake, but although one or two of the children stirred, they slept on.

“Hello, Mrs Miller's nursery.”

“Hi there, it's Jo. You seem to be in at the deep end. Are you managing to cope or are you wishing you had stayed in your father's business?”

“Not quite.” Having escaped from the family business, nothing would induce her to go back. “It's really good fun, but ask me again at the end of the week.” Sally replied.

“I tried calling your flat several times yesterday but couldn't reach you. I tried right up until I had to go out, about eight-ish I think. It was late when I got back so I didn't bother anymore,” said Jo.

“Well I was here until six-thirty as one of the parents was very late and I ended up going out with them for a pizza. It was about eight when they dropped me off home,” replied Sally.

“That was nice of her, good to know the mother appreciated…”

“No, no, it was a father, he…” Sally broke off. Knowing how Jo felt about men, she regretted the words the moment they left her lips.

Jo was a feminist and then some. She often carried her beliefs to the extreme. The male s*x was very far down her list of requirements; she didn't trust them at all. “Most men are only after one thing,” she would often say. “When the right man comes along he'll treat you as an equal and see you as a good sport.”

Sally wasn't sure she wanted to be seen as a good sport, far preferring to be thought of as feminine. She liked nice clothes, perfume, make-up and everything else that went with being a woman. Jo, on the other hand, always wore trousers, preferably jeans or army style camouflage trousers and was appalled if a man offered his seat to her on the bus. This being the case, it had surprised Sally when Jo decided to take up a career as a nursery nurse. She had always thought her friend would join the army or the fire service or something else that would give her equal status, at least in her eyes. However, even more annoying to Sally, Jo had started telling her whom she should and shouldn't see. Therefore she held her breath waiting for the outburst; she didn't have long to wait.

“What're you thinking about, going out with a married man?” Jo yelled down the line. “He must have thought you were an easy touch.”

“He's a widower actually,” replied Sally.

“What!” screamed Jo. “I don't believe you sometimes. You really are an i***t. A widower must be the worst kind of man you could imagine. They make you feel sorry for them; single parent and all, and then they pounce. You want to be careful my girl. You were lucky he didn't try it on.” She paused. “He didn't, did he? Try anything on, I mean.”