Chapter 2

The following week, just as Steve was loading up his brief case to head home, Rick popped his head into the office.

‘A few of us are going to the Old Swan for a beer, why don’t you come along.’

‘Eh, well,’ Steve hesitated.

‘Good, that’s settled then,’ Rick said quickly, ‘I’ll be back in 5 minutes to collect you.’

Once in the pub, Rick talked to Steve about the new project in the city that the firm were working on and Rick asked how it was going. The multimillion pounds job was very important for the firm in terms of both revenue and kudos, so it was imperative that everything ran smoothly. Steve explained that overall the project was progressing well, but he felt he should mention that there were some problems with the glazing side of things - some measurements were wrong and the glass had already been cut, so it had to be re-cut, which meant the whole job had been delayed.

‘That’s a very costly mistake Steve. I presume that was your fault?’ Rick asked.

Steve spluttered, ‘No, not really, I didn’t do the measuring, it was Jim.’

‘So you’re passing the buck, are you?’ Rick said. ‘I thought that you were better than that. You are the project lead on the job, aren’t you, so it’s actually your responsibility, isn’t It.?’

‘Yes, you’re right,’ Steve said with a big sigh. I have spoken to Jim about taking more care, but yes, it was my fault, I should have checked.’

‘Look, don’t worry,’ Rick said, ‘I’ll look into the costs and delays and try to square it with the old man, but you’ll owe me one, ok?’.

‘Sure, no problem,’ Steve said, confident that there would be nothing that he could possibly do for Rick that Rick couldn’t already do for himself.

He didn’t know how wrong he could be.

Steve told Sally about the cock up at work and the fact that it was his fault, as an important project had been delayed.

She sympathised and told him not to worry. Steve explained that Rick had said the same thing, offering to smooth things over with the boss, old man Gilbert.

‘Wow’ said Sally,’ that’s good of him, how will you return the favour?’

I don’t know, I can’t worry about that now, I’ll just have to see how it goes,’ Steve said.

The following week, Rick approached Steve again about having a drink together, but this time it was just the two of them.

They talked about work and progress on the jobs and Rick confirmed that he had been able to cover the major mistake on the glazing for the city project.

Steve was very grateful and thanked Rick profusely for his help.

‘So, what do you do with yourself then, Steve, outside of work, I mean?’

‘Nothing much, a spot of golf occasionally, dinner with my wife, Sally, and friends, sometimes, what about you?’

‘I’m often in the gym, actually, although I like to watch rugby when I can.’

‘So Steve, tell me about your lovely wife, what’s she like?’

‘She’s a journalist, I think I told you last time, she’s very talented, full of fire and always on the go.’ Rick raised an eyebrow.

‘No, not like that,’ Steve said laughing.

‘So, she’s not always on the go then?’ Rick said, smirking knowingly.

‘I mean, she’s always doing something and, when she’s not, she wants to be.’

‘She is rather gorgeous,’ Rick said, ‘from the little I saw of her.’

‘Thank you yes, I agree,’ Steve replied, beaming at Ricks compliment.

‘But you have to be careful with a woman like that, Steve. Do you think that you satisfy her? Women are so hard to read. I know my ex wife was like that. She didn’t tell me she wanted more until she had found it elsewhere.’

‘Oh, sorry Rick, I didn’t know,’ Steve said, ‘but yes, I think that she is satisfied but, as you say, it’s hard to know for sure.’

‘You’ve got to read the signals,’ Rick went on, ‘Does she ever talk about fantasies and stuff; I mean things that she would like to do?’

‘Well, sometimes.’

‘And?’ Rick said.

‘And what?’ Steve asked, innocently.