Chapter 4: Shopping For Company

The next week they met ‘by accident’ as they shopped at about the same time as usual. As it happened she was not averse to meeting him again as he seemed a nice, respectable and respectful person. In her straitened circumstances she never went out and so never met anyone to talk to from one week’s end to the next. Besides that he had paid for last weeks’ groceries, seeming not to notice the cost, and she was becoming desperate for funds.

For his part David was definitely interested in meeting her again, as he had high hopes of ‘having his wicked way with her’. There had only been one woman in his bed, and one over his desk, since his wife fell ill three and a half years ago, and his bedmate had moved away from the area with her husband some weeks earlier. For some reason he found this apparently submissive woman who was obviously going through a hard time totally irresistible. Perhaps it was the challenge of stealing her from her absent husband, or perhaps it was simply the desire to have someone to dominate.

After doing their shopping and collecting coffees and teacakes, David paying as before, they sat in a quiet corner of the supermarket café to enjoy a quiet chat. David rather surprised Wendy by asking outright, “Are you ready to tell me what your problem is? I can’t help you until I know what is wrong.”

“Not here,” she whispered.

“Well, on the way home then?” he persisted.

Reluctantly she nodded, feeling that she was being pushed into giving away her secrets. On the other hand he might be able to find out what has happened to Rodney, she thought, and that decided her.

Parking in the lay-by he turned to her and said, “Wendy, I don’t want to pry, but you obviously need help and I can’t help you if I don’t know the problem. Now you have a choice,” he put a little management emphasis in his voice, “tell me the problem or I won’t bother you again.”

I have some bills coming soon I don’t know how I will be able to pay, like the TV license and he seems very nice, she thought so she started to answer, “Rodney, my husband...” and then she just burst into tears.

Starting the car again, David drove off as she sobbed uncontrollably. He pulled into a public car park and drove to a deserted corner, well away from any other vehicles. Passing her a handkerchief he ordered, “Dry your eyes and tell me about it. Start when the difficulties started and tell me everything.”

It seemed natural to Wendy to obey this apparently caring and well meaning man so she told him, “It all started when I didn’t get pregnant. We’ve tried for a baby for years now and it just never happens. The doctors say it should as they could find nothing wrong with either of us after a lot of tests.” She started to cry again.

“Stop crying. I can’t help with that,” David said fairly brusquely, thinking, This one is really a submissive. I will get her.

Collecting her thoughts and drying her eyes, Wendy continued, “Rodney, that’s my husband, started an affair with his secretary and stopped having sex with me mostly. He used to tell me about their wonderful sex life and make me feel awful. He said,” another burst of sobbing, “he said all I was good for was doing his laundry.” She fell silent.

After a short silence David remarked, “I can’t help you with that problem. What is your immediate and solvable problem?”

“Well, money really,” she whispered, “and you have already helped me more than I have any right to expect.”

“He’s left you then?”

“Yes. When Angelica, the secretary, fell pregnant he arranged a transfer for both of them within his company and they moved in together.”

David looked surprised as he asked, “But isn’t he paying you anything? You can chase him through the courts for some help.”

Wendy’s voice was quite angry as she explained, “I could I suppose, but they moved to work in the Singapore office and a solicitor I went to told me it would cost far more than I would get, and they might both be put in jail there because their laws are very strict about sex. I wouldn’t wish that on Angelica because it wasn’t her fault.”

“So to sum it up, you have no husband to rely on and no income? Is that right?”

“My savings are almost gone and my parents can’t afford to keep giving me money. What I need is a job, but I have never worked and so I’m not trained for anything,” Wendy admitted, once again near tears, “The JobCentre didn’t hold out much hope. I suppose when I’m homeless the streets will be the only answer.”

“I’ll think about your problem and see if I have any ideas about a job. I can promise that, at least,” David said as he started the car again. He dropped her at the entrance to her housing estate without another word.

Wendy walked the few hundred yards to her house thinking, Well I suppose he might come up with something, but I doubt it.