Chapter 9

THINGS were frosty between them that week, Gill felt. Jake rang her as usual at her bedtime on Monday night, but he was dull and distant, clearly tired and troubled. When she asked what was the matter he just said he’d had to work really late because he had a lot of problems at work. Their conversation lasted only twenty minutes, half their normal night time call to each other. He called off short, saying he was tired and had an early start in the morning. At least they told each other, “I love you,” at the end of the call. Gill wasn’t convinced his words were genuine.

She lay in bed thinking about the conversation. It led to her first bad night’s sleep in weeks. Jake was never tired, she thought, he never even worked that late, except on rare occasions, and there were no big issues at the bank that required excessive printing, otherwise she would have been aware of them. It sounded like he was lying to her. He had never lied to her before, not like Wayne had.

Wayne! It occurred to Gill that Jake was clearly upset because Wayne was living under her roof. It wasn’t that she saw much of her ex-husband though. He also got in late from work that evening, grumbling ungraciously at her about having to warm up his dinner in the microwave. Then he moaned because, after Gill and two young Jarvis’s had their three baths, the water ran cold when Wayne ran his own.

She spoke to him about his temporary accommodation on Tuesday morning, “I know I said you could stay for the week, but it is no longer convenient. Did you speak to ... Cheryl ... and patch things up between you?”

“Didn’t get a chance to call her, I was working late. We’ve got a big takeover bid running, er, for a client and it takes a lot of arranging, as you know, plus some pissant bastard’s begun suing the bank for defaulting on some stupid piddling little service agreement.”

“Well, you have to talk to her today because I need you out of here tomorrow afternoon before Jake comes around for dinner.”

“But -”

“But nothing! You wrecked our marriage, Wayne, through your selfishness. I will not stand by and allow you to wreck my chances of happiness, or the kids’. Jake’s great, he’s good for all three of us. You’ve got a partner and a new family, you should be thinking about what’s best for them and then putting in every effort, to put their needs first and yours second, to get your relationship back on the rails.”

Wayne stamped out in a temper. She knew he was pissed off because he kicked his wheel in frustration and clearly hurt himself, dropping his briefcase, which burst open, scattering his paperwork.

She stood back the shadows of her kitchen window laughing, while watching him limp around her little driveway chasing his papers, before driving off. It was only on reflection later in the day that Gill realised that was the last time she smiled that Tuesday.

Jake left a verbal message with her secretary Kelly on Tuesday morning while Gill was in a meeting.

“Those were his exact words, Kell?” Gill asked after Kelly had passed it on, trying to keep the sorrow she felt out of her voice, thinking she could fall over in a dead faint at any moment.

“I think so, Gill, he just popped his gorgeous head around the corner to ask if you were in. He looked disappointed when I said you’d be a couple of hours, so he just said something like, ‘tell her something’s come up and I’ve had to go away, and I’ll call when I get back.’ Oh, he added ‘Tell her ... Oh, just pass the message on.’ I think he was going to say ‘Tell her I love her’ but got embarrassed, you know what men are like. He looked so sorry he missed you, just like a cute puppy.”

Jake didn’t ring or text Gill that day and she was concerned that he had forgotten that they had a tentative date for a family meal in her house on Wednesday night. When she called him at bedtime, the call went straight to voicemail. She hesitated about what to say to the machine. It was clear they were finished. That was why he called in at her office to see her, to tell her to her face. That would be Jake’s way, honest, upfront. A lovely man, who she let slip and fall through her fingers. She didn’t have the heart to leave any message and, with a heavy heart and a box of tissues by the bedside, closed the connection and switched off the light.

Gill was filled with reflections on awakening. In the cold light of day she was sure where their relationship was going as there didn’t seem any opportunity for more progress and thought it must be her own fault. Perhaps hinting about moving in with Jake as lodgers was probably going too far even though she had been joking. His reply about wanting her to move in must have been a joke too, or maybe he was genuine and consequently upset about her hesitation.

Things had been going so well when she had been bold and taking the initiative, and immediately turned bad when he was the one who made a bold offer and she had slapped him down by her reluctance to take up his offer.

Gill felt it was no wonder that Jake was now holding back on continuing their romance, in fact it seemed like he was in full retreat. He was a damaged soul who had seemed destined to live alone. Gill had given him a glimmer of hope for a future happy partnership together but destroyed his dream in a single stroke of indecision and, in so doing, destroyed her future happiness too.

Jake was not in the bank’s print room on Wednesday when Gill popped her head through the doorway an hour before her normal start time. A girl, quite a pretty young girl, was bustling around pulling out copies and binding them. She looked very efficient. Her nameplate, when she turned to face her first customer of the day, read ‘Christina’.

“Can I help you?” the girl asked brightly, with a beautiful smile.

“Hello, is er, John around?” Gill asked.

The girl smiled sweetly, as she punched sheets and bound them efficiently while continuing to hold a conversation.

“No, he’s off for a week or so, although it’s open-ended exactly how long. I’m filling in for him. Can I help you with anythink?”

“Oh, not really. I er, he er, he, I mean, he never takes a holiday. And this is all very sudden, he didn’t say anything on Monday.”

“That’s what everybody says,” she said, dropping the volume a little as if taking Gill into her confidence, “Jake never takes a holiday an’ they seem to think he doesn’t have any friends outside of the business. We at SWN thought the same. Looks like maybe, we was all wrong.”

“So he’s away with friends?”

“I think it’s both actually, some friends’ business what he’s invested in and is helpin’ them put their expansion plans in order. I think we’re all quite excited about it actually. He’s treatin’ all the staff, every single one of us, to a weekend’s pony trekking on Dartmoor in the summer. It’ll be spread over several weekends, obviously, because there are so many of us goin’, an’ he’s organising coaches to collect us an’ take us down an’ ev’rythink. What a great boss, eh?” she beamed.

“He’s the boss?” Gill asked, “You said Jake was your boss, I thought he just worked here.”

“I know he doesn’t act like most bosses do, but the rest of the guys say he’s a brilliant boss. I’ve only been with the company for three months but I’ve known him for years anyway, an’ before he went he confirmed me trial period an’ assured us that I’d be included in the trip.”

“So when did he go down there?”

“Tuesday lunchtime, he called me supervisor Sally, she’s actually me older sister, and I came over mid-mornin’ so he could show us the ropes.”

“You look as though you’re coping.”

“Thank you. Yeah, hopefully I should be OK, we have pretty much the same equipment in each site and the trainin’s brill. Some of me friends work for a rival company an’ they just get a quick couple of days’ learnin’ the basics before being dumped on their own in a strange office with gear they’ve never seen before. Jake makes us follow a plan within a work folder so we have every piece of equipment covered, as well as made comfortable with experience at several of the 30 sites, so we can easily cover for holidays an’ sickness, not that anyone’s ever sick. I spent me first week here trainin’ with Jake startin’ in Jan’ary, so I was already used to where everythink goes.”