Chapter 5

Business and pleasure

ONCE THE dance band started their first set, Tim had requested Finn to ask Patty to dance once in a while throughout the evening, although he advised him with a chuckle to sensibly step out with Abbey for a dance or two prior to doing so. He had advised that the young man lighten up, too, and look as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself this evening as a guest of the Jones’ family. It mattered little if he made a little bit of a fool of himself, so long as he looked as though he was enjoying taking full part in the party and not taking himself too seriously. After all, if he were having fun, even if he was playing the fool a little, then his date Abbey would join in the fun too. Tim had intended asking his niece Patty for a dance as soon as he got back to the table, but the goddess dressed in emerald green waylaid him. When they got to the Jones’ table Tim found that the young woman wasn’t actually at the party alone and she soon introduced Tim to her date for the evening.

“Tim,” said the lovely goddess in emerald green as they approached the table, “this is Rod Kipling, one of my father’s rising stars in the insurance business.” The beautiful woman presented a very young man, probably in his mid-20s, about the same height as Tim but in every other respect different. Slightly built, he had spiky bleached blond hair and gold wire-rimmed spectacles; his face had a pinched, nervous look, but his smile in introduction looked quite pleasant and genuine.

In his turn Tim introduced himself to the newcomers as Tim Smith and his niece Patty Messenger. Abbey’s attention was focused across to another table and didn’t make any move to introduce Finn, so Tim introduced him as Fraser Findlay, leaving it up to him whether he wished to direct them to his preferred nickname if and when he felt so inclined.

Tim had to ask, “And you are... ?” to her green satin-clad loveliness.

“I’m so sorry,” she blushed bright red, looking even more fetching, if that was at all humanly possible, “I’m Michelle Jones.”

If she had looked beautiful before, simply by standing there, now she was even more stunning with that added colour in her dimpled cheeks. Tim wanted to ask her to dance, but how could he possibly do such an insensitive thing like that to her date? Tim had strict rules about dating married women; those rules applied equally well to sharing women who he knew were in a relationship. Having brought drinks over for himself and Finn and now with new guests arrived, Tim asked in general around the table if anyone else wanted a drink, but all said they would go for the wine on the table. So, Tim asked Patty if she would like to dance and she smiled and said she would love to.

Casting his mind back, Tim guessed he hadn’t danced with Patty since she was about 12, so it seemed strange taking her arm now that she was a full-grown woman and leading her out onto the dance floor. She was happily smiling though, brimming with her newfound confidence, and they danced and chatted for the next three dances. The dance band was very good, not too loud that conversation was difficult, often the problem with discos. His young niece glowed with happiness and kept thanking Tim for inviting her to this party, she was enjoying the dance, the dancing, the company, her dress, the jewels, everything.

“Even though a few dances are with me?” he interrupted, coyly.

“Well, Uncle Tim,” she started, with a delicious grin on her face, “I think that, for an old fogey, my very favourite uncle isn’t doing too badly and you are more like my fairy godfather after helping me with my dress, bag, shoes and the loan of these jewels. Even just the fact that you had thought of bringing me to this party at all, has made me feel more so much more confident to face the world again, particularly when lovely people like the Jones’ have made me feel so welcome.”

Tim kissed her familiarly on the forehead and assured his niece that she deserved everything she received and that indeed he was the lucky one allowed to be her escort this evening. Tim confirmed that he thought she looked very beautiful tonight and that after they returned to the table he would leave her free to dance with the other guests, certain that she would soon be in demand.

As soon as they got back to the table, Finn got up and asked Patty for the next dance, which she was very pleased to do immediately, so Tim thought it perfectly appropriate at this point to reciprocate and ask Abbey to step out onto the dance floor.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Abbey pouted, following it up with her trademark dimpled smile, which reminded Tim so much of her older sister.

“I like Finn,” he said.

“Yes, he’s sweet, respectful and kind, a little shy maybe, but awfully clever,” Abbey agreed. “Mainly he’s really nice, and I need nice right now, because you’re not interested in romancing me.” She made to pout, but then giggled to show it was all an act.

The dance at least gave Tim a chance to speak with her about more serious matters that hovered over them but felt he had to let her talk about tonight first. Abbey declared that she’d like to know Patty a lot more, she was so down to earth and well, another nice person. Abbey added that during the conversation with his niece Patty had been full of praise for her ‘lovely favourite uncle’, which they both smiled at. Then Abbey kicked off her shoes and held Tim very close to her when the music changed to a slow number and asked the question that he had been expecting since asking her to dance with him.

“What happened to Toby and his idiot friends the other night?” She had her arms around his neck as they slowly danced and looked him straight in the eye. She didn’t look like she would accept the non-committal reply that her father had appeared to have been perfectly happy with almost a week earlier.

“Are you sure you really want to know?” he asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Absolutely.”

“You can never tell anyone, Abbey, and I mean anyone, including your family.”

“I can withstand any torture,” Abbey looked deadly serious, before collapsing into giggles, “except the ultimate torture of not actually knowing!”

“Well, I was lucky, I guess,” Tim said quietly. He didn’t want this to be a glamorous or exciting account of what went on. Brawling in public, particularly using vicious weapons, was anything but glamorous. In fact, he felt more than a little guilty that once all three were at his mercy he had extracted revenge by inflicting further injury on them. Tim had reasoned with himself at the time that he was only metering out a fraction of the pain they had intended for him, but in the cold light of day he believed that he had actually carried out a cowardly act by beating them while they were so incapacitated.

“They tried to bushwhack me at the back of the car park at Crystal’s,” he said, “so I lured them into a chase to White’s Dairy Alley where I reduced the odds somewhat and was extremely lucky that I got away so lightly.”

Abbey caressed his forehead, which had become quite a colourful bruise over the past few days, and the small cut in his hairline, which had scabbed over, feeling slightly rough to the gentle touch of her fingertips.

“It’s amazing that you took on three people on your own and overcame them, it was so brave of you, you really are my knight in shining armour!”

“Oh no I’m not, young lady!” Tim thought that he was probably a little snappier with his retort than he had intended. He calmed himself down again, resting his forehead against hers, eye-to-eye, speaking quietly to her, “There was nothing noble about it, Abbey. It was brutal and swift, I had to separate them and put each one down within the first or second blow, otherwise they could have done me some serious harm with their weapons. Once they were down, I added a few extra bruises by hitting them a couple of times with Toby’s own bat, which I assure you I am not very proud of.”

“OK,” Abbey commented, “I can accept that fighting is completely outside my experience but I still cannot help being delighted that the aggressors ended up in an ambulance and you were able to walk away with your dignity intact and almost unhurt.”

“Well, I admit that I was pretty pleased that I got off so lightly, too,” Tim grinned. “Only don’t breathe a word about this to anyone, and that includes your family, as a number of my very good friends have gone out on a limb to vouch for me that I was somewhere else entirely when this incident went down.”

“I promise I won’t breathe a word to anyone,” she promised, “but if I promise that, you must do something for me, now, please?”

“That depends,” Tim countered, “on what you want me to do.”

She grinned, “Dance with my sister tonight and then ask her out on a dinner date.”

“I can dance with her tonight, that’s no problem, in fact it would be a pleasure, but I can’t possibly ask her out on a date.”

“Why not? Michelle’s absolutely lovely!”

“She is, she really is,” Tim nodded and then shook his head, “But I can’t do that to Rod, he seems like a nice lad. Besides, I don’t go out with married women or anyone already in a relationship.”

“I suppose he is a likeable man, Rod, I don’t really know him at all, but then neither does Michelle. Daddy says Rod shows a lot of promise at work and it was he who sent him round to escort Michelle to the party, because she had said that she didn’t want to come on her own. In fact she doesn’t go anywhere and never, ever comes to these functions. I think Mum was actually doing all the pressing, which included the opportunity to meet you, who has been the subject that has monopolised our conversations all week.”

“So Rod isn’t her boyfriend?”

“No more than you are Patty’s boyfriend,” she grinned, “I understand Daddy actually had to twist Rod’s arm, because he had assumed Michelle was our ‘ugly sister’!”

During the rest of that slow dance with Abbey, Tim wore the biggest smile on his face since he arrived at the party that evening.

Tim and Abbey finished dancing the current number, realising they must’ve been out there for at least three or four dances while they chatted, and made their way back to the table. By the time they got there, Roger, Jenny, Geoff and Lesley had long since completed their meet and greet duties and were all sitting down with the others, chattering away among themselves. Patty gave Tim a big smile, then Tim looked at Michelle and she was smiling at him too. The thought occurred to him that he would never be truly happy again unless he could see that smile all the time; forever would just about be long enough. A dance to start with, perhaps?

However, Lesley interrupted his pleasant thoughts.

“My turn, Tim, I think,” she said, standing up and grabbing him by the arm. The music for the next number was just starting and it was a fast once this time.

“What about Geoff—” Tim protested before she cut him off with a determined comment aimed towards the rest of the table.

“I’ve seen you dance more tonight than Geoff has in the last three parties combined, so you’re mine for the next five minutes at least, Mister Smith!”

Geoff had a huge grin on his face, saying “Have fun kids, don’t do anything...”

As they moved away from the table, Tim saw Finn rise and ask his girl Abbey for this dance but Abbey declined. Tim assumed this was because she wanted a quiet word with her sister, Michelle about him, so Finn then asked her mother and Jenny couldn’t get up from her seat fast enough.

Lesley was certainly a sinuous mover and she was laughing a lot, determined to enjoy herself on her first opportunity to dance tonight. Next to them, Finn and Jenny were doing some mock jiving. Jenny could certainly move too but it was Finn that surprised Tim. He had told Finn earlier that he needed to have fun and here he was with a big stupid grin on his face, which Tim had to say suited his face perfectly, and he was moving and grooving, completely uncoordinated but he was attempting, no, he was sort of doing it. And, he was doing it ... well, ‘well’ would have been an exaggeration, but at least it was OK as an attempt. He did look like he was having enormous fun, as was his partner Jenny, who joined in enthusiastically. Tim had a go at jiving with Lesley then and, when the girls did a spin around each other on the next turn round, Finn and Tim did a spin of their own and threw in “high fives” between them as well. The girls stopped dancing, killing themselves laughing at the pair. The two guys didn’t think it was all that funny, so Finn and Tim started jiving with each other which only made the girls laugh even harder and they had to help hold each other up. Tim thought that he and Finn danced pretty well, but they both decided there and then that in future they wouldn’t make a habit of it!

When the music stopped, Finn and Tim decided to swap their partners, so Tim took Jenny into his arms as the band played a nice slow number and Lesley cuddled up to the slim, gangly Finn.

“I wanted to get you on your own, Timothy Smith, so I could thank you personally,” Jenny opened the conversation between them as she settled comfortably in his arms. “Abbey didn’t say anything to us about what happened with Toby a couple of months ago until those photos turned up out of the blue on her mobile phone a couple of days ago. Then Abbey felt she had to say something by way of explanation for the animosity between those boys and you. My family owes you a lot. I think all my family love you, Tim Smith, you know?”

“Well, I love your family, Jenny Jones, too,” Tim replied, “You really don’t owe me anything at all, you know.”

“Well, I’m not so sure about that, young man. Anyway, I want to ask you to add one more little favour for us,” she said, “which will maybe lead on to more than one thing if I’m really honest.”

“OK,” Tim said, somewhat hesitatingly, “Like what little favour?”

“Dance with my daughter—”

“—Already done so,” he interjected, “Abbey’s a great dance partner...”

“No, my other daughter Michelle,” she continued in a voice emphasising patience with a misunderstanding child. “I know you once had quite a reputation as a serial womaniser in the past but not so much recently. No one I feel any respect for has got a single bad word to say about you, so I hoped you would be in the right frame of mind to settle down one day with the right woman. Now, Michelle is such a lovely person and she is lonely, but seems unable to get out and find someone who she deserves and who truly deserves her. I think you two’d be great together. She needs someone in her life that will treat her with respect, protect her and make her as blissfully happy as she should be. I think you could just be the man.”

“You are too late,” Tim said solemnly, when she had finished.

“Oh no! Don’t tell me you already have someone you are in love with?” she sounded crestfallen, her brow knitted in a concerned and worried look. “I thought when you brought your niece—”

Tim grinned, “No, I didn’t mean that kind of late. It’s just that Abbey has already asked me to dance with Michelle; only she also requested that I take her out to dinner, too. Did that have anything to do with what you called ‘more than one thing’?”

“Dinner would definitely be a start,” she replied smiling, after slapping him on the arm, no doubt for leading her up the garden path. Then she hesitated as if she wanted to say more but was trying to sort out her thoughts before speaking.

“And after dinner?” Tim prompted, urging her to continue.

She smiled broadly before continuing, “Well, you could just get her to fall head over heels in love with you, while you could fall in love with her in return, then get married to each other and, as soon as possible after that, give Roger and I lots more beautiful grandchildren.”

“Wow!” Tim said, as he stopped their dancing and the pair stood facing one another. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

“Well, it does sound a lot when I put it altogether like that but all I am asking is for you to make the first couple of steps and then see how it goes.” Jenny bit her lip, “Are you game to try?”

“She looks lovely, I really like her already.”

“Just don’t hurt her, Michelle’s nowhere near as robust as she looks, working with children all the time, that’s all I ask.”

“I only hurt guys that want to hurt me or the people I really care about.”

“I know, and I’m glad you care. My whole family is glad you care.”

When Tim escorted Jenny back to the table, Michelle was still out on the dance floor partnering Finn, who had just beaten him to the punch again and appeared to be acting well outside of his previous shell. They were dancing next to Patty, who was partnering young Rod, Michelle’s rather reluctant date. Abbey, Lesley and Geoff were in conversation.

Tim finished off the last of his second beer and asked if anyone else around the table wanted a drink. Roger said he would love a malt whisky and decided to accompany him to the bar to see what choice they had on offer. When they got there Roger asked if he could have a quiet word with Tim at the far end of the bar where it was quite deserted and they were unlikely to be overheard.

“You’re not going to ask me to dance with Michelle, are you, Roger?” Tim asked, suspiciously.

“No, of course not,” Roger looked puzzled, “I suppose I assumed you might have got around to it yourself at some stage during the evening, and I certainly wasn’t going to object, if that’s what you were thinking. Mickey needs to get out more; she spends too much time surrounded by children and seems less comfortable than she really should be around adults. Anyway, I hope she has a good time tonight, as she doesn’t usually come to these events. I know Jenny has mentioned to me that she would very much like to match the two of you up together. Not a problem, dancing with her, is it?”

“No, not at all,” Tim grinned, “It’s just that Abbey and Jenny have already asked me to dance with Michelle and I couldn’t think of any other reason while you’d pull me to one side to ask me something that you perhaps didn’t want Michelle or the others to overhear.”

“Ah,” he nodded with a laugh, pausing before saying what he wanted to raise with him. “No, this is business, actually possible business anyway. I was playing golf with Tom Johnson Senior, the MD of Johnson Engineering, the other day and we had quite an interesting conversation.”

“I know Tom quite well.”

“He told me that he knew you, and that he leases all his company cars and liveried vans from you.”

“That’s right. For most businesses the leasing of company cars and even larger vehicles works well because you can pay for the service out of revenue expenses and spread the cost rather than tie up capital, which is much better employed in your core business.” Tim said, “We supply lease cars and trucks to many local businesses, large and small companies.”

“Except my insurance company, which leases our cars from a large national organisation.”

“Except your insurance company, yes.” Tim confirmed with a nod.

“Why not?”

“You will have to ask Glynn Hazel for that reason. He won’t even let me quote speculatively for the business, let alone allow me to put together a specifically structured plan geared to your exact requirements, like I do with all my other potential prospects.”

“Why not?”

“Again, you’ll have to ask Hazel. I have tried to quote for your business for the last ten to twelve years but he doesn’t want to know. At Monroe’s Motors we call him ‘Hassle’ rather than Hazel because it was a hassle just trying to persuade him to give us the basic requirements that we required to put together a realistic comparable quotation. Even my old boss Matt Monroe tried for a long while before me. I sent Hazel any number of made up quotes based on similar situations to your company, without a single comment back, and eventually Mrs Monroe had told us not to bother wasting our time for the last couple of years.”

“Why do you think he won’t even give you a basis to quote on?”

Tim paused for a while before giving an answer. This was tricky, after all this conversation was all about one of Roger’s senior colleagues.

“Do you really want my opinion?”

“I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

“I think he is getting a substantial kick back from your current leasing company and MS Leasing never have given, and never will give, any kick backs. I imagine they have told him not to even ask for a quote as that same nationally advertised company have lost quite a bit of business to us over the years. As far as gifts and bribes are concerned, nothing is ever free, it affects the bottom line anyway and just gets in the way of good business.”

“Oh!”

“You asked.”

“I did.” Roger was thoughtful for a moment. “Integrity, that word seems to pop into my head every time I have a conversation with or about you.”

“We’re not unique, Roger, I’m sure your company does the same. Any company worth its salt bases its principles on having an honest relationship with its customers. I think it’s a matter of treating people as you would wish to be treated,” Tim observed, “It’s a simple philosophy, it’s not rocket science. Monroe’s Motors and MS Leasing will continue in business for a long while without having to deal with people like Hazel, forcing us to put in unrealistic bids which ultimately have to include the costs of the bribe.”

“Some people seem to go out of their way to avoid treating people right.”

“I can’t be bothered with such people,” Tim observed, leading the topic back to who they were talking about, “Is he here tonight? Our friend Glynn?”

“He never misses our Christmas party.”

“All that free booze and food, I suppose,” Tim commented, somewhat uncharitably.

“I think I’ll ambush him while he’s here in a good mood and make sure he contacts you with all the details you need first thing Monday. I’d be interested in seeing the figures and your contract conditions,” Roger said, “Tom told me that he had always been satisfied in his dealings with Monroe’s and MS Leasing and he checks out at least two other leasing companies every contract renewal and has never been disappointed by going back to you.”