Chapter 4

I rang Sally at just after eleven that evening.

"Hello, Peter, thanks for ringing."

"How do you know its me?" I asked. "Are you psychic?"

"No, its because I've got one of these caller ID thingies attached to the phone line, and I programmed your name and number in it before I went out this evening. Lucy wanted to know why I put you in as DP and was amused when I said that DP was Daddy Peter, which is what Angie often calls you now, and I explained that if your ex happened to be round here, God forbid, and the caller ID came up with Peter McKenzie, we might have difficulty explaining it away."

"My goodness yes, she would go absolutely spare if she knew I was in touch with Angie through you."

"Too true. Anyway, the reason I asked you to phone was to discuss one or two things about this weekend. First, can I ask what you are expecting?"

"How do you mean, 'expecting'? I'm hoping for a pleasant weekend with you and the girls, and, I ought to admit, I am hoping to have some time with Angie in a situation where we can continue to share what we enjoyed on Sunday. Why do you ask?"

"Well, to listen to some of the things that those two have said, it sounds as though they expect the weekend to be a cross between a gang-bang and an all out orgy. Has Angie said anything like that to you?"

"She did say that she thought that Lucy," I hesitated, "... and you, I'm afraid, might want me to make love with her, and you, but I took this as the product of an overactive imagination. One thing that you can be assured of, there is no way that I will instigate anything with anyone, including Angie. If she wants me again, then fine, I will be overjoyed, but I'm not going to suggest it. But what if Lucy starts something? Would you prefer that I ensure that we are never in a situation where she could?" I felt that this was a most peculiar conversation, discussing with a mother whether or not I should rebuff the advances of her daughter.

"Peter, I am sure that Angie wants you again, and I think she will feel let down if she has to make the running. Obviously you won't force yourself on her, but do let her know quite plainly that you want to make love with her again."

"That won't be difficult, it would be much harder not to do so. But you don't think that she will feel pressurized?"

"Not in the slightest, I am absolutely certain of that. Now, about Lucy," then she hesitated just as had I, "... if she wants you, and, of course if you want her, then I have no objections at all. As I told you in my letter, I have done a lot of checking on you, and adding in Angie's reactions makes me think that Lucy will come to no harm with you, she might, will, I ought to say, come, but not to harm." At this she laughed, as did I... Then she continued, "I do have one concern though."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well I am sure that you would not put Angie's health at risk, but that is your concern. Lucy is mine. Are you certain that you are free from any STDs?"

"STDs? Oh sexually transmitted diseases. Yes, I am quite sure, otherwise I would not have taken any risk with Angie, no matter what she wanted. I haven't had unprotected sex since we were divorced, and just in case of infection occurring in spite of that, I go to a GUM clinic for a check every three months. Besides that, the last time I had any sexual contact was nearly a year ago, until last Sunday."

"That puts my mind at rest. Thank you for being so forthright. It can't be any easier for you answering these questions than it is for me to ask them. It's only fair that I reciprocate. I go with Lucy for a check every couple of months, and am glad to say that they have always been clear, and the only person that has had sexual contact with Lucy is Freddie, and I made sure that he was OK before that happened. Like you, I haven't had unprotected sex for a long time. You said that you would not instigate anything, well I'm not going to offer myself to you now, but if when you are here I do fancy you," she giggled girlishly, "you will know about it, but you are quite free to decline, and I will not be offended. After all, just because one person is attracted to another doesn't mean the attraction is mutual."

"I quite agree with you, and thank you for being so frank," I replied.

"That's OK. Now, about arrangements for the weekend. First of all, I know Angie will be dying to have time alone with you, so I propose to take Lucy to the cinema on Friday afternoon. Fortunately there is a film on we both want to see, so that will give the two of you about 4 hours together."

"That sounds great. Thank you again, that is most thoughtful of you."

"Then Friday evening, I thought that we might all go out to dinner. I know that I said in the letter that it might be risky to go out, but there is a lovely restaurant about thirty miles away, very small and discreet, but wonderful food, and when I have been there I have never seen anyone I know. I think the risk would be minute. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds a fabulous idea. Will you book, please? However, I insist on paying."

"No, it's my idea, I will pay."

"Look, I'm going to be your guest for the weekend, I owe you an immense debt, first for being so kind to Angie, and then for the rest that you have done for me. I really would like to pay as a small token of my appreciation."

"There really is no need, but if you feel like that, I accept. Thank you.

"Moving on to Saturday," she continued, "I had a phone call from the Ladies' Captain at the Golf Club this morning, and they are one short for a match on Saturday afternoon. I would like to play, as it is a league match and we are doing well this season, so I don't like to let them down if I can avoid it. I have provisionally said 'Yes' but with the reservation that I would let her know otherwise, if necessary, as soon as possible. It's a bit of a cheek inviting you, and then saying I'm going off to play golf, particularly as I shall be leaving at half past twelve, and probably won't be back until nine or half past in the evening as there is a dinner afterwards, and attendance is mandatory if playing."

"Don't worry about me," I said. "I know how important league matches are, I've played in enough in my time, and just you enjoy the dinner afterwards. I'll take the girls out somewhere some distance away for the afternoon. My car is new since I left, so it won't be recognized, and with it having tinted windows, no-one will be able to see in. Will you ask the girls if there is anywhere they would like to go, and if necessary book for me?"

"Of course, I'm sure that they would love to be escorted by you for the afternoon, provided it is somewhere well away. I'll ask them, and have a think myself. I think that's all for the moment. Angie says you will be away until Thursday, but feel free to phone if there is anything that occurs to you that you want to talk about before then. Oh, have you any questions now? I seem to have been doing all the asking and proposing."

"I don't think so. I'm just so grateful for all your efforts."

"I'm so grateful for Angie being such a good friend to Lucy. Lucy's not very good at making friends with other girls, and Angie has been so good for her. Well, if there is nothing more, I'll say good night and look forward to seeing you on Friday."

"There is one thing that has occurred to me," I said rather hesitantly.

"Ask, then, I've asked enough already."

"Should it be that we, er, you and I, decide that we wish to, errr, enjoy each other," I really didn't know quite how to ask what I wanted to know.

"Yes? If we do, what about it?"

"Can we be sure of privacy?"

"Are you asking whether there would just be the two of us?"

"No, I had assumed that would be the case. It would, wouldn't it?"

"Most definitely. I am a one and one person, and I definitely don't give shows for others to watch. What the girls will suggest, if anything, is their decision — and yours, of course. So what you are asking then, is, should it occur, will the girls be able to hear us, is that it?"

"Yes. I have never made love with anyone in a situation where someone else could hear, except in the anonymity of a hotel."

"Well, I can set your mind at rest on that score. Fortunately, the previous owners of this house had a son who was part of a rock band, (of all the appalling things) and he wanted somewhere to practise, so they built a studio over the garages and soundproofed it. Not content with soundproofing the room itself, they also installed two soundproof doors between the studio and the rest of the house. The house rule here now, is that the studio is the only room in the house where Lucy can play her dreadful CDs." At this she laughed, and I joined in. "Normally, Lucy sleeps in the room next to mine, but when Angie is here — she has stayed overnight a few times — they both sleep in the studio, and that's where they will be this weekend."

"What a great idea, to have a soundproof room to shut teenagers in."

"Believe me, its an absolute Godsend. It's one of the reasons I bought the house. Another very useful feature of the house left over from the previous owners, is an intercom system linking most of the rooms, but it is only active when a button is pressed. So if I want Lucy when she is in the studio, I can press the 'Studio' button wherever I am, and it sounds a buzzer in the studio, and then if she presses the 'Talk' button, we can communicate, but there is no way for me to hear anything in the studio until she presses the 'Talk' button. Thus, supposing that it should be that you and I were in my bedroom, and the girls were in the studio, the only way that they could hear us would be if they pressed the appropriate button in the studio, and one of us pressed 'Talk' in the bedroom. I can understand your concern, but I assure you that you need not worry about being overheard."

"Thanks. It sounds quite a remarkable house that you have."

"You haven't heard the half of it. My predecessors here were technofreaks, and if something could be automated, remoted, or motorised, then by and large they did it. When we first came here, Lucy loved all the gadgets, but now we just sort of take them all for granted. Anyway, you'll see for yourself on Friday."

"I'm looking forward to it. Do you want my mobile number in case anything comes up. I'll be leaving here late morning tomorrow, and back Thursday afternoon. The mobile will be switched off most of the time, but feel free to send texts or leave voice messages if it is off should you ring. I turn it on for a few minutes whenever I get the opportunity, and there is no chance of anyone else answering it, reading my texts, or hearing any voice messages."

"I can't think of any reason why I should need it, but if I don't have it, I'm sure that there will be a reason, so yes, please give it to me just in case."

I gave her the number, and she gave me her mobile number, and then we said good night and hung up.

As I had a couple of spare hours the following morning before I had to leave to go to a conference at a hotel near the head office of the firm I work for, I went out and bought the underwear for Sally and Lucy, along with some decent wrapping paper and large Jiffy bags to post them in. I was fortunate that the two shops both had the sizes I wanted, bras in 34B, 36C, and also 34DD as I had decided to get a second set for Angie as she seemed to like them so much — and as I liked them on her — and the panties, two pairs small and one medium.

I was quite amused at the look on the assistant's face in each shop when I was buying more than one size, particularly the bra shop where I wanted the same bra in three sizes. The ones for Sally and Lucy were in black, just like the ones I had given Angie already, but I decided to buy ones in red for Angie, in spite of having read that men only buy red lingerie for their own benefit, and that no woman would ever buy it for herself — I don't believe that anyway.

Back home again, I wrote a brief note to accompany each set, wrapped them up, and then put them into three separate Jiffy bags, addressed them all to Sally's house — I was sure that Angie would be there again before I arrived on Friday, and as I was going to post them first class before I went away, they ought to arrive on Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest.

While wrapping them, I started wondered whether I would get to see them being worn during the following weekend, but quickly changed my thoughts away from such erotic musings, remembering Angie's instruction to keep my hands off myself.

That evening, I was sitting in the bar with three or four colleagues, chatting as one does about nothing in particular, when my thought turned to my phone call with Sally Roman the night before, and I realised how much I had enjoyed it. I then began to wonder if she would mind if I phoned her again. At first I thought she might think I was being presumptuous, but then thought that if she didn't want to talk with me, she sounded like the sort of woman who would soon make her feelings very clear.

I looked at my watch, and saw that it was just after half past ten, so I made my excuses to the people I was sitting with, and went up to my room. I made a cup of coffee with the materials provided by the hotel, while I tried to summon up the courage to phone her. I'd really liked what I knew of her, and didn't want to risk spoiling anything that might develop by being too hasty, but at the same time I did want to hear her voice again.

The trouble was, I couldn't for the life of me think of any sensible pretext for ringing her. Eventually, I managed to pick up the phone and punch in her number, but even as I did so, I was half hoping she wouldn't reply.

"Hello, Sally Roman."

"Hello, Sally, it's Peter McKenzie, I hope I haven't disturbed you."

"Oh, hi Peter. No, I was just sitting here reading. Lucy's gone to bed, and I was enjoying the peace and quiet."

"I am disturbing you then, I do apologise."

"Don't be silly, I meant the peace and quiet of not having the TV on, or Lucy's chatter interrupting my reading, or my train of thought when not reading. I'm delighted you've called, but is there a problem?"

"No," I replied, and then hesitated before saying, "I hope you won't think I'm being... er... forward, but I did enjoy talking to you last night, and hoped you wouldn't mind if I rang you again. Please say if you'd rather I hadn't called, won't you?"

"Peter, if I had rather you hadn't called, or if I didn't particularly want to talk to you, I'd have said I was busy, and asked you to say anything you needed to say as quickly as possible, so please set your mind at rest on that score. Indeed, not only do I not mind, I'm pleased that you have phoned, I enjoyed talking with you last night, and earlier this evening I nearly called you on your mobile, but then thought you might be busy at your conference, and as well, I was a bit hesitant because I thought you might think that I was being a bit pushy."

"Oh dear, we both seem afraid of the same thing, Sally, don't we?"

"It looks like it, and the conclusion I would draw is that we should both stop worrying what the other might think, and just say or do whatever's on our mind. I'll offer you a deal. If you phone me, and I don't want to talk to you, I'll say so, as long as you promise to do the same to me if I call you. Deal?"

"Deal," I replied, "And if you should call me, and I say that I'm sorry I can't talk at that particular time because I'm busy, then that means exactly what it says, I'm busy with something I can't leave, and I can't talk to you at that precise moment, nothing more. Is that OK?"

"Yes, that is quite clear. If we both just say what we want to say, and not try to send coded messages, we'll get on a lot better. Anyway, as I said, I am delighted you've phoned, not that I have anything of any import to say, just that I wanted to talk again. It's a long time since I felt this way, and I was just as hesitant as you sounded about phoning."

"I was in the bar with some colleagues, and got to thinking about how much I'd enjoyed talking to you last night, so I came up to my room in the hotel to phone you, but then wasted time making a cup of coffee while I was trying to summon up the courage to pick the phone up, and even when I did ring, I half hoped you wouldn't answer, I felt so nervous."

"Nervous? Do I come across as so forbidding?"

"Quite the opposite. You give me, and Angie also gave me, the impression that you were someone I very much wanted to get to know a lot better, and I didn't want to put you off."

"Well you haven't. You've been candid, so let me be equally so, and hope it doesn't put you off. I told you in the letter Angie gave you that I had been checking up on you, and everything I heard about you struck me very favourably. Then, when we talked together, on Sunday and Monday nights, I felt quite strongly attracted to you, even though we've not yet met each other. I've been a widow now for several years, and during that time, I've not felt any real spark with anyone I've encountered, but I did with you. If that frightens you, run for the hills." She laughed heartily at this.

"Far from running for the hills, Sally, I'd rather walk towards you, because I feel just the same. As you know, I've been separated or divorced from Angie's mum for over three years now, and although I did have the odd casual fling, as you so rightly guessed, before we were divorced, I've never met anyone who gave me the slightest inclination to get to know them better, until I spoke with you. My ex and I had ceased to have a close relationship for several years before we separated, I think she only stayed with me because of the lifestyle my income gave her, so I wasn't taking anything away from her when I had the odd fling. Since we've lived apart, I've been much happier living on my own, and, until now, have not felt at any time that I needed someone to talk to late at night, nor have I looked forward to meeting anyone as much as I do you. Perhaps the hills are in the direction you should be taking."

"No, I don't think so. We seem to have more in common than you realise, Peter. Martin, my late husband, was a lovely man, and when we first met and married, I thought he was all I would ever want. Unfortunately, what he most wanted was to build up his business to the exclusion of all else. He had little time for me, or for Lucy when she came along. In fact I was quite surprised when I became pregnant, as we made love so rarely, it seemed unlikely that he would ever give me a child. My main function in his life was to maintain the home, look decorative on his arm, and entertain his clients with dinner parties. Don't get me wrong though, I wasn't actively unhappy. I liked entertaining, and he gave me all I wanted to spend on myself so that I looked good with him. It was just that it seemed that all his love and affection for me vanished soon after we married. I didn't stray from the marital bed while he was alive, but I claim no great credit for that. I just didn't have the urge, I suppose. Since he died, I have had what you describe as the odd fling, but I, like you, never had the inclination to take it any further, and more recently, I've found that if I have an itch, I can scratch it perfectly well myself, if you'll pardon the vulgarity."

"Be as vulgar as you wish, Sally, I doubt you could shock me."

"I might try one day, you never know. Anyway, to get back to what I was saying. Martin was well insured so when he died, I was left quite comfortably off, and fully able to support myself and Lucy, so I didn't have the pressure to find a new bread-winner that some women do, and, like you, I've been quite happy on my own, but, for whatever reason, after talking with you, I have begun to think about you a great deal, not least how good it was to hear you late at night, and so I was truly delighted when you rang this evening."

"So am I glad that I finally plucked up the courage to ring. Look, Sally, there's one thing that either or both of us need to say, I think."

"What's that, Peter? That we need to keep our feet on the ground — or at least somewhere near it, not build our hopes too high, not make absurd assumptions, and realise that no matter how either of us may feel when we meet, the other may not feel the same? Is that what you think needs to be said."

"Regrettably yes. Please don't think that I am in any way backing down from what I've said earlier about how I feel now, at this moment, though."

"No, I don't think that. What I do think is that you are fully aware of the various problems one or both of us may face when we meet. The only thing that I would ask, or even demand, of you, is that when you come up here next weekend, we treat each other at least as friends, for Angie's sake. If we appeared antagonistic towards each other, she would be so upset, and I think she has enough problems with her mother and the nerd, without us adding to them."

"It's very kind of you to think about Angie, Sally. Personally, I feel it highly unlikely that I would feel antagonistic towards you, my feelings are totally the opposite, but I do realise what you're saying, and I assure you that you need have no fear that I will upset Angie in that way."

"I don't suppose for a minute that you would, but as we were being honest with each other — as I hope we always will be — I felt I had to say it."

"Quite right too. Sally, I need to go soon, I've got to get some figures sorted for the morning session tomorrow."

"That's all right, Peter, as long as that isn't a coded message for 'I'm fed up with talking to you'." She laughed, a sound that sent shivers of pleasure through me.

"If that's what you think, I'll keep you on the phone for another couple of hours, and try to wing it in the morning. No, honestly, it isn't. We said no coded messages, and that isn't one."

"I didn't think it was, Peter. May I ring you tomorrow night?"

"Sally, I'd love you to, but it's the big dinner tomorrow night, which will drag on quite late, and then everyone is expected o stay afterwards drinking into the early hours. Instead, if I can get away for a few minutes, may I give you a ring, just for a quick call to hear your voice again?"

"Of course you can, any time up to one o'clock, but please don't worry if you can't. I promise not to read anything in to it, other than you couldn't get away."

"Thank you for that. Good night then, and thank you for talking with me."

"Why thank me for something I've enjoyed so much. Night, night, sleep well."

We hung up, and as I sat there in the hotel room, I realised that my heart was singing with delight that she too had felt that there might be something between us. In this rejoicing frame of mind, I started to sort out the figures I needed for the morning.

The conference was, like most conferences, a monumental waste of time interspersed with the very occasional piece of really interesting or valuable insight. For me, the best part of this one, was an event that took place away from the meeting itself. It was an event that I had been hoping for during the last two years but not really expecting, and would completely change my life and life-style.

During the lunch break on Wednesday, I was approached by the Managing Director who asked me to come to his rooms in the hotel where the conference was being held when the break ended, rather than going back to the conference hall. This had happened to me before, it usually portended a special briefing on some aspect of the future activities of the firm, so I was not unduly alarmed. Being sent for by the MD seemed to terrify some of my colleagues, as if they were being sent for by the headmaster at school, but I was confident that my work was satisfactory, so why should I expect a reprimand?

I duly arrived at his suite at two o'clock, knocked on the door, but to my surprise, instead of hearing a loud 'Come In' as usually happened, there was a short pause, and then the MD opened the door himself.