Chapter 2

Stan woke up, and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, love, what was I thinking?" he softly told the beautiful dark eyes that only he could see.

Arriving at work, he said "Hi!" to Elaine, who replied, "Good morning! Did you enjoy yourself last night?"

Stan walked almost to the door from reception to his office area, stopped, half turned to Elaine and said quietly, "Yes, thank you, Elaine." Before she could ask any more he opened the door and walked through.

Elizabeth was there, as usual, "Morning, Stan, how are you today?" She got her usual mutter in return, looked at him thoughtfully and decided not to ask any more. She had an alternate source, in any case.

Denise was not in the least surprised to be eating with Elizabeth again that lunchtime.

"Give!" Elizabeth commanded, softening the order with a smile. Denise laughed, and then complied, quickly telling her all the main points. Elizabeth toyed with her salad for a moment.

"Things were going fine, better than you expected, and then he just clammed up?"

"Yes. It was weird, we came to a point when suddenly he just looked... lost, I guess. Then he went back inside himself. When he walked me to the door at the end, I asked him if I'd done anything wrong, and he just said that he'd thought of Caron."

"Well, if something reminded him of her, I suppose it's normal for him to feel upset."

"I s'pose. But he didn't look upset, more like... afraid?"

Elizabeth was still for a moment.

"Afraid?" she said, softly. She gave Denise an intense look.

"Yes," said Denise, not catching Elizabeth's expression. "I think that's what it was. I don't know... it was odd."

"Well." Elizabeth said. "When are you seeing him again?"

"Probably straight after lunch." Denise smiled.

Elizabeth just looked at her in disapproval.

"We, well... We didn't make more plans."

"Make them!" Elizabeth commanded, again.

Denise just giggled again, and said "Yes, Ma'am!"

"Excuse me, Stan."

He looked up. Denise was standing next to his desk, a folder in her hand. "Can I help you?" he said, quietly.

"Can I borrow your PC a moment? I need to run a test." Stan wasn't too surprised; Denise often used his PC to try out various things. She said it made sense to use several different computers to make sure that whatever the IT department had come up with would work on everyone's PC.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll get a coffee." It was a standing joke at The Firm that Stan was caffeine powered, although in truth he'd moderated his input considerably since suffering sleepless nights and headaches a few years ago.

"Wait a moment, this will be quick, and I'll go with you."

The test Denise ran lasted only about a minute. "Thanks, let's get that coffee, then," she said, standing up again. Stan followed her to the canteen.

Once they had their drinks, Denise sat for a moment with him, thinking. Stan just waited.

"Did you enjoy last night?" she asked, eyes downcast.

Stan's expression softened. Denise hadn't done anything wrong. "Yes, Denise, I did. It's just that... well, I'm not sure we should do it again."

"Oh! Why?"

"It was okay. I just felt... uncomfortable. It's not been long enough..."

"Oh, Stan."

Something in her voice made him look up. She was looking directly at him, now, with a relieved expression. "I know you said I'd done nothing, but I was worried." She looked away, then back to him. "It's been six months, Stan," she said, with compassion.

"Only six months," he replied, softly but with conviction. "It's too soon."

"Stanley Hinch, look at me," she said. He complied. "Last night was a totally innocent drink and chat between two friends. Nothing more than that. We both needed to get out from our four walls for a bit. Now, I enjoyed it, until you clammed up on me again. So next Wednesday, I'm going to call 'round and pick you up." Stan was surprised and sat back. Denise was serious, he saw.

He was quiet for a moment. Denise didn't know where he'd gone, but he sure as heck wasn't with her in the canteen.

"Okay," he said.

Denise found Elizabeth a little while later, and they leaned together, conspiratorially.

"I'm picking him up next Wednesday," she told the older woman.

"Good!" Elizabeth said.

The weekend came and went, without Stan really noticing. Oh, the time off work was nice, but he didn't really do anything with it. He cleaned up around the house. Even though there was only him now, it still seemed to need a clean and tidy just as often. He watched an old film, played some music, generally just wasting time.

On Monday afternoon, Stan had to attend a meeting with some of the Design team. His job in Quality meant that he attended a number of meetings like this. The chief designer for this particular chip was Anne Berkely. Anne's intelligence and ability were legendary already, although she'd only been with The Firm for about a year.

She always looked elegant yet comfortable in the long, wraparound skirts and tailored jackets that she habitually seemed to favour.

Plus, she was beautiful. Blonde, wavy hair surrounded an elfin face that seemed always to have an expression of wonder on it, just as if today she'd made a new and surprising discovery.

Stan knew that others at The Firm were more intelligent than he, but Anne was a leap above that. He'd seen her expression change when any of her colleagues had attempted a smart remark or criticism, something "Obviously foolish" — her exact words — and her biting wit had already shown each of them up. Stan felt it was better to remain silent than to add himself to that list.

He got through the meeting with minimal input, thanked the Chairman and everyone as was his custom, and walked out.

Wednesday came. Denise hadn't said much more to him since last week's coffee, and Elizabeth hadn't brought it up either. He was grateful but didn't notice the looks he was getting from some of his co-workers.

As she was going home, Elizabeth said, "Have a good evening, Stan."

Stan said, absently, "Yeah, thanks." A moment later, he realised that Elizabeth hadn't gone.

"You do remember that Denise is picking you up tonight, don't you?" she chided.

Stan sat back. "Yes, of course," he said, after a moment. "I hadn't forgotten."

"Elizabeth smiled, leaned forward, and told him, "You're a terrible liar, Stanley Hinch. It's just as well you allow us to keep you organised!" With that she turned and swept off.

For a moment Stan simply admired her movement. Even as she aged Elizabeth seemed to become more graceful. He told himself that he hadn't forgotten about tonight; it just wasn't at the front of his mind.

"I'll pick you up at eight, then, Stan."