Chapter 5

While Bill's business thrived, his personal life was dormant. He was having a hard time with the loss of Darla. He hadn't realized just how much she had meant to him. Now she was back with Gordy. Part of him wished Gordy would go away again and the other part was happy that Darla was whole again.

At first, he had no interest in women. He buried himself in his work and in building his business. But after a few weeks, he began to think about the sex and the comfort and the satisfaction he had with Darla and he knew he wanted to find someone else. Someone just like Darla.

Bill never knew that his father had stumbled onto his relationship with Darla. It was quite by accident, a casual remark by a business associate about seeing Bill at the Therrien house frequently. Fred's friend's wife was the prototypical nosey neighbor and was constantly reporting on the comings and goings at the homes within her viewing area. She quickly sussed out the nature of Darla and Bill's relationship and had dutifully reported it to her husband. She had known about the separation of the Therriens and was not surprised that Darla had taken a lover. She knew from her previous snooping that Darla and her husband had an active and passionate love life. In the summer, when the windows were open, she could sometimes hear them "going at it," as she put it.

Fred was at first surprised at his son's liaison with Mrs. Therrien, but the more he thought about it, the less inclined he was to interfere. He chose not to burden Violet with the discovery. It would only cause her to worry about Bill and fret about the possible damage to his reputation. Their son was a man now and he was entitled to have a relationship with whomever he chose, providing it did not hurt anyone else. In this case, her husband had abandoned her, leaving her free to pursue her own affair. He couldn't detect any negative effect on Bill, and decided to say nothing.

What did attract his attention later on was the somewhat subtle change in Bill's attitude not long after he moved into his new quarters. He seemed less upbeat and more absorbed in his work. When he learned that the Therriens were back together again, he realized the cause. He wanted to comfort his son, but he didn't know how. He could only hope that he would find someone else to be with. It was far too easy for Bill to be a loner.

Bill's shop was open from 8am to 5pm on weekdays and 8am to 12noon on Saturdays. It had become his father's custom to drop by just before closing on Saturday and bring some deli sandwiches and a couple of bottles of beer and they would talk about whatever came up. Fred decided to try and bring Bill out on the subject of women and see if he couldn't encourage him to socialize more.

"Bill, have you had a date lately?" It was a topic his father had never raised before and it caught his son off-guard.

"Uhhhh ... no ... not lately. Why do you ask?" He was guarded in his answer. Did he know about Darla? Why was he interested in his personal life? It wasn't like him.

"You're almost twenty two and you haven't developed a personal relationship with any of the girls in your age group. I was just wondering why." It was a carefully crafted truth.

"I dunno. Just not travelling in their circles I guess. Some of them seem pretty ... immature." The double meaning wasn't lost on either man.

"I met your mother at a church social. It was a nice place to go and meet people. You never know. You might meet someone there. I was pretty lucky, you know," he said with a smile.

"Yah ... you sure were," Bill smiled in return. "I'll give it some thought. There's another one coming up in a couple of weeks, so I'll see if I can find the time."

"Good ... it's good to get out. Don't bury yourself in your work all the time. There's more to this world than work," his father said seriously.

"I like my work, Dad. I don't find it boring or stressful. I like what I do. I get a lot of satisfaction from fixing things and making them work again."

"Yah ... I know what you mean. I'm glad you enjoy what you do, but ... like I say ... there's more to life than work."

The two men continued their lunch and the conversation shifted to more day-to-day topics. But Bill had to agree with his father. He needed to get out and find out what the rest of the world was doing. Most of all, he needed to find someone to share it with.