Chapter 20

Nothing much happened over the next two weeks. Both Fridays and Saturdays I stayed at Natasha's, with just the two of us spending the Friday evening together, but including her father for a few hours on the Saturday. She called at my home every other evening, staying about half the time.

We fell into an easy, almost blissful, routine. My legs were a lot better and I began to think about returning to a working life. I decided that if I could find something local then I would go for that, if not I would take Natasha up on her offer of my old job back.

Talking of old jobs, Maureen rang up during that period and asked me to return there now that I was able to work again. Apparently, the guy who'd taken my job wasn't up to much and would be fired if I agreed to go back. Even though it was Maureen asking and not Richard, I still gave her a short sharp answer – two words, the last one being off.

At the end of those couple of weeks, after more soul-destroying job searches, I'd decided to return to Kopolova's. Before I told Natasha, I decided to talk with her father first.

I managed to get some time free from Natasha that last Sunday afternoon. She and Petra had girlie things to do and left me alone, which suited me fine.

'Mr. Kopolova, I've decided to accept Natasha's offer of my old job back but I thought it better to run it past you first.' I told him.

'You don't need my blessing, though you have it. I actually think it's a good idea if you can accept her being your boss.'

'No problem there.' I stated.

'Different in my day. I'm not sure I could have worked for a woman when I was younger, certainly not my wife.'

I smiled. 'I'm sure that your wife was the real boss around here, if not at work.'

He laughed. 'You've got that right son.'

'Maybe you can help me with something.' He continued.

'If I can, then of course.'

'I'm already bored of being at home. I looked forward to an early retirement but didn't expect to be alone. I need something to do. I've thought about returning to work but that wouldn't be fair on my daughter, who has done an excellent job; so far at least.'

When I didn't comment he carried on. 'So I've decided to do something else, maybe start a small specialist company. It would still have to be engineering or manufacturing, as that's all I know.'

'Would it need to be profitable?' I asked immediately.

'Well, not loss making at least. You have an idea already?'

'Possibly.'

I then went on to discuss Richard's business and how he used his business to appear the good guy, whilst treating his staff like slaves. He already knew how I had been treated.

'Because many are disabled, they are less likely to find other jobs and therefore put up with more. Richard knows and abuses that, whilst at the same time advertises his high level of disabled staff.'

'So what are you suggesting?'

'If someone who already had a reputation for exceptional staff relations, set up a similar business then I think that would make people think. If that someone produced better and marginally cheaper products then I think it would be a winner.'

'You think that's possible?'

'I'm sure it is. The only thing he has going for him is product knowledge. We would need someone with that knowledge obviously.'

We discussed many ins and outs of my suggestion. Mr. Kopolova even had a site in mind, the Stafford site was still empty and had not yet had any interest. It was probably too big for what we needed to start with but that would leave plenty room for expansion. After almost two hours we concluded that it was certainly viable, though a lot more research was required before any further steps.

Much to my surprise he offered to pay me a consultancy fee for the next month. I say offered, but is was more like ordered. With only marginal reluctance, I accepted, subject to Natasha's agreement.

'Why should she have a veto on this?' Mr. Kopolova asked, genuinely puzzled.

'I see us as a couple and I hope that she does too. Any major decision should be a shared one. The fact that it is her father makes it even more important that she is consulted.'

The two cousins returned about twenty minutes later and I wasted no time taking Natasha's hand and guiding her into one of the empty rooms and explaining her father's offer.

Typical of Natasha, all her initial questions were business oriented, assuming that I had already accepted his offer. When she realised her mistake and the reason I had waited, I was again hit by a wonderful body as it wrapped itself around me.

'You're going to get so lucky tonight.'

'I am already so lucky, maybe I should try the lottery this week.' I joked and was rewarded with a big smile.

My own recent experiences had shown what it was like to live with even minor disabilities so anything we could do to help would be a huge plus. The following day I had an appointment with my physiotherapist and took the opportunity to interrogate him. He asked if I could spare an hour after work. I could so we agreed to meet up at the Jolly Potters, a pub not far from the hospital.

Back home, I contacted Natasha and explained about the meeting and she agreed to meet me there when she finished work. I remembered that there was a large wheelchair shop in Stoke so I spent the afternoon there talking to the proprietor and sales staff.

When I got to the pub, it turned out that Mike, the physiotherapist, had brought half his department with him. The ideas came thick and fast, most too outrageous to consider, others were great ideas but impractical. There were still a few that had possibilities and I tried to steer the discussion towards those.