‘Believe me, Marie, I shall never, ever forget.’ Eileen rose to her feet, turning her stiff back on Marie. ‘Come on, Tony, let’s go and find somewhere nice for lunch.’ And without another word she took his arm and propelled him away, Tony shooting Marie an apologetic glance over his shoulder.
Marie watched them go, feeling very small and very alone. Tears ran down her face. Either she’d gone about that all wrong or – just possibly – it was the worst idea she’d ever had. She owed it to her family to see this through but, with such a reception at the outset, what on earth was she going to do now?
Danny had caught up with John, who wasn’t very far along the railings.
‘I’m slowing down, old boy!’
Danny had to agree, ‘Okay, so we’re just a bit slower and we make the occasional mistake, but who doesn’t?’
John though, remained adamant. ‘I know what you’re saying, and you’re right. But I still worry that no one else would be keen to take us on, because of our age. And even if they did take us on, I very much doubt that we would be offered the same money that we get now.’
Danny had to admit that yes, it was possible they might lose a sizeable part of their income. ‘I understand what you’re saying. But, there’s always a chance they would match what we’ve been earning, especially if we were to show them how good and reliable we are. Like I said, look on the bright side.’
Another unsettling thought crept into John’s worrying thoughts. ‘If our current boss decided not to give us the recommendation we deserve, we might never find anyone to employ us. Or, if we did find work, what if the new boss was a nasty piece of work? I don’t know if I could put up with that, I’m a bit stuck on my ways now. All right, our boss can be a bit mouthy and overbearing at times, but he’s a decent enough sort so long as we get the work done.’
‘Oh, he’s all right.’ Danny was willing to forgive. ‘The thing is, we’re used to his ways. I wouldn’t want to work under a tyrant, whatever the wages might be.’ He bristled, ‘Like as not, I’d probably lose my temper and give him a hiding he wouldn’t forget.’
John couldn’t help but laugh out loud. ‘So! You might give him a hiding, eh? You little runt!’
‘Hmph!’ Moving closer, Danny bunched his fists, pretending to prepare for a fight. ‘Don’t mess with me!’ He had an impish gleam in his eyes. ‘Don’t make the mistake of thinking that small is weak, and old is over, because I’ll have you know – I’m like a raging tiger when I get going—’
‘Is that so? Well, you can get going now, because I just heard someone call out, and it sounded much like the bossman!’ He gave Danny a playful shove that sent him nearer to the tool-shed. ‘If he asks where we’ve been, tell him we had to check the bench, because some old woman told us it was a bit wobbly and we don’t want the old dear getting hurt, do we now?’
‘Hey! You two! What the hell are you playing at?’
Emerging from behind the big tool-shed, the man frantically waved his arms. Tall, balding and thin as a lamppost, George Mason possessed a surprisingly thick and gravelly voice. ‘What’s wrong with you two? You never can seem to get here on time. Where’ve you been?’
Coming to a halt, he leaned on the shed wall, while continuing to shake his fist, and threaten the two men at the top of his voice, ‘Where the devil have you been? There’s a long list o’work to get through, and as far as I can see you haven’t even started it yet?’
Hurrying into the shed, the two of them were met with yet another torrent of abuse as the boss turned on them as though they were teenagers. ‘YOU SHOULD HAVE CLOCKED IN, OVER HALF AN HOUR BACK. I’VE A DAMNED GOOD MIND TO DOCK YOU AN HOUR’S PAY FROM YOUR WAGES AT THE END OF THE WEEK.’
Stepping forward, John made an effort to smooth matters. ‘We’re sorry, boss, but it took us a few extra minutes to check the railings, and we reckon there are six dodgy uprights that need replacing, two more than were down on the list. Oh and we also took a few minutes to check the Blue Bench … we had a complaint you see. A woman approached us in a bit of a state. She complained that when she sat down, she felt the bench kind of shudder … She actually said one of the legs felt a bit wobbly. So of course, we realised that you would want us to check it out … which we did.’
‘I should think so, being as you get paid good money for keeping everything ship-shape and suitable!’ Clearing his throat the boss asserted his authority. ‘Right then! Time’s a wasting, so you’d best get cracking. I know I can trust you to make a good job of it. Go on with you.’
As the boss hurried away, Danny commented with a chuckle, ‘Well, well! I told you, didn’t I? We’re too damned good at what we do, and he knows it! He also knows that if he was ever to let us go, he would never find anyone else as hard-working or downright thorough.’
Smiling smugly he finished with a cheeky grin, ‘Men like us are few and far between.’ By the time Danny had finished praising their skills and unique dedication to duty, each man was lifted by his own worth.
Danny’s thoughts went back to the meeting on the Blue Bench earlier. He held the image of Marie in his mind’s eye, and it wasn’t long before he was softly murmuring to himself, ‘I had a real feeling that there was something going on there, she always seemed such a happy woman all those years ago, but now the warmth in her eyes has faded a little. But then haven’t we all faded a little over the years.’ Reliving the time he’d spent in her company, the niggling suspicion lingered, as he tried to make sense of it all. Danny realised the curious sense of longing for the past.
It was a sorry truth but over these past years he had been lacking a pretty woman in his arms, and his lonely heart felt incredibly empty. The thought of Marie in his life made his heart skip just a beat. ‘You’re a silly old fool, so ye are. Stranger things have happened than two lonely people getting together in their later years … If she knew what you were thinking she’d laugh at you,’ he chastised himself. Being a practical man he truly believed nothing could come of his little dream to get to know Marie better again, nevertheless he enjoyed thinking of her.
‘Now John, you’ll never guess who I met …’
THE HOLIDAY WAS over, and it was time to say goodbye before the taxi arrived to take Marie to the railway station.
Eileen was sorry to be leaving, yet also relieved to be going home after Marie had turned up.
Sitting in the hotel foyer, her bags around her feet while Tony went to fetch the heavy cases, Eileen wondered again about Marie’s motive in following them here. Marie was also in the tiny reception, her handbag and small suitcase also at her feet, waiting for her taxi.
In this most uncomfortable moment before they all went their separate ways, Eileen wondered whether to confront Marie now … before she climbed into the cab and was gone.
With regards to the hotel, it was clear Marie had guessed where they might be staying and had booked herself in too. Years ago, the friends had sometimes stayed in this same hotel together, but that was when the three of them were the best of friends, before Marie and Tony had broken Eileen’s trust, and destroyed the close and cherished friendship between the two women who had been as close as sisters some twenty years ago.
What had happened was a very hard blow for Eileen to bear. She had found it in her heart to forgive Tony for the liaison and maybe she would have forgiven her friend, if only Marie had not confessed to something that Eileen could never accept. After that, forgiveness of Marie was something that Eileen could never undertake. It was quite simply out of the question.
So, why was Marie here now – after all this time? What devious game