Small World Ch. 01

As time went on Leanne and I were getting less tolerant of each other. And that led to all out guerrilla war breaking out between us. Unfortunately the kids were playing piggy in the middle in that little game. I was making sure they knew about the girls I was taking out (including quite a few fictitious ones, I'll add) and Leanne made sure they told me about every time she went out with a guy.

What was even more frustrating for me was the fact that Leanne was being quite devious about things. Apparently, she never let her men friends come to the house to collect her. I figured that was because James might recognise some of them, if they were any of my friends. Which I suspected some of them were.

Of course I asked all the single guys I knew, but they all denied taking Leanne out. Oh, yeah, and I believed them? I'd seen the way they had looked at Leanne over the years. Anyway in the process, I think I lost quite a few of them as friends.

My problem was that I couldn't live with Leanne, because I felt I couldn't trust her. But I still loved her, and now found I was having extreme difficulty living without her.

It was a year after the divorce and I was in such a state that I had already been passed over for one promotion at work that should have been mine. In fact I think I was really on my way out of my job completely; I know that the quality of my work had fallen off a lot.

My boss called me into her office one day and asked me if I would do a six-month stint at our Birmingham office. Apparently, one of the managers up there was going on maternity leave and they wanted me to run her department whilst she was away.

Now this wasn't really an offer, it was as near to an order as you can get. It was made clear to me that if I didn't take the placement, I would probably find I was out of a job before too long.

If I took the placement, I think my boss thought I would have to either get my act together or get myself fired by the Birmingham office. Whichever happened, it took the problem of me off of her hands. I can't blame her; she had been very tolerant of my shortcomings for some time.

The children weren't happy when I told them I would be living away for at least six months. Surprisingly Leanne called me up and asked what was going on. I told her I would be back every couple of weeks to see the children and she seemed satisfied with that.

Birmingham wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I lived in a nice hotel just a few hundred yards from the office. The staff was good and accepted me as the boss without any problems.

I got on very well with a few of them. Mainly my number two, Mattie. Matilda was supposed to be almost at retiring age; to be honest, I suspected she was older than that. A widow, she apparently lived for her work. She was actually the obvious candidate for doing the job I'd been called up there to do. But she told me she had turned it down as she felt she was too old to take on the responsibility. And then there was Mattie's sidekick Ashakiran, or Asha as everyone usually called her. Asha was about my age, maybe five or so years younger and obviously of Eurasian parentage.

I found that I enjoyed Asha's company a lot; she was the complete opposite of Leanne in looks. They were of similar build, but whereas Leanne was blond and very fair skinned, Asha had black hair and quite a dark complexion. At first she came over as a very shy person, until she got to know you that is, then she appeared extremely forward and was always joking around.

Over time, I gathered she had had quite a difficult life, not quite knowing whether she was British or Indian. Apparently, her mother had died when she was quite young and she had been brought up by her father's sisters who were very Indian in their outlook.

Asha had gone to English schools and appeared to have a very British outlook on how a young woman should behave. I was to learn that she had been married a couple of times. Firstly, when she was quite young, only a teenager really and at her father's insistence; I also gathered it was against her own better judgement. A marriage arranged by her father's family that had turned out to be a complete disaster and ended very quickly when her husband tried - I'll emphasize "tried" -- to beat her for some reason or the other. As I understand it, Asha put him in hospital and promptly divorced him.

After her divorce, Asha found herself estranged from her family; apparently it wasn't done for her to divorce a man the family had chosen for her. Then she somehow had gotten herself mixed up with some other guy, a complete loser; I have no idea what race the guy was, but apparently he was a very unsuccessful gambler who rapidly turned into an alcoholic and within three years of them getting married he had very quickly drunk himself to death.

This led to Asha - once she had got to know me better - watching my alcohol consumption very carefully and being quite vocal about it on occasions. I told you that she spoke her mind and she was not afraid to tick me off, if she thought I was overdoing things.

Somewhere along the line after her second husband's death, Asha met up with Mattie's son who'd been in the army at the time. They must have been very into each other, but before they'd got around to tying the knot, he had been killed in Northern Ireland; neither Mattie, nor Asha went into details about his death. But as a result, Asha was apparently living or rather lodging with Mattie.

Not seeing the children as much, had the surprising result of me not thinking about Leanne as much either; not that much of a surprise to me, because when I did see the kids, their mother always seemed to be the main topic of conversation. Apparently, she wasn't dating anymore, or so I was told. "Most likely run out of mugs!" I thought.

I think it was in the fifth month of my deployment in Brum, that one morning I was called up to see the big cheese at the office. He informed me that the manager I was standing in for had been in touch and told him that she was not intending to return to work after her child was born. He didn't enlarge on the reasons why; he had other fish to fry. Then he went on to ask me whether I would take the position on permanently. "For the time being, at least," was the way he put it. I thought that was an odd way for him to phrase it.

I was forced to tell him I was not sure whether I could at that moment, because I still had problems in my private life. The move north had given me a lot of time to think about everything. I was definitely lonely up there and I was beginning to doubt myself. I was thinking that I might have been a little hasty in my reactions to that damned film of George's. Leanne was still denying that it had been her at that Bournemouth hotel.

He looked at me for a while without speaking; I could see he was mulling something over in his mind.

"Okay, Peter, the bottom line. But please keep this to yourself for the time being. There's going to be some big changes around here in the next few months. We are relocating this office to Telford; there's not enough room to expand here, as the company would like. The upper level of management have been informed of the move already and a couple of them have made us aware of their intentions to retire early, rather than move or commute to the new office.

"I've got my eye on you to replace one of them. I can offer you the job after you've gone back down south, but I would prefer it if you were on my team here to help with the move. I need to know who I can rely on."

His statement took me by surprise, and I realised that the opportunity he was offering me wasn't to be sneezed at. But I also knew I'd been getting really melancholy about losing Leanne and the life we'd lived together. I needed time to think.

"Can you give me a week or so to think about this?" I asked.

"Sure, if you like, Peter, but I definitely need to know one way or the other before the end of the month."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I hope I'll have things well and truly ironed out by then."

I planned to talk to Leanne the next time I went down to see James and the girls. I figured that if she wanted to try again, I was willing to give it a go.

"Great, now the next problem," the boss man said, opening a folder on his desk, "I know this is going to sound funny, but who in your department do you feel is the best candidate to take over from you? The sooner I decide who's going to run what department after the move the better."

"Well, there's only one person really and that's Asha. Mattie has more experience and is the obvious choice, but you know she's thinking of retirement and doesn't want the responsibility. But I'm sure she'll stay long enough to help Asha out while she settles in if need be. The pair of them are very close."

"Done. I'll speak to both of them later today."

===================

The rest of the week was a very good one for our office, as we closed on a couple of good contracts. Friday evening Mattie, Asha and some of the other staff, along with their spouses, joined me for dinner at my hotel. After the meal we sat in the lounge and had a couple of drinks together.

They have a band there on Friday and Saturday evenings, so once the music started playing some of us started dancing. Asha and I had a couple of dances together.

It was around ten and I was just coming off the dance floor with Mattie when she announced that she was going home. To my utter surprise Asha told Mattie she would see her later, then grabbed my hand and dragged me back out onto the dance floor.

"And just what is this all about, young lady?" I asked, "You always go home with Mattie."

"Not tonight, I'm not. I thought, and Mattie agreed with me, that it might be good idea if you and I spent a little time alone together. You'll notice that all the others have left whilst you were dancing with Mattie. I think... We thought that we should get to know each other a little better if you're going to teach me how to do your job."

"Don't be silly, girl, you can do my job standing on your head."

"I know but they're aren't many guys who would recommend me for it. What with me being a woman and all."

Now I knew that wasn't exactly what Asha was really alluding to, as the previous incumbent of the position had also been female. We both knew that there still was an undercurrent of racial prejudice around the office, no matter how some folks tried to deny it. And folks of mixed race often have trouble being accepted within any racial group.

"Nonsense, Asha, you are ideal for that job."

"Thank you, Peter. Now can we cut to the chase? Let's go to your room."

"Wow, hang on a minute. I didn't recommend you for that job just so I could get into your knickers."

"Do I look dumb? If I thought you had any ulterior motives in the first place, I wouldn't let you get within a hundred yards of me.

"Anyway I'm pretty sure that that kind of guy would have propositioned me well before he recommended me for the job. You do realise there's more than one girl in the office who would have jumped into bed with you for that recommendation and some of them are married.

"No, that isn't the reason I'm suggesting we get together. When he told me about the job, the boss said there was a possibility that you might not be sticking around for very much longer. Now I know that you like me and I like you. I've been waiting for you to make a pass at me ever since you came up here. But you haven't, so I thought if I didn't get the ball rolling soon, I'd miss any chance I had."

"I'm flattered that you think that way, Asha, and I'll admit I find you very attractive. But I've got to tell you, I will most likely be trying for a reconciliation with my ex-wife when I go back down south next time."

"But I thought you divorced her because she cheated on you."

"I divorced her because I thought she had cheated on me, Asha. But as time goes on, I'm not so sure now. I only had a film that had been taken years ago showing a woman who looked very much like Leanne dancing with some guy in a hotel. I was damned sure it was Leanne at the time, but without any other evidence the more that time passes, the more I'm thinking that I was most likely mistaken. She has always denied that it was her!

"Well, you know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Asha, I think you are a wonderful person. I really think I could fall in love with you very easily. But at the moment I'm not really over Leanne. Can I ask, if things don't work out between us, may I give you a call?"

"I'll be waiting."

"Thanks. Now I think I'd better call you a cab before we get ourselves into something that we could both finish up regretting."

"You don't have to, you know. Phil, Mattie's son and I waited and what happened? Some bloody nutcase with a bomb blew him to smithereens. Can't we just spend one night together?"

"I won't say I'm not sorely tempted, Asha, because I am. But I really don't think that would be fair on you in the circumstances. Now come along; let's get reception to call you a cab."

I escorted Asha to her cab, but before she got in she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. "Just to give you some idea of what you're passing up," she said, grinding her body against mine.

I carefully, but gently pushed her away and helped her get into the car.

"Asha, don't kid yourself. I know exactly what I'm passing up and I'll probably be kicking myself all night for doing so. But until I can make a commitment to you, I can't let myself take advantage of you," I said to her through the cab's open window.

As he pulled away the taxi driver gave me a look that told me he thought I'd lost my bloody mind; Asha is one sexy looking lady.

===================

It was the following Sunday evening; it had become my habit to have a drink in the hotel's bar after dinner. I didn't keep any alcohol in my room, as that I thought would be tempting fate when I was feeling melancholy. I still wasn't the happiest guy in the world and Asha's story about her second husband did play on my mind a bit.

I was on a stool at the end of the bar when I spotted him coming into the lounge. There was no doubt about it in my mind about who he was, the moment I saw him. He was the guy who had been in that film that George had taken.

Seemingly without a care in the world he casually looked around, as if familiarising himself with the layout of the almost empty lounge. Then he sauntered over and quite deliberately sat on the empty stool next to the one I was on.

For a couple of minutes I debated in my mind as to just what I was going to do next. Yeah, I did feel like punching the guy on the nose. Because seeing him in the flesh brought back the anger I'd felt when I first saw that film.

But what the hell would that achieve? Besides getting me nicked for assault, that is. I wouldn't even have the satisfaction of him knowing why I hit him until we got into court. So I just ignored him for the time being.

"Nice weather we're having at the moment," he commented to no one in particular. Well, it must have been meant for me, as there wasn't anyone else within earshot.

"Not bad for the time of year," I replied. "I don't like it too hot myself, anyway."

American, George had said. For some reason I thought it more likely he was Canadian. I'm not sure why, just a gut feeling and I guessed he must have lived in England for some time, as the weather is often the subject used to break the ice amongst strangers.

"You a commercial traveller?" he asked casually.

"No, I'm on secondment to one of my company's branch offices just down the road, Clinton."

"Hey, you have me at a disadvantage. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so. But I believe that is your name."

"Yeah, it sure is, but most folks call me Clint."

"Oh, is that what Leanne calls you?"

"Who, Leanne did you say? I'm sorry but I don't think I can place anyone called Leanne."

"Oh, she will be disappointed." I really didn't expect him to have any idea as to what I was talking about, as theoretically he wouldn't know me from Adam. Unless Leanne had showed him a picture of me that is, and that I somehow doubted.

"Where would I have met her?"

"In Bournemouth about eleven years ago."

"Yikes, that's going back a bit. But the only time I've ever been in Bournemouth was when I was on my honeymoon. I'm afraid I was concentrating on my new wife at the time and I don't think I noticed any other women on that trip. Perhaps Gina, my wife, will remember her. She should be down in a minute; we can ask her."

I don't know why, but I suddenly felt very unsure of myself. "You were in Bournemouth with your wife?"

"With my bride, we had planned on going to the Caribbean for our honeymoon, but there had been some trouble on the island we'd booked to go to. So at the last minute we settled for Bournemouth. It was quite pleasant but a bit on the straight-laced side for Gina and my liking. We only stayed a couple of nights and then moved on to Southampton. A little less pompous and a lot more night life."

He must have spotted her come into the lounge in the mirror behind the bar, because he swung around on his stool to face the entrance.

"Hi, babe! What took you so long? For a minute there, I thought you had dumped me."

I looked over my shoulder and then almost fell off my stool at the sight before me. Walking towards us was Leanne! But no, it wasn't Leanne if you understand me. At first glance it was Leanne but there were subtle differences that told me it wasn't Leanne.

"Holy mother of god, was this the woman who had been in George's film?" I can remember thinking, and then everything seemed to go black.

===================

"Hey, fellow, are you all right?" I could hear Clinton asking as I was coming back to my senses. I was lying on the floor with a cushion under my head. A very worried looking Clinton was leaning over me and I could see his wife Gina crouched down on the other side of me.

"Sorry but I just had a bit of a shock, when I saw your wife," I said to them.

"Hey, Clint keeps telling me that I'm drop dead gorgeous, but that's first time I've ever had that affect on a man," Gina cracked.

For a minute her accent had confused me, then I realised there was that high-pitched Australian twang to her voice.

Clinton helped me to get up and we moved into some of the lounge armchairs.

"Do you do that often? Are you ill or something?" Clinton asked

"No, quite honestly, it was seeing your wife. She is the spitting image of my ex-wife."

"Hold on just a minute there. She's not the Leanne you were talking about just now is she?"

"Unfortunately she is, yes!"

"Wow, I'm getting a very bad feeling about this. I thought you were being a little standoffish with me. Now I'm getting a very nasty feeling that there has been some terrible misunderstanding somewhere along the line. The fact that your wife is now your ex-wife couldn't having anything to do with you thinking I had met her in Bournemouth, by any chance?"

"I'm afraid you're correct on that one, as well."

"Holy Cow!"

"What's all this about?" Gina asked.

"Oh, Gina, this... I'm sorry I don't know your name?"

"Pete."

"Gina, this is Pete. I gather that you and his wife - sorry, Pete, his ex-wife - look very much alike. You remember when we stopped in Bournemouth for a couple of nights on our honeymoon? From what Pete says, I gather that somehow you were mistaken for his wife and that led to the end of his marriage. Have I understood you correctly there, Pete?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

"Oh, my god, you thought it was your wife and Clint together. Well, it wasn't your wife with Clint it was me. What the hell are you going to do now?"

"I haven't got the faintest idea. I've got to think this out before I do anything. I haven't had time to get my thoughts together yet. You realise, meeting you two has been a bit of a shock for me."