Chapter 1
Some guys just have to look at a woman in a certain way and she'll consider whether to look back at him in a certain way.
Then there are guys at the other end of the spectrum, like lean and freckled Danny Demichael, a guy in need of a haircut who'd look at a woman in a certain way and she'd toss up whether to leave the room or have him ejected.
Some guys have it and some guys either miss out repeatedly or they get smart.
Danny, a bachelor, got smart.
In the supermarket parking lot, he saw a woman with a leg around her trolley to stop it running away and stretched and almost overbalancing at the open boot (trunk) while holding four cartons of eggs.
He could have kept in the distance watching to see the unfortunate woman came to grief or he could have ignored the incident and walked off.
Instead, Danny ran over and said, "Hi, you're in trouble. How best I help?"
"Oh, thanks. Could you hold me steady with one hand, hold the trolley with the other hand and I'll slowly straighten and improve my grip on the eggs."
Danny placed an arm around her cupping a breast, not thinking that gripping her shoulder would be less embarrassing for her, and he took hold of the trolley.
"Gotcha."
"I rather gather that," she giggled, straightened and placed the cartooned eggs into the trunk. "Um you can let go of my boob now."
"Oh, of course. I must say your breasts appear nicely contoured."
"Excuse me?"
"Your breasts, they're great."
"Oh, really?"
And forty-eight hours later Danny and Beth Kitts, who'd arranged a time to meet covertly, were having great sex. When in his arms, Beth told Danny her husband hadn't commented complimentary on her breasts in years although he still liked to slobber over them.
That incident taught Danny how to get women to look beyond his freckles and indifferent statue and reward him generously in an athletic manner. The key was to demonstrate a genuine act of kindness, with variations of course, and focus on her but not too intently.
One Sunday morning, he was walking along Basset Street when he saw a woman on a ladder cleaning roof guttering. The ladder fell away and she went with it, the ladder lodging against a tree branch at an acute angle.
He ran to attempt a rescue.
The woman yelled in despair and he jumped the low fence and was under her moments before she screamed, "I'm falling!"
He shouted, "I'll catch you."
He broke her fall and they fell to the ground and she laughed, in no way hysterically, and said, "God, I haven't been on a man in this position for months."
She invited him in for coffee and Danny learned her husband was working in Europe.
He didn't rush it.
She finally said I don't know how I can thank you enough.
He stared at her breasts; she turned pink but courageously held out her hand and led him to the bedroom.
Danny was a traffic warden for the city council, giving out parking offence tickets to errant motorists.
That meant he was an unpopular figure purely because of his chosen vocation. But even in that role, he learned that kindness can pay dividends, ending up with him between the thighs selectively of the occasional adult female.
Whirling along in his electric cart one morning, Danny found a woman signally for assistance. She was unable to start her car.
She thought it was a flat battery but he said no, the starter motor was definitely turning over the motor strongly.
"What's your petrol level?"
She checked and blurted, "Oh god, it's showing dead empty."
"Right, rest easy and I'll get a can of petrol from the service centre up ahead. I'm known there so there will be no charge for the loan container."
"Right here's five quid."
Danny returned and handed the woman a paper cup of coffee saying she probably needed that for stress. He emptied the gas into her fuel tank and then said goodbye.
"Wait," said the attractive woman in her early thirties. "You've been exceptionally kind to me. Here's my card. Come visit me for lunch this Sunday. My husband will be away."
Danny arrived at Barbara Cosgrove's substantial home on a hill with a great view over the city and she came out and said, "Hi. Look, this is awful but I've forgotten your name."
"No problem, it's Danny."
Barbara smiled and touched his shoulder lightly. "Well come in. I've been looking forward to this Danny. I think..."
Barbara's phone went. She excused herself and turned away and Danny saw by body language that it was bad news.
She came off the phone shaking. "Danny may I impose on you?"
"Sure."
"I must dash to the airport. My husband has been hurt in an accident that has wrecked his car; he's in hospital. I'm shaking too much to drive safely."
"You grab your things and off we go."
At the airport, Danny escorted her to the counter. The ticketing clerk said sorry, the flight to Barbara's destination had just closed but there would be another flight in two hours.
Barbara began crying.
Danny told the assistant the story and showed his council ID.
As the council owned the airport, the clerk made a call to her supervisor and the flight was held up for Mrs Hastings to be rushed aboard. As she was about to move off with an official, she turned and kissed Danny and said he was wonderful.
Barbara was then rushed off.
Five months later, a blonde woman who looked vaguely familiar said to the 38-year-old, "Hello Danny."
He looked closely and clicked. "Oh, hi Barbara."
"I have been looking for you. Now I've found you."
Danny grinned, snatching an approving look at her breasts. "How's your husband?"
"He died a few hours after my arrival. Thanks to you I was able to say goodbye and then he faded and was gone. Had I flown in on the later flight it would have been too late. I'm extremely grateful to you. That lucky break, engineered by you, enabled me to have closure."
"I'm pleased about that Barbara. Are you leaving this city with its unhappy memories?"
"No, there's no need for that. You see Philip didn't die here. I'm living back in the house and all his things have gone. I'm saying to you hello, not goodbye. Will you dine out with me tonight?"
"Yes, of course. I'd like that very much."
That outing with Barbara went well and next evening Danny was at Barbara's home for dinner. She'd asked him to come early and he'd find her in the pool.
"Hi," she said. "I really enjoyed myself last night. That's the changing room over there."
Danny entered the water and Barbara swam over and gently kissed him, taking her time about it.
"How was that?"
He grinned and told her she kissed beautifully.
She appeared to like him saying that and that pleased him because she was recently widowed and he had no idea how to treat her, except to stand off and keep his hands to himself. He had to remember she was in a delicate situation, returning to dating after losing her husband so tragically.
He said, "Let's swim some lengths. I love swimming."
"Me too."
Then did ten leisurely lengths and stopped in the shallow end. She came against him again.
"What do you think of my body?"
"It's okay."
She laughed, flashing very white teeth and she showed her tongue.
"Only all right?"