Please read from part 1 first.
Hope you enjoy the story.
From Part 4
Carefully and slowly he spoke as his eyes went from one to the other in the room, "Um hello Patricia. What a surprise, I never expected to see you again."
His eyes went to fix on his sister, expecting an explanation which seemed to be forthcoming as she rose from her seat. He was partly pleased as she looked unsure of herself, which was really unusual in anything concerning her little brother.
~~~~~~
#1
Brian stood in the doorway looking from one woman to the next as he tried to ponder what and why this was happening. To give himself more space to get his head around whatever this was he said, "Perhaps you can just give me a minute. I need a shower and get changed," and with emphasis that he was trying to give Ashley a poignant message, "Dinner smells especially yummy, are we expecting company. You didn't tell me earlier we were having visitors."
He left them as they were without a backward glance, feeling peeved that his sister had obviously concocted this situation. He got more riled as he went through the motions of showering and dressing as his mind went over what was happening, "How could inviting a woman here help anything, one who had made it plain she wanted nothing to do with me. Why the heck would Ash do this. Have I upset her somehow and this is her way of getting back at me. I'm buggered if I'm going to sit here tonight to be put down for something over which I have no idea what I did. I know she is trying to
fix
me, but this is too far. Some things in my life need to be controlled by myself. Only one thing I can do, I'll go out. I'll apologise that I forgot to say anything earlier that I already had plans for tonight."
Feeling more in control he changed his clothes to better ones to show he was in fact going out and returned to the kitchen. The three were still there talking but all went eerily quiet as he walked in.
"Sorry Ash, I forgot to tell you before, I got invited out tonight when I bumped into an old friend. So iIll have to love and leave you. Nice to see you again Patricia, have a good visit with Ash as I guess you came to see her anyway. I'll be late. Night all."
To stunned looks, he turned and left the house. He was pulling off when he spotted Ashley running out the front door waving to him. He pretended he didn't notice and drove away, wondering to himself what he was going to do for the night by himself. It was just after he turned onto Main Road that his phone started ringing. He ignored it and let her leave a message. just at the moment he was too pissed off at her shenanigans to want to even talk to her.
Ashley hung up on the call after leaving a pleading message to her brother when Patricia stood and said goodnight herself.
"I'll be off too. Thank you for calling me and inviting me over. Seems it was for nothing. He gave me back exactly what I did to him, but at least he said goodbye first. I don't blame him, I didn't even have the decency to tell him what he did wrong. Nice to meet you Ashley and Diana. Good night."
Diana responded, "Bye Patricia, nice meeting you."
Ashley just stood there with her phone held idly in her hand, not understanding what had occurred. Unable to say anything with her mind in a jumble she watched, open mouthed, as the woman left the house and drove away.
She mutely turned to her daughter, who shrugged and said, "Hey, don't look at me. This was your plan. I just live here," then she stood and went to the cupboards to grab a few things and set the table for dinner, "I guess it's just the two of us tonight. Bon appetit mother."
Brian called into a small Italian restaurant not too far from home. He wasn't hungry but knew he should eat and this would fill in a bit of time. He was early enough to be seated straight away and ordered a light beer as he looked through the menu. He had a good spot to observe the few patrons in the cafe. He was the only single person. The blackboard on the wall highlighted the specials for the day and he was considering which one he would order. He was deciding between a couple of nice sounding dishes when a woman with long black hair entering through the front door caught his eye.
She was talking to the waitress when she looked around as though deciding where to sit until she saw Brian. Both he and she stared as though mesmerised by the sight of the other. The waitress who wanted to hurry the new arrival to a table interrupted the stare. A few words were passed between the women and Brian was being approached. One had a determination in her look and body language while the other followed holding a menu.
"Well, Brian fancy seeing you here. I never expected to find you here. Are you, by chance, early for your date?"
"Hello Patricia, no I am here right on time. If you have followed me to harangue me over whatever I did to you, then please find another table. I am just wanting a quiet meal, then I thought I might catch a movie with my date, who you can see is currently sharing my table."
Patricia made a show of looking at the empty chairs where he was sitting, and with a show of being a smart-arse she arched an eyebrow at him, "Ah, you like cheap dates then. Though she looks like she could do with a decent meal into her. Do you think she would mind if I joined both of you for a moment. I really would like to have a quick chat, then I'll leave the two of you to enjoy your evening. Don't worry, I'll be nice."
Brian was quiet for a moment, then with a sigh acquiesced to her request by waving his hand to the chair opposite him. The waitress had become impatient although she kept this to herself in respect of customer relations, dropped the menu on the table and left them alone. She decided to come back in a moment to get their order, although if she had to make a bet then they would probably both leave. It was decidedly an icy atmosphere at the table as the pair obviously had an argument recently.
"Look Brian, your friend from work spoke to me after you left the hotel that Friday, and set me straight on a misconception I had. I apologise for my behaviour, but I honestly thought you were married and wanted to fool around with me."
Brian opened his eyes wide and had his mouth agape before saying, "Why would you think I was married?"
Patricia pointedly looked at his left hand ring finger where his wedding band still resided. He looked down and with a grimace played with the band with his right hand.
"Sorry, I haven't removed it yet. I guess Dan let you know my wife died a while ago," getting a nod in response, "You could have said something to me, but I got the message you were pissed off about something. I was going to call you next week, Dan only told me near the end of the week about you leaving your number. I have been a bit preoccupied with Ashley's problems."
"Yes, Ashley told me some of her worries of the past week. It's a horrible thing to go through. She is very lucky to have you to help. I wasn't going to harass you any further, I only wanted to apologise for my behaviour. I should have told you why I went so cold towards you at the time. It just took me by surprise to meet a man that I wanted to see again, only to find he was married and I thought I had met his wife already. It made me feel icky inside and quite dirty. I now know the truth, so maybe, if you're agreeable, we could try again? We've only talked a couple of minutes, but it was a nice time. Just short. Perhaps we could try for a bit longer this time, and I promise not to go off in a snit without explaining why first."
He laughed at her last comment to be joined by her. As they settled from the laughter he stuck out a hand for a handshake and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Brian. Pleased to meet you."
She smiled, shook his hand in response, then replied, "Hi, I'm Trish. Really pleased to see you."
The waitress had been keeping a wary eye on the pair in case things got heated, and she would have to intervene and ask them to leave. Seeing them laugh and obviously overcome their problems she smiled and approached the table for their orders. Brian asked for a bottle of wine and ordered the Parmigiana with a salad, Patricia took the easy way and asked for the same.
"Now that we are talking, perhaps you could explain why you are following me around?"
Patricia laughed before answering, "After you left I didn't feel like staying with your sister, it was a bit awkward. Although her cooking smelt delicious. I was driving home when I saw the restaurant and decided I may as well eat here instead of getting home and cooking something. It wasn't till I was inside that I saw you."
The wine arrived, then their meals and they spent a pleasant evening at that table. At the end of the meal they officially shared phone numbers and made tentative arrangements to see each the following weekend. They shared a kiss, to the cheeks, before driving to their own homes. Both were a bit more cheery than before accidentally meeting, again.
On his way home Brian contemplated events out loud, "Well Jenny, that was a change. I guess you did approve of her after all. I can certainly feel your hand in bringing us together to meet up again. It is really a strange feeling to have you engineering my social life with help from your sister-in-law. I love you Jenny, I always will," and with moist eyes he made his way home.
#2
It was much earlier than expected when he pulled into the garage. The noise of the garage door brought Ashley out of her room, where she had been wallowing in a self pity party. She was in the centre of the kitchen feeling very dismayed and sorry for herself when Brian entered. She knew she had overstepped in controlling her brother's life. Her only hope was that he would forgive her for trying to force too much on him.
He stopped to look at his sister, she looked upset like she wanted to be swallowed up by the earth. He could never hold a grudge against her, he loved her too much. With an ease of familiarity he stepped to her and put his arms around her, holding her as tight as he dared.
"I love you little girl, with all my heart."
"Oh Brian, I'm really sorry I pushed you. I didn't mean to hurt you, I just thought it was the right thing to do."
"I know you meant well sis. Perhaps in future let me sort things out in my own way. I'm not mad at you, okay. I'm sorry I threw a tantrum and stormed out like I did."
