During the time I worked with Peter O'Neill on the suburban improvement project, he hosted barbecues at his home. All the families were invited. There were Peter and his wife, Dianne, their sons Mark and Paul, along with me and my husband, Ron and our son, Ryan and Clive Wishart with his partner, Cindy. They were good days and I found out at the first BBQ that all three boys go to the same school β not surprising in a small town.
Some months after the barbecues, I met Dianne, Peter's wife, in a large shopping mall in Hopetoun. She asked me if I had time for a coffee and a sandwich with her. I accepted her offer and we found a quiet restaurant. Unlike Peter, she had to ask for a table. We ordered and chatted as we waited for our meals. She told me Peter hasn't stopped talking about me since he met me at the council meeting almost a year earlier.
"Peter has the belief that Fate has a hand in how our lives work out, he believes it was Fate that brought you and him together. He likes the way you work and your enthusiasm," she told me. I thanked her for her kind words, but explained,
"Dianne, he has undersold himself. I was at the meeting to see what I could find out as a journalist, to try to break into the local newspaper scene in some way. It was he who saw the potential I had, not me; I was feeling lost in a world of seemingly important people. I attribute my interest in the project to Peter when he painted a lovely word picture of how it will be when it was completed."
"Oh yes, he does that all right. I have been the recipient of many word pictures for ornate bridge designs, road widening and the occasional tunnel projects that come his way. He is good at his work, but I really don't need to know every detail of the lace-work of a bridge railing. But as a wife, I listen. Yes Wendy, I can understand how he brought you into his dream. I bet that is what he called it. Didn't he?" Dianne waited for my response.
"Yes, he did. Until I met Peter, I didn't know what it was to have dreams that you could believe in. He was very good at sharing his ideas. I have to say, Dianne, that after meeting him I am having dreams, some of which have come true. I attribute them to Peter's explanation of needing to believe in yourself and make them come true. To be positive, which I lacked before meeting him, I have thanked him for that, many times. You have an exceptional husband, you are so lucky." I meant every word I told her, although some of them not in the same context she believed them to be.
"Oh Wendy, I can see you have been drawn in under his spell. Sometimes I would like to have just an ordinary husband; not one who is always thinking and planning into the future. I think it would be nice."
I reached my hand out and placed it over hers on the table, "No, Dianne, you would not like it. Believe me. My husband, Ron, is an ordinary man. He has negative comments about everything and all that I do, my work β even with the wetland project. When I told him I had met Peter who had some great ideas for the wetlands near Jackson Boulevard, he said, 'Why? That's a dump. Just let it be; it can't be fixed.' That was the most interest he has in anything I do. No, Dianne, you want Peter. I think that every job to him is a new world that he can share with you. You don't want one like my Ron, I can assure you." She looked taken aback.
"Wendy, can I share something with you, please? It's something very personal. I had been hoping to see you shopping here one day, so I could talk with you. I don't want you to say anything to anybody, but I want to ask you a very serious question. Can I, please?" The expression on her face changed to deadly serious and for a moment I thought I was dead! Was she going to ask about Peter and me? What did she know? What had she found out?" I had no choice, but to let her share whatever it was and face the consequences, if she asked that question.
"Dianne, what is it? You look so serious. Has something bad happened?" I needed a clue before I was in too deep. Dianne's expression changed back to friendly.
"No, it's personal, rather than serious, but I don't know anyone I can trust for an answer, but I think you have been involved with people's lives more than me, and I hope you won't tell anyone. Can you do that, Wendy?"
"Of course, I can keep secrets. I have been doing that for a long time now. I value people's privacy, so nothing of whatever you say will be forwarded to others, I can promise you that. But what comes into that category in your world, Dianne?"
She leant forward across the table to me, and in a voice barely audible, she said, "I have a lover." I gulped.
I wasn't expecting that! I tried to be as quiet as she was when I whispered to her, "What do you mean?"
"I have a lover." She repeated her answer and paused to let me absorb it. "He's a young man in his twenties. He's lovely and so attentive," she told me. I was dumfounded and relieved, both at the same time.
"Dianne! How? How? I mean, how did it happen?" I didn't know what to say or where to start. "I am stuck for words, Dianne. Please explain how that all happened." I was trying to sound surprised, but my surprise was focussed on her taking a lover. I didn't think she was the type to do anything like that, but you just don't know with some people.
"Oh Wendy, I have shocked you, haven't I? I'm sorry, but I needed someone to talk to," she explained.
"That's OK. It's not that I don't think women have lovers, but because it was you saying it, I was shocked by your admission. Are you happy, or do you want to end it?"
"It happened a while ago and I have been agonising ever since then about what is right and what is wrong with me having sex with a younger man." It was a strange explanation, but at least the story was becoming clear. I nudged her along by adding, "I am not judging you, Dianne, but has this affair been going on for long?" I asked as calmly as I could.
"You know him. He was at the barbecues Peter had at our house for that project you were working on. It's Clive Wishart." The words hit me like a whack on the head. I wondered how it could have happened.
"Yes, I do. He did the excavation work for the wetlands project. He is very good-looking and well-built. Right? I had to work closely with him to get the digging done, he doesn't like what he calls office work. Yes, I know Clive," I confirmed.
There was a silence. I looked at her and thought for a moment before I spoke, "Well, having sex with a younger man is something I dream of. I think it would be great. It must be every woman's dream, but few of us are that lucky. Is it really true?" I was still tossing over in my mind how the unlikely association between a sophisticated woman like Dianne and a simple-living, working man like Clive came together. It reminded me of Lady Chatterley's Lover, to be honest. I needed to know more, so I asked her.