Saturday night at the chinese buffet restaurant...
Returning to the table with plate number four, Becky sits down opposite her friend Liz and their rather one sided conversation continued.
Liz was a good friend and had been since they were at primary school together, she was her best friend, but as they say could, 'talk the back legs off a donkey', one of her negative attributes.
They were few in number, but another, in Becky's humble opinion was her friend's sexual promiscuity. Liz had a heart of gold but would probably be described as a 'slapper' by most people who knew her.
She'd had many boyfriends in the past and was currently entertaining three guys. Not all at the same time, but that was something she had done before. Her latest affair was just that, as it involved sleeping with a married man thirty years her senior, behind hapless regular boyfriend Sam's back. Fella number three happened to be the delivery driver for a local chinese takeaway, Liz had a thing for oriental men, hence her excitement at Becky's choice to visit the newly opened chinese buffet.
As she listened to Liz describing a recent night out with the married guy, Becky allowed her mind to tune out and wander back to earlier that evening, recalling her walk down the lane and second encounter with charming elderly gentleman Harry, who she found increasingly interesting.
This time, after a warm greeting they chatted for over an hour while sitting side by side on a large log, part of a fallen tree that had been sawn into several sections.
A lot of information was exchanged, and although some of it was quite personal it hadn't felt wrong or uncomfortable, quite the opposite, Harry proving as predicted, to be a good listener.
The conversation had initially been about employment, Harry enquiring as to Becky's job, a subject which she felt a little embarrassed about as McDonald's wasn't exactly a high flying career choice.
After Becky ridiculed her job Harry had immediately brushed this to one side and told her there was nothing to be embarrassed about and that at least she had steady employment, which was something to be proud of.
The man had a knack of making her feel respected and special, and this instilled her with a strong sense of trust, so much so that during the course of their dialogue she'd even opened up to him about Sean and what had happened.
Harry listened patiently while Becky described accidently witnessing her boyfriend kissing another woman...and all that had transpired since, Sean trying to worm his way back into her life by pretending it was a one off incident, a moment of madness.
This of course, was all lies. Becky learnt that Sean had been seeing this other girl regularly for weeks and not only that but had also been with two others during the course of their relationship. She'd learned all this from one of the previous girl's sisters no less, who knew Becky as a casual acquaintance, apparently Sean was quite the ladies man and a serial liar.
After opening up to Harry he first offered his sincere sympathies that she had to put it with that kind of behaviour, then said something off hand that aroused her interest and once again left her feeling very special.
Initially advising her not to have anything else to do with Sean, he then went on to say men like that who didn't realise how lucky they were to have such a beautiful caring woman in their life, were self centred idiots and best left well alone.
It was spoken with passion and she could hear the anger within his tone. After saying it Harry blushed, something which she'd noticed while in his company before. Her welfare it appeared, was something he felt very strongly about.
Becky was starting to realise that she was having an interesting effect upon Harry, just as he was with her. Indeed, the kindly old gentleman had occupied her mind a lot these past two days...
"Well what would you do?...Bex?...hello?"
Suddenly dragged back into the resteraunt away from thoughts of Harry, Becky gazed with puzzled surprise at her friend, hesitating.
"You haven't been listening to a word have you?" Liz smiles warmly, with more than a little sympathy.
While attempting to wrestle out an embarrassed reply Liz interrupts her with comforting words, reaching out a hand to hers and grasping hold, "Hey...it's alright...it only gets better ok?...forget the bastard he's no good...best advice you'll ever hear...now...I'm gunna get you another drink...what would you like?...my treat."
Becky didn't correct Liz about what was on her mind, she liked to keep Harry to herself at least for now.
Allowing a smile to spread across her face she replied, "You know what I like."
Liz grins knowingly back, "Double drambuie it is...no ice."
Letting go her hand and standing up, Becky watches as her friend strolls off towards the bar, disappearing within the crowds of the bustling resteraunt.
Once again she allows her thoughts to wander back to the earlier conversation with Harry, in which he'd revealed he was seventy seven years old and a great grandfather.
Harry also told Becky about his wife and her illness, confiding in her that he was having great difficulty coping with Ann. It did sound awful, especially how sometimes she didn't recognise him, or believed Harry was someone else.
It was clear to Becky that he was just as comfortable telling her personal things as she was with him, a sure sign of mutual trust.
There was another thing that stuck out in her mind about their interaction, something she'd lied to Harry about... her age.
During a part of their conversation in which Becky was talking about perhaps learning to drive, her age had randomly come up and she'd made herself two years older, it had been a spur of the moment decision and the reason she had done it was at the time quickly pushed to the back of her mind, but now came under scrutiny.
Making herself twenty instead of eighteen sounded better...'Better for what?' A voice in her head enquired, the answer, which she now acknowledged, was that making herself a bit older had been done so as not to put Harry off.
She was worried that upon learning Becky was just a teenager Harry may consider their blossoming friendship a little inappropriate. But this of course didn't make any sense, why would age have anything to do with a friendship?...unless...
'Friendship...or something else,' the voice from within enquired further. This question she also knew the answer to but had one foot firmly entrenched in denial. True, Harry offered a charming friendly distraction to her recent troubles, but there was something else going on here too.