Moments Of Pleasing Distraction
Samantha felt uncommonly pleased that she would soon see him again, the bond with Jacey stronger than she had dared to believe was possible.
She stood on the slabbed entrance step of her thatched cottage and watched how Jacey manouevred his car onto the cramped driveway where she had left enough room for him to park. Tall hedges bounded her front garden and driveway, electric gates would soon close and the back garden was only too private, just as she liked and wanted it. The air was warm and close, thunder rumbled not so far away, and clouds scudded across the darkening sky on a stiffening breeze.
She did not doubt for a moment that when he got out of his car she would again see that her dutiful son-in-law would be impeccably dressed, even after an hour's journey from his office. It was something that she had always liked about Jacey. Whereas she knew so many now placed less importance on appearances when it came to work wear, it was still a characteristic of Jacey's that she took also to mean that he was diligent; that he would not let his standards slip when it came to the winding up of her Richard's will and business affairs that the firm, and where he was the youngest partner, had been instructed to handle for her and where any potential conflicts of interest had finally been settled.
"You're right on time!" Samantha called out, thrilled to see him again. He waved in greeting before Jacey leaned into the car and took his soft leather bag from the passenger seat. A dutiful son-in-law was taking a place in her thoughts as never before.
James Charles, Jacey as everyone called him, Swinburne looked impeccable as ever in his navy-blue suit and double-cuffed white shirt. A patterned silk tie was evidence, if it were needed, that he was one cool dude, even at work, and competent with it.
"I didn't want to keep you waiting!" he replied jovially as she strode purposefully across the lawn to greet her. Her outstretched hand was gripped fiercely and Samantha surrendered to a kiss on each of her cheeks, his tended stubble beard brushing her skin. "How are you now?"
"I'm getting there." She clutched his jacket's sleeve as they walked into the cool of her home. It felt much emptier now that Richard had gone. Almost nine months had passed since his loss and probate had only recently been granted. "Go into the dining room, I've cleared the table so that you can spread out the papers that you want me to sign."
"Just read them through, that's all I'm asking. You can sign them and they can be witnessed when you come to the office tomorrow." He couldn't keep from gazing at her and sensed Sam's quiet, understated sensuality. "I wanted to see you away from there, so I'm here to go through things uninterrupted."
"Okay, I'm pleased that you are and I can do that." She lingered by his side and Jacey felt her fumbling for his hand. Samantha gripped it tightly. "Sorry...just give me a moment. It's all coming to an end, at last, and with all the papers that I have to read through and sign."
He saw her lips trembling and gave her a considerate smile.
"Yes, it is coming to an end," he said considerately, squeezing her hand a little tighter, if only for a moment longer. "Just take all the time you need, Sam. If it is still too much for you, just say so and I'll leave it for another time," he now suggested, offering a consoling touch to her bare arm. "Tomorrow will be fine."
He was unsure if she was still observing a formal period of mourning, but Sam's black sleeveless smock dress with its ruffled hem flattered her slender, shapely, figure and he was taken by her attractiveness and soft, wondering smile. The glasses she had put on to read the papers that he had spread out on the table as he sat down added to her allure.
"We'd better go through these," he muttered, caught off guard by her answering smile. She would have noticed his look upon her and may even have taken to wondering what lay behind it.
Sam suddenly sat up and pushed back her chair that she sat in, her legs demurely crossed but that he could see. An engaging woman, in her late forties, gripped his arm for an instant, her bangled bracelet rattling on the polished surface of the table." I've not offered you anything to drink! I put a nice medium white wine in the fridge...shall I get it?"
"Yes, fine, and thanks...I need it after the drive here."
"Then I won't be long and we can get on," she said in a sing-song voice. Her reading glasses rattled on the surface of the table as she put them down. "I won't have to drink on my own..."
He watched her leave and met a moment's backward glance, both of them smiling at having connected if only for a moment.
Was he falling into flirting with the woman and she was not showing any sign of such behaviour being unwelcome? Care would have to be taken for him not to misread the signs. Concern for her welfare and financial security, now that she was a widow, and attractive with it, could or should not affect his professional duties to a client whose perfume he breathed in once more as she returned with a tray on which two glasses were set, along with a bottle of wine in a polished cooler.
"Let me help you with those," he suggested, standing up, and hearing the crystal glasses clinking against each other.
"No, it's okay Jacey. You're of great help to me by just being here." She drew strength and comfort from him being with her, more than long chats on her iPhone with her daughter Olivia ever achieved, and now she spoke lightly of what they could do at the weekend and gazed at him fondly.
Jacey allowed Olivia her distractions, or moments of living on the wild side, and she could enjoy his company and obvious engagement with her. The choice of the 'little black dress' that flattered her figure, tended and slim for a woman of forty-six, had made her feel that she had turned the page on her past life with Richard who had been some ten years older but who had loved her with the gusto of a man half his age.
She wanted to be there again, only with Jacey, the smartly dressed man with attentive eyes and a discreet body fragrance who behaved with her in ways that suggested that he took nothing for granted. Whatever might happen between them would be discovered slowly, and discreetly, here in her home.
♥
There it was again, a touch to his hand as if she needed to draw his attention to her once more as they tidied away the papers he had brought. They sat back in their chairs, each of them sipping thoughtfully on their drinks.
"I've got so much to attend to in the garden but I've had no time or the inclination to do any of it," she admitted, sighing, and giving him a dejected look once more. Her mood seemed to shift so quickly and she often felt that she was living two lives; one pretending that everything was fine and then in an instant she found herself screaming inside and brought on by deep emotional pain. "But I'm so glad that you're here...that Olivia agreed for you to do that. Without your help, in dealing with Richard's will and everything that he was involved with, I don't know how I would have managed. But I can't put it off any longer."
Jacey nodded and his answering glance was again considerate. Much to her surprise, he shifted on his seat and drew closer before he put an arm around her shoulders. He smiled and gave her an approving glance as he did so, lowering his voice to confide in her.
"Olivia's going to be away, so I could come over at the weekend to help out and see to it that you don't overdo it. I can make the time. Is that okay?"
"You could do office work here, I know from Olivia that you put in the hours, even at home sometimes..."
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, and it causes the arguments we have. I'll put it all to one side, or deal with it late on Friday. That way, I can travel over here and deal with what is needed and be company while the garden work gets done."
He also wanted to deal with what the sight of her in that black dress was arousing in him and that Sam seemed to be aware of, each of them holding the other's lingering gaze for a moment before turning away once more. He had long ago agreed to Olivia's 'arrangements', as she referred to weekends like the one that was a day or two away. He had yet to fall into that routine himself, but the sight of Sam was changing that perspective of how it might turn out to be with her.
"Thanks, but gardening helps and I need the distraction of some hard physical work, even now. Richard and I always shared in that..."
They both skirted around what was playing out between them and Jacey decided not to drink any more wine as he had a drive home to get through. He pushed the wineglass, on its coaster, away from him and lifted his full-grain brown leather laptop bag, which also served as a briefcase, off the floor by his side.
He spoke to Sam as the papers were all put away and the bag refastened.
"But he did the heavy lifting. I'll take Richard's place in that respect," he said smiling." We could arrange the details tomorrow when you come to the office. We wind everything up. And, as you've seen the ones I have with me now, there will be nothing left to do that is outstanding..."
She tapped her head. "Except what is going on up here."
"Don't do that so violently!" he felt compelled to say to her as he saw the fingers of one hand poke at her head and dislodge her reading glasses. They clattered onto the table. "I've decided to make a long weekend of it..."
"Not on my account!"
"Yes, on your account, and as Olivia's going to be away with friends. So, I have the chance to help you out in any way that you want. I'll just come and go for however long it takes to get the work done...."
Sam was startled by the vehemence of his replies to what she had said and nervily brushed away the tumble of her hair, the bangles on her bracelet rattling as she did so. She smiled weakly on meeting his wondering look. How disconcerting to have fallen into a pattern of behaviour with her undoubtedly attractive and fiendishly clever son-in-law and that Jacey responded to or he had started. She chose to speak of Olivia.
"She's away on a girls-only weekend, is she? I never did do that when I was her age. How open you seem to be to such an idea..."
He shrugged in that captivating way of his. "Yes, she does what she wants sometimes, in those ways, just as I do."
Sam had gained an insight into how it seemed to be in Olivia's marriage to Jacey, the life of a promiscuous teenager and student not forsaken after all, or now moderated because of the young man before her. What prevailed in her marriage had never been spoken of, but she'd had her suspicions of Olivia's continuing errant behaviour and now wondered how Jacey could tolerate that.
"Well," Jacey said in a voice that suggested that he had come to a decision. "I'll get on my way and I will see you tomorrow, Sam. I've already reserved a parking slot for you, so just tell the man at the barrier and he will direct you to the space. We can go to lunch afterwards if you like...there's a wickedly good Italian bistro not far away."
She looked at him coyly, surprised by the casual way that he suggested it to her but thrilled to have been asked. They were getting on, as never before, and she sensed that more lay behind his invitation. "Should I be seen doing that and do you have the time?"
Jacey paused in giving his answer to that. He was available for her, to help Sam heal and would do that without any agenda unless that was where their changed relationship took them. The attractive woman, her chic sense of dress style and trim figure, her scent that always set him thinking where it had been sprayed, had begun to possess his thoughts.
