Tales of Reluctance: Tale 02

Part one

The two brothers James and Jonathon had been on floating on air all week. It was the first anniversary of the opening of their restaurant and the financial review with the backers had gone incredibly well. They were already two years ahead of their business plan, debt free and able to think about spending more freely. It had been such a tough year, but suddenly it all seemed worthwhile.

As brothers, they were very close, sharing a bedsit and able to live in each other pockets during the most intense year of their lives and yet their personalities were so different. James was the charming, handsome, outgoing one who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos and always seemed to come out of scrapes smelling of roses. Jonathon was the reserved methodical thinker with the passion and gift for cooking. He had kept the restaurant on an even keel, stopped James's excesses and kept them on budget, whilst James charmed the punters and made diners want to come back again and again.

This difference of character was already on show. Parked outside the restaurant was a shiny nearly new Aston Martin. Ordered by James the same day as their financial review, within an hour of coming out in fact. Meanwhile Jonathon looked through financial magazines for safe places to invest the money that was now flowing his way.

Wednesday's they always sat in a quiet corner and had lunch together, often sampling new dishes which Jonathon was considering adding to the menu. Today though they planned to saviour the past year, let the staff run the restaurant on what was always their quietest lunchtime.

The conversation flowed through the meal as they reminisced about childhood and their teens. This mainly revolved around the stunts James had pulled and how Jonathon had rescued him. The time he had borrowed their parent's car and crashed it, the time he had gone off with the local heavies girlfriend. Each story was funnier than the last, and no worse for the exaggerations that time had bestowed upon the tale or that it had been told a million times.

James then suddenly asked. "How are you getting on with Harriet?" Harriet was Jonathon's girlfriend of three or so years. James made no secret of the fact he was not exactly a fan of Harriet's, often telling Jonathon he should be out there having fun, not tied to one woman, but it was no use. Jonathon would always laugh and tell James that a serious relationship was beyond his understanding, and always would be.

However, despite this James was not prepared for the next piece of news.

Jonathon suddenly announcing, "Actually I have been meaning to say to you, I plan to ask her to marry me, now the restaurant is running well."

"What?" said James, amazed at what he heard. "You are joking right?"

The argument that followed got quite heated, as James made it clear that he thought Jonathon was completely mad, and it would never work. Jonathon for the first time realised how opinionated James was, about relationships, and the fact in his eyes they were never successful.

"You either split up," he said, "or spend the rest of your life miserable. So why trap yourself?"

This reignited the argument, as Jonathon made a spirited defence of marriage and his relationship with Harriet, pointing out how he was madly in love with her.

"And I always will be and she with me," he said pompously.

"I don't doubt that," said James, "all I am saying is sometime soon both of you will wish for a change, something fresh. You know the excitement of meeting someone different, getting to know her, the thrill of the first time you make love to someone new. All that exciting freshness that is no longer there in your current stale and boring relationship."

"You may think like that James, but most people don't," said Jonathon wearily. "What about friendship and the deep understanding from really knowing someone?" At that moment, Sandra one of the waitresses, brought coffee for them, and they paused their conversation, so as not to be overheard in front of the staff. When she had gone, they carried on.

"Take Sandra for instance," said Jonathon, " she is happily married, what is it two years now with that ...erm Brian?"

"Not that happily," said James smugly, watching his brothers face change as his words sunk in.

"What do you mean?" said Jonathon aghast. "Oh god, you haven't?"

James told his brother about the brief affair that Sandra and he had had. "It was last year, she was feeling a bit ignored, I had the stress of fitting out the restaurant. Sandra ended up being the one helping me, so we spent a lot of time together, and so one night we ended up kissing, and then one thing led to another."

"You are impossible," said Jonathon shaking his head.

"No, just normal," said James, smiling at his brother's indignation. "You should try playing around sometime, its awesome."

"Oh my god," said Jonathon suddenly, "That's why she went off sick for three weeks just when we had opened. You moaned about that just as much as me and it was all your doing."

"Er yes, I had meant to explain that to you sometime," said James sheepishly.

"Anyway my point is, you can't just go around expecting every married woman to jump into bed with you when you click your fingers," said Jonathon. "It doesn't work like that."

So once more the row started again, as they argued back and forth about James talent's as a lover, and the fact in Jonathon's opinion it was one thing bedding a string of young naïve "airheads" as he put it, it was quite another seducing an intelligent married woman.

"I bet I could pick a woman now, at random, and given a few weeks, have got her to sleep with me," said James.

The bet "you can't", bet "I can", went back and forth for several minutes, with both brothers sticking to their view, and the tone getting more and more serious, as they tossed taunts between each other.

"How much do you bet?" Said James suddenly, now bored with arguing and cross that he was being doubted.

There was a long pause, and finally Jonathon cautiously proposed that the loser spend the regular football season being the one who gets up early to book tickets for the games. This would mean 16 early starts, up at six in the morning after a late night at the restaurant, which both men absolutely hated. The penalty for failure would be, they replace the missing tickets with the much more expensive hospitality package.

"Done!" Said James and inside both men gulped, this had suddenly got serious. If they had both been honest neither of them wanted it to go this far.

"Slow down. There is one other condition." Said Jonathon quickly. "I pick the woman not you."

"No way!" said James. "No way!"

The two brothers who never argued about anything then began yet another disagreement. In the end James climbed down, chastened by Jonathon's digs that apparently he could seduce anyone, not someone he had specially picked out. James got agreement that it had to be someone he liked the look of. It would be impossible to do this if he did not fancy the lady he said.

"You? You fancy anything in a skirt," said James laughing, "but ok," and he looked at his phone and replied to a text.

"Just Harriet," he said, explaining who had texted him, and then immediately calling loudly for Sandra to bring more coffee. James noted in amusement the way Jonathon was now being grumpy with her, rather than his usual friendly self. If she found out he had told Jonathon, she would be even grumpier with him.

At that point the door opened and four ladies walked into the restaurant. They had not booked, but late lunch on a Wednesday was not a problem for the restaurant, so seating them would be straightforward. The brothers admired the attractive, well-dressed, elegant ladies who were all laughing happily.

Jonathon said, "what about the lady in the blue pattern dress? She came in last week with a different group and I briefly spoke to her. She is married with kids, not sure how many or what ages, but I know a little about her and you can't say she isn't very attractive. She must be a fair target for our bet."

James studied the woman Jonathon had selected. She was in a knee length blue and white patterned dress with a V-neck and thin straps. Her blond hair was wavy and hung down below her shoulders, on her feet were strappy sandals. James had to admit she was lovely and so unable to think of a way of saying no, he agreed.

"But you must help by introducing me," said James. To which Jonathon immediately agreed.

The brothers sat for a while saying very little, both excited about a possible victory over their sibling, but at the same time fearing the ridicule of defeat. Finally James nudged Jonathon and they both watched as the lady in question walked past them on the way to the rest room. They silently agreed to talk to her on her way back to the table. James admired her slim figure as she went past; she had shapely legs and a petite bust. James liked more and more what he saw.

"Nice to see you here again," said Jonathon as the lady walked past.

"Its lovely to be back," she said confidently. Her big smile lightened up her whole face and James was able to see that she was even prettier close up, with light blue eyes and an air of elegance, which turned him on.

"May I introduce my brother James?" Said Jonathon. James stepped forward and shook her cool, soft hand. He loved the confident way the lady held his gaze.

"Nice to meet you, Miss?" Said James.

"Alice!" She said "And as lovely as it was of you to otherwise, I am a Mrs." She held up a finger, which had on it a wedding band, an engagement and an eternity ring.

"Let me escort you back to the table then Mrs Alice," said James, which made her smile. He followed her back to her friends. He made a performance of checking that everyone had had a good meal and that all had been satisfactory. He motioned for Sandra and offered a drink on the house to end their meal. As the ladies thought about drinks and offered their thanks, James dropped his pen. He quickly knelt down to pick it up.

The game is on he thought to himself.

Part two

His new Aston Martin had been sitting in a car parking space, in sight of the front of the house, but hopefully out of view of the occupants, for over an hour now. This did look like the kind of road where curtains twitched and the neighbours gossiped about strangers hanging around. It would not of surprised him if someone had already written down his registration number. Consequently James felt very conspicuous. Finally though the front door of the house opened and a man came out with two little girls. To be frank James was no expert, but he guessed the girls were about eleven and eight. They had long blonde hair just like their mum and were just as pretty. James smiled, grateful for not having such baggage. He could not imagine having to do a school run every day.

He watched as the girls jumped into the builders van, the man started it's engine and then the van pulled off the drive. James wanted to duck down as it drove past, but he thought again about all the neighbours watching his behaviour through their curtains. Fortunately the driver did not seem to notice him anyway.

James forced himself to wait a full five minutes before he fired the Aston's engine up. He cursed at how loud a V12 engine was, as he drove the short distance to the house, parked, opened the gate and walked up the rough stone path and knocked crisply on the door. A dog barked and someone came quickly to the door.

"What have you..." said Alice, as she opened the door. "Oh gosh! Sorry! I assumed you were my husband, having forgotten something." She babbled. "The girls are always leaving something behind." A black Labrador sniffed around James's feet then briefly stood and looked around, before sloping back indoors.

Then she appeared to realise that she was not exactly dressed for visitors. She was wearing a pure white cotton dressing gown, which was the whitest of whites in colour. It was full length, so quite modest, but none the less she wrapped it tightly around her, as though fearing it might fall off. James could see there were white little polka dots on the sleeve.

"Er...James right? From the restaurant? What on earth are you doing here? And how? Alice had got redder and redder as she spoke. James hoped from the embarrassment of opening the door in her dressing gown and not from growing alarm that he had found out where she lived. "Oh god have you found my phone," she suddenly said.

James relieved and impressed that she had worked it out triumphantly held up a phone. When James dropped his pen in the restaurant, he had used all those skills he had developed as a teenage tearaway and "borrowed" her phone from the open handbag sitting by her seat. He had made sure there was lots of fuss from all the staff, as Alice's party left, to ensure she was distracted, and did not check for her phone. She clearly had only noticed later and too late to impact on his plan.

"Oh thank god you have," she said. "I have been panicking about it." The ice was now broken and she invited him in for a cup of tea. As the kettle was boiling she made an awkward apology and fled upstairs to get dressed. As she ran up the stairs she cursed herself for being so stupid, how could she open the door to him in her dressing gown, with no make up on, and her hair a mess.

"Aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh," she said to herself, but then laughed. What was she thinking? She was married, why should she worry about what other men thought of her. However there was no denying she had been quite struck by the affluent, cocky, athletic James, when she had met him in the restaurant. Pull yourself together she thought.

"Do you take sugar?" James asked, as she walked back into the kitchen. Alice made the old joke about being sweet enough and then groaned inside about how lame she was. She now wore a short, high-necked, green patterned dress with smart black heels. James noted that her hair and makeup were now immaculate. She shook her head again to decline the sugar, and smiled as James passed a cup of tea to her. The colour of the teas was perfect, nice and strong just as she liked it. Alice was impressed.

"You look nice," he said.

"Do I?" she said. "Thank you, off to see some girl friends. I appreciate the compliment though,"

They then chatted about this and that. James focussed his conversation around her daughters, which pleasantly surprised Alice. He discovered they were actually thirteen and ten so he had been some way out on their ages. He resisted the temptation to say she didn't look old enough to have kids of that age, but instead asked lots of questions and Alice found herself really enjoying the conversation with this man. During the conversation he reminded her she had joined their mailing list and so the restaurant had her address. He apologised that he had technically broken the law, using her address for the purpose he had.

"Data-protection," he commented and then it was his turn to feel that he was sounding lame.

"I forgive you," she said with a reassuring look on her face.

Alice tried hard to make him take some money for petrol, or as a reward, but James said he would not hear of it. She was a customer and so he was more than happy to help.

"You do have a great restaurant," she said, to move on from this moment of awkwardness.

"There is one big favour you could do me." Said James suddenly.

"Anything," said Alice, "you today, are my hero."

So he began to explain about the backing they got for the restaurant and that one of the conditions they had to meet was to survey some of their customers each quarter.

"It shows the money men the restaurant is meeting customer needs." James explained.

"Of course I will. I love your restaurant anyway," said Alice. "I'd be happy to fill your survey in."

"No, you don't understand," said James. "We always have enough surveys filled in. We have to do three face-to-face interviews about the restaurant and I am one short this quarter. It's so hard to get people to agree to the more time consuming interviews," he said. Alice went to speak, but he cut across her. "How it works is I take you to lunch and then we talk about your experiences at the restaurant. Lunch is on me of course."

"I am happy to help," said Alice and so after a brief conversation they agreed on the following Wednesday at noon. James would pick her up from the house and they would go together. Alice had protested a lot about being picked up, but James insisted, and a part of her liked the fact that he was so chivalrous. He kissed her on both cheeks as they thanked each other for the kindness of the return of the phone and the lunchtime interview. They then went their separate ways.

Part three

Alice was fretting over what to wear. James would be arriving to pick her up in an hour and she originally had put on a trouser suit and blouse, but then he had phoned to say there was a change of plan. They were still lunching, but they were going to a much more formal restaurant called "The River Fork." She had been sitting by a computer so had immediately looked it up, and she was impressed, it was extremely nice with prices on the menu to match.

In the end she chose a velvet-red coloured, sleeveless dress, which was thigh length. So she put on dark black tights and her heeled black shoes. She found a gold bracelet and popped that on too. She always felt confident in this dress, the waist was slimming and it allowed her to dress simply, in clothes whose colour made a strong statement. She hoped he would like it, and then told herself off for thinking about such things.

Alice got her answer as soon as she opened the door to James. The compliments had flowed immediately, and she felt she could quickly get used to this much attention. Alice had been impressed when she saw the Aston and even more impressed at the way he opened the door for her to get in. As ever the conversation flowed easily and James took the opportunity to say they were considering buying the restaurant they were going to, hence the change of plan. He also confirmed this meant today there was no interview to worry about. Finally he told Alice that no one at the hotel, because it was also a small five-star hotel, knew of the potential purchase plan. James had made her laugh by saying they were going "under cover" to check it out.

"How exciting," said Alice and she placed her hand on his knee. She held it there for a few moments and then removed it. She had meant it as a gesture of support for his efforts, but James saw the opening and decide a little flirting would do no harm.

"I like it when you touch my knee," he said light heartedly and then scooping her hand up he kissed it, before putting it back on his leg. She laughed, but kept it there for the rest of the journey, and although she felt initially awkward, he again got a fun, light-hearted, interesting conversation going, and she forgot about where her hand was. She found herself very flattered by how interested in her he was. She was used to men being full of themselves and so dominating the conversation, but he only spoke to keep the conversation going, to show interest or to ask a new question. Alice realised the meal she was going to, out of a sense of duty to the man who found her phone, was now something she was very much looking forward to.

An alarming thought went through Alice's head. Her daughters would need picking up and now the meal was going to be long, she wanted to avoid the embarrassment of having to leave early.

She recovered her hand, apologised that she needed to use the phone and through the power of texting arranged for a friend to do the school pick ups tonight. Next she warned her husband that she might be late home, but the girls were covered. Alice had not told her husband about the meal with James. Frankly she could not of said why, but it certainly had made it easier to now say she would be late, as he did not know the whole story. The guilt at not telling him she pushed away.