Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to one of my cherished followers who is not only a delightful person, but also an inspired and talented writer. She does, however, need a bit of a push from us to enable her to overcome her nervousness and to take the plunge and publish here so that we can all enjoy the quality of her writing that so far, only I have been privileged to read. Lela, this chapter is for you and your next story, and please let it appear here on Wattpad for us all to enjoy!
A/N: This chapter continues directly from the last. Rejoin Wayne and Greg as they settle their differences in Ma Tooley's diner while they wait for her to cook them dinner.
CHAPTER NINETY-SIX (Charlie)
Reconciliation and Resolve ( Contd.)
“Not quite,” Wayne interjected, with firm insistence. “Let me put it to you like this; suppose he has those feelings for you. If Jess came up to you one day when you were alone together, put his arm around you all luvvie-duvvie like and said. ‘Greg I love you and I want you to love me ... I mean really love me, now, man on man, and if I can’t have you, I’ll have to leave you fer good.’ What would you do or say to that?”
The chair fell over backwards as Greg sprang up on his feet and rushed to the rear of the dining room with his hands covering his face. He stood facing the wall, gently banging his forehead against the woodwork.
Wayne spoke quietly. “ It’s okay Greg. It’s okay, really it is. You can relax. Don’t try to reply or say anything. I’ve got my answer.”
Stillness filled the room, as it might before a storm; with only the sounds of the bumblebee buzz from the fluorescent light accompanied by the faint, dull thump of Greg’s forehead striking against the wooden wall panelling breaking the silence.
The all too familiar nausea climbed again through Greg’s body. His throat tightened and demons clawed at his innards. Wayne’s question ripped apart his resolve to maintain a platonic relationship with Jes by introducing an unconsidered exigency that plunged his intentions back into the depths of uncertainty and himself into despair.
An image of Jess floated into his consciousness from the mists of his mind and smiled at him before disappearing into the swirls of cerebral haze. Greg willed the image to return, but the shape that formed next was of the ancient, iron bound oak door of the courthouse on the day of his divorce. He choked at the painful memories it conjured and the image dispersed - its work done.
He stood away from the wall and took several deep breaths before turning towards Wayne, seated at the table, upright and tense like a man expecting to come under attack. His face showed concern and anxiety, yet failed to conceal an underlying expression of pained dismay and disappointment.
An adrenalin rush brought calmness to Greg and with it came clarity of thought.
“No you haven’t Wayne. It’s much deeper than you think.” Greg’s abrupt, smiling composure surprised Wayne and the words spoken by his friend unsettled him.
“Well what was that little performance all about then,” he snapped? “Don’t try an’ tell me I didn’t bowl a strike with my little scenario.”
He sounded smug and Greg, while flashing his friend a benevolent smile, pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Wayne; completely at ease.
“In a way you did, because you hit on a circumstance I hadn’t considered before, or rather one I sub-consciously avoided considering, but, you don’t need to worry...’
“You keep saying that, but what’s going on at Fishers is the biggest thing that’s ever likely to happen for me; and for you too. You’ve taken a fall, a hard fall, and it’s changed you; that you can’t deny an’ it’s not just me sayin’ so. I just have to be sure you’re one hundred percent sound and signed up for the duration before I dare tell you the whole story.”
Greg shook his head, exhaling in a long, noisy whistle and glanced at his wristwatch.
“We’ve been back together for six hours and in that time we could have drafted an outline plan for Fishers before and after the IPO, and all we’ve done is argue about nonsense. That’s a great shame, because if working together means an everlasting round of bickering like elementary school kids, we’re just not going to get anywhere, and neither is Fishers.”
“How can you sit there smug and smilin’ an’ say a thing like that to me,” Wayne bellowed, his face reddened in outrage. “If it’s nothing, what was all that about?” He half stood to point at the wall where only moments before Greg banged his head in frustration.
Greg rubbed his chin, smiling again at Wayne while the man sat down and regained his composure. He pointed to the wall “Do you know what I was thinking when I was back there?”
Wayne threw his hands in the air. “How the hell would I know what you were thinkin’. That’s what I’m tryin’ to find out fer Chrissake.”
“Okay let me tell you, and perhaps you’ll get the answers to the other questions that’s bothering you. But I have to tell it in my own way. Are you up for that?”
Wayne nodded without enthusiasm and Greg began his explanation.
“When I was up against that wall, the first image I saw was Jess, but he faded away and in his place I saw again the ancient oak door of the courthouse in England, with its timbers graying with age and streaked with stains from its rusting iron studs and stiffeners...”
Wayne shook his head and waved his hand to interrupt. “Is this going somewhere near to where we want to be?”
“Trust me, just let me explain it in my own way.” Greg reached across the table to rest his hand on Wayne’s shoulder.
“Take it easy, all will be revealed in a couple of minutes if you can wait that long?”
Wayne huffed, sitting back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.
“They’re connected; that courtroom and Jess are connected, except I never fully realised it until now. That’s what all that was about back there.” Greg paused to point at the wall where he had stood.
“Go on Greg,” Wayne leaned forwards. His interest aroused.
“Outside of Victoria’s family there were only six people in my life before the divorce. These were the people I worked with, socialised with – dammit, lived with almost. We worked, played and went everywhere together. It amused us when people called us ‘Mitchell’s Musketeers.’ We were entirely there for one another in every respect. Our wives complained that we put the ‘Musketeers’ before them. We were safe and secure with each other and only trusted each other. I needed no other persons in my life and let nobody else get close to me.”
"That’s real sad.” Wayne commented.
Greg grunted and fixed his gaze on a small Norman Rockwell cartoon hanging on the wall over Wayne’s shoulder and continued.
“Like I said, we were inseparable, and like the characters in the Dumas story we were ‘all for one and one for all.’ ? The night before the divorce hearing they took me out on the town for one almighty piss-up. They filled my gut with booze and my head with platitudes and assurances that I would win the case and they would support me all the way to make sure I did win. I believed in them and walked through that courtroom door next morning with a spring in my stride and a smile on my face to rival any toothpaste ad.” Greg paused, ostensibly to clear his throat.
Wayne noticed Greg clenching and unclenching his hands while his lips had formed into a thin, bloodless line as he overcame some inner constraint to continue. He saw the flames of anger and hurt in Greg’s eyes and waited several seconds before prompting.
“Go on.”
“They were there all right, ... the bastards.” The chair screeched in protest as Wayne pushed it back in shock at the vehemence of Greg’s outburst.
“Yes, they were there, but not for me as they had promised. It had all changed for them, and for me, once they were inside that courtroom. The smiles they always had for me before that day turned into scowls and their platitudes now belonged to the Bailey clan. I was like a leper. Ed Bailey sat smug and all-powerful in the middle of his bench with his sycophants surrounding him, including those who until that moment had been mine. Men I had trusted absolutely over the past five years. When the telling moment came, their loyalty belonged to their meal ticket rather than to their word, or me.”
“Dag Nabbit, are you sayin’ they went over to th’ other side after filling your swede with promises of support?”
“That’s exactly right. The courtroom scene was like a church wedding with the bride’s family and friends on one side and the groom’s on the other. I was standing by myself on one side and everybody else was crowded into the benches across the aisle. Then when it came to giving evidence, I sat through the proceedings numbed with disbelief at what I heard. These ‘Musketeers’, the guys that were ‘all for me’ could only remember the facts supporting Victoria’s claim for irreconcilable differences and the details of an adultery that never happened...”
Wayne’s mouth gaped wide open, his face turned white with shock and his lips moved without speaking as Greg continued telling his story.
“...I listened through their half-truths and downright lies shaking with disbelief. I saw Ed Bailey grinning and his face flushed with pleasure as he wrote things down in a little notebook...”
“What things?” Wayne croaked”
Greg waved his hand dismissively over his head. “I dunno. Things. I guess he was writing down who would receive bonuses for that day’s work and how much they’d be. It doesn’t matter. There was nothing I could do to pull the case back my way. I was systematically betrayed by the men I thought of as brothers and thanks to them I lost everything I valued.”
Wayne nodded sagely and interjected a word of understanding. “I can see now why you put such a heavy weight on trust and keepin’ your word.”
Greg ignored the remark. “It was outside the courthouse, after it was over, that it really hit me. I was in my own country and completely alone. I could have been anywhere else on earth. There was nobody anywhere for me. No place here I could go to that would take me in. I had nothing of any value any longer and I badly needed something to believe in again, and whatever the thing turned out to be that got me going again; I wanted someone to share it with, someone honest, someone I could really trust. For the first time in my life I knew the crippling ache of loneliness.”
He paused to chuckle, a sad, mocking sound. “It seemed a good idea to get away and since the USA had always received me well; I decided to go there. I suppose I was running away, but I didn’t realise it at the time.”
“That’s one God awful story to listen to Greg. I am so sorry it happened like that for you and I can see now how you thought it was happening again when you thought I went back on my word to you...”
“You did go back on your word,” Greg snapped, “but that has nothing to do with this.” He flicked his fingers dismissively in front of his face; the jaw line set firm as he continued with his explanation. “It might have been fate itself that brought Jess and me together the day I knocked him down in the street.”
“How come? I don’t get it!” Wayne interrupted.