It was just gone eleven when Caitlin decided to call it a night. She was going home. Enough was enough. So after saying goodnight to her uncle and her father's friends she had quickly made her way to her parked car.
Home, she sighed quietly in relief. What a night. Not exactly the fun she'd been hoping for. And not the type of experience she wanted to repeat. She was going to go home and put her feet up. And she was going to stop thinking about that aggravating man. Just put him out of her mind. Forget the fact that she had finally met a man who was not simpering and was very interesting. Even now she found herself reimagining what might have happened had they met under other circumstances. Then she banked a smile. Under other circumstances he wouldn't have come within twenty miles of her. She wasn't his type. Too straight she figured. Too bad. That had her smile growing. Trust her to find the situation humorous. A bitchy woman thought it would be hilarious to set her up. The man involved thought she was naïve. While she thought he was fit. So what was there to laugh about?
The best thing would be to try to forget the fact she had nearly had a decent conversation with a fit guy who did not pander to her status within the community. Now all she had to do was head home and forget this evening had ever happened.
But that was going to be harder than she thought. When she reached her car she noticed that all four of her tires were deflated. She looked up to the heavens and silently asked what she'd done wrong to warrant such an evening. With a kick to the deflated rear tyre she considered her options. The best plan was to return to the hall to make a phone call to the car recovery service. It was just a pity that she met her uncle on the way in to the hall for that set up another chain of events.
Caitlin told her uncle about the tyres, before she headed for the public phone that lined the vestibule. She had forgotten to charge her mobile earlier that day and it was now flat. It was at that point that Caitlin nearly started laughing, for it would appear that the fates were definitely against her today. Not only had she let her phone run low on charge, she had four deflated tyres, she had a man announce, albeit accidentally that she wasn't up to scratch and she had to face people she would rather avoid.
But things were about to get worse.
Unfortunately while Caitlin made the call, her uncle and his friends cornered Jared and Douglas in the cloakroom. Jared and Douglas, like Caitlin had decided to call it a night too. They were about to leave and were in the process of collecting their jackets when they suddenly found themselves taken to task by four elderly men. So, unfortunately for Caitlin, when Caitlin tracked her uncle down, to tell him she'd got through to car recovery team, she found Jared standing silently while four elderly men berated him. What astonished Caitlin was the fact they were making loud and somewhat defamatory accusations. Not surprisingly, a small crowd had gathered. The onlookers were listening intently as the older men systematically questioned Jared's conduct that evening and chastised him for everything and anything that came to mind!
Without a moment's hesitation Caitlin waded in.
"Ohhhh! For goodness sakes!" She cut through the latest accusation with a full measure of censure in her voice.
All eyes turned to her. Some speculative, some inquisitive, others hoping for an escalation in matters. Looked like the evening was about to get even more interesting, some thought and waited to see who would respond to Caitlin's statement.
"Caitlin. We can handle this." Tony said firmly. He had been waiting for just such an opportunity. Tony intended to make his position clear. The young man was out of line. Way out of line. They all knew about Jared's reputation. None of it was all that flattering. But more importantly, no one got away with making Caitlin the subject of gossip. Tonight, Jared had definitely stepped way over the line and Tony intended to make sure Jared knew it.
Caitlin ignored Jared. She turned to face her uncle. He looked calm. Though she could see in his eyes that he was far from pleased. She also knew him well enough to know that he would have taken umbrage on her behalf. And that no doubt would lead to more than a few heated words. She wanted to stop that from happening.
"Look the guy humiliated me in public, I'm hardly going to want to defend him!" She said brusquely, looking at her uncle and avoiding all eye contact with Jared. "But neither am I going to let you hang, draw and quarter him when my tyres have nothing to do with him." She jammed her hands on her hips and slowly looked at the group of four aging men who had been vilifying Jared a few moments ago.
She made sure she caught their eye and told them clearly what she thought about their behaviour without saying anything openly. The four elderly men shifted uncomfortably. Douglas banked his grin as he watched Caitlin manage the four men. Jared scowled openly, wondering why she was going in to bat for him. Caitlin ignore Douglas and Jared, her attention remained firmly trained on the four elderly men. They were no happy with her interjection.
"You don't know that." Tony muttered and threw Jared a speaking look. Tony was convinced that Jared was perfectly capable of damaging Caitlin's car! He had looked out for his two nieces for years. They had grown up mother-the-less due to a bungled burglary. Consequently practically all of her father's friends and close family had attempted to compensate by protecting the girls whenever they were around. It did not matter that the girls were now young women. What mattered was that they were safe, their reputations intact and that no one took liberties.
Caitlin saw her uncle flash Jared a warning look. She was tempted to roll her eyes. Instead she opted to be more direct. "I do." Caitlin stated bluntly and decisively. She did not tolerate bullying of any sort.
"Cait, you haven't been with him all evening. You don't know his movements for the last couple of hours." Neil tried to explain their reasons for cornering Jared and his friend. He, like Tony was convinced that the person responsible for Caitlin's current predicament was Jared. He, like Tony also intended to make sure that Jared knew they had marked his card.
Caitlin shook her head with conviction as she stated with certainty, "It isn't his style." Caitlin moved forward to face her father's friends, as she said more gently, "Look he told me to my face what he thought of me!" That had Jared squaring his shoulders and preparing for another lambasting from the four elderly men. "And yes, he didn't mince words!" Caitlin's lips quirked at the corners as she admitted that. Then she looked at her father's friends again and said quietly, "I know you guys are trying to help me." She said gently. Then added, "And yes, he hasn't been terribly kind to me this evening. But deflating my tires is the act of a coward. I can think of many things to call this man but coward isn't one of them."
"You don't know that." Neil muttered though he was starting to agree with her. Jared was not sly. He had a reputation as ladies man, but he also had a reputation for being honest.
"I do." Caitlin stated with utter conviction. She sighed as she added more gently, "So you guys need to leave him alone." She would give them all a hug later, out of sight, for she knew they were only trying to protect her. They were looking out for her. She knew that. She just wasn't keen on the fact they were blaming someone for something he hadn't done.
Jared had until that point remained quiet. But her defence had left him a shade rattled. "I think I'm capable of handling my own affairs." Came the voice from just behind her.
Jared couldn't remember the last time someone went in to bat for him. He'd learnt the hard way, during his childhood, that the only person who would look out for his interests was him. Yet here was a woman, who barely knew him, who he'd humiliated unintentionally, who he thought would give an icicle a run for their money, and she was defending him, in public. Even more unsettling was the fact that she was genuine in her defence of him not being responsible for her tires. How could she possibly reach such a firm conviction? After what had happened earlier this evening he would have expected her to leave him to the aging wolf pack!
It was unsettling to have your preconceived views turned on their heads. She was not the wallflower he took her for.
"It doesn't seem that way to me." Caitlin replied dismissively. She flicked him a quick glance before returning to make eye contact with her father's friends.
She heard the smothered laughter from the man beside Jared, but she didn't bother to acknowledge it or the man. Douglas was wholly intrigued by Caitlin. The way Jared had described her earlier had left Douglas thinking she was some sort of vapid air-head. The way she was willing to treat people fairly, even people who had inadvertently ruined her evening, was somewhat extraordinary. Douglas could understand Jared's bemusement. He was feeling much the same way. Why would this young woman go in to bat for a man who had all but humiliated her earlier on this evening?
Caitlin glanced at each of the four men as she spoke. "One or all of you may have done it to pin the blame on him." She told the four elderly men and knew they would react with umbrage.
"Cait!" They all stammered and huffed angrily.
"How can you say that?" Came the indignant question.
"What?" Spluttered Tom.
"Young lady that's preposterous." Huffed another.
"You see?" Caitlin told them with a flicker of a smile on her lips. She softened her voice, "It upsets you to have your character questioned, but all evening you've maligned his." She told them, hoping they would accept that it wasn't fair to harangue Jared about her car tyres.
"We shouldn't have to remind you that we are pillars of the community....."
Sensing her father's friends were about to use their status card, Caitlin decided to be more direct. "And what? He isn't?" Exasperated, she didn't bother to wait for answers "Why? Family history?" She glanced at each man again, the challenge in her eyes kept them silent, "Have any of you even bothered to check before accusing him?" They all shuffled and dropped eye contact. "Thought not. Leave him alone."
"We were just trying to help." Murmured one.
"Good. If you want to help, come and help me put the spare on while we wait for the roadside assistance to arrive." They muttered some more and mumbled beneath their breath, knowing that they would do as she asked and not liking the fact they were letting Jared off the hook. "Come on." She ushered the group of four past the crowd that had gathered, "My apologies." She tossed at Jared as she passed him, but she didn't make eye contact. Instead she just kept on walking as she ushered the four elderly men out of the room. The men kept on grumbling. Caitlin let them.
Sheknew they meant well. It was just a pity they had opted to corner Jared andberate him. For once again, that ensured that the evening would be rememberedfor the fact Jared had told her he was not interested in her. No doubt thecrowd that had gathered to watch her father's friends take Jared to task hadhoped for some more juicy details to discuss.