LEZZIE-ASON CHAPTER ELEVEN

The next day, I thought about what Tom had asked me to do. Helping him gain access to his daughter was easier said than done. How was I supposed to go round doing it? I couldn't exactly tell Sarah: "Oh, Honey, by the way, I bumped into your mate May's ex and he wants to see his daughter. Can you have a word with May?"
And then what? Sarah may grow just that teeny bit suspicious. She'll want to know where I met him, because as far as she's concerned, he's gone back to where he came from. "Oh, Darling, I'm so sorry, I've been having an affair with him. I hope you don't mind."
I'll just have to have a talk with May myself, and possibly blackmail her into not telling Sarah. I'll do it. Sarah's got a new job today, working at a vet. She'll be looking after mangy dogs for three hours. I'll go round to May's when she leaves for work...

It was twelve and I was coming home from my new job. I got a new job working at the local vets. All I had to do was clean out the homes in which cats and dogs lived. It was a trial week, and if they liked me, they would let me on permanantly. It was Monday, the first day of my job, and I'd finished it already. I think they liked my work so far. Before I left, the owner, Lydia, smiled and said, "good work, Sarah. We'll see you tomorrow."
I pulled up in our driveway, got out of the car, and went in the house.
"Gerry?" I called out. No answer.
That was strange, maybe Gerry had got back to work, realizing he was no longer ill.
I went into the kitchen to make myself something to eat, when the phone rang.
"Hello?" I answered, breathlessly.
"Sarah? It's May? Can you come over please? It's urgent."
"Yes sure. What is it?"
"I'll tell you when you get here."
"Okay."
I quickly gobbled down the last morsel of my sandwich, grabbed my coat and keys, and headed out the door. What was so urgent? Was this another excuse to get me on my own? No, it can't be. I was pretty mad at May when she'd made out Lauren had gone missing.
I got to May's house in twenty minutes, and knocked on the door.
"Sarah, come in," she said, upon answering the door.
We both went into the sitting-room, and sat down, me on the sofa, May in her chair.
"What's wrong May?"
"Your husband." Was all she said.
"Gerry?" Had hew found out about our secret liaisons?
"He came round here earlier, saying he'd met Tom in a pub."
"Your husband?"
"Yes. Apparently, they met in a pub and they started talking, not knowing who the other was. Fromn what I could gather, by the end of the evening, Tom had entrusted the task of reuniting him with Lauren to Gerry."
"Eh?"
"He asked your husband's help to visit my daughter."
"But he didn't say anything to me!" I was horrified.
"Yeah, well, I'm not supposed to tell you either. Gerry was scared you'd get mad at him."
"Well, of course I'm mad at Gerry," I said. "He's got no right to help your ex out, plus your ex has no right to see Lauren. Not after what he did to her!"
"Well, your darling husband says that isn't strictly true. He told me Tom told him his side of the story. Apparently, Tom didn't smack Lauren, he onhly grabbed her diary off her, and Lauren ran upstairs, crying, and that I told him to get out because I was sick of him always shouting."
"Did you tell Gerry that wasn't true, that he did smack Lauren?"
"Of course I did. But Gerry said that Tom said I would say that, that I made up that story to get people on my side. Well, the story is true! I didn't make it up!"
"I know," I reassured her. "I believe you, May."
"Thanks, Sarah. I know you do. Can you help me stop Tom from seeing Lauren?"
I chewed my lip. I'd been thinking about this, and I'd thought of something really important, but I knew May wouldn't like it.
"See thing is, May, we've got to see this fromj Lauren's point of view."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, what if she wants to see her dad? I mean, it was her who called him and told him where you were."
"I know. But that was only because she didn't know any better. You see, Lauren's a bit rebellious, she'll always do the opposite of what I say. She hasn't quite grasped the fact that there are things you should never, ever do."
"You should've told her she could ring her father. You know, a bit of reverse psychology."
"Yes, but there are times when she will do as I tell her, if I told her that, she still would've rung him, because she didn't know if she could see her dad. If I said that, that's the same as reassuring her that she definitely can!"
"Oh."
"I know. What can I do?"
"Well, wait until Lauren comes home from school, and ask her if she really wants to see her father."
"And then?"
"If she says no, then you can tell Tom that she doesn't want to see him. And you could get her to say it too, to his face."
"Anhd if she says yes?"
"Give him a fair chance. Ask him to stay in the house so you can keep an eye on him - only don't tell him you want to keep an eye in him of course. And if he does muck it up, you can tell him, fair and square, to get stuffed."
"Yeah, that's really good advice. Maybe youshould be an agony aunt." She reached over and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek.
"How was your new job?"
"Oh, it was fine. Couldn't exactly get thrilled about cleaning out animals though. Still, it made a nice change to refilling up shelve in SuperDrug."
"Sarah? You do enjoy being with me, don't you?"
"Yes, of course I do."
"And if we could, you would want to be with me, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, of course I would."
"It's just that, I'm sick and tired of pussyfooting around Lauren and your family, I want us to be together now."
"It's not that simple, May. We can't just leave our families, just like that." I thought for a minute. "I very nearly told Gerry about us the other night, though."
"Really?"
"Yes, I told him there was someone special waiting for me out there."
"And what did he say?"
"I told him I was thinking about something you said, and I was thinking out loud."
We sat in silencve for a few minutes.
"Want a coffee?"
"Yeah, sure."
We both got up, and moved into the kitchen.
As May was spooning coffee into the mugs, she said: "I get very lonely here sometimes without any friends. But when you come over, you make me very happy. I know we could be happy together if you gave us a chance."
"I know we would," I said. "And I would leave my family if I could."
We stood stirring our coffees, when I said:
"You know, Gerry has been acting a little strange recently."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the other day, I told him I was coming over here, and gave him a reason. But he told me if I wanted to come here I should stop making up excuses."
"Woah, sounds like he's jealous."
"I know. I think he's jealous as well. Jealous of the fact that I can make friends easily, bbut it takes him forever to talk to someone. You know, he once told me it took him at least two months for him to work up the nerve to ask me out!"
"Really, wow! How long til he proposed?"
"Another four months."
We both giggled, guitily.
"Sarah? If you could get together with me, you would be very happy with me, wouldn't you?"
"Of course I would," I answered, giving her a quick kiss on the lips to reassure her.

Find out what happens next in Chapter Twelve...