Chapter 3
“How’d the interview go?” Ken Greene asked as he placed a pint glass down in front of Harry.
“Good I think,” Harry replied as he took a first sip of the cold lager and he winced slightly as he tasted it. It had been almost five days since the job interview in London and still he hadn’t heard anything. This wasn’t too much of a worry for Harry, not yet anyway, as he knew that they would have a lot of candidates to see and then have to assess each one individually before making a final decision.
“Ahhh, you’ll be fine,” Ken said he drank long and deep from his own glass before setting it down on the table in front of him. “But I should miss these mid-week drinking sessions of ours when you’ve moved to the Smoke,” Ken then said after another large mouthful of lager and Harry nodded in agreement. They had been meeting at 3pm almost every Wednesday for the past fifteen months as it was the one day that Ken’s boss almost always used to work from home and he could slink away from the office early.
As his wife had an aerobics class or something straight after work, Ken knew that he could be home around 6.30pm and still be there long before his wife. And since she was usually exhausted from whatever after work activity it was that she did on a Wednesday, Ken knew that she wouldn’t nag him for drinking after work. Not that he took much notice anyway, but there was a lot be said for a quiet life.
“I bet you had a wild time while you were down there though, eh?” Ken asked in a nudge nudge wink wink kind of a way. To which Harry didn’t say anything and just kind of smiled mischievously without saying anything. “I knew it, you're a real Romeo on the quiet,” Ken said and Harry wished that he wouldn’t make such references to his womanizing ways every time they met. Nothing could be further from the truth and in the whole time that they had known each other Harry had barely been on a single date. That didn’t make much of difference and the less Harry said the more Ken said, especially when they were with their expanded group. This rather suited Harry somewhat as it meant that Harry didn’t really have to say or do much other remain silent and look a little coy. Except this time it was true that he had met someone, but that hadn’t either been planned or had gone as well as you would’ve liked.
“Well there was someone actually,” Harry said trying to remain at least a little coy. “A woman,” Harry then added by way of explanation hoping that no more would be asked of him.
“Oh yeah,” Ken then said with more than a hint of vulgar mischievousness in his voice and the dirtiest expression on his face that you could imagine. “I bet she was a right looker,” Ken said between drinks, and by had almost finished his pint.
“Yes,” Harry replied taking a sip of his own and feeling a sudden flash of guilt over what had happened and wished he could quickly and cleanly change the subject, but neither could he think of anything interesting to say nor did he think that Ken would let the subject drop a easily as that. “We met in a pub after the interview, had a few drinks and err spent the night together,” Harry then added by way of elaboration.
“Yeah and kept the rest of the guest awake most of the night no doubt,” Ken then added in the same vulgar tone of voice before draining the remainder of his glass. To which Harry said nothing but smiled in his usually modest way.
“It wasn’t much more than a one nightstand,” Harry said and then finished his own drink.
“Yeah ‘cause one night was way too much pleasure for anyone woman, right?” Ken asked rhetorically as he rose to buy another round. Sometime Harry didn’t know what he saw in these afternoon drinking sessions with Ken, and the others when they were able to join them, but then Ken asked very little of Harry except to be there, have a few drinks and listen to him moan about various subjects. Even though it was never said, Harry could sense that Ken really did appreciate having someone who was able to just listen while he got a few things off his chest and who wouldn’t judge him, not matter what was said.
On the other hand Harry thought that it was worth the laddish, or even sometimes loutish, behavior as it meant that Harry was able to keep up certain appearances to the outside world and would have someone who would attest to his character if it ever came to that. Not that in the last eighteen months he had needed to rely on Ken for anything more than a few drinks a couple of times a week. And for the time being that suited Harry just fine, in fact he had become quite found of Ken over time, not that he would ever admit to it of course.
After Ken returned to their table the afternoon quickly reverted to type and their conversation returned to its usual array of subjects that included football, politics and of course the state of Ken’s marriage. Which, while not quite on the verge of breaking up, wasn’t the most tranquil of romances and they often found themselves sailing through choppy waters and mostly had to do with Ken’s drinking and her occasional paranoid thoughts of Ken cheating on her. And despite what Ken might say, or how he may seem to behave, Harry never thought that Ken was the sort of person who would actually cheat on their partners. But then you never really someone, Harry thought to himself as Ken once again started to bellyache about how Mandy, his wife, never really seemed to trust him completely and Harry thought about his own duplicitous predicament.
“Sometimes you don’t start out meaning to deceive someone,” Harry found himself saying aloud during a gap in Ken’s almost continuous monologue.
“I suppose not,” Ken said as he was stopped dead almost mind sentence, surprised by Harry’s intervention. “Speaking from experience?” Ken asked realizing for a moment that he’d never really heard anything Harry’s romantic past, or even about Harry himself if he were being honest. But then it had never really seemed to matter until that moment that he knew next to nothing about his erstwhile drinking companion.
“Oh, oh no, not really,” Harry said trying to back track from his statement and giving himself a moment to think about what he should say by taking a longer than normal drink from his pint. “I just mean that sometimes things just get out of hand, “he then said smiling over the top of his pint.
“Oh,” Ken said wondering for a moment exactly what Harry meant, “you like buying your wife expensive perfume as a surprise and then trying to cover yourself when she finds out so that it can still be a surprise?” Ken asked, despite being more than a little surprised.
“Exactly,” Harry then said realizing that had provided him with the perfect get out and he vowed he would be more circumspect in what he said from now on. Phew that was close, Harry added to himself when Ken picked up almost from the exact word he had been about to utter when Harry had interrupted him.