New Friend, Old Enemy

Today I spent the day with one eye on the door expecting Gervais to turn up after last night’s rebuff from Jazz and Zizi. I decided that in the future I would try to see if one of them was free before going out as he seemed reluctant to torture me in front of them like he did in front of Coco and Tiah. Caspar seemed to spend the day extracting himself from another tight corner to another when he turned up with Chantal Sedero of all people.

I suspected from all their calls and “meetings” that they were having some sort of affair but I was surprised that Chantal, a woman who likes to hold the reins in a relationship was allowing Caspar to go whoring all over town. The logic of boods never makes sense to me, like why Mother never remarried after father died, mind you the fact she is half insane might have something to do with it. Sometimes she is worse than Coco with her vague statements, take today, she was raving on about getting into situations that you can’t handle and how you might find help in the least expected places, only she did not seem to take into account that some things cannot be solved, they just are—like the Dubois family. Caspar and Chantal shut the door to his office which means don’t come in not even if the building is burning down and again I was surprised they did not do something a little less obvious but then since Tony was completely blatant why not Chantal as well. I suppose losing Jojo was a blessing in some ways cause I didn’t have to deal with his insane family anymore, well not counting Jazz who was surprisingly sane.

The second Chantal left Bianca rang for Caspar with such timing it made me wonder if she was lurking out the bushes and I could hear him doing his usual soothing pack of lies but this time it was not working and Bianca’s shrewing leaped from the handset. He finally got her to shut up and managed to slip out without a word as usual so I knew he had left for the day as I knew he would the minute Bianca called. It was the same old, same old, women shriek, Caspar pacifies and no one changes their behaviour.

When lunch came around I sat at my desk for a minute working out where it might be safe to go when Simon ambled in from the back. I didn’t really know too much about Simon, he was a few years older than Jojo and had gone away to boarding school then off to college so he had not been around the town much growing up. His father was a self made millionaire with car dealerships that had specialized in keeping the rich of Bishop Vale in their luxury sports cars. He had been offered some sports scholarship but no one was too disturbed when he turned it down as he was the only child of a multimillionaire so he didn’t have to worry about making a living. He did however shock the town when he left the family mansion to move into a small apartment and took a job moving gear for Caspar as no one ever found out the reason, as no one was talking and six foot four of Simon was not exactly the most approachable of people. He could fill a doorway with his bulk and he had this brooding presence that did not invite friendly conversation. I saw him smile once or twice when we chatted but usually it was to my scornful criticisms of Caspar and his boods.

When Simon came wandering by my desk I thought he was about to ask for some paperwork so I sat back down and looked up at him in expectancy. Instead he folded his arms, his favorite pose, asked if I was going to lunch and if so would I like some company. I was a bit surprised as we had not really spoken much before the incident with Gervais and since then it has been idle chat. I said yes, thinking that Simon with me is bound to keep Gervais away and I wouldn’t have to hide out anymore.

We left and went to Djini’s sitting at the most open table for part of me was hoping Gervais would be around and would have to watch from a distance frustrated. For half an hour the weight of the world of off my shoulders and I chatted away like a fool, so happy not to be looking over my shoulder. Simon was his usual quiet self letting me dominate the conversation and I felt a bit of a brainless nitwit doing all the talking. I told him on the drive back to work that I was sorry I talked so much but he seemed quite pleased that I had, he smiled at me saying that I had lots of interesting things to say about the people in my life and he liked to listen.

I think he was just being polite as Simon is always polite as when you are as big as a mountain you don’t have to be loud at all people listen when you speak. As soon as I sat back down at my desk the phone rang with uncanny timing, it was Gervais and in a voice as cold as ice he told me that I really should not dine with other men and not to do it again. Feeling safe in the office I got all cocky saying that our agreement was for Jojo and Jojo only, the rest of the world was fair game and I hung up the phone before he could reply. It was not really much of a victory but anything I could do to annoy Gervais was fine with me. I would damage Gervais Dubois as much as I could, with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

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