"Ouch, that will be a long and difficult court battle."
Terry said yeah and a court hearing date had still not been set because attorneys were still investigating liability arguments in similar cases and the search had gone internationally.
"Where is the equipment of the piling contractor who went bust?"
"Mostly unsold at McEwan's machinery yards including the two barges."
"Do you have a contact with that company?"
"Yeah, Neville McEwan is a mate. Want me to arrange a visit?"
"Yes please. And if the gear looks good I'd suggest we set up a meeting with the land developer, Newcomb Council and the insurance company to see if we can reactivate this scheme. I recall a case in Illinois where the city administration found it cheaper to share the cost of the stalled project than defending its embargo on work proceeding in a lengthy court battle."
"But wouldn't the public have been angry at its council subsidizing a developer's project?"
"No, the public showed no interest. The council met its cash commitment by rebating the developer past local taxes on the land and giving tax credits for the balance that were transferable to the new owners of the land which meant the developer could on-sell the entitlements at a discount."
Terry grinned. "The guy who thought that one up must be a real tax dodger. I like the sound of it and it could be just the trick to get the project underway. Are you ready to go for early lunch? We need to talk more."
The timber yard closed at 4:00 so when Harden returned with Terry he waited for Loretta to finish up. After lunch he and Terry had gone to McEwan's yard and after having a few beers in Neville McEwan in his office inspected the pile driving equipment. The yard owner had said he was almost ready to give the equipment away. Harden grinned but had made no comment, thinking that information would keep.
Harden took Loretta to coffee and she was most interested to hear about his talks with her father and the possibility of them running a project together although Terry had not said how much backing he's provide until they had some figures in front of them. Harden thought she was looking at him with new interest and she positively glowed at him when he invited her to accompany him to call on Megan and select some of his requirements for the house.
Megan kissed them both, establishing in Harden's mind that was a greeting as a new friend rather than a customer with money to spend. He pulled out his notebook and they walked around, Megan writing down his choices and Loretta providing advice about coordinating of color and styles.
When Megan went away to get a leaflet on dinning table sizes Harden said, "Your advice on color is really your color preferences but then in my ignorance I'd been in danger of having near-incompatible mixes."
Loretta blushed.
"I guess you'll be spending the part of some nights with me and so I invite you to consider moving in with me when your aunt and uncle return. Your dad has gotten used to you no longer being at home and you could suggest he finds a lady companion."
Loretta choked at the double whammy and had not replied when Megan arrived back.
When they were driving back to drop Loretta off where she'd left her car near the crossroads, she said, "D-do you think my father wants to replace my mother?"
"I wouldn't think he thinks like that. He mentioned that he'd occasionally dates a woman but hasn't taken her home because of you."
"Of me! What did he say?"
Harden told Loretta to calm down and said it was something she should discuss with her father.
She went to bite back but caught herself. She asked calmly, "Please tell me what he said."
"Keep calm Loretta. He said his late wife's ghost, your mother, still exists in the house because of you. You won't let go."
"Oh God."
"So it's true?"
"Put that way yes. She was too young to die Harden."
He said kindly reaching to stroke her cheek. "The young also die."
At that she seized his hand and kissed it. "I hadn't really given much thought about dad. I have all of mom's clothes in the wardrobe in the guest room and her nightdress and gown on the bed, slippers on the floor, ready for her to come home. Oh God, poor daddy."
"If it's any comfort to you he's probably conditioned to not looking into that room. Pack everything up and remove everything from the house Loretta. I'll store it at my house if you wish."
"That's very kind of you, but no thank you. I'm off home to talk to daddy about this and to say I'm sorry."
"May I suggest you don't be overly apologetic? He might not be at all cross with you, only just saddened that you can't let go."
They drove in silence to where Loretta's car was parked. She kissed Harden and said she'd probably sleep at her father's house that night.
"Fine, I'll call you about Friday night."
"Oh crap, I've fucked up," he yelled when on the ferry, thumping the steering wheel. He knew his interference had distressed Loretta. He decided to phone her and then thought no, that would be bad timing. Let her father sort her out. They probably were suffering some sort of post-death depression.
"The ferryman leaned out the wheelhouse window and inquired, "Are you okay Harden?"
"Yes thanks Jimmy."
"You're screwing Miss Loretta aren't you?"
"Not at the moment," Harden said wistfully.
Jimmy guffawed and said he could see that and Harden smiled. He was first off the ferry and after that humorous exchange with Jimmy felt more cheerful and his shoulders really squared when he found a vehicle outside his house with the engine still running. Shirley Blake waved and she jumped out of the SUV wearing a tight dark blue leotard. She walked to the driveway gate and waited for him to get out of his vehicle.
Harden looked at the great rack and swallowed.
"Hi, she said. "I was on my way home and thought I should drop by and remind you about dinner tomorrow night. Kim will be beside herself if you fail to show."
"No it's okay. I have a note on my kitchen bench. I'd ask you in for coffee but it's pretty basic inside at present. I have heaps of stuff on order."
"That's fine. I couldn't have gone in looking like this," she said, almost cupping her breasts. "Ross would kill me."
"And I wouldn't blame him," Harden grinned, looking at just above Shirley's hands. She smiled and said she must go. She waved gaily as the big diesel vehicle roared off. Harden waved still thinking of her earlier reaction, being absolutely sure her smile had turned into a smirk when he'd looked up from her tits. What did that mean?
He took his shopping inside and ten minutes later looked through the kitchen window and was glad he wasn't screwing Shirley on the kitchen table. Loretta's father Terry had arrived and was coming to the door carrying a bottle of whisky.
Predicting the worst after saying hi and shaking hands, Harden said, "Is it ominous Loretta hasn't accompanied you?"
"I reckon not. We've had a bit of a bust-up and she's gone off the stay with her maternal grandmother at Taupo for a few days. Milly will sort her out and she'll come back fine. I'll live over the hardware shop still she returns and stopped on the way over to have a drink with you."
Terry looked around and said, "Do you have any glasses. This place looks as bare as a cat's emptied litter box. Even a couple of jam jars will do."
"No I have whisky, wine and beer glasses."
"Well that says your prorieties are right."
Looking worried as he returned with two glasses Harden said, "I apologized for interfering in something that had nothing to do with me."
Terry poured three fingers of whisky into each glass and grinned. "Son if I'd been looking for an apology I'd not arrived carrying whisky."
Harden managed a weak grin.
"You've done good Harden. Stop worrying. This thing between Loretta and me needed initiating and you've done that. We'd reached a stage where I guess we both thought there was no solution. Neither of us was thinking straight. Earlier today she came in to my office, slammed the door s
hut and accused me of being a gutless wonder for not tossing her and her mom's clothing and other personal items from the house. No one talks to me like that so I gave it to her vocally, both barrels."
"In the end she cried and I felt like going the same. I went to hug her and she pushed me away so I bellowed I'd tan her bare arse."
She stood defiantly and yelled, "Go on you big ox. Just you try and I kick your nuts out through your asshole."
"I was so shocked I stood stunned and then my belly laugh triggered. She looked at me stupidly and whimpered and came running into me arms and we kissed, with me fighting back tears. I settled her and we talked it through and she decided to go off to grandma's for a few days to give me the chance to clear her mother's things from the house."
Harden stood, finished his whisky and said, "Come on."
"Where to?"
"To clear the house but not quite. I'll help you."
"Oh that's and offer I can't refuse son, thanks. I didn't feel up to it and was thinking of inviting the wife of my yard manager to help."
"I think I know what to. We fill your pickup with the things and then use the yard tractor with the bucket used to load sawdust to dig a big hole. We dump everything into the hole, set fire to burnable stuff and then fill in the hole. If you like I'll do it and then you won't know where her stuff lies buried."
"No I wouldn't have a problem with that. But why not sell the stuff to secondhand shops?"
"Jesus Terry, can you imagine how Loretta would react if she saw another woman wearing one of her mother's dresses?"
"Oh yeah," Terry said. "Loretta would probably strangle that innocent woman and strip the dress from the body. You're real brainy Harden."
In the guest bedroom Harden said, "Was this your wife's wedding dress?"
"Yes."
"Put it in the wardrobe along with a couple of dresses you remember as being Loretta's favorites and the jewelry stays on the dresser, all of it. Loretta might decide to wear it as it the items were heirlooms."
"Are you sure? I'm beginning to lose confidence in you."
"Are you wishing to steal your daughter's memories? She may decide to wear that wedding dress to her own wedding."
"I don't think so. She shows no interest in marriage. Well she had become a little dotty over you. Do you intend marrying her?"
"First things first Terry. I have yet to make up my mind about you."
Terry bellowed in laughter and told Harden he was all right, quite a guy.
"Where are the photos of your wife and your wife with your guys?"
"In the basement."
"Well tomorrow you get a selection of framed photos out of storage and hang them on the walls of the passage. Your wife is only dead Terry; there is no need to obliterate her. Loretta wants to remember her mom vividly and I'll suggest your first reaction in grief was to bury everything about that although I reckon your thinking like than changed some time ago."
Terry sniffed and dabbed a thumb and finger into the inner ends of his eyes and ran the thumb and finger down the side of his nose. "You are probably correct. Let's load the pickup and get this clean out over with."
"With this stuff mostly gone from the house other women may not feel like intruders when visiting here. It will no longer look like a dead woman's house."
"Yeah may be. Perhaps it's time for me to think about sinking a length into a woman."
"Now you're smoking Terry. Loretta will be delighted."
"Now you are fucking clawing at the impossible."
Harden grinned and said it appeared he already knew Loretta better than her father.
"Get away with you," Terry chuckled, grabbing an armful of clothes. "At the very least you are entertaining."
A couple of hours later the two men were in a restaurant looking at two large steaks.
"We did good this afternoon thanks to you pal," Terry said. "And it's a real pleasure having a meal with a guy without having greens dumped on the plate to half blot out the look of fries nestling against a juicy steak. Women just don't understand food."
Harden smiled, "You're right Terry. Another beer?"
From that day Terry began acting very much like a father-in-law to a guy who responded, well, much like a son-in-law. For four days there was no woman in the triangle but the two guys talked as if she was there with them but in another room or out shopping.
The day after the burial of his late wife's disposals, Terry phoned several people to set up a meeting with 'an experienced American 'marine pile-driving contactor', mentioning what he had in mind. He also called up his retired older brother, a formal naval hydrologist who agreed to come a thousand miles to spend a couple of days inspecting the washout area and to study data on river flows and upstream engineering works to counter erosion. Frank agreed to do that for the cost of return air tickets and to be hosted by Terry and to have any research expenses reimbursed. Frank said he'd arrive next day. Meanwhile under pressure from Terry, Harden visited Neville McEwan's yard to re-inspect the pile-driving equipment. It looked better than he remembered.
"I reckoned you'd be back so I had everything steam-cleaned, a bit of maintenance done and everything given a protective coat of oil."
"What so you can charge more for this useless stuff?"
"Fair go mate," Neville whined. "I'm entitled to get back what I paid, holding and maintenance expenses and to claw in a bit of profit. It may interest you to know your father-in-law called to warn if I attempted to chisel you he'd be over to sort me out."
"Terry's not my father-in-law."
"I know but his gorgeous Loretta who unofficially is my god-daughter needs a husband and Terry says she's infatuated with you and he figures you'll buckle under the pressure."
Harden was too smart to reject that statement amid business negotiations. The way Loretta was ignoring him indicated she had really gone cold on him and as the Kiwis say, he was dog tucker as far as she was concerned.
"Well yes the wedding is taken for granted by Terry and I guess with you being the unofficial godfather if the wedding does occur we'd have to add you to my attendants to partner the maid or matron of honor."
"Fair go?"
"Is the very least you'd expect isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, yeah pal. You two will breed great kids."
"Neville why is you status unofficial god-father?"
"I'm not married. Women spurn me because of my lifestyle. The regard me as bottom of the heap only just above rag and bone collectors, toilet cleaners and funeral directors."
"Do you have money?"
"More than you'll ever see in your lifetime young man."
"Then the maid of honor we pick must by a juicy woman who can cook, doesn't mind living in a junk yard and likes spending money."
"J-juicy?"
Looking around furtively, Harden looked back at Neville and whispered, "A babe who likes her sex hard and messy."
"Jeepers bring it on," wheezed the 50-year-old unshaven man who looked as if he never showered or even washed. "How soon will you marry?"
A few whiskies later Harden returned to Terry's office with a done deal. Neville had settled for everything Harden wanted at cost price plus 5%. Although Harden was convinced Loretta would never marry him and for that matter never allow him to shaft her again, he didn't believe it was a poor deal from Neville's perspective. The three barges, set up for piling work, were in poor condition and that would make them uneconomic to convert into cargo carriers. The other equipment that had been kept in old sheds was in good nick but who would be lining up to buy it?
On Tuesday Harden walked along the street to the Blake's home at number 7 where he was due for dinner and to assure the parents and nervous daughter that going to Chicago to study on a student exchange scheme for a year would not see the kid returning to New Zealand completely programmed and feeling like a foreigner in her own country.
Kim and Shirley met him at the door, and Kim held out her hand in greeting but Harden grinned and said wouldn't sh
e prefer a kiss and kissed her lightly on the mouth.
"Oh I'll have one of those," Shirley cooed, brushing aside her daughter and kissing their guest full on the mouth, very firmly, and pressing hard against him.
"Mom," Kim said weakly and the two adults pulled apart as if they'd been shot.
Inside the beautifully restored wooden house of the 1930s, Ross was attempting to fix one of his 14-year-old's pendant earrings and called, "Hi mate, grab a beer from the fridge. I've already started.
"I'll get it," Shirley and her elder daughter said in unison but Kim was already halfway to the fridge by the time her mother reacted further.
"Dad you're an engineer, you ought to be able to fix a fiddly thing like a much-metal ear-ring."
"Hush Lesley, I'm concentrating. Nah I'll have to get a pair of pliers from the workshop."
"May I take a look?" Harden asked and Ross handed him the bent coated wire that went through the pierced lobe and the tiny chain that attached to a silver elephant.
"Yeah, muck metal. It's too soft for this purpose. Do you have a pair of scissors Ross?"
"Here you are," called Shirley, opening a kitchen drawer and rushing over to hand Harden the scissors, spewing French perfume in his direction.
"I don't want my ear-ring I bought in Fiji cut," Lesley cried as she watched Harden use the eye rings of the scissors to gently squeeze close the offending open metal ring to join the two pieces.
"All done, Harden smiled and bent over and expertly hooked the ear-ring through the young teenager's ear.
"Do you do your wife's ear-rings?" Lesley asked, apparently surprised he'd done that so deftly.
"Mr Domboise is not married darling but I guess he gets plenty of practice... with ear rings if he has girlfriends," Shirley said.
Ross coughed on his beer and wiping his lips with the back of his hands said, "You ought to be an engineer Mr Domboise."
The guest smiled and patting Lesley on the shoulder said, "Please everyone call me Harden and that includes you Lesley."
Harden was appalled to watch Shirley look at his crotch quite leisurely. She then said, "Where's my drink Ross?"
"I thought you'd had enough this side of dinner."
The Dirtiest Daddy's Taboo Page 7
