Reluctant Date

by Sheila Claydon

  “I’m sorry but…I don’t…I can’t do it,” she said and her voice was unexpectedly shaky.

  * * *

  Despite Daniel’s best efforts she hadn’t changed her mind by the time he pulled into the overgrown driveway of her parent’s house.

  He could feel his frustration building. It had nothing to do with how he felt about her. It was prompted by her obstinate refusal to consider a job he was sure would fit her like a glove. Her librarian’s training, combined with her skills as a photographer, were exactly what he needed. He was not offering her a sinecure just because he wanted to get to know her better; he was offering her a job that was made for her.

  He hadn’t been entirely sure of his intentions when he finally tracked her down to the city library. If anything he was hoping that a second meeting would prove to be disappointing, that she would turn out to be different in the clear light of day. He wanted his heart back before he made a fool of himself. He wanted to be able to return to Florida and concentrate on his plans without the complication of a tall, dark-haired woman with wide gray eyes and an infectious laugh. When he’d seen her working with a group of children, however, he’d been captivated all over again. Unaware that he was watching, she had talked to them with enthusiasm and humour. Then she had patiently answered their endless questions. When, at the end of the session, she had read them a story with feeling and flair, he had listened in fascination.

  She was a natural communicator. She was someone who would empathize with everyone, from the very young to the very old, from the ignorant to those who thought they knew best. She had something few people had. She had an ability to connect, to use the right words, the right gestures, so everyone listening to her immediately wanted to know what would come next. He knew she would be an absolute godsend to his organization. She would be able to help set up educational programmes and run workshops. She had all the skills necessary to adapt to the hundred and one things that everyone working for him had to do to keep it going.

  He switched off the ignition and turned to her with a sigh. “I wish you’d change your mind,” he said. “The job is made for you Claire. I’m sure you’d love it if you just gave it a chance.”

  * * *

  Before she could answer the front door burst open and her mother appeared. She was wearing one of her usual flowing kaftans. With her gray hair braided around her head with a crimson scarf, she resembled an elegant exotic bird as she swooped towards the car.

  “Darling, how lovely to see you!” she tugged the passenger door open and swept Claire into an extravagant embrace. For the briefest moment Claire clung to her, inhaling the familiar scent, feeling the softness of her wrinkled cheek. Then she gently pushed her away. She never allowed herself to get swept up by her mother’s enthusiasm because she knew it would only last until something or someone else took her attention.

  On cue, her mother noticed Daniel. “And who is this?” she demanded, immediately releasing Claire and walking round the car to the driver’s door. She took in Daniel’s six feet three inches with an appreciative gaze. Then she beckoned to Claire’s father who had come to the door and was peering through the gloom.

  “Arthur dear, come and say hello. Claire has brought a boyfriend home and a good looking one at that!”

  “He’s not my boyfriend Mum!” Claire protested hotly, but nobody was listening. Instead her parents were both greeting Daniel effusively. To her chagrin, he made no attempt to explain himself. Instead he returned their greeting enthusiastically with the trace of a wicked smile quirking the corner of his mouth.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, with Claire’s travel bag deposited in the hall, Claire and Daniel were each demolishing bowls of vegetable stew. Well Daniel was. Claire was toying with hers, pushing carrots and parsnips around in quiet desperation while her mother and father quizzed Daniel non-stop.

  He took it in good part, although he only answered some of their questions. Claire noticed how skillfully he deflected them away from the areas of his life he deemed private. Nevertheless she learned a great deal more about him. She learned that as well as a brother he had three sisters, all younger than him. He also had a niece and a nephew. She learned, too, that both of his parents were alive but neither of them enjoyed good health.

  “My father lost his sight a few years ago,” he told them. “And the stress of caring for him has affected my mother so that these days she…she’s no longer herself.”

  Claire heard a brief hesitation in his voice before he changed the subject so smoothly that nobody else seemed to notice. What did he mean, she wondered? Was his mother depressed? Despite herself, she was intrigued. Why didn’t he want to talk about it? She watched him. He seemed totally relaxed as he scooped up the last of the stew and then smiled acceptance as her mother offered him some more.

  “It’s delicious,” he told her. “As a dedicated carnivore I had no idea vegetables could be this good.”

  He had chosen exactly the right words to prompt her mother into a long lecture about the benefits of vegetarianism. As he listened he looked across at Claire. Seeing an inner turmoil shadowing his eyes she suddenly realized his compliment had been deliberate, a ploy to bring the inquisition to an end.

  Suddenly she wanted to apologise for her parents’ insensitivity. She was used to their never-ending stream of questions and she knew they were totally without guile. Despite having reached seventy, her mother and father remained two of life’s innocents. Always willing to believe the best of people, they were too open themselves to understand how some people might prefer to keep their business private, and too inquisitive to consider restraint. She was still trying to find a way to draw their attention away from Daniel when her mother pre-empted her.

  “Why don’t you both go up to your room and freshen up while I make the coffee,” she said.

  A bubble of laughter instantly replaced the troubled expression in Daniel’s eyes. He winked at Claire, and then leaving her to resolve the situation, pushed back his chair, stacked their dishes, and carried them to the sink.

  Her sympathy for him forgotten, Claire scowled at his back view. He needn’t think he was going to stay here. She had already spent too long with him for her own peace of mind. The last thing she wanted was to have him hanging around all weekend trying to persuade her to change her mind about his job.

  “Daniel’s not staying Mum. He has to leave soon because he has…he’s busy tomorrow.”

  “What nonsense! Surely you don’t expect the poor man to go back out into the night when he’s already been driving for hours. He’s tired, and anyway it’s far too late. Besides, a storm is brewing. Set your old alarm clock when you go to bed. That way he can be up and off before the rest of us wake up if that’s what he wants.”

  “It’s not just that…it’s…we’re not…that is we won’t be sharing a bedroom,” she said. She had already given up on any idea of persuading her parents they were not an item.

  “Well you do surprise me dear! I had no idea you were so delightfully old-fashioned. It’s not a problem though. I’ll just go and find some more sheets and make up a bed for Daniel in the spare room.”

  By now Daniel was having a great deal of trouble keeping a straight face. Claire glared at him until her father left the table to go and fetch some fresh coffee from the cellar store. Then she exploded.

  “That was totally uncalled for,” she hissed. “You can see they take no notice of what I say, so the least you could have done was back me up. You could have explained to them that we only met last Monday. You could have told them you’re here to offer me a job. Told them you’ve booked a hotel room.”

  “But I haven’t,” he said with an unrepentant grin. “Admittedly I was going to as soon as I dropped you off, but your parents are so welcoming, and so insistent that I stay, that it would be churlish to refuse.”

  “It would not!” she cried. And then, to her intense embarrassment, her eyes flooded with hot tears. Couldn’t he see she didn’t
want him here? The last thing she wanted was to have to think of him asleep under the same roof with only the width of a wall between them.

  He stopped grinning then and used his forefinger to wipe away the lone tear that trickled down her cheek. “Ah Claire, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you. You’re right of course. I shouldn’t have teased you. I’ll make my excuses and leave as soon as we’ve had coffee.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” her father, returning from his trip to the cellar, heard the final part of Daniel’s promise to Claire and misinterpreted it. “You won’t disturb us if you have to leave early because we both sleep like babies. Besides, Sybil is right. A storm is blowing up so it’s not the best time to be out on the road.”

  Against her better judgment, and because she knew she owed him for driving her home on what was a filthy night, Claire was forced to agree with him.

  “He’s right. It’ll be better if you stay here, so why don’t you go and fetch your bag.”

  Ignoring him, she concentrated on spooning coffee into the percolator. Then she assembled mugs, sugar and cream while Daniel propped himself on the corner of the table and watched her. Finally she let him off the hook. Checking that her father wasn’t listening she met his questioning gaze full on.

  “Go on. It’ll be easier all round. They’ll be upset if I fail to keep a man under their roof for one night. I’m already such a grave disappointment to them in that area that they have more or less given up on me.”

  He gave a doubtful nod as he left the kitchen. As soon as he was out of sight she dug into her pocket for a tissue. Then she scrubbed at the spot where his hand had touched her face, and blew her nose with unnecessary force.

  * * *

  While they drank their coffee Claire’s parents talked about various local developments, including plans for a new supermarket. Knowing what their attitude was likely to be Claire asked them what they thought about it. It was a ploy to deflect their attention from Daniel, and she considered having to listen to their plan to set up a village protest group a small price to pay. For the rest of the evening, although they dominated the conversation, they didn’t ask a single question about Claire’s job, or about any other aspect of her life. She was used to it and didn’t expect anything else, but she saw Daniel frown once or twice when they cut her off mid-flow because they had suddenly remembered something else they wanted to tell her.

  “Don’t you mind?” he asked when they eventually made their way upstairs.

  She shook her head. “No. They’ve always been the same. It’s not that they don’t care about me. It’s just that they find their own life and opinions infinitely more fascinating than mine. And if I’m honest, I don’t blame them. They have led such an adventurous life that in their eyes I am merely existing from one pay packet to the next.”

  His fierce response surprised her. “Stop it Claire! Stop putting yourself down! Stop just putting up with life and begin to challenge it! Come to Florida. Do something different, something that will shake you out of the rut you say you’re in.”

  “I can’t!” she shook her head. “Just believe me. I can’t.”

  “Yes you can, and if it takes me all weekend I’m going to persuade you. You need this job and my organization needs you.”

  And I need you too, he added to himself as they said goodnight. It wasn’t a comfortable thought but he couldn’t avoid it. Why he wanted this contrary woman with her cloud of dark hair and her emotional hang-ups he couldn’t imagine. Not when his increasingly frustrated family kept introducing him to a stream of available and uncomplicated beauties. Nor did he know whether he stood any sort of chance with her. He wasn’t going to give up without a fight though. She might think she wasn’t looking for a date but if he could only get her to Florida he would do everything in his power to change her mind.

  Chapter Four

  By the time Daniel appeared the following morning Claire had made a decision. Unable to think clearly during the long hours of the night because her overheated imagination kept picturing him in the adjoining room, she had tossed and turned until the darkness filtered to gray. Then she’d given up and gone down to the kitchen to make coffee and consider her options.

  She could continue to take the coward’s way out and turn her back on the job Daniel was offering her, or she could take a deep breath and plunge in heart first. Either choice would be painful.

  She knew that turning down the opportunity to work in Florida would leave her regretful and disappointed for years to come. Accepting his invitation, however, would open up old scars of rejection and worthlessness as it became clearer and clearer that he wasn’t interested in anything other than a working relationship with her. That Daniel would be unaware of her feelings was the only thing that made it remotely possible. After all, he couldn’t throw her heart back at her if he didn’t know he had it in the first place.

  Her mother solved part of her dilemma. Usually a late riser, she surprised Claire by coming into the kitchen while she was still drinking her coffee. Dunking a teabag into a mug of hot water, she smiled knowingly at her daughter.

  “Having trouble sleeping darling?”

  “A bit,” Claire admitted. Then she took in the full implication of her mother’s sly glance and choked on a mouthful of coffee. Really it was too bad! Why couldn’t she have a normal mother instead of one who immediately assumed that her early morning wakefulness was because she was frustrated?

  Her mother forestalled her protest with a chuckle. “From the look of him I don’t imagine that Daniel would be too upset if you did decide to knock on his bedroom door you know.”

  Claire glared at her in irritation. She was impossible! It was obvious she was totally convinced they were dating, and Claire knew from bitter experience that no amount of protest would change her mind. She decided not to waste her breath trying. Instead she made a decision.

  “We’ll be out all day,” she said, determined to keep Daniel as far away from her parents as possible to avoid further embarrassment. “I’m going to show him the beach and the pinewoods, and then we’ll probably drop into The Lifeboat Inn for lunch.”

  Her mother nodded a relaxed acceptance of Claire’s plan. She never minded how her visitors spent their time. It was one of the things Claire liked best about coming home. Although her parents had no interest in her life in the city, they didn’t have expectations when she came home either, so she was free of obligation, free to do whatever she wanted, go wherever she wanted, or she had been until now. Unfortunately Daniel’s presence seemed to be complicating things. It was obvious he intended to make the most of her parent’s assumption that he and Claire were an item and stay for the entire weekend, so she had no choice but to entertain him.

  Her mother drained her mug and started bustling around the kitchen, thinking aloud as she began to assemble the ingredients needed for a cooked breakfast. “I suppose you’d better have something hot before you set out…although I’ll never understand what makes you want to go out and commune with nature in all weathers…and I think I’ll make a nut roast for supper.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Daniel’s deep drawl startled them both. “I’m going to take you all out for a meal this evening. It’s the least I can do to repay your hospitality.”

  He stood in the doorway. He had addressed his remark to her mother but his eyes were on Claire. He had obviously heard her plans and was questioning her intention, hoping her decision to spend more time with him meant she was interested in the job.

  He was dressed in jeans and a thick navy sweater. Still wet from the shower, his mussed up hair was the colour of warm treacle. She ignored the effect his sudden appearance had on her pulse rate and forced a smile. “I hope you have some shoes suitable for walking because it’ll be pretty rough underfoot after last night’s storm.”

  “My hiking boots have achieved their own frequent flyer award,” he told her with a relieved grin as he pulled his car keys from his pocket and made for the front doo
r.

  Claire’s spirits lifted slightly when he returned carrying scuffed hiking boots in one hand and a thick weatherproof jacket in the other. If he came equipped for walking each time he travelled across the Atlantic, then he must be serious about wildlife. Maybe her decision to spend more time with him before she made up her mind about his job was the right one after all. A day fighting the elements would not only clear her head, it would show her exactly what Daniel Marchant was made of.

  * * *

  An hour later, protected from the wind by a thick padded jacket, and with her hair bundled into an old woollen hat, Claire led the way across the open heath. In the distance were the miles of undulating sand dunes that provided a wind and sea defence between the land and the beach. Daniel, similarly clad, followed her, a pair of powerful binoculars swinging from a leather strap around his neck.

  They had barely exchanged half a dozen words since they left the house but somehow it didn’t seem to matter. For the first time since their original meeting Claire felt at ease with him again. She could see from the expression on his face that he was as focussed as she was, his eyes alert for any sign of wildlife, his interest excited by the unusual terrain.

  Over breakfast she had given him a potted history of the area. Now she was eager to show it to him.

  The morning passed quickly as they trekked through pinewoods busy with red squirrels, and across uneven scrub where flocks of grazing birds rose in noisy protest as they disturbed them. Time and again Daniel raised his binoculars to his eyes with an exclamation of delight, and time and again Claire had to force her fast beating heart into submission as she responded to his enthusiasm and tried to answer his questions.

  Eventually they moved shoreward, clambering across the sand dunes until they had an uninterrupted view of the sea. It was black and wild under scudding clouds that occasionally parted to reveal unexpected patches of pale blue sky. The beach below them, deserted except for an occasional dog walker, stretched for miles in both directions.