As John slipped on his favourite dark jacket, he felt himself a little dizzy at having just taken a decisive step in getting his life in order in his visit to Nikki and Helen the day before. What pleased him most was that Rose Stewart-Wade had become a close friend in short order just as he had been with her two mothers while avoiding the complications as to her paternity as he'd discovered that his worries had no basis in fact. He admired the way that Nikki and Helen cared for their daughter and had given her remarkable certyainty while he was both their humble assistant and staunch friend to them all.
The next task he had in hand had been arranged before yesterday's visit as an act of faith and that was to sort out his relationship with Jo Mills on a proper footing. She'd appeared periodically before him in court and they'd interacted with smooth professionalism as they'd long been accustomed to. The trouble was that, at the end of the day in court, she went her way homewards and he headed off to the judges' digs and then onwards to whatever purpose came to mind.
"You want to meet me?" Jo had said in an astonished tone of voice followed by a wary look as he asked her in the foyer at close of business for the day . Old habits died hard." You know very well that things have drastically changed between us for a number of years."
"I know that. It's just that I feel we've been distant and I want to become proper friends but no more than I'd like the same for Nikki and Helen. I've let far too much slip these last few years."
"You know that Jane Lancaster is a permanent part of my life," Jo had said deliberately to make her meaning quite clear.
"I have no problem with that. I'm due to meet Nikki and Helen this Saturday as I've been guilty of keeping my distance from them for no good reason and they've agreed," John had said with deliberate precision. Secretly, he wondered if his system was up to such radical changes in short order but he was content to bluff his own doubts by aiming to jump into the deep end and not thinki too much.
"Well, just as you know what you're letting yourself in for," Jo conceded carefully.
Before he'd broached the matter, he'd wondered where to meet. He sneakingly suspected that Jo might not now be comfortable going to any of the various eating and drinking places they used to frequent which had jumped into his mind and certainly not if Jane were with her. Until he'd come to take a balcony seat view of this world , he'd never thought of them as straight. The only other suitable place was Jo's house. This rang initial warnming bells as it had been the scene of a number of sexual assignations in the past but now was different.
"Oh hell," John had mentally sworn to himself in this microsecond as he'd felt the issue was still in the balence. ,"Why not ask Jo what she prefers and not try to second guess her?"
"So where do we meet? I leave it entirely up to you," he finally opted to say and Jo volunteered her house as neutral territory It was John's turn to wonder how neutral this would be when his own past associations with the house would make their presence inevitably felt but he went along with the suggestion.
As his thoughts whirled around in his head, he realised that the door was being answered by a fresh-faced woman with long blonde hair which caught John's automatic thought processes which second thought caused him to backpedal them.
"Hi, I'm John Deed. You must be Jane," he found himself saying formally as instincts prompted him to find the right words, hoping that he didn't come over as too distracted.
"Got it in one. I've heard a lot about you from Jo over the years. She told me about the scrapes you've got into for a good cause always yet you've somehow balenced on the high wire," Jane answered cheerily.
This succinct summary of John's life made him warm to this woman so much that, when Jo emerged from the kitchen,. he was beginning to think that the best person won Jo's heart. He knew that he'd had his chances with Jo but he'd blowqn them all thanks to his compulsive womanising.
"So where do you work Jane if you don't mind me asking?" he asked hospitably enough.
"I'm a nurse at st. Mary's Hospital. For my sins, I recently took over as local RCN rep as well."
"RCN?" queried John in puzzlement.
"Royal College of Nurses," explained Jane."We can't go on strike like unions can and we probably wouldn't because of the patient's welfare. I'm having my hands full of problems with arrogant junior consultants who treat us like servants. I'm also having problems as nurses these days are being put upon as there's simply too much work."
John'e eyes sparkled and he smiled at this information. This was another woman after his heart and he noticed out of the corner of his eye a little smile at the corners of Jo's lips. He also couldn't help noticing that Jane looked a little tired.
"I admit knowing little of the NHS but I understand that nurses work hard. How do you manage to work as a representative on top of this?" John asked. Jane appreciated this man's kindly interest and intelligent question.
"I get time off to do my repping work thanks to Karen Betts who's my ward sister. I know her outside work as she goes to Chix night club with Jo and I. While she's not one for favouritism, she's fair on me so I don't get pressure and hassle from her. However, I get a little guilty at being on the ward even if I'm spending my time the madness somehow works out in the end." John nodded appreciatively at the final sentiment in particularly- he could relate to it.
"Want a drink, you two?" Jo asked politely. Her manner indicated that this meeting had started well and the dinne4r was nicely simmering away on its own and would be ready in a little while.
"Coffee, if you please," murmured John politely.
"The usual glass of white wine for me," Jane answered and so Jo filled up her glass, another for herself and temporarily disappeared into the kitchen for John's drink.
Pretty soon, they were gathered together in the living room where the initial moment of feeling their way had been dispersed. It wasn't the drinks or so Jane judged even though the drink went slightly to her head.
"You know, I figured ouit that you two should get back to being friends in a way that won't do anyone any harm. I know this as I've been in relationship triangles in the past and someone always gets hurt," Jane said in an easy, lackadaisical manner as this home truth caused a ripple to run round the room.
"You know, I thought you took it well that John Deed was coming round for dinner," commented Jo in mild surprise.
"I knew there's nothing for me to worry about any more than you should Jo,"Jane said softly, omitting her customary endearment. Behind her outward confidence, she hadn't been all that certain when the moment of arrival was impending.
"So that leaves me to declare myself. I ha[ppen to be well adjusted psychically speaking as I had a thoroughly charming time yesterday meeting Nikki ande Helen after a long absence and came across their remarkable daughter Rose," John said with unafraid confidence.
"We've recently childminded for Rose. She's certainly a live wire," Jo said in a more animated manner.
"You too?" John said in astonishment and then a broad grin swpread across his face at this coincidence of events. Jane could vaguely sense how this man would be attractive to a straight woman and his obvious intelligence didn't harm any.
"Well that give us something more in common, you guys," Jane said cheerily.
This woman was definitely growing on John as she had poise and charm while any notion of complex entwinements of sexual attraction stayed firmly on the back burner. He glanced at Jo who seemed cool and calm and everything seemed fine and so he rexaxed into this meeting of minds.
Backstage, matters for Jo had been a little bit different. First thing in the morning, she'd changed her outfit a couple of times until Jane placed her hands on her shoulders. To Jane, John was just a guy, all right someone who was pretty special apart from their long on off affair down the years. She was intending to take him as he was.
"What's wrong babes?" she asked, flicking her own hair off her shoulders and looking her in the eye. Jo was silent for a little while and Jane didn't press her as she knew it was counter-productive. Only the feel of her arms around her partner could get Jo to conjure the words out of her confusion.
"I'm nervous about John coming into our space," Jo finally said.
"I understand. This obviously means more for you than me as he's just a guy to me that I've never how sensitive id John?" the blond-haired woman asked in easy tones.
"As far as I can tell, he's a lot better than he used to be," Jo finally confessed.
"So don't forget that John may feel the same as take it as it comes and take it easy," Jane said, speaking her philosophy of life. As she cuddled her partrner close, she could feel the tension in her body start to dissipate as she looked over her shoulder.
Dinner was serrved and John took care not to let a note of nostalgia for times past to enter his voice as he ate the last of the ice cream with scalloped shaped wafer. He smiled round approvingly at life in general and realised that he'd slowly but surely surmounted the emotional trough of few months ago. It was then that he needed to go to the toilet.
"Excuse me, can I borrow your toilet, " he politely asked permission of the two women after which he exited from the room.
Under the table, Jane squeezed Jo's hand as she sensed the other woman tense up straightaway. She pictured Jo's mind imagining their cosy bedroom with makeup and perfume on the dressing tables, their dresses hanging in the built in wardrobes. Feverishly, Jo's mind was pictured zeroing in on the two bedside units and the strapons concealed inside the drawers like some guilty secret that, at heart, neither woman was guilty about. Both women's memories went back to the heat and darkness of Friday evening when they had writhed together in the ecstacy of sexual passion and the delicious feelings of Jo thrusting inside the fair haired woman whose legs were wide open to receive her and wrapped round Jo and their breathless sounds of mingled female desires. These images of beauty jarred against Jo's perceived images of John's stern disapproval. This was not right, Jo mumbled to herself as she started shaking her head.
"Darling just relax," Jane urged, keeping her voice low and distinct."All John knows about us is that we're an item and that you're happy as he is a considerate guy and he knows that you've moved on. I'm sure he doesn't want to know the details, least of all what we do between the sheets."
"You're right darling. I've been silly. We should act and feel normal, "Jo smiled as she kissed her lover's cheek.
The gentle touch, the soft words and clear reasoning had had its effect. Jo exhaled her pent-up breath and turned and smiled at her clear-headed lover and squeezed her lover's hand back gratefully. John noticed this last gesture as he was walking down the staircase. His first thought was that he was glad that someone was taking care of Jo. He remembered from long experience of Jo that she wasn't as relaxed as she was trying to make others believe and it was beyond his powers to do much about it.
"So what else are you doing, these days John?" Jo asked as she turned her head to John after he'd sat down. This was a convenient distraction from her own thoughts which were trying to settle down to normality.
"Not so badly. I see quite a bit of Kristine Thorne. You'll remember her as the blind lecturer at the University of London that we first met at the Howard League of Penal Reform AGM as a red hot campaigner on prison reform. It's not exactly a steady relationship as she comes and goes as much as I do."
Jo remembered Kristine all right. She hadn't got on well with her at their first meeting and time hadn't improved matters, not that she'd seen much of her in recent years. Jane certainly remembered Kristine very well for a very different reason. Years ago, when she'd been single and unnattached, she'd been her occasional sexual partner. She'd also been strikingly different, stimulating company and hot stuff between the sheets. Jane smiled nostalgicaqlly to herself for a past era and figured out that this budding semi-relationship was John's lookout and she should keep her mouth shut.
"I admit I don't know Kristine that well. However, if you ever find a woman who holds your attention on a permanent basis, then she's got something."
This ambiguous remark was the prompt for John to start talking about Kristine at some length as this came off the top of his mind. As his two friends listened patiently to him, John reflected how strange it was that he could now talk to Jo about another woman's attractions and not to cause her any upset. He'd come a long way when he'd admitted out of nowhere that he's slept with the femal psychologist who he'd engaged to try and secure a monogomanous relationship with Jo Mills. Time had moved on as the clock in the living room ticked out the time and he still wasn't entirely sure where he was heading.