Page 18 of Waiting for a Bright New Future

Offers of help in Stuart’s life had been rare over the last few decades and he was touched that Florence had noticed how his backwards and forwards work with William left him with little free time. “Yes, it would help, thank you.”

“Great.” She held out her hand again.

Bewildered, Stuart took it — he’d never met a woman so keen on shaking hands before. Perhaps she was a Freemason.

“A thirty pound a week reduction in the rent should make us quits.”

“What?”

“I did enough cleaning without pay when I was with my old man. Now I’ve left, I do everything on my own terms.”

“But you didn’t say.”

“Stuart — please don’t tell me that you expected me to pick your underpants off the floor for free?”

He didn’t leave his underpants on the floor but he had assumed Florence had offered to help out of the goodness of her heart. Obviously, along with everything else, he’d lost the skill of reading people during his father’s illness. “I don’t—”

“I had you down as an honourable man.”

“Of course, thirty pounds sounds fair.” Doing the cleaning himself would be preferable to losing that amount of money each week but what else could he say without appearing to take advantage of her generous nature?

Florence gave him a double-thumbs-up sign and a broad grin before disappearing into the evening. The orange Panda sputtered for a second on the drive and then crunched over the gravel.

Stuart took the soup off the heat and sat down. Were all women so manipulative?

No, manipulative wasn’t the right word, it made Florence sound evil and she wasn’t that. Playing things to her advantage was probably a better description.

Able to twist a man around her little finger, is the phrase you’re looking for.Sandra was in his head again.And yes, given the right man, we are all capable of doing it.

“Are you saying I’m gullible? After twenty-five years in almost solitary confinement, you’d be gullible too.”

Not gullible. You wouldn’t fall for the ‘You are due a tax refund — give us your bank details’ scam, you’re just susceptible to the wiles of certain women. You agreed so quickly to Florence’s suggestion because you want to please her and keep her sweet. That is definitely good because she is FUN and that is what you need in your life right now! If it costs you thirty pounds a week, who cares, it’s only money.

“In less than a year I will be homeless. Thirty pounds multiplied up by many weeks is worth having.”

At your age you’ve got to take your fun where you can find it. There was a time when you’d have a go at anything. Remember the geography field trips you took your sixth formers on? You always used to start the singing on the coach.

“That was to distract the girls who swore blind they always threw up on long journeys.”

Who was the teacher who put his heart and soul into compering an evening talent show in the youth hostel?

“To stop the little idiots sneaking outside for a cigarette.”

No matter the reason. Stuart Borefield wasn’t always grey. We just have to find the felt tips and colour him in again.

If only it was that simple. Stuart sighed and warmed a bowl for his soup.

* * *

The next day Florence declared that she was going to the supermarket to stock up on cleaning materials and needed petty cash.

“Petty cash? I’m not a big shot business enterprise.” Stuart handed over a twenty-pound note and said he was going cycling and expected the house to be pristine when he returned.

“Ooh! Hark at you!”

This time he gave her the double-thumbs-up sign and went to get changed.

She was cleaning the inside of the lounge windows when he returned, sweaty and red-faced from the hills. He felt her gaze travel up and down his body. Then she gave a little smile. It took all his willpower to stand his ground in his own house and not rush upstairs to change.

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