Short Story Sunday: A Suitable Man [Part Three: The Conclusion]

Read the first two parts here and here.


 
It had become something of a routine for Christopher and Sean to bop along to the radio as they got dressed in the morning. From "Losing My Religion" to "Unwritten", nothing was off limits as long as it got them raring to go. Sean had also discovered the benefits of becoming an Air Guitar Master, much to Christopher's delight. After dropping Sean at school, he was still humming U2's "Beautiful Day" when he reached his desk. His new editor had given him a 10:00am deadline for his column. According to Christopher's agent, Demi, "perspective" columns were all the rage. And, with the angle of his being foisted into the single dad role, she was convinced it would be popular enough to syndicate. 

"Trust me, darling." Demi never spoke; she purred. "A few months of writing for this family rag and you can get back to earning what you were in the era BA." That was her code for 'before the accident'. 

He waited for the file to upload and hit send. A racket behind him made him walk to the kitchen and look out of the window. From what he could make out through the gauze curtain, Barbara was having a go at John the gardener for either over or under-pruning her plants. He pitied John: Barbara was a difficult woman to please. Behind them he noticed Julia's car pull out of her garage. Although he was convinced she couldn't see him, he stepped away from the window. 

They had not spoken since that ghastly mess at Bella Bella on the day that Sean tried to convince him to rekindle things with Julia. He'd been so ashamed about his behaviour that he thought it better to steer clear of her altogether. By the time he decided to apologise, he felt too awkward to confront her and appeal to her sensibilities. So far they had managed to avoid each other, despite living a few metres apart. From where he stood, those few metres may as well have been a chasm -- that was how far away she felt. He watched her fiddle with something in her back seat. She still had the power to tug at something in his chest. Her movements indicated weariness. When Barbara called to her, Julia bolted into the driver's seat and sped off. Christopher smiled. He knew he would have done the same. 

Fortunately, Barbara had not visited him during the day once he explained that he was a writer for a living and needed peace and quiet to produce his best work. Because, as he was sure she knew, once Sean was home, he was in Uncle Mode, and had to attend to homework, chores and helping him debrief after school. 

His train of thought halted when the phone rang. It was Demi.

"Tell me you've seen it?"

"Seen what?"

"The newest issue of Femme magazine? You and Sean are hogging page 79 in the 'Gentleman's Special'."

"Oh." He hoped he sounded indifferent.

"This is huge, Christopher. I'm watching the link as we speak."

"That would account for the background noise. I thought you were in a shopping mall."

"Oh, this is good. This is really good. Why didn't you tell me you did this?"

"It didn't seem that important at the time. Besides, I was doing a favour for a friend."

"Which friend? Do I know her?"

"Julia Hayden. She works for the maga..." He listened as Demi began to sob. "Are you all right?"

"It's just... It's so beautiful. You and Sean and the garden... Their post-production is excellent."

"Good to know. Is there a point to this call, Demi?"

"Shush... I'm watching."

Christopher sighed. He could here the tinny laptop speakers playing in Demi's office. He heard Sean's voice and smiled. 

"Oh my god."

"What?"
 
"This woman -- Christopher, she's completely in love with you. Why did you leave her there? Please tell me you were only playing it up for the camera?"

"I thought they would have edited that part out."

"Christopher, you cad!" 

"Are you going to call me names or are you going to tell me what the point of this call is?"

"We have to fix this."

It was as if Christopher hadn't spoken.

"I'm going to get in touch with this Julia person and tell her we want to do a follow-up. You have to fix this, Christopher."

"Demi, I don't think I can."

Julia shook the box of popcorn as Christopher dumped the salt over it. They were waiting for the theatre doors to open so that they could take their seats for Jerry Maguire. 

"Not so much salt." 

"Already thought of that." He pulled back his jacket to reveal two large bottles of Coke. "I'm bringing reinforcements."

"We're not allowed to."

"Relax, I smuggle food in all the time."

She rolled her eyes at him. "They've opened the doors. Let's go."

Even now, Christopher could not remember much about the movie. He could recall, in great detail, the expressions on Julia's face right until the part where Tom Cruise gave the "you complete me" speech. It was at that point that he decided it was actually a chick flick and he'd better take notes. Julia had blubbed on his shoulder and blocked his view of the screen, but she'd smelt nice, so he hadn't minded. 

Afterwards, when they were waiting for her mom to fetch them, she'd made him pinkie swear he wouldn't behave like Jerry as long as they were together. Of course he didn't have the faintest idea of what that meant, so he resorted to trotting out the one part of the movie he could remember. 

"Jools, the truth is that you complete me."

"Do you mean that?"

"Of course I do."

His reward had been a long and loin-stirring kiss, which only ended when her mother hooted at them to hurry up and get in the car.   

Julia wondered whether he even remembered that day at the movies. It was etched in her memory because it was the day she realised she would love Christopher for the rest of her life. Even though she'd been given what turned out to be horrible news after her mother dropped him at home, nothing could undo what she felt for him. 

"Your father has decided to send you to study abroad. He thinks a change of scenery will do you good."

"I don't want to go overseas. I want to study here, with Christopher."

"It's already done, Julia."

"Wait, where are we going, Mom?"

"The airport. I packed your bags earlier."

There had been no goodbye. No warning. Julia had cried the whole flight there. Her uncle and aunt had tried to ascertain what was making her so emotional, but all they got was incoherence punctuated with sobs. Her sister later told her about the conversation Christopher had with her father when he called the day after their movie date. 

"She's gone, son. Take my advice and move on with your life."

"Gone where? Why? She didn't say goodbye."

"We thought it would be best to avoid all that. She left last night."

"Where is she? I have to speak to her."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"But, I love her. I want her to know that."

"You don't know what love is, son. Go home. Forget about her."

Thinking back now, Christopher lambasted himself for giving up so easily. He should have fought for Julia. For both of them. But it was too late. Too much had happened since then.

"What do you think, Julia?"

"Sorry?"

"She's obviously miles away." 

The people in the boardroom tittered.

"I was asking you whether you thought we should make the 'Gentleman's Special' an annual thing."

"Only if we don't use the same gentlemen."

The boardroom titittered again.

"But it might be nice to do a follow-up on that boy -- Sean, was it?"

"Sure, yes. If you think so. But, Clarissa, I would prefer not to do this project again. Rather give me 'Spa Fungal Nightmares' or a piece called 'I Found Out My Boyfriend Used to be a Woman'."

There was no tittering this time. 

"Thank you, everyone, for a great issue. Why don't you all leave a bit earlier today and beat the traffic.We'll get back to the drawing board tomorrow."

Everyone scattered, except Clarissa and Julia. 

"Have you heard from him?"

"No."

"Have you tried to track him down?"

"We live in the same complex."

"Ouch." Clarissa took the seat next to Julia. "Do you know why he ran?"

"No."

"Then put on your big girl pants and ask him. You're part of Femme magazine, not Wimps-R-Us." She placed her hand on Julia's shoulder. "Unless you do, I'm going to assign you every soppy love story that crosses my desk."

Julia's laugh turned into sobs. "What if it's me? That I'm ugly or undesirable?"

Clarissa stood and fetched her laptop. "I was watching these outtakes." She placed the screen in front of Julia. 

It was a scene of her fussing over the ferns that kept threatening to fall on Sean. Christopher's eyes never left her.

"I've got to..."

"Go."

Christopher re-read the brief Demi had sent him. It was a proposal for a series of investigative pieces he would do for Weekly, a news magazine that promised a decent pay package if he took the job. The hammering on his door made him jump, and then groan. Barbara had been around earlier to ask him if he witnessed the ungentlemanly behaviour from John. Even when he lied and said he'd probably been in the shower, she regaled him with the story for around forty minutes. He knew he couldn't ignore the noise if it was her; she knew he was home.

He weighed up the options of excuses to give her so that their interaction would be cut short. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

"Julia?"
 
"May I come in?"

He stood aside. She looked rushed. A quick glance at his wrist told him she was probably fobbing off work to be there.

"What can I help you with? Is there another power cut scheduled?"

She paced like a caged tiger. Her brow furrowed. "No, nothing like that." She steeled herself. "I have to know why, Christopher. Why do you keep running from me? Why did you let me go overseas and never try to contact me? Why have you been avoiding me since the shoot in Bella Bella? Why are you afraid?"

"I think we better sit down."

"I can't sit down. I have too much nervous energy."

"Ok, then I'm going to sit down." He perched on the edge of the couch and ran his hands through his hair.

"Well?"

"It's hard to know which question I should answer first. You should have brought a list for me to work through."

When she didn't laugh, he cleared his throat. His voice was almost a whisper when he spoke again.

"I did go looking for you, after that night, after Jerry Maguire. Your father told me you'd gone and that I should let you go. He thought I would hold you back."

"What? That wasn't his decision to make. Why didn't you fight for me?"

"Because I knew on some deep level that he was right. Look at you, Jools. If you'd stayed with me, you'd never be where you are in your career."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that your parents never approved of me. They saw you marrying a more suitable man. Like one of those prigs who went to my school. You remember Rogers?"

"That still doesn't explain why you ran the other day."

"I ran because I'm not sure I can be who you need me to be."

"And what exactly do I need?"

"Jools, I'm a single dad now. My life is complicated and my future is uncertain. You don't need that kind of mess."

"So you've decided for me, is that it? You are so sure you know what I want? That because I work in this so-called glamorous world of magazines and fashion that I would be so shallow as to think it's real and meaningful, and therefore reject the man I gave my heart to when I was seventeen?" Julia sat next to him and took his hand. "I have never been good at saying how I feel. I've always preferred to write it out. But I'm going to try now. And I want you to listen. Since we met, it was easy for me to be around you. I didn't have to explain myself; you understood. You made me laugh, you listened to my stories and you encouraged me. You are a suitable man for me. Even with all your complications. But I need you to show me that the feeling is mutual." 

Christopher felt light-headed. Years of buried emotions surfaced and drowned his rational thinking. He slumped back on the couch. Julia was standing up. Julia was looking at him. Julia was speaking. Julia was walking away. Julia was gone. 

By the time he processed what was happening and bolted after her, Julia had her hand on her car door.

"Wait."

She turned to look at him, willing herself not to cry until she had driven away.

"I'm sorry. Please come inside. I don't want you to go."

Christopher took her hand and nudged the car door shut with his knee. In one movement he had her in his arms. Their foreheads were almost touching. 

"I should never have waited this long."