October
Archie Paddick thought,
as his girlfriend Josephine Bell was nervous about meeting all of his old
friends at the Games Night, that rather than arriving at a houseful and totally
overwhelming her he would take her over to Barry’s early so he could introduce
her to the hosts before anyone else arrived and that way she would just have to
meet one couple at a time.
So, when they
got there, they stood on the porch, and he gave her a kiss for good luck before
he rang the doorbell.
Barry opened
the door.
“Blimey” he
said
“You’ll never
believe it Eve” he called over his shoulder “it’s Archie and…”
“Josephine” he
said
“… Josephine”
Barry continued
“Are we too
early” he asked
“No not at all”
he replied “Lovely to meet you Josephine, come in, come in”
“Thanks Barry,
likewise” she said and squeezed Archie’s hand.
As they walked
into the lounge Barry said to Jo
“You’re obviously
a good influence on him, Archie’s never the first to arrive”
Then he
introduced her to his sour-faced wife Eve.
“Josephine?”
she said
“Call me Jo”
she answered
“Hmmm” was her
only response
He gave her
hand another gentle squeeze and Jo said
“I love your
dress, I wish I could afford designer labels”
Eve’s
expression softened immediately, and a hint of a smile could be detected when
she continued
“And your
hair’s a fabulous shade of red”
“Two down, six
to go” Archie thought to himself
Stevie and
Carol were the first to arrive after them and with Jo being gorgeous and Stevie
being a letch he took to her straight away.
There was a
moment’s frostiness from Carol but as soon as Jo gave her a wink and she
realized Stevie was being played she quickly warmed.
By the time
Kevin and Cindi arrived the gregarious confident Josephine was there to greet
them and within five minutes they were deep in conversation about a new
Mongolian restaurant in Abbottsford, so much so that she almost missed Archie’s
introducing her to Neville and Terri.
Jo continued
discussing cuisine with Kevin and Cindi while they devoured a rather mediocre
Indian.
The games
element of the evening began with cards and due to some creative cheating by
Josephine, a skill he hadn’t previously experienced from her, Neville and Terri
were the resounding victors, deftly played by the woman he loved.
They went on to
play Trial Pursuit next which was when Barry chose to reveal his latest fad.
As he fancied
himself as a bit of an engineer and with the help of the Internet and RS
Component’s he managed to fashion his latest pride and joy.
“It’s an
electronic Dice” Barry said proudly
It was brown in
colour, made of plastic, about three inches long and two inches wide and the
same in depth, with two buttons and an LED display on the upper side.
“Wow” everyone
said with varying degrees of sarcasm except for Josephine who said.
“That’s really
interesting, how does it work”
“Well,” said
Barry, thrilled that someone appreciated his efforts
“You press this
first button, and the numbers start randomizing”
“Oh yes, I see,”
said Jo
“Then you press
the second button, and it displays your throw” he continued
“Wow that’s so
clever” she said still enthusing
“And you made
that?”
“Yes” he
replied proudly “I did”
“Can I have a
go?” she asked
“Absolutely”
Barry said and handed it to her
“So, I press
this button first” Jo said
“Yes” Barry
replied
“Then this one?”
She said
“Yes” he said
again
“And that’s my
throw” she said just before she shook it in her hands and rolled it across the
table.
Barry’s jaw
dropped and the room erupted with laughter and Jo said to Barry.
“Got you,” and
he roared with laughter, in truth at that moment she had them all in the palm
of her hand.
She held his
hand under the table and squeezed it firmly and as she turned and gave him a
smile he fell in love with her all over again.
They spent most
of the day after the Games Night slobbing around the house in their night
clothes and watching old films on TV.
After all the
recent exertions associated with clearing out Jo’s house prior to her moving in
with him, it was really nice to have such a lazy day.
However, they
paid for it over the coming week as the deadline for Jo to vacate her house
loomed large and they spent every spare moment moving her and her possessions
from Pipershaven to Pepperstock Green.
And so began a
new chapter in their lives when they would no longer be two lonely single
dwellers living half-lives but one loving couple sharing a house and home.
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