Men

When Mark turned up, they decided to take Sheba out for a walk first, and then heat up the curry afterwards.

Sheba was suitably excited to be going out in the evening, and they wandered around the streets for ages.

Leonora had decided to broach the subject over the meal, it seemed easier. Of course, she had been assuming Mark wouldn't be staying the night, but that meant he couldn't drink.

"Mark, do you want a drink or not, because obviously with you wanting to drive home, it might not be a good idea," she said, hoping that was tactful enough.

"I thought I might like to stay, if that's not too much of an invasion of your personal space," he said.

"OK, whatever suits," she replied, thinking best not to put him in a bad mood. "So, in that case would you like a glass of wine?"

"Yes. That would be great," he said, and smiled at her.

Leonora put a bowl of water down for Sheba first, and then poured a couple of large glasses of wine. One each of course, not two for Mark. She put the curry on to warm up, and then took a deep breath.

"I'm going on a trip to Morocco for three weeks or so," she said. "It's been booked, and I gave the commitment before I started the job.

"If I can't take the leave from work, I'll understand, and hand in my resignation." Oouf. It was out. She looked at him.

"Shouldn't be a problem. What are the dates?" he said.

"I don't know yet. I'm waiting for confirmation," she said.

"So it has been booked has it?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Is it an organised tour then? Can I join in?" he asked.

Leonora was stunned. "Er, I don't think we can both take leave from the office for three weeks at once, it might look a bit obvious," she said quickly.

"Suppose so. It's getting to be a bit of a nuisance keeping it quiet when it gets in the way of what we want to do," he answered.

'What we want to do....' Leonora was horrified. 'We', ie Leonora, didn't want to do anything more than they were doing. Alarm bells were beginning to ring.

"Anyway, it's not a tour," she said. "I'm going with my cousin."

"You've not mentioned her before, what's she like?" he asked.

"Not a her. Him. He's OK on a good day," she answered.

"Him? You're going with a male cousin for three weeks? Is he gay?" asked Mark.

"Not that I know of. He's married and has a few kids, so I guess at most he could be bi, but he's not mentioned it," she replied glibly, thinking how gutted Leonard would be if he could hear the conversation. And how bigoted and presumptious Mark was.

"Are you planning on fucking him? Or are you fucking him already? Or what? And is his wife going too? Menage a trois?" Mark was looking very confused.

"No, no, no, no, and no again," she said. "Well no to all of them really."

"Do I get to meet him?" asked Mark.

"NO," she said, rather too loudly. "Look, there's nothing to it. I wanted to tell you now, so that you know, and if it's a problem, I'll resign. That's all."

"No, it's no problem. Just a bit disappointed you don't want to spend three weeks in Morocco with me. That's all," he said, sadly.

Men, she thought. Always trying to manipulate you.

They ate their food in silence.

"I guess I'll go home after all," said Mark. "See you tomorrow."

Leonora was relieved. "Yeah. Thanks for coming round and for the meal."

Mark raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

They walked to the door together, Sheba wondering why everyone was so quiet.

"Night Mark," said Leonora waiting for a kiss.

"Night," he said, and walked out of the door. Leaving her waiting for that kiss.

She turned round to the little crutches who were leaning in the hall as usual.

"Men huh?"

Then she went to see if Leonard had sent that email yet. Mark's question about whether it had been booked or not had set doubts in her mind.

She flicked on the screen. One email.

"Hi Leonora

"Here are the dates and details for the crossings. Hope you can sort it out at work. Looking forward to seeing you and planning our trip........"

She looked at the screen thoughtfully.

And decided to send an email to Mark. Giving him her resignation. If she didn't do it now, she would probably put it off.

She drafted it and then edited it the usual half dozen times.

But before she pressed send, she picked up the 'phone. Leonard was always up at silly hours.

"Hi Leonard," she said.

"Hey, Leonora, did you get my email?" he said.

"Yeah thanks. When did you book the ferry?" she asked.

"What?"

"When did you book the ferry? Before or after you rang me?" she asked again.

"I booked it today," he replied.

"Before or after you rang me? I want the truth Leonard," she said. Despite all their fall outs and arguments, the one thing that remained between Leonora and Leonard was a feeling of trust.

Although they joked and teased and sulked lots, if one of them asked for an honest answer they expected it.

"I rang the ferry companies before I rang you," replied Leonard.

Not good enough, thought Leonora. Too evasive. And you wouldn't risk losing the money either for the booking if I cancelled.

"Yeah right. But when did you book, and give those all important credit card details Leonard?"

Shit, he thought. Shit, she's going to back out now. Should I lie?

Leonora sensed the hesitation on the other end of the 'phone.

"Don't lie Leonard. If we are going to spend three weeks alone together, I want the truth."

"After," he finally said, waiting for the 'phone to get slammed down.

"Bit manipulative, and not entirely honest when you rang me, wouldn't you say?" she asked calmly.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't want to risk you backing out. I do want you to come with me Leonora."

"It's OK, I'll come. I might chuck the job though, although Mark seems to think it will be OK anyway."

"Well why chuck it then?" asked Leonard. "Got to think of the money."

"Just need a bit of space that's all. Anyway, I'll be down at some point, so we can catch up then, love to Tata," she said. And put down the 'phone.

Leonard put the 'phone down with a huge feeling of relief. He had really thought she was going to back out. For the first time ever he had been tempted to lie to her when she had asked him for the truth. He hadn't realised how much he wanted her to go on this trip with him before that.

Leonora sent the formal resignation to Mark, with a vague note saying she really needed to take some time out to achieve some personal goals, blah blah.

She sat back and felt better.

Then she composed another email to Leonard. Lying bastard.

"Hi Leonard

"I really don't think I want to spend three weeks with someone relying on them and having to trust them, when they can't even be honest about a ferry booking.

"So I won't be coming down for the weekend either. There's nothing to discuss.

"Shame you felt the need to lie to me.

"Leonora."

She looked at the mail and couldn't decide whether to send it or not. Then she decided to get another glass of wine while she thought about it.

And once she sat down again, she realised she was going to send it. That was why she had written it.

Fuck you Leonard. Oh, and Mark as well, although Mark was really an afterthought.

So she pressed send and went to bed. Men. She was sick of them.

She lay in bed and decided to read for a while before going to sleep. She carefully unfolded the raggy bits of paper and read Leonard's two letters again, written more than twenty years ago.

Then she carefully folded them up again, and put them under her pillow, as she did every night. Wishing things had gone differently.