Mixed Fortunes Ch.9

I must have been asleep for hours because sunlight was coming into the flat at a late afternoon angle. Somebody was knocking loudly on my front door.

I opened up groggily and there she was again. My Jessie. She was wearing almost white jeans cut into shorts with a tight fitting white T-shirt and her white Converse sneakers.  She looked positively vibrant.

“Ah, I see you’ve been cheating.” she said. “Sleep is for old people, Danny boy. We gots things to do, no time for sleepy heads.”

“Hey Jess.” I croaked. “I dunno what happened. Must have crashed.”

“Crashed properly it seems. Your face looks like an elephant sat on it.”

She came inside and gave me a kiss. I still couldn’t quite see properly with the afternoon sun beating its way into the flat from the doorway.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“It is nearly 4pm.”

“Wow. I really conked, didn’t I?”

We went into the lounge and sat down on the sofa together.

“So, Daddy has passed on the invite for dinner. I’m just going to get him a takeaway from that pizza place at the shopping centre, but then you and I can do whatever we want tonight. What do you feel like doing?”

“Sleeping!” I joked. She punched me lightly on the arm, chuckling.

“Noooo! We have to go out and celebrate. Have you spoken to your folks yet?”

“Shit. No, I haven’t.” I realised that Mom was going to be highly annoyed I hadn’t called her back since I dropped the jackpot bombshell on her yesterday. “Let me get some coffee in me and I’ll go and make the call down at the shop.”

“I’ll make the coffee for you.” Jessie said, getting up from the sofa again. It seemed to be her favourite thing to do, wait on others.

“Thanks love.” I said. I was really dog tired but Jessie appeared to have found a reserve tank somewhere.

“So… I made some calls earlier on.” she said, coming back from the kitchen and putting the coffee mugs on the table. She sat down next to me. “First one was to my now ex-boss. I just told her that I wasn’t coming back, something had come up. She sounded a bit pissed off but I didn’t say what it was, just personal things.

“Then I called the travel agents down at the shopping centre and they have suggested a lovely week away for us in Mauritius, with some activities like scuba diving, parasailing, etcetera.”

She was getting more and more animated with every sentence, her arms beginning to act like wind socks as she went into details of all the fun we were going to have over there. I reached for the coffee and sipped it slowly, listening to the ongoing tales of what she’d done since I last saw her this morning.

“And then…” she went on, “I called an estate agent who works in the north end and have arranged for us to go and take a look at some flats there tomorrow. That is if you’re up for it.”

I put the coffee down and pulled her closer to me, planting a kiss on her lips to quieten her down. She didn’t resist but carried on talking anyway.

“I have to get my Dad that new car, so first thing tomorrow I’m going to go and bank my cheque. Martin said it would take about two or three weeks to clear because it’s technically from another country, but I think I can at least take him down to the dealership and let him pick out something he likes.”

“Sounds like you’ve been a very busy girl. Where did you get all this energy from?”

“I don’t know. It’s just been the most amazing few weeks of my life – I don’t want it to ever end.” she said. “Can I bum one of your smokes?”

“Course you can. They are over there on the bedside table. Bring the pack here, I could use one too.”

We lit up, Jessie coughing after inhaling the fumes from the Zippo.

“Good grief, how can you enjoy lighting up with that petrol bowser? Ugh!”

I laughed. “It’s an acquired taste.”

The smoke was calming her down a bit. She leaned back into the sofa and planted one leg over mine. We were so comfortable together now. It was like the miserable version of Jessie had entirely evaporated and in place of that sad girl there was a lively, irrepressible young woman who knew exactly what she wanted now that a different door in her life had swung wide open.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do with your money?” she asked.

“I’ve been giving it some thought, but not really what I want to spend just yet. I know I want to invest most of it because the thing that trips up most people who suddenly come into money is that they buy things that don’t make them any more money. If you invest it wisely it will just grow and grow. Compound interest is the key.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry, banker brain at work. Basically if you put money into an interest bearing account, every month that you leave it there the interest you earn increases the balance and then the next time they calculate interest it will be on the original balance plus the interest re-invested into that balance. More interest and then a bigger balance.”

“Really? So your money gets bigger every month?”

“Uh huh. And,” I went on, “if the interest rates go up you earn even more.”

“Wow. I never knew that. And you think that I should just invest it all?”

“Babe, you have more money than you would have earned in one hundred years as a hairdresser. I think you can spend some of it and invest the rest. You will earn more in interest than you currently earn as a salary.”

I could see the imaginary gears in her mind turning as she contemplated investing.

“What would you invest in?” she asked, sipping her coffee.

“Well, that’s the tricky part. I’d have to get some proper investment advice from one of the financial planners at the bank, but one thing I do know is that they all suggest splitting your investment portfolios across a range of things. Fixed deposit investments, unit trusts, stocks, property and so on. I’m quite partial to property myself. I think the market is about to boom, so I’m definitely going to look into buying some income producing flats. But just not in this area.”

“Lawd, I’m going to have an investment portfolio!” she burst out laughing. “If only my high school teachers could see me now.”

I knew what she meant. There’s always this part of you that wants to go back to high school and give the teachers who put you down the middle finger. I’d hated high school. Every second of it. There was one teacher in particular who I’d had the misfortune of enduring every single year I went there and she truly disliked me. No matter what I did I could never impress her with the effort I put into my economics subject. She had this condescending attitude towards all those of us who were bused in from the city to a suburban school with all its pretentiousness. I truly hated her. Going back there to my old school in a fancy car for a rugby game with Jessie on my arm would be such a sweet lick of revenge.

We finished our coffee, I got some jeans on and went down to the shop to call my folks while Jessie stayed up at the flat, tidying up. Mom picked up the phone before it had barely even rang.

“Hi mom!” I said.

“Danny! Why haven’t you called me, you little bugger. I’ve been going out of my mind wondering where you were.” she spat out before I could say anything else.

“Sorry Ma, I just got back this morning and I conked out the whole afternoon Jessie reminded me to give you a call now. Sorry, I’m totally safe and fine.”

“Good girl, so are you two a thing now?”

“Indeed we are. She’s awesome.”

“Yes, we had quite a nice chat when you were in the hospital. She’s very sweet. Wasn’t she at school with you?”

“Ya, she was in my class for a few years before we went to high school. So what are you guys doing tonight? Do you want to come to dinner with us?”

“Aw, I’d love to, my boy, but Dad’s got this work thing we have to go to tonight, so maybe we can do something on the weekend?” she said. “What are you going to say to your work people? I’m assuming you haven’t been in yet?”

“No, I didn’t go in or even call them yet. I’m not sure what to do, to be honest. Jessie and I were just talking about the whole investment thing, so I will need to speak to some of the advisors there and see what they say.”

“How much did you say you won?”

“The total jackpot was just under four million, so we split it 50:50 and I am a millionaire and a bit now!” I said it a bit too loud and I think Costas the shop keeper may have heard me. His head lifted up from his usual slumped position behind the cash register.

“Oh my word. I can’t believe it, Danny. I do have some concerns about how this will affect your life going forward, but let’s find some time to talk about it on the weekend. Maybe come around on Saturday afternoon?”

“Okay Mom. Sounds like a plan. I will let you know what’s going on as soon as I get my head on straight again. It’s been one helluva couple of days.”

“I’m sure it has, my boy. Love you.”

We hung up. I went back to the flat to find Jessie washing the dishes that had accumulated since Friday night. It seemed like that had been a hundred years ago, not three days.

“There’s my girl!” I said, embracing her from behind. “Barefoot and in the kitchen. Maybe even pregnant?”

“Oh God, let’s not go there quite so quickly.” she said. “I am on the pill now. I should be coming on next week according to that schedule.”

She rinsed off the last of the dishes and dried her hands.

“What did your Mom have to say?” she asked.

“Oh, not much. I think she likes you. What exactly did you guys talk about while I was visiting cloud Cuckooland in the hospital?”

“This and that.” she smiled, winking as she said it.

“Bloody women. Always with the cloak and dagger.”

It was starting to get a bit gloomy as the sun dropped behind the buildings in the back line. I heard my stomach growl and remembered that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at the casino.

“I heard that!” said Jessie. “Let’s go to that fancy steakhouse down on the beachfront, you know, the one where Sam works. I heard it’s pretty good.”

“Are they even open on Monday?” I asked, not knowing who Sam was. Must have been a friend of hers I hadn’t met yet.

“Think so. We can take a taxi there and if they aren’t I’m sure we can find another place to get dinner somewhere down there. One of the hotels maybe?”

“Why are we waiting? Let’s go!” I said, dancing a little on-the-spot jig.

“Oh crap, what can I wear?” she went to her tog bag and pulled out a crumpled pair of stone washed jeans. “I think these will be ok.”

“You look fine to me just as you are.” I said.

“No, I can’t wear these shorts. I made them from an old pair of jeans.”

“But they’re cool. Besides, you can use them like subterfuge. No one will know you’re a millionairess.”

“I’m not going to a fancy restaurant wearing cut off denim shorts.” she said as she unzipped and removed them, revealing her sheer pink panties underneath. Almost immediately the man in me responded.

“Oh my, you are irresistible! How long has it been? At least 10 hours, I’m sure. Danny needs more lovin’.” We made love until it was fully dark outside.

Afterwards, as we lay there sharing a cigarette, she turned to me and rested her palm on my chest.

“I love you.” she said.

“I love you too.” I answered back without waiting, my hand now on top of hers.

We eventually got out of the bed when both our stomachs were growling in sync, Jessie laughing almost hysterically as they did. For some reason she found tummy growls hilarious. We went down to the shop and called a taxi from the callbox. It arrived about 10 minutes later. Fortunately the steakhouse was open that night and from the looks of it very busy too. We were lucky to get a table right by the window overlooking the amusement park where we had gone on our first date just over a week ago.

“I think we’ve had a bit of a dining upgrade since our first date.” I said, looking over at her beautiful face which was illuminated only by soft overhead lighting and a candle on the table. She’d taken out the pony and her hair was shining wonderfully as it danced around her shoulders with every move of her head.

“We certainly have.” she said, linking her hands with mine.

The waitress came over to take our order. She was young and hurried through the specials as if she was on a timer. I said we’d have a think about it, but I already knew that I was going to have a steak, regardless of whatever the specials were.

We ordered a bottle of white wine. I thought about champagne, but didn’t want all the questions that would come with it.

“I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do now that I don’t have to work.” said Jessie.

“Oh ya, what’s that look like?” I asked.

“I think I definitely want to do this investing thing, but I also want to start something that will keep me busy. Maybe a coffee shop? What do you think?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Why a coffee shop?”

“I dunno, I think it’s a lot easier to manage than a proper restaurant like this, you know. You don’t have to do dinner service and deal with all the expectations of the diners. You can have a constant stream of customers if you’re in the right place, close up at 4pm and there’s no chance that people are going to get drunk and start bar fights.”

“Unless you’re the proprietor.” I laughed, pointing at her playfully, remembering how she’d hurled that glass of brandy at Micky McGee.

She smiled and playfully cocked her head to one side, biting her lip contritely.

“I think it was totally worth it.” she said.

“What? Starting the fight at Harlequins?”

“Yep. How else was I going to get your attention?”

I looked at her quizzically for a moment.

“Que?”

“I’m just messing with your mind, Danny. But you should know that I’ve always had designs on you.”

“How come I never knew about it?”

“Girls don’t go after guys, we have to get them to go after us.” she said.

“So are you telling me that all through junior school while I was feeling like the proverbial odd man out you actually had the hots for me?”

“Uh-huh. So did Christine. And Lizzie.”

“What?” I was incredulous.

“You were such an adorable guy, but we knew you were so shy. I think that was part of the charm. We even got Belinda to call you once to see how you’d react. Do you remember that?”

I certainly did.

I was sitting at home one night when the phone rang. Mom had answered and told me it was for me. Some girl was on the other side. My heart had begun beating uncontrollably as she handed me the receiver and I heard Belinda’s silky smooth voice on the other side. She wanted to know what I was doing and if I would like to get romantic with her. Then I heard a lot of laughter in the background so I just hung up the phone.

“That was all of you girls?” I asked.

“I begged them not to do it, but they insisted. They thought you might be gay, so Belinda got it into her head that we should find out for sure.”

“Bloody hell.” I said. “That wasn’t even funny. Belinda used to go out with James the surfer, so I knew she must have been pulling my leg, that’s why I hung up on her. Jeez… you girls were mean!”

“Aw, I’m sorry, babe. We were having a sleep over at her place and talking about all the boys in the class and who we’d pick to marry. I said your name and then all hell broke loose. Christine and Lizzie both said that they would fight me for you and then Belinda said that she thought you were gay because with her being the prettiest you never seemed to be interested, so by her logic you had to be gay. Then she came up with the idea to call you and the other two went along with it.” she pulled a mock sad face as she told me this story.

“If only I had known… but while we’re sharing pre-teen confessions the reason why I never made any moves on those other girls is because I had always had a crush on you. I didn’t want the whole world to know because the teasing would have been vicious. And weren’t you more interested in that Dennis Prinsloo guy?” I said.

“Ugh, no. He was a proper cake. Anyway, speaking for myself, I was very relieved to find out that you weren’t gay when you and Anita became a thing. Although to be honest I hated her guts after that.”

I hadn’t thought about Anita for years. She was a girl who I’d become momentarily fixated on in the final month of our last year in junior school. She was a pretty blonde who’d only joined us midway through the year when her family escaped the post war situation in Rhodesia. We’d hold hands during lunch break but it never went any further than that. Her parents lived on the other side of town and she got picked up at the school gate by her Mom every day, disappearing into the void. I’d only ever see her in school. The hand holding at lunch time was satisfying though because it gave me a bit of credibility amongst my classmates. They began to see me as somewhat cool.

“Well, all’s well that ends well, I guess.” I squeezed her hand. “You got your guy.”

She smiled and gave me the full dimples.

“But what on earth possessed you to go out with Micky?” I asked, gingerly.

Her smile turned downwards at the mention of his name and the dimples vanished.

“I dunno. He was quite charming at first, but obviously I read that wrong.”

“You always looked so miserable when you were going out with him.” I said. “Simon and I used to think he was hurting you. Was he?”

“No, not physically. Emotionally more than anything. He was always going on about my appearance, saying I should have a boob job or wear more make-up. Stuff like that.”

“What a twat. I swear if I ever see him again I may have to be restrained.”

“Dan, please don’t antagonise him. He’s a nasty pice of work, I told you, those guys who’d come to their flat really worried me.”

“Why? Do you think they were criminals?”

“Definitely. I heard one of them saying something about a person they had to take care of because he knew too much about something they’d done.” she said. “They were all from the UK.”

Our meals arrived just as she was beginning to get into specifics about Micky and Andrew’s associates. I was going to ask some questions but then the sight of the rump steak I had ordered totally derailed my line of thought.