Burning with Passion

‘I’m sure it was,’ David replied succinctly, ‘and therefore confusing.’

‘It didn’t confuse me,’ Jenny replied. ‘It’s what you expect from a man. They say one thing and do another.’

It was all too true, Caitlin thought. More than once she had reflected in the same way about the matter herself. Jenny might not be feeling confused, Caitlin thought, but she herself felt quite an urgent need to get several matters clarified.

‘Caitlin and I were different,’ David went on.

‘Everyone thinks they’re different,’ Jenny pointed out with some asperity.

‘Too true,’ David said softly. ‘And you thought you were different too, didn’t you, Jenny?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jenny asked suspiciously.

‘You had a lover,’ David said. ‘Someone else who was employed here.’

That was news to Caitlin. Who could it be? One of the salesmen? One of the factory hands?

‘I’m afraid your lover is never going to marry you,’ David said, his voice reflecting caring and concern. ‘If he promised you that, Jenny, you’re going to be very bitterly disappointed.’

‘How can you possibly say that?’ Jenny asked belligerently.

‘Because he’s already married.’

‘He’s not!’ Jenny cried in vehement denial.

‘Did you ever ring him at home?’ David asked.

‘No. Of course not. He’s got a very sick mother. She can’t be disturbed.’

David winced. ‘Is that the reason he gave you?’ he said, slowly shaking his head.

‘That is the reason.’ Jenny’s hands started moving restlessly, fingers interweaving, scraping over knuckles. ‘It has to be,’ she declared.

‘I’m afraid not, Jenny,’ David said. ‘I happen to be quite involved with the people who work for me. I like to know their backgrounds, what their aims and ambitions are, what little ways I might be able to find to help, at different times.’ He rose to his feet, walked towards Jenny, tried to soothe and console. ‘Paul Jordan has a wife and three children, Jenny. He was using you.’

Caitlin’s mind flipped back to yesterday. She’d never liked Paul Jordan. He had certainly been aware of the St Valentine’s Day gift when she arrived at work. Jenny had known, too. But it had been Paul Jordan who had played it up, making the comment about wishing her many lovers. The jigsaw started to fall into place in her mind.

‘Yesterday, when you came into my office to look at the roses, you saw my letter of resignation on the desk, didn’t you, Jenny?’ she softly pressed.

‘Why...why, yes,’ she said defeatedly. She started to cry.

Caitlin had to ask one more question. ‘And when Paul Jordan came back late in the afternoon you told him what you’d seen?’

Jenny nodded her head, too distressed now to speak any further.

Caitlin caught David’s eyes.

‘It had to be so,’ he said quietly. ‘It was the only thing that made sense.’

Jenny did not wait to be dismissed. She rose from the chair and blundered out of the office, sobbing as though her heart was broken. Caitlin followed her to the door and saw her running down the corridor to the ladies’ room. There was nothing she could do to help. Jenny wasn’t the first or the last woman to love foolishly, but that knowledge didn’t ease the deep private pain of it.

Yesterday Caitlin had thought her own love for David Hartley was foolish. Maybe it still was, although David was certainly not married with three children. And the parameters of their affair were now changing, so fast that Caitlin had completely lost her bearings.

She turned back to David, thinking of the sensitivity he had just displayed. It made him more attractive than ever. ‘What are you going to do about Jenny?’ she asked.

‘Probably nothing,’ he answered. ‘She was a pawn. She’s been hurt enough. I don’t think there’s any need to do any more than what she’s already done to herself.’

‘What’s next?’