Three - Daniel 66

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[Old back story is here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and read more recent Daniel episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

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“I’m sorry?” said Chrissy as Daniel put the laptop down in front of her, “who are we speaking with?”

Daniel still didn’t want to say straight away. He felt he needed to keep the information back for just a little while longer, just to get things straight in his own head and to keep Chrissy in the dark for a few moments longer. A bit more anticipation, he thought, that’s all it will take. Just raise a few more questions in her head before the meeting and then…

“It’s not the counsellor, is it?” said Chrissy, “I thought we weren’t seeing her until Friday.”

“I thought we weren’t seeing her at all,” muttered Daniel, slamming the laptop plug into a socket under the work surface. “I thought we were past that now - are we not past that now?”

“I think there are still things we need to talk about,” said Chrissy.

“Oh, yeah, I agree,” said Daniel. “We can talk about them. We can talk about anything and everything. And that’s just it. We can. Without her.”

“And yet here you are about to spring someone else on me for the sake of a conversation,” observed Chrissy.

Daniel sighed. “OK, OK,” he said. “It’s Nadia.”

Chrissy groaned audibly. “Precisely,” said Daniel. “You don’t respect Nadia or my relationship with her. You never have and I think that’s a stumbling block.”

“You don’t have a relationship with Nadia,” protested Chrissy. “Nothing that means anything. At least not any more. Do you? Do you?”

Daniel paused. “Well,” he said slowly, “I just wanted you to hear what she had to say…"

When Nadia appeared on the link she had in front of her a large pile of letters. Next to it were half a dozen soft toys, each carrying a soft red heart. Many of them had glittery eyes and colourful manes.

“How long has this been going on?” asked Chrissy. “I mean really? And what exactly is going on - aside from you having more money than sense?”

“Well,” said Nadia, regardless, “It’s never really stopped, did it, Dan? I mean I really love hearing from him and the presents are always…” – she stopped herself from saying anything too complimentary and possibly blowing it – “like this.”

Chrissy looked over at Daniel.

“What are you saying, then? That even though you’ve not seen her for ages…”

“I can’t deny there’s still something there,” he said gallantly. “We might not have been in the same room as each other for a while, but I still feel connected and that she’s a special part of my life.”

“A special part of your life…” echoed Chrissy. “Does Daisy know about this? And all of those? I mean she’ll be jealous if Nadia’s getting the soft toys…”

“No, no of course not. She’s not seen Nadia for - well, ages.”

Chrissy’s eyes narrowed slightly. “So were you planning on telling her at all or just letting this all continue as is until…?”

“Well I guess until now,” said Daniel, simply. “I mean there just has to come a time when you realise you can’t carry on in a certain direction without certain things being made clear and open and discussed. Don’t you think?”

 “I think this is a set up,” concluded Chrissy. “I don’t believe there’s actually anything between you two and you’re just going down this road to try and get rid of me. And it won’t work.”

“I can assure you…” began Daniel. “There again, I’m sorry you feel like that but if you do then maybe the best thing would be for us to take a break. Again. For a while.”

“If I just discovered this I might believe it,” said Chrissy. “If you weren’t being so blatant about it I might think twice. But this is like being an audience at some bizarre awards presentation. Winner is Nadia, loser is…”

“I’m just trying to be open with you,” said Daniel, desperately.

“No,” said Chrissy. “You’re just trying to get rid of me. And we’re not ready to get rid of each other yet. The Counsellor says so.”

There was silence. Daniel was wondering whether to push this boat out any further, but to be honest he felt it was sinking quite convincingly. He didn’t really want to put either Chrissy or Nadia through this, at least not any more, not now it seemed so pointless and unbelievable. At the end of the day he was where he was, in a relationship with his ex-wife which was sort of OK but just not. Just like it had been before.

“OK,” he said. “You got me.”

“Thank you,” said Chrissy. “And Nadia, do you admit he’s not in love with you?”

“No,” confirmed Nadia. “He’s not in love with me. But he is in love with someone else.”

“Someone else?”

“Yeah,” said Nadia. “But he hasn’t admitted it yet.”

Chrissy looked across to Daniel who looked puzzled back at her. From the look in Chrissy’s eye Daniel knew the meeting had finally had the desired effect, but he didn’t quite understand how.