Wait and Hope: Chapter Three
Accidental Meeting
“Is that your car back there? You need a ride or something, sir?
When he’d turned and started to thank the helpful stranger in the vehicle that had pulled up alongside him and his dog, Harold was mute. Harry was shocked speechless, literally. It was the same battered green pickup Harry had seen pass by minutes earlier and turn at the light up ahead of them. The thought that the stranger had been kind enough to come back to offer assistance flitted briefly through Furnham’s mind. He was about to veraciously offer gratitude to the driver, and then he had looked into the vehicle.
The words of appreciation Harry was about to express were silenced instantly as he slumped against the truck, his legs almost ready to give out, staring nearly open mouthed at the driver. ‘John! Oh my god. Is that you?’
‘Harold? It’s me, John.’ Rafe caught himself before he blurted the out the words, his former life’s CIA training kicking in to not blow someone’s cover. Even out here on a virtually deserted side road It could be watching. “Hey buddy, you okay?” Rafe asked his voice full of concern.
Harry thus far rendered mute from the incredulity of gazing into those blue eyes once again; he had envisioned that for months in his dreams before the harsh reality of day would crush any hope of that actually happening and now--Jack’s excitement, pulling the leash, tugging on Harry’s arm snapped him out of his stupor.
“Foei Jack! Af Liggen. Good boy.” The dog obeyed immediately crouching at Harry’s feet; nevertheless, the dog was trembling noticeably his excitement barely curbed.
Harry shifted the leash to his other hand, reached down to stroke the dog’s head, calming the excited canine. Without the other man giving anything away he just knew without a doubt that the driver of the beat up truck was indeed John Reese. The Malenois had taken to his new life as Jack the service dog but he’d never forgotten his Alpha, his other senses recognizing him even if the eyes didn’t.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. Thank you. Oh yes, that is my car and I would really appreciate a ride to the nearest pay phone.”
Harry answered finally gathering his wits about him. It was out there probably listening to their conversation right now and he wouldn’t jeopardize the other man’s life by calling out his real name.
Rafe felt so relieved. He had thought for sure the other man was about to have a stroke the way his face had paled and he’d fallen into the side of the old truck.
“Climb on in. Your dog can sit up here too.”
Rafe pulled the handle from the inside opening the door partly not wanting the older man to have to fight with the stubborn outer latch with his hands holding onto a cane and a leash with an anxious dog on the other end of it.
When both man and dog were inside the truck cab, the latter trying to bathe the side of his face with a slobbery wet tongue, Rafe laughed out, “That’s enough boy.” The dog stopped right away but still leaned into his long lost Alpha snuffling at his neck and head. Rafe still managed to reach around be the dog’s investigation of himself and extend his right hand, “My name is Gianni Rissole. My friends call me Rafe.”
Harrington Furnham III, commanded Jack, “Nee, Af liggen!” the dog settling down between the two men, his head and front paws hanging off the edge of the truck’s bench seat, before Harry turning slightly left to grab Rafe’s hand with his right.
“I’m Harrington Furnham the third. I don’t really have that many friends, only the one, actually.” He smiled shyly almost, “Well now maybe two. Martha calls me Harry.”
Rafe was surprised at the twinge of jealousy he felt hearing Harry’s friend was female, especially when he himself had been playing the dating game with over a dozen women the last five months before his arrangement with Sherry.
“Well Harry…. let’s get that car of yours towed before there’s nothing left of it except the frame.” Rafe started the truck up and drove it back onto the road heading for Perry’s.
Harry laughed at the absurdity anyone would strip his worn out old Taurus. “I sincerely doubt that…Rafe. That thing should have been put out to pasture a decade ago. But, I am only a lowly underpaid substitute teacher and it would be too conspicuous to drive around in a Towncar worth more than my yearly income.”
“It would be safer to drive something more dependable or at least carry a cell phone if your car leaves you stranded and you need to call for help,” Rafe suggested helpfully. He shuddered to think of what could happen next time to Harry. Harold was very brave and proud, John had loved him for that, but Finch could never really defend himself physically. Harrington couldn’t either.
Furnham harrumphed at that. “Well, my car’s breakdown wasn’t self-inflicted, it had help. And with all the craziness involving government surveillance, privacy invasion, people being shot in the streets or hauled off to never be seen again, I am terrified to have, use or touch a cell phone. I don’t even own a computer anymore, if I absolutely have to get online I use one if it is available at a school where I happen be teaching.”
Harry motioned with his hand pointing out the age of Rafe’s truck. “Besides I think you realize how we sometimes need to make do with what we have. I also noticed you didn’t offer me the use of your cell phone.
Rafe laughed and smacked the steering wheel, “Oh Harry you got me there. No, I don’t have use for cellphones much myself. Still, I don’t mean to offend you, but wouldn’t it be safer if you kept one in your glove box for emergencies with your disability and all?”
Harry dropped his hands in his lap and looked out the window. “It was stupid of me to try to walk to the diner to use their payphone. Just because one can reach their destination faster in a motorized vehicle doesn’t make the distance any shorter. And my hip and back paid the price for my thoughtlessness. I just wasn’t thinking right after I’d discovered the car's radiator hoses had been cut.”
“Cut?” Rafe needed to hear more but he’d just pulled the truck into a space in the Perry’s Diner parking lot and killed the engine.
“Ah, here we are. Thank you for the ride…Rafe. I can call my mechanic’s wrecker service to pick up my car and a taxi to take me home.” Harry got out of the cab as fast as he could, calling a reluctant Jack to come, before limping as fast as his still painful hip would allow towards the diner entrance. He was glad to have found John again but couldn’t shake the feeling that letting Rafe get mixed up in Furnham’s problems was a huge mistake.
Rafe sat there immobilized for a moment, stunned that Harold tried to hurry out of his life again. He just couldn’t let Harry walk away to disappear from this life too and jumped from the cab, his tall frame’s longer legs catching up to Furnham with his unsteady gait before he’d made it through the door of the diner.
“Wait, Furnham…Harry…wait up!” Rafe reached out and grabbed the retreating man’s forearm halting his progress. Harry turned looking up at his pursuer with startled eyes, although he offered no words of protest at being prevented from entering the building.
“Look, I know it’s really none of my business, but it could take a while for the tow-truck to get there. I was serious about your car getting stripped, even a reluctant candidate for the junkyard like yours. Make your call and then I can drive you back there where we can wait. After the tow is on its way to the mechanic’s garage, I’ll give you a lift home.” Rafe grinned with his--come on that’s what friends are for smile--only his eyes were pleading, ‘Please…Harold? I can’t let you walk out of my life again.’
Harry smoothly pulled his arm out of Rafe’s grasp while returning the other man’s smile briefly with a reluctant one of his own. “While I do appreciate your being a Good Samaritan offering me a ride, I really can’t impose on you anymore.” Harry returned Rafe's pleading gaze with a troubled one of his own, ‘It’s too dangerous John. We can’t be seen together, I just can’t risk endangering your life.’
Rafe opened the diner’s door for some customers leaving the establishment, then gestured for Harry to go in with a, “No imposition, believe me.”
‘I don't care Harold. I can't lose you again. I'm not really living now anyway. Samaritan be damned!’
Once inside Rafe waved his hand towards the back of the dining area, “Payphone is in the back. At least let me get you something to drink and I’ll wait in case you change your mind.”
Harry was about to decline both offers, but decided it couldn’t endanger their lives any more than they had already by accepting his rescuer’s attempt to assist him further. 'This is insanely stupid, John and incredibly weak of me to want to be with you for even a few minutes more.’
“Thank you again Mr. Rissole, iced tea, unsweetened, if you don’t mind.”
Harry made his way toward the back, trying to keep from grimacing with every step, his hip still seizing in pain from the earlier exertion. Even though he was totally trying to focus on making it to the payphone and not on Rissole following behind him before dropping into a booth near the back, it was a bit of a surprise to hear Rafe call out to one of the waitresses with familiarity, “An iced tea and coffee, Kylie darlin’, please?
And he was totally unprepared for the blonde woman brushing angrily by him after she exited the ladies room, “Rafe, where the hell have you been? You were supposed to meet me here thirty minutes ago!”
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Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five
Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Epilogue