Ralph: Breaking free - 16. Boating trip and boyfriend problems

Saturday was a shopping day, clothes for the twins. Not Ralph’s favourite activity, but it was the drawback of having the twins at a weekend. Therese had given him a list and he spent an hour with the girls sorting things out, mainly at M&S. Therese was most particular, and Ralph had given up experimenting. If it was to be worn in her presence, then he didn’t take risks otherwise the next time he saw her, she’d present him with the offending item with a comment like ‘Where on earth did you find this?’ with a raise of an elegant eyebrow. It just wasn’t worth the hassle.

After an hour, the girls were getting fractious, but Ralph had a secret weapon. He’d spotted some clothes in a new kids’ shop. It had the cringe-makingly awful name of Mamaz & Kidz, but the clothes had looked spot on. Certainly, one glance in the window and the girls had perked up no end.

“I’m sorry sir, those all-in-one suits in the window are for boys.”

Ralph stared at the shop assistant. She looked about half his age, yet dressed like his Mother, with a manner to match. Ralph heard an expostulation from the twins, but he put a hand out.

“But do they come in a suitable size?”

“I’m sure, but…”

“No buts. Let’s try and see. They’ll be ideal for their active life-style.”

She gave a humph but went off. All-in-one suits, my arse, he thought. They were overalls, zipping up at the front. Rather natty. Ideal.

They proved to be a bit loose, but no problem and it would give the twins the chance to be more active. Ralph also bought a couple of t-shirts, jazzy ones, for them to wear underneath. It certainly wasn’t the style of clothing of which Therese would have approved, but it suited the girls, and they were delighted. They had to be talked out of wearing them immediately, but Ralph said they could wear them for the boat trip, tomorrow. That had caused much interest and excitement, not only the idea of a boat on the river but also meeting another one of Ralph’s friends.

---

Morrie’s ‘old lady’ proved to be a classic Alfa Romeo car. Sporty looking, small, and stylish. Morrie had a broad grin on his face when he drew up outside the house. The girls greeted him politely and exclaimed over the car, and Morrie gained immediate brownie points with them by complimenting them on their outfits.

The overalls did indeed look smart, practical too. Ralph didn’t usually shop on-line but he couldn’t afford the prices at Mamaz & Kidz every time the girls needed something, so he thought he was going to have to bite the bullet. Besides, the shop’s attitude about what was girls and boys wear annoyed him.

It was a snug fit in the car, but the girls were delighted and happily clambered into the back seat (the car only had two doors). Morrie drove along with the skylight in the roof open, the girls loved the breeze, too.

“So, how long have you had the car?”

“A couple of years, but it’s just come back from a major engine rebuild.”

Ralph laughed, “Sounds expensive.”

“Tell me about it. I’m hoping I get to enjoy her now.”

“Have you always had old cars?”

“Not a bit. Though I’ve always enjoyed them.” He shrugged, “To Father, cars are just a convenient means of transport, but they’re a lot more, to me. He always said that an old car took too much maintenance. But I took a car in for a service, a sporty Fiat, and the garage sold Alfa Romeos too and there was a classic sports car for sale. I got to test drive it and was hooked.” He gave a shame-faced grin.

A voice from the back seat punctured their conversation and Morrie kindly answered the girls’ questions about the car, the boat, and plans for the day. They were in best behaviour mode, but excitement got the better of them when they got to the boatyard and Ralph had to rein them in and give them the rules. This caused some eye rolling, and they definitely did not like the life jackets. The boat made up for them, however. It was sleek and presumably expensive to hire. There was a well at the back where they could sit and where the controls were. The cabin was small, and Ralph couldn’t see them spending much time down there. The roof, however, had a rail round it, so Ralph was tolerably comfortable of the girls sitting up there.

They made slow progress. Ralph had forgotten how sedate water travel could be and Morrie explained that the river had strict speed limits.

“So, do you actually know how to drive this thing?”

He nodded, “Of course. We do this regularly”, then he halted and looked pained. “We used to do this regularly.”

“It’s none of my business and you can tell me to bugger off, but what’s going on?”

Morrie cast a quick glance at the girls, who were absorbed in observing the passing countryside and commenting on the other boats, one with a dog sitting like a figure-head at the front caused considerable comment.

“For the last 18 months, I’ve been seeing someone.” Ralph made to speak but Morrie continued, “Casual at first, someone I’d hooked up with. But it became more serious.” Ralph waited, unsure what he could say. Morrie sighed, “We agreed that we’d move to being exclusive, things seemed to be progressing. But I’ve been tied up with the business a lot, didn’t see as much of him as I intended.”

Ralph nodded, “Tell me about it.”

“He said it was OK, that we had time. We often took boat trips like this with friends; we had the boat booked for today so that him, me and another couple could spend the day together. I was even going to take things a step further with him.”

“Shit. But…”

“He’s been messing around with one of the friends who were going to join us today. Didn’t see anything wrong with it because I was busy.”

“I’m sorry, that sucks.”

Morrie shrugged, “We have stuff to work out. Not sure whether there’s even a ‘we’ or not. But one thing was certain, today was a no no. So…” He gave Ralph a falsely bright smile. Then he looked up and called to the twins, “Entertainment time, girls. The lock’s ahead.”

There was only one lock on this stretch, where the river had been canalised to facilitate navigation in the 19th century, though further ahead there were plenty more, but Morrie had assured Ralph that they would not go that far. He was glad. The lock proved a challenge, Ralph didn’t really know what he was doing, and Morrie was responsible for the boat, which left Ralph dashing around on land, operating the locks. Luckily there were some people watching, and a couple older guys took pity on him. Then there was the awkward wait for the lock’s level to go down, which meant conversation.

“Your first time?”

Ralph gave an embarrassed laugh, “Yeah, I came along at the last minute. Morrie’s friends are regulars but couldn’t make it.”

The guys nodded, “There’s a knack to it.”

“Like everything.”

“The girls’ yours?”

The twins were standing with Morrie. They had wanted to come out with Ralph, but he was too worried about not being able to keep his eye on them when operating the locks. They had been annoyed, but also awed at the sight of the lock itself. Bribery, in the form of Morrie saying that he’d give each one a turn driving the boat later had done the trick.

“Yes, twins, aged nine.”

“Lively little tykes, bet they’re a handful.”

Ralph gave a dry laugh, “You bet. They like doing stuff and don’t see why they shouldn’t be helping me out here.”

“Next time, eh?”

As the water level descended, Ralph could see Morrie explaining to the girls how the lock worked, no doubt there would be further questions later. Once through, they moored just beyond the lock and walked back, so that the girls could see what Daddy had been doing, and to get ice creams from the van parked nearby. Morrie and Ralph sat on a bench and the girls stood a careful distance from the edge of the lock, nervousness, daring and curiosity balancing in their minds.

“Thanks for this, the girls are having a great time.”

“And you?” Morrie smiled.

“I am too. But it’s always easier when they are happy.”

Morrie laughed, “They are certainly into everything.”

“Lively intelligence and highly active, but difficult to guide. Inclined to be wayward.”

Morrie raised an eyebrow, “Pardon?”

“Their last report from school. We’ve managed to get over the school’s obsession with separating them.”

“Is that bad?”

“Well, the girls didn’t like it. They work happier as a team, but the teachers worried about them going into what I call their twin bubble, their own little world.”

“Some have their own language, evidently.”

“So I gather. It’s Therese who’s done the most reading about it. And thankfully, she’s the one that gave the school hell. I’m just supposed to keep them active and encouraged at weekends. But…”

“A problem.”

“Not really. It’s just that Therese would like two nice little girls. Princesses. And what we have is…”

Morrie stood up, ready to return to the boat, “Two delightful lively young women who are very much their own person. I have friends who will never be invited to come on a boat again because of their children.”

“Really?”

Morrie nodded, then sounded surprisingly decisive. “Really. Badly behaved children on boat are a danger to themselves and to others. So, I wouldn’t worry about yours.”

“We’ll be invited back?”

“Oh, I think so. “

The girls happily followed, chatting about what was happening at the lock, and Ralph reflected how strange it was that Morrie seemed to be becoming a friend.

The journey to the venue for their lunch was taken up with explaining to the twins why the locks were needed in the first place. Neither Morrie nor Ralph had a strong grasp of the engineering principles behind the canal system, but they got there and on Monday, Ralph suspected that the twins’ poor unsuspecting teacher was going to get peppered with questions.

He’d taken a few photos of the girls on the boat, enjoying themselves and on impulse sent a couple to Therese. She’s messaged back, asking what they were up to, and Ralph had explained the unexpected boat trip with a client. Then, without thinking, he sent one to Nolan too. Nolan had classes, Ralph thought, so he was not surprised to get no response.

There was a bit of a wait for lunch, the pub was surprisingly popular, but there was plenty to keep the girls occupied what with the diners sitting outside and the boats moored nearby. During the meal, Ralph had a moment of panic when Morrie was asking the girls what they were looking forward to this week, and Jane had turned round and said football practice. This brought up Nolan, but thankfully neither girl said that he was also Daddy’s boyfriend. Not that there was a problem, per se, it was just that the idea of being open and chatting about it still made Ralph nervous.

From the girls’ point of view, the trip was an obvious success, and they were even quizzing Ralph as to whether they could come again if he hired a boat. Ralph tried to imagine him and Nolan doing a boat trip like this. Perhaps.

That evening, with the girls finally tucked into bed, the delights of the boat trip gone over more than once, Ralph was writing a thank you email to Morrie when his phone went.

“Nolan, this is an unexpected pleasure.”

>Not interrupting anything.

“Not at all. The twins are finally in bed, and I managed to get out of agreeing to buy them a boat for Christmas.”

Nolan gave a nervous laugh.

>A success, was it? That’s good. They get on OK with Morrie?

They chatted for a bit, skirting round the boat trip. Ralph would be the first to admit that he wasn’t the most aware of guys, but he became conscious of a certain brittleness in Nolan’s tone and an edge to the questions. Shit. He didn’t think.

“You don’t have a problem with me doing the trip with Morrie?”

There was a pause from Nolan, then a rather unconvincing reply.

>Not at all.

“Look. Morrie’s a client and friend. That’s it. He and his boyfriend are going through a bad patch. The boat was booked for them and friends, until Morrie discovered his boyfriend having nookie with one of said friends.”

>Shit. Sorry. Look I…

“No. I should have made it a bit clearer when I sent the photo. I was a bit too tickled at how well the girls were enjoying things.”

>There’s no reason for me to be so…

“It’s OK. We just need to be clearer, OK. And even if Morrie was interested, I’m not. Besides, the bloke is married to his business.”

>You mean the boyfriend got bored with waiting.

“Something like that, I think. The day was a nice bit of distraction.”

But Nolan’s response had got Ralph worried now. Was Morrie interested? Surely not. And Ralph hadn’t given him the slightest hint, had he? Had he. Shit, he had no idea.

“Look, you’ve got me worried now. That Morrie might have intended…”

>A bit of distraction.

“Something like that. But I never had any idea. I assure you.”

>Fair enough, don’t press it. And Ralph?

“Make sure you keep things to business. I will, I promise. And Nolan?”

>Yes.

“How are you with boats. The girls want to do it again.”

Nolan laughed.

>I don’t think I’ve ever been on one.

“There’s always time to learn. We’ll just have to find some friends who have more experience.”

>We?

“Yes, we. That’s OK, isn’t it?”

The bounce was back in Nolan’s tone.

>More than OK. And what about Beth, from your descriptions she sounds capable.

“Beth”, Ralph laughed, “why not? Both she and her girlfriend are fearsome. So perhaps.”

When the call finished, Ralph reflected. He’d been coasting along, just thinking of himself but perhaps he needed to consider Nolan too. It would be stupid to get comfortable with his new relationship only to find that Nolan was not. It was years since Ralph and Therese had actively gone out together, explored life as a couple and had romantic moments. Ralph was going to have to up his game a bit and stop freaking out.

Next morning at work, it was easy enough to bring up the boat. Carine had done lots of boating, of all types, in her youth whilst more recently she and Beth had occasionally been roped in to join friends.

“The trip was a hit with the girls, but I doubt whether Nolan and I would have the first clue on our own.”

Beth smiled, “Don’t fancy going with Morrie again?”

“That’s a possibility, but things are a bit complicated in his personal life.” Beth raised an eyebrow, “Oh, just boyfriend problems. I suspect he might still hold a torch.”

“So, you reckon if he does another trip, it might be a romantic one, a deux?”

“Yep. And I fancied doing one with Nolan.”

“A romantic one?”

Ralph laughed, “Hardly. We’d crash the boat first go. No, with the girls, a potter along the canal, pub lunch. And I wondered…”

Beth stared at him. “Mm?”

“Whether you and Carine might fancy coming along too?”

Beth laughed, “Give you a crash course, eh?”

“Well, perhaps not a crash…”

“Ha, bloody, ha. I’d need to ask Carine, but it sounds possible. And thank you. Certainly, the twins sound as if they wouldn’t be a problem to have around.” She rolled her eyes, “Unlike some of Carine’s cousins’ kids.”

“I think, given half a chance, they’d be up for driving the boat themselves.”

Beth chortled, “I love that. Daddy and his boyfriend having a romantic meal, whilst the twins steer the boat.”