Joshua's Grace

Chapter 11 (1)

Joshua arrived the next day at precisely one in the afternoon. He was carrying a small hamper and a bunch of flowers. He set the hamper on the floor as he stood looking at the large art print hanging on the wall facing the receptionist. He waited patiently for the receptionist to inform Grace that he had arrived. After several seconds she told him to go through to the office.

He had put a lot of effort into this lunch, hoping Grace would appreciate the romantic gesture. He wasn't sure whether she would, but he was living in hope. He was unable to get her image out of his mind, and for a computer programmer, that was a real problem. He needed to think logically. Instead he had found himself trying to come up with a plan to impress her. That was a novelty. Joshua had never had to work to impress any woman. But he desperately wanted to impress Grace. He knocked and she opened the door with a half smile. It touched her lips but not her eyes.

"Hi."

"Hi." He responded and handed her the flowers. Automatically Grace held them to her face and inhaled the fragrance of twelve yellow roses. "Thank you." She turned away from him, "I'll get some water. Won't be long. Grab a chair." She took a vase and left him in her office as she went in search of water.

She returned a few minutes later with the roses in the vase. She put them on her desk and smiled at him, "They really are lovely. Thank you."

He grinned. Well that part had been successful, now for part two. "Thought we'd have lunch in that Japanese garden I walked through the last time I was here." He informed her when he saw her look questioningly at the things he was carrying. He could tell something was wrong.

"Ok." Reflexively, Grace agreed with the suggestion. That wasn't quite the reaction he had hoped for. He was hoping she'd be impressed or at least tease him about the suggestion. For a computer programmer this was a very romantic idea, a picnic in a secluded Japanese garden. But, for a feminist lecturer it clearly wasn't.

He looked at her more closely trying to gauge her mood, decide whether to do a quick change and take her to a restaurant. She looked preoccupied. No, more than that, she looked pensive. She was putting things away, but clumsily. Her fingers shook as she patched her phone through to her secretary and then preceded Joshua out of the office.

"You don't mind do you?" Joshua looked doubtful. Last night he'd thought it was a great idea. But she certainly wasn't overwhelmed. So much for being sensitive and thoughtful. What did it take to impress a new age woman?

"No, no, that's fine." She sounded distracted. Joshua's ego deflated a further notch.

A sense of unease descended. She did mind, he thought as he automatically followed her out of the building and into the glorious sunshine. Shit. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. She was probably expecting a flash restaurant, not a hick picnic. Suddenly the whole idea seemed paltry and flawed. They walked in silence down a wood chipped pathway, winding along the edge of a man made lake, they followed it through the back of some neatly trimmed bushes until they came to the Japanese garden. They'd said absolutely nothing as they walked along. Joshua was considering a change in plan. Grace was wondering when to tell him about the letters. Things improved when he set the rug on the grass and spread out the veritable feast he'd brought with him. 

"This is heavenly." She told him as she squatted down into a cross legged position and looked at the food and wine. Her eyes smiled at him.

This was like being on a roller coaster, Joshua finally owned silently. One minute down, the next minute up and the oscillations were dictated by Grace. He was torn between relief and exasperation. Relief because it was a good idea and exasperation because she had made him think it was a serious faux pas.