The Adventures of Harry and Claire: A Trilogy

By Janet Jean Johnson-Johnson

A Trilogy: CRAZY LOVE, Part One: Harry's business travel leaves Claire alone too much, and she gets into trouble with other men. After being laid off from her job in San Francisco, Claire vacations in Paris with Harry. Escapades interwoven between this and other trips jeopardize their marriage.

BAG LADY, Part Two: Harry and Claire are striving for a long graceful retirement. The Bag Lady invites herself to visit them in the Wine Country, and Harry and Claire react differently during this tense time. The woman creates a conflict between the couple, and the distressful situation becomes a problem that defies solution.

SNOWSTORM, Part Three: Waking up one morning in the Great Northwest, Harry and Claire see snow coming down with no end in sight. The snowstorm puts their life on hold, and they feel like the only two people in the world. Being alone, without heat, electricity, telephone, and transportation, brings out the truth in their marital relationship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 6, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595910656

Janet Jean Johnson-Johnson

Janet Jean, a former Lincolnite, attended the University of Nebraska. She married her high school sweetheart, Charlie Johnson. The couple moved to Denver, and had three daughters. In Colorado she worked for a motion picture laboratory/sound recording studio. After transferring to California, she was employed by an airline in San Francisco for fourteen years. Their next move was to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, where they now live. She writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and is the published author of THE JOY OF SCENT: An Uncommon Love Story, and poems MOUNTAIN STREAM, and PERSONA GRATA.

Book preview

Contents

PART I

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

PART II

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

PART III

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The Adventures of Harry and Claire

Copyright © 2007 by Janet Jean Johnson-Johnson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

Lincoln, NE 68512

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-0-595-46771-6 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-91065-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

PART I

CRAZY LOVE

Chapter 1

Claire’s head hurt. How many things could happen in three days?

They gave me the letter, she said. Tomorrow is my last day.

Fired? John dropped his crab sandwich on her new dress.

Oh no, she said, clearing off the mess. Laid off…. what’s one more thing—my birthday, a headache, my period, and I don’t have a clue when they’ll recall me, if ever. At least I’ll get a vacation. Harry’s taking me to Paris. Paris, and oh, I can’t speak French except to say ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci.’ By the way, how do you say ‘hello?’"

She laughed, Oh, but I can say, ‘au revoir’ and ‘enchante’.

John said, I’ve never seen you like this, you’re so..

Claire babbled on. Aware that her mental state over the letter and the excitement of going to Paris had discombobu-lated her, John was getting fed up. The late October day was sunny and warm, but they stayed in the car because as usual it was too windy there at the top of the big hill in South San Francisco’s Industrial Park.

They finished their lunch, John looked at his watch and then at Claire, You are beside yourself. You have a big day tomorrow, so why don’t we get back to work.

The next morning at the office farewell party with her head still hurting, there came the inevitable question, What’re you going to do now, Claire?

I’m leaving tonight for L.A. and Paris tomorrow.

With Harry?

Of course, I’m going with my husband. He’s taking vacation."

Claire ended the workday in a daze, dashed out the door of the Operations Center, and over the skywalk to the parking lot. Within an hour she was on her way to the airport.

Harry was on a business trip, and couldn’t understand why his wife couldn’t wait one more day so they could leave together.

I want to visit Jeanette in L.A. first," Claire told him.

True, she hoped to meet her friend at the airport hotel for a good long chat—but not till morning. Tonight, flying standby to rendezvous with her German friend, Evan, she hoped to make the flight and be on time to join him.

As an airline employee she flew standby, and there was always the chance she might not be boarded, but Claire made it. Sipping a vodka tonic in flight, she pondered how she and Evan met, and WHY she was involved in a crazy love affair when she had such a devoted husband.

Harry was not only darkly handsome, he was a good provider as a pharmaceutical salesman. He satisfied her in bed, but stifled her ambition. He wanted her to be employed, but not as a career woman.

Claire sat back and began to reflect on how her life had changed in the last four years, and how her image as a wife, mother, cook, seamstress, avid churchgoer, and bridge player had evolved into being a full-time secretary. She recalled a bridge club meeting one night when a member rashly questioned, Claire, why don’t you tell us about your latest affair?

She knew it was a joke, but it irritated her that anyone would ask this question, especially when at the time she thought herself to be so virtuous. Now she thought it might have been a portent of things to come.

This reminded her of another friend who visited Harry and Claire after they moved to California. Could that one be right when she said, It’s a good thing you left the Midwest, Claire—you were getting to be too strait-laced.

She was correct, but Claire wasn’t proud of the fact that since moving to the Bay Area, she had given in to some temptations. It was like somebody splashed cold water in her face, so she could see the big world out there. Now she had to learn how to survive in this new world. Claire had no intention of leaving her husband; and knowing it was selfish and wrong, she didn’t feel guilty about her transgressions. For the time being, she would simply continue to be discreet and quiet.

The first time she dove headlong into a relationship was last year with John, who was the same age, and had the same outlook on life as Claire. Vive la similarité. They were both at turning points in the straits of midlife. But, she knew the risk involved, that she was dealing with emotional dynamite, and was jeopardizing her marriage.

Then the thought came to her mind how earlier this year in the airport at Copenhagen, waiting to take a plane to Zurich, she met Evan. He was German, with a charming and courteous personality. Scenes with him began to run through her mind—how he drew a little map for her of the City showing the landmarks of the railroad station, the Limmat with Niederdorfstrasse, and Bahnofstrasse on either side gong toward the lake … and he not really looking ten years younger than she—then, after returning to their offices, his on the east coast—schmoozing over the phone, and arranging to meet in San Francisco.

Claire’s reverie shifted to driving with Evan across the Golden Gate Bridge to the lookout point in Marin County, 

a nd gazing back at the San Francisco skyline, where Evan was moved to say, If we were both free, we could be married.

Claire had brushed the comment aside and said, Let’s go over to Golden Gate Park now.

Then the vista in her mind’s eye rolled on to strolling in the Park through the Japanese Gardens, arms around each other—sipping tea and talking amid the cool, crisp greenery. She remembered her surprise that Evan had read some authors she was interested in, like Susan Howatch and Paul Tillich.

When they got back to the Sir Francis Drake, and Evan suggested she drive down to the parking place under the building, Claire wanted to, but felt reluctant because she knew this would mean she was going up to his room. She merely said, I can’t park there—it’s for Guests Only.

Poised, Evan said, Don’t worry, I can handle anything.

Thinking he could probably get along in any situation, she liked that.

Evan proved to be the quintessential suave continental character she had heard about, but never met until that day at Kastrup Airport. He worked for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in New York and helped coordinate the maintenance of their fleet both in the United States and in the European consortium.

When Evan first saw Claire he thought she looked interesting and smart—a contemporary woman, well-proportioned, and neat…. but not too neat. He liked her shoulder-length dark blonde hair and the way she combed it to frame her face. As they spoke with each other she impressed him by her American accent, the lively inflection in her voice, and her demeanor of confidence.

Claire was aware of her appeal by Evan’s earnest atten-tiveness, and his way of treating her—his nonverbal gestures…. like the way he might gently place his hand on the small of her back when entering a room.

She knew she didn’t do anything purposely to attract such a man, and marveled that she had. Claire was still pondering that lovely saturday in the park when the plane landed at