The Facilitator© First Published 2023

Chapter 11 - The Planning Meeting

Saturday morning and Harry was already up whistling along to the radio as the bacon sizzled, and spat its contempt at being slowly browned into submission. The four eggs too lifted their white wings in a futile attempt to escape the hot pan. He'd already gotten out the pancakes that Sue had dutifully made the night before to add to the bacon and eggs, ready to be reheated and topped with a swirl of butter and Canadian maple syrup. His Saturday and sometimes Sunday specialty and one of the few times Sue allowed him to take over her spotless kitchen and dirty it all up in the cause gourmet.

He was going the extra mile this morning as Sue had given his conscience a tweak. He remembered he had forgotten about serving her breakfast in bed this Valentine's Day past for the first time in their marriage. He had been so distraught by the relentless attacks on his manhood that the test results had launched. Anything connected to sex or fertility was destined to take a back seat for a while until his bruised ego recovered its own equilibrium.

Today, though, he was in higher spirits, so much so that he felt the need to garnish his breakfast dish with fresh coriander from the extensive herb garden box outside the kitchen window. That was yet another reminder of something he had valiantly fought with Sue about and lost. Once he'd done it for her though he had had to admit there was nothing that enhances meals like having fresh herbs on hand.

After receiving a text message from Nathan he was coming around to the fact that maybe this too would be a battle he would be glad he lost in the long run.

Sue came around the corner from the bedroom, looking sexy as ever in her shimmering night dress of satin and silk. She smiled happily to see him so jovial, so early on this Saturday morning.

She hoisted up her nightdress exposing her long lovely legs to sit comfortably at the breakfast bar. It even took Harry's attention away from the bacon for a minute. Sue's legs were one of her best assets. She had been a dancer in her youth and it had been that feature perhaps more than any other that had attracted all the boys to her and Harry had been no exception. He had fallen for her the instant he saw her in a bikini and besotted when he first saw her naked.

"What is putting that gorgeous smile back on my man?" Sue asked playfully.

"Oh, nothing. I just like bacon and eggs is all and Saturday mornings when I don't have to work."

"No. That's not it. There's something else going on, honey. Come on you can tell me."

"Alright, I did get a message from Nathan this morning confirming our appointment."

"And . . . "

"And he gave us some price estimates. He said he spoke to his Uncle Joe and he said that the Josef Mengle Fertility Fund would be prepared to finance us up to 50 per cent of out-of-pocket costs after health insurance rebates."

"Wow, that's wonderful, honey."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe I was a bit hasty about old Crazy Joe."

"Yes. I was feeling a bit guilty about the whole way we treated him from the outset," Sue admitted with a slightly guilty frown.

"And that extension to the house is a real improvement really. It doesn't affect us that much, and once the pencil.pines are in, well . . . "

Harry added as he served them breakfast and told Sue that they would get approximate costs on their options should they give the go-ahead this morning.

As they finished breakfast and their coffees and after Harry had stacked the dishwasher Sue suggested, "Speaking of that I suppose we better start getting ready, it's already nine o' clock."

"Still plenty of time isn't there?" Harry said, looking at his phone on the kitchen bench.

"That depends . . . " Sue replied mischievously.