Meanwhile, Huib, Margreet and the construction crew gathered in Annerieke's kitchen for a cup of coffee. Annerieke smiled at the men. She saw how they sat curiously looking at what she would hand out next with the coffee. "Usually you can expect gingerbread, dear guys, and sometimes something else, but I can only do that if I really have the time for it."

"Oh, that's no problem at all Annerieke, that gingerbread is delicious! Where is that other young couple by the way, Sjaak and Lisa?"

One of the other construction workers, who belonged to the team at Sjaak and Lisa's house, said they had visitors.

Simon supplemented: "That's right, they have visitors, and they will have them continuously for the time being. I don't want to say anything about it, because I want to guarantee their privacy. They are more than welcome here, but they cannot come for the time being. I want to leave it at that."

Although most of the construction workers looked at him questioningly, they said nothing. They respected their boss, and so they accepted his answer. That they would like to hear much more about the situation, that they were curious, they kept to themselves.

.

After lunch, Sjaak and Lisa felt like making music together.

"Pretty exciting, with an audience," Lisa said.

"Don't worry about us, Lisa, we're not an audience. We're just here, purely by chance at the same time you want to make music," Bennie joked.

Lisa shot up in laughter, "Okay, I'll try to just play like we're together."

"Good plan!" thought Joke.

As Lisa stood next to the piano with her violin on her shoulder and her eyes closed, Sjaak assumed that she was trying to gauge what melody she was going to play. Before long, she began to play, a slow, lingering melody in minor. He suspected in D-minor, but waited a bit before playing along. He wanted to hear first where this melody was going. Lisa imperceptibly made it harder for him than last time. It was a melody that flowed on and on, like a river, without a repeating section. At one point her violin seemed to take a breath. At that moment Sjaak joined in, at first only with the bass tone. As the violin continued to sing, descending the river, Sjaak began to join in with his right hand. Softly he let the high notes splash down like drops from the river, while Lisa took care of the actual flow.

In the living room, Bennie sat staring at the ceiling with tearful eyes, while Joke sat slightly forward, her eyes closed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Softly she began to rock her body back and forth to the beat of the music. After a while she lost the movement of the beat, and moved completely free to the music. Like that, she could listen to them for hours....

.

In the evening around 7:30, a car stopped at Sjaak and Lisa's house. "There will be our colleagues, Petra and Julian," Joke surmised, peeking through the curtains for a moment. "Yes, it's true, it's Petra's car."

Julian called Bennie as soon as he got out of the car. Bennie went to the front door and returned to the living room with them a moment later. He introduced them to Lisa and Sjaak.

The handover could be done quickly, there was little to share. Not in the way that nothing had happened that first day, but that was all personal and had nothing to do with their work as security guards.

Bennie and Joke wished them all a good evening and a good night and went home. Lisa asked the newcomers if they would like some coffee.

"Oh yes, please, coffee is life fluid, even my blood is brown by now. Well, that's nothing special either, blood is brown on everyone... when it dries up and becomes a crust," he complemented grinning when Lisa looked at him frowning.

She snatched him back with a chuckle, "That last part is true, but I think security guards really do have brown blood, even when it's still flowing. Unbelievable coffee lovers!"

Cheerfully, she went to the kitchen and started making coffee. She thought, it would be ideal if they had one of those coffee machines that grinds the beans themselves and makes coffee by the cup. Always fresh, always just enough.

As she put the mugs of coffee on a tray on the coffee table, she shared her thoughts with Sjaak, and asked Petra and Julian if they might have experience with it.

"I like almost any coffee, but coffee from a machine like the one you mean, that's the most amazing thing. And you don't have to pay an absurd amount for them, you can also buy them second-hand. You can have bad luck with them, but most of the time it works out fine," Petra said.

Julian nodded: "I have good experiences with second-hand stuff too. Shall I look on the internet for you tonight?

Lisa nodded, "I'd love it if you'd look for us, I have absolutely no experience with it."

"If you can't find something you find suitable, I'll just go to the thrift store near us tomorrow, I have to be near there anyway." Petra took her mug and drank a few sips of coffee. "You fortunately like a bit stronger coffee too, delicious!"

Sjaak responded with a quasi-serious face, "If I want to drink ditch water, I'll go outside. There is a fine ditch there, which always has more than enough water in it." He pointed to the edge of the property.

Petra burst out laughing! "Sorry, I can totally see it, how you're down on your knees drinking from that ditch! But on a more serious note: would you like to tell us a little about yourselves?"

Lisa stood up: "Yes, I'll just grab the sketch I had made for Joke."

She came back a moment later and put the sketch in front of Julian and Petra. She talked about the different people on the property, told fleetingly about her old life and how she had met Sjaak.

Sjaak hastened to add, "I had been a gardener on this estate for a few years. I was shy of people, always kept my breaks here, until Huib persuasively asked me to come and have coffee and eat with them. I had seen Lisa and her ex a few times, including during the dance nights we hold here every Wednesday, and sensed that she wasn't doing very well and didn't fit in with her then husband. When she broke up with him, she went to live temporarily in the attic room of the guest house, and also came to eat and drink coffee in the kitchen. There we got to know each other a little and..."

"...and the spark ignited!" Lisa beamed when she said it. "My life has totally changed. Everything I missed with my ex, I found with Sjaak. Real love, real relationship, a bond so strong, as if we were riveted to each other with a heavy magnet. Within a week after my ex left, I went to live with Sjaak. And here, with him, my life began. Before, I was lived by men, my ex prepared me with BDSM to become a prostitute in his service, that's what the lawsuit is about, but now I may live by myself. I get to discover what I like, I get to discover who I am, I get to say 'no' when something doesn't feel right, when I don't want something."

"And so," complemented Sjaak, "so she discovers that she is a wonderful woman!"

Lisa looked at him in surprise for a moment, thought and formulated what she felt, "It's very strange, but when I start thinking about that, whether I am a great woman, the craziest things go through my head, especially negative things. But when I feel, here in my belly, then I feel that Sjaak is right. It just feels weird to say it about myself, so I'll leave that to him!"

The evening passed quietly, the conversations rippling on a bit about their daily work and about the upcoming court case. Lisa noticed that Petra was doing her best to empathize with her situation, while Julian looked at her frowning and serious as he listened.

Lisa sensed during this conversation the difference between Joke and Bennie on one side and Petra and Julian on the other. Joke was able to really feel in a spontaneous way, while Petra had to do her best, was more mentally involved. Lisa realized that she could not yet do otherwise, that there was still injury in the way. With her blockage from last night in the back of her mind, she had no trouble accepting that Petra and Julian were not yet as far along as Joke and Bennie. She appreciated that they were doing their best to feel, to sense what she had gone through. She thanked them both for that, for listening and trying to empathize with her situation.

.

When Sjaak and Lisa wanted to go to bed, Julian was very light hearted about it, "Just do what you have to do, what you want to do. I saw that you are sleeping down here, and that you can't really isolate yourselves. We will just leave you alone and behave as quietly as possible here. Is it a problem for you guys if we get some food or drink from the kitchen every now and then?"

"Oh no, you guys should definitely do that, just make coffee or tea, grab whatever you need. Just make yourself at home, after all you will be for the next few weeks," said Sjaak. "To be honest, I don't expect us to sleep very deeply because of the situation anyway. And that's not a bad thing either, we don't have any work to do anyway."

"I can imagine that, but do try to take your rest in any case, you'll need it badly to get fit in court later!" Petra wished them a good night, to which Julian nodded at them in confirmation that he wished them the same.

To chapter 194. Coffee and cake

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