(Part 01)
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.
Chris Palmer was new to the area having moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce.
He was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes.
He also had had very bad luck with the opposite sex, which was why he was now divorced, but he planned on turning over a new leaf and leaving his courting days far behind him.
As he was rubbish at picking the targets for his affection he decided the safest thing to do was stop picking.
After his divorce he decided not only to give up on relationships but also to give up on Purplemere, so he sold up and planned to head for pastures new.
His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.
It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.
The senior partner at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, she had Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.
But he was a new man and besides she was probably a lesbian because she seemed to have a very close relationship with one of the practice nurses, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl ten years her junior.
But the fact that he suspected Clarisse was playing for the other side didn’t stop him admiring her lovely long legs or her impressive cleavage at every opportunity and Josie’s sexual orientation, if he had read the situation correctly, didn’t prevent her from flirting with him outrageously on a regular basis.
In fact her flirty behaviour led him to what was a false assumption, namely that she swung both ways, because she was very definitely straight and the close relationship she shared with the lovely Doctor Lowe was as a result of Josie being her step daughter.
(Part 02)
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
She had been a widow for 10 years which had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness.
In the beginning, as Clarisse was the senior partner at Heatherlands, Chris was required to have almost daily briefings with her on his progress and he took those meetings as an opportunity to feast his eyes on the good Doctors assets, though he drew the line someway short of staring down her blouse at her large breasts in their lacy hammocks, though he could quite easily imagine them.
But he did look at the gorgeous Doctor Lowe in a less than professional manner however discreetly that might have been and over the weeks, he found that despite his pledge not to get involved with any more women, he had fallen for her in a big way.
Clarisse for her part had noticed the effect she had on Chris but did nothing about it and certainly didn’t encourage him, but she was flattered that she was still alluring enough to quicken a man’s pulse.
But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t go against her own edict.
After he’d been at Heatherlands for a few days short of three months, which just happened to be the week before Easter, there were quarterly reports to be completed and as it was his first quarterly reporting, combined with the fact that it was their yearend as well, he had to spend disproportionately longer in Clarisse’s office than was normal.
Which he for one didn’t mind as it meant that he got to spend more time with her as well as giving him additional ogling time.
Come the day before Good Friday however they worked late into the evening and they still hadn’t finished.
By 7.30 Dr Conway had left for the day and there were just the two of them, although Josie was due back from a home visit.
“Let’s call it a day” she said
“Are you sure?” Chris asked “we need to finish them before next week”
“I know but I can’t look at another number tonight” she said
“That’s ok you get off and I’ll press on and finish” he offered “it’ll only take another couple of hours”
“No I don’t think that’s a good idea” She said and rubbed her eyes
“Why not come to the house tomorrow after church and we’ll carry on when we’re fresh, with clear heads and we’ll be done in no time”
“I think that’s a great idea” he said “I’m done in”
“I thought you said you’d be done in a couple of hours” she said and smiled
“That was just bravado” he admitted and laughed
(Part 03)
Clarisse lived in the village of Heathervale in a six bedroom converted farmhouse that was originally her marital home which she now shared with her stepdaughter Josie and although she was a lonely widow she was blessed because she and Josie had a very close relationship.
Clarisse and Josie were very strong in their faith even before Edwards’s untimely death but it had deepened in the years that followed and they were both regular congregants at St Giles’ church so on Good Friday Clarisse and Josie attended the midday service at the village church but Josie had to leave before the end because she was working and had a couple of home visits to do.
Chris also had a strong faith but he had lapsed in his attendance since his divorce, partly because he felt ashamed that he had failed in his marriage.
So when Clarisse walked back to the house after the service he was waiting in his car on the drive when she reached home.
It was a cold day and as she approached he could see that she was wrapped up against the cold but he knew it was her by the way she moved, which was quite distinctive to someone who had spent a lot of time watching her walk around the health centre.
“Sorry I’m late” she said as he got out of his car “I got chatting at the church”
“No problem” he said amiably and opened the car boot and removed his laptop bag and some folders.
“Come in out of the cold” she said and he followed her in
When she had slipped off her long winter coat and removed her boots he could see that instead of her normal tweed suit she was wearing trousers, tweed obviously and a chunky sweater.
Her apparel, for her at any rate, was casual in nature but in Chris’s eyes made her no less alluring.
“I thought we could work in the dining room, we can spread out in there” she said as she walked down the hall and he followed on.
Chris was correct in his assessment, they did finish in a couple of hours but that was only due to the fact that they were fresh and rested as Clarisse had stated.
“I just need to print off copies for the partners” he said “And we’re done for another year”
“So you’re planning on still being here next year then” she said “We haven’t managed to scare you off, or rather I haven’t”
“Not at all I like working at Heatherlands, and I really enjoy working with you” he replied
“Good, I think we are good together” Clarisse said and fearing she had given him the correct impression that she liked him she hastily added “I mean we work well together”
Chris did indeed get the impression that she liked him more than a colleague and he liked that she did, even though he had sworn off the opposite sex.
“Do you mind me asking you a personal question Clarisse?”
“It depends what it is” she replied
“It’s very personal” he said
“Ask away then”
“Why are you always wearing tweed?” Chris asked
“That would be telling wouldn’t it” she said
“Then do tell” he encouraged her and she blushed slightly
“Oh dear” she began “I wear tweed so that people see me as a Doctor and not just as a woman”
“Really?” he exclaimed and she nodded
“Well I can tell you for sure, it’s not working”
After he said it she went properly red and became quite flustered
“I’ll make us a drink” she said and hurried out of the room.
While she was gone he packed all of the folders away and stowed his laptop in his bag and sat back and waited for her to return, positioning himself so as to have the best view of her when she re-entered the room.
(Part 04)
Clarisse returned after about twenty minutes with the drinks and Chris gave her a good appraising look as she walked in, as had become his habit, but this time she was wearing a different outfit,
Instead of the tweed trousers she was wearing jeans and the chunky sweater had been replaced by a figure hugging white top and her chestnut hair that had been tied back now hung loosely onto her shoulders.
If he thought she was sexy and alluring in tweed then seeing her in tight jeans and a clingy top sent her sex appeal off the scale.
As she walked towards him she was moving differently than normal as she was no longer trying to look like a Doctor and then when she was close enough to hand him his drink he could smell her liberally applied perfume which heightened his senses further.
“Thank you” he said but he wasn’t really thanking her for the tea.
Clarisse then sat with her bum perched on the dining table beside him and sipped her tea and he thoroughly scrutinised her from head to toe.
On the outside she was very calm and collected but inside she was ablaze with desire.
She knew what effect she had on him as she entered the room and was still having on him because she also knew he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
What she didn’t know was what she should do next, she was a little out of practise, not that she was ever that well versed, but with a man five years younger than her she was a bit out of her depth.
Fortunately her dilemma was brought to a resolution when Chris put down his tea on the table and stood up.
“What if he walks out?” she asked herself in a panic “How will I face him in the centre next week”
She needed have worried because when he stood he took the mug from her trembling hand and put it on the table next to his before taking hold of that same quivering hand and pulled her to her feet and then he kissed her.
They were alone in the house, so neither Clarisse or Chris held back as the longing and want of each other that they had been suppressing for weeks surged to the surface and the kiss was progressing well, he feel her heart pounding in her chest and there appeared no end in sight to the kiss as the door was flung open and Josie appeared.
“I don’t believe it” Josie said holding the door handle as she stared at her stepmother kissing her practise manager, which of course stopped as a result of the interruption.
“How could you?” Josie said as the pair continued to hug in front of her. “You said no fraternizing with colleagues”
“I did say that” Clarisse agreed
“I think she’s miffed” he said
“Miffed, I’ll say I’m miffed” she said
“I’m very bloody miffed, I could have got off with the locum last month, but I said no because of the “No Fraternizing” policy”
“Ah I think we’re scrapping that policy” Clarisse said and they all laughed
“By the way you said that that locum was an oily creep”
“That’s not the point” Josie said “he still asked me out”
“Well you are now free to say yes to the next oily locum that asks you out” Clarisse said and kissed Chris again and Josie was laughing as she went out of the room.
So that was how it came about that two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.
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