Martin Price was staying at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel at the head of Teardrop Lake as he did every summer as the view of the lake from the Hotel was spectacular.
The lake was shaped like a teardrop, hence its name, and surrounded by the ancient woodland of the Dancingdean Forrest.
It wasn’t a huge body of water, just over two miles long and almost a mile at its widest point.
It was beautiful and relatively unspoilt which was one of the reasons he chose it.
A lot of fishermen, walkers and avid bird watchers gravitated to the Finchbottom Vale.
Teardrop Lake and the surrounding woodland was privately owned and divided into twelve parcels of land, each with one significant dwelling on it, although there were a number of cottages dotted around the forest as well, some in use and some not.
It was both idyllic and peaceful, and there was little or no noise pollution and although the lake was used there were no speed boats or jet skis, only rowing boats, canoes, dinghies and skiffs.
But he wasn’t there just for the scenery and he had spent the first week of his holiday reacquainting himself with some of his old friends while making some new ones along the way, that was after all what he loved, he was first and foremost a social animal, but the one thing that Martin definitely hadn’t gone to Teardrop Lake for was to fall in love, but he did so nonetheless, not once but twice.
But it wasn’t just socializing that brought him back to Teardrop Lake year after year, because he did enjoy the Dancingdean Forest and his Lakeside walks immensely.
On one particular occasion he took a longer than usual walk owing to the larger than usual lunch he had consumed when he ran into Paula Rees, who worked at the Lodge along with her best friend Kerry Long.
She looked rather lost and lonely without her outgoing and bubbly sidekick Kerry.
Paula was a quiet, caramel skinned beauty who lived in the shadow of her more confident pale skinned friend.
The fact that she was adrift was evidenced by the rather pathetically forlorn creature that was ambling towards him.
“Hello Paula” he said
“Oh hello”
“You a bit fed up? Are you missing Kerry?” he asked
“Yes” she sighed “and she’s only been gone a few days”
She looked rather sad, which was possibly what tweaked at his heart strings, but unbeknown to him this chance meeting was anything but, because despite her being a fresh faced 20 year old student she was no innocent.
Being make up free made her pretty rather than beautiful but she knew how to use what she had with subtlety.
However Martin’s only thought was to cheer her up and put a smile on her soft lips, while she was lost and alone, he should have known better as he had fallen into that trap already with her friend, but he thought it truly serendipitous to meet her at the time.
Her friend Kerry on the other hand was cut from different cloth which was the most fundamental way in which she differed from Paula.
Kerry didn’t do things by chance, and she never went out without make up and when he had met her a few days earlier walking down that lane from the lodge it was because she had planned it that way whereas Paula was more haphazard.
It was down by the jetty where he met Kerry, supposedly by chance, and Martin was preparing to go sailing.
“Hello Mr Price” she said
“Hi Kerry, Please call me Martin” he responded “Only the tax man calls me Mr Price”
“Ok” she said with a giggle “Are you going out on the water?”
“Yes, do you want to come?”
“Yes please” she replied
They were out on the lake for about an hour, sat at the stern of the dinghy, either side of the tiller, when suddenly in the middle of the lake the wind fell away and they were becalmed.
“Well what are we going to do now?” he asked
“I’m sure we’ll think of something” she replied and pushed the tiller aside and kissed him.
For the next ten minutes the becalmed dinghy skipped and splashed on the calm water as Kerry took his heart from him, which was precisely what she had wanted to do.
“That was lovely” she said as she stepped out onto the jetty but despite Martin expressing a desire to see her again she declined she was a capturer of hearts, and now that she had his she had no further use for him.
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