When Jack awoke on Sunday morning, alone, he was pleased that
Kayleigh seemed to be back to normal.
But Carl’s condition was still causing concern so she spent the night up at Plaxton Park.
So he left home and walked down to the church alone and he was surprised to see Kayleigh outside the church engaged in conversation with Katie Watson, the Vicar, Sarah Peters, the Verger and a young woman that Jack didn’t know.
“It’s just one thing after another” Katie was saying
“It’s St Lucy’s day on Thursday and next weekend we have the carol concert and Christingle”
“What’s the matter? Is life testing you’re patience Vicar?” he asked cheerfully
“No it’s testing my faith,” she said without humour and went inside.
“Now look what you’ve done” Kayleigh said and followed in the Vicar footsteps.
Sarah just looked at him and raised her eyebrows
“What’s the problem anyway?” Jack asked
“The sound system and the visual displays have packed up” Sarah replied
“Damn” he said
There was a bit of an awkward silence and then he said
“I’ve rather put my foot in it haven’t I?”
“Just a little bit” she said and then almost as an after thought
“Oh by the way this is my sister Hannah”
Hannah was as different from Sarah as it was possible to get.
She was the shapely to her thin, the short to her tall, and the busty to her flat.
But in one obvious way there was no difference at all as she also had the friendly open face.
Sarah had just turned 30 and was two years younger than her sister but looked older by the same distance.
Jack shook her hand warmly
“Ah you coming in?” Sarah asked
“I’ll be in shortly I need to make a phone call” he replied
He was just finishing his call when Sarah and Hannah reappeared 90 minutes later and as they exited the church Hannah said
“I rather enjoyed that”
“You’re not a regular then?” Jack asked
“That’s right, not for years, I don’t know why I lapsed” she replied,
After a few minutes the conversation turned back to the Vicar.
“I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea, it was very out of character,” Sarah said in Katie’s defence
“It’s just such a busy time for her”
“Don’t worry” Hannah said, “I rather like Katie”
“Good” Jack said, “It’s not like her to snap like that, I think there’s something else bothering her”
“I thought the same thing” Sarah said
“Anyway I’ve been talking to a mate” Jack said
“What about?” Sarah asked
“The sound system” she said “that’s his area of expertise”
“And what conclusion did you reach?” she asked
“Well he’s agreed to come and have a look and if it’s not a complicated system, which I doubt it is, he thinks he can easily patch it up in the short term, and after Christmas he would look at a more permanent solution maybe even replace the whole thing”
“We don’t have much money,” Sarah added
“Not an issue” he said, “I know people who know people and the people I know, owe me”
“But I thought you were a night club owner” Sarah said
“I am” he replied proudly “but there is more to me than meets the eye”
“Are you sure he can do it?” she asked him and he nodded.
Well Sarah knew he had been feeling rather guilty about his earlier flippancy with the Vicar so she suggested
“Well let’s go and make the Vicars day then”
Katie Watson burst into tears when Jack put his suggestion to her.
“Its divine providence” Katie sobbed “I prayed for a solution and here you are” then she collapsed into Sarah’s long gangly arms.
Jake made a tactical withdrawal and Sarah and Kayleigh stayed with Katie for a while afterwards while Jack and Hannah took a walk round the village green and got to know each other.
She was from Purplemere and her marriage had just ended and she just wanted to off load the house and draw a line under an unhappy episode in his life.
“I wouldn’t mind living here” she said “first impressions and all that”
“I wouldn’t live anywhere else now” he admitted
When Kayleigh finally emerged it was clear that she had been crying as well and she was a little quiet for the rest of the afternoon and when he eventually went home he reflected that it had been a bit of an eventful day for a Sunday.
And if Sunday had been an eventful day then it merely heralded the beginning of an even more eventful week to come.
On Monday morning Jack was working in his study and most of that work involved talking on the phone to his club manager, Jacey Linton, who was the ex-brother in law of Gary Spiers, the sound engineer Jack hoped would solve St Lucy’s predicament and they agreed to meet at lunchtime.
Jack wandered down the road to St Lucy’s just after midday and found no sign of life so he went and knocked on the door of the Vicarage and finding no one home there either he ambled aimlessly around the village until he found himself walking past Stephenson’s Corner Shop.
Stephenson’s had supermarkets and convenience stores all over Downshire and the one in Turnoak was owned and run by Len and Anita Compson and when he walked into the shop he found the Verger, Sarah Peters, talking with her sister Hannah.
When she wasn’t being the Verger at St Lucy’s Sarah was the receptionist at the doctors Surgery.
Hannah didn’t live in the Village but was staying with Sarah for a few days.
“Hello” Jack said brightly
“Hello Jack” she said
“Have you seen the Vicar?” he asked hopefully
“She’s at the surgery” Sarah replied
“Was it something important?”
“Well I’ve got a guy coming to look at the sound system” he said
“When?”
“One o’clock” he replied
“Well I can show him around” Sarah said
“Could you?” he said “That would be brilliant”
“Ok, I’ll meet you there at one o’clock”
After leaving Stephenson’s he decided rather that going back to the cottage and coming out again he would go and have a pint at the Hen and Chicks.
When Jack left the pub after a pint and a sandwich he noticed a van parked outside the church so he took a walk in that direction and discovered that the van bore the livery of “Sound in Spiers” and he smiled.
He walked into the church and found Gary engaged in conversation with Sarah and Hannah and the latter was giggling and flicking at her hair.
“Jack!” Gary said as he saw him approach “Good to see you again”
“Hi Gary” he retorted with a smile, he liked Gary, he had a way about him, which Hannah had clearly noticed.
They chatted briefly and then Sarah led him away to show him what the problem was, not that she knew what the problem was other than the fact it didn’t work, leaving Hannah and Jack standing in the nave.
“So what do you think of our Gary then?” he asked
“Oh erm… I um… he seems quite nice” she replied disinterestedly and Jack just smiled but thought it would be cruel to toy with her so instead he changed the subject to find out more about her.
Hannah Peters was a nurse at the Royal Downshire Hospital in Purplemere where she was living with her fiancé, but after ten years together, cohabiting for eight of those, he decide he wasn’t ready to settle down, but he didn’t tell her to her face, he emailed her from his brother’s place.
It came completely out of the blue and Hannah was heartbroken and the reason she was spending a long weekend with her sister was that the man she had loved for ten years was removing every trace of himself from their flat, which was now her flat, fortunately they were only renting so there were no financial complications.
But she didn’t think she would be able to remain there long term as it was a big flat to run on a nurses salary.
“I didn’t want to be there while he packed up his stuff as I may have been tempted to slap his emotionally stunted face” she said and laughed and so did Jack and he was still laughing when Sarah and Gary re-joined them.
“So what’s the verdict?” he asked still chuckling
“Yes it’s a simple enough system” he replied “It’s just a question of how quick you need it”
“It needs to be up and running by Thursday midday” Jack said
“No pressure then” Gary said “Well it’s doable but it’s going to cost more”
“That’s ok moneys no object” he retorted and Sarah looked horrified
“Oh no tha…” she began
“Send the bill to me” Jack said “Now let’s go and discuss it in the pub, are you girls going to join us?”
“I have to get back to work” Sarah said
“I don’t” Hannah said and blushed
“Just the three of us then” he said “If you see Katie tell her I’ll speak to her later”
Gary Spiers was 34 years old and he had known Jack for about ten years when he was working at the Waterside sorting out a fault in the paging system, he was working for someone else at the time but Jack and his Uncle Daniel recognized his true worth and employed him directly to install a new system, which was the start of him setting up on his own and after being recommended to other entertainment venues his business really took off.
He had never forgotten that it was the Morehouse’s who had set him on the road which was why when he got a call from Jack he dropped everything to help.
The only downside to having a successful business in a niche market place was it was full on and you couldn’t afford to take your eye off the ball.
He had a good team of people working for him and an even bigger pool of preferred contractors but it had been all consuming and he had had to make sacrifices so he didn’t really have anything outside of work, he had friends of course but he didn’t have anyone special that he could go home to and tell about his day.
He really envied Jack who was able to take a back seat at the club and spend more time enjoying what he had worked for.
But he was very pleased that Jack had invited Hannah to have lunch with them, he would never have had the courage himself, and he was rather taken with her.
“Well it’s not a complicated system” Gary said “I have enough used equipment back at the warehouse, amps, monitors and even a control desk, that we can easily use to patch us the system in the short term, we can jury rig it to get them through December and then after Christmas we can look at a more permanent solution maybe even replace the whole thing”
“Well that sounds like it’s just what they need” Jack said “And remember, moneys no object”
“I’ll make some calls and we’ll get cracking first thing tomorrow”
“That’s great Gary Katie will be pleased” Jack said
“Katie?” he asked
“Katie Watson, the Vicar” he clarified “Now enough shop talk Hannah here is also from Purplemere, so chat among yourselves while I get us another drink”
“So you don’t live in the village?” Gary asked
“Not yet” she said
“Oh?”
“Well my sister has suggested I move in with her, but I’m a nurse at the Royal Downshire” she said
“Well that’s not too far to travel” he said
“I know but I don’t drive, and the bus times don’t fit in with my shifts” Hannah sighed
“I see” Gary said “What department are you in at the Downshire?”
“Geriatrics” she replied
“Well why don’t you try Plaxton Park” he suggested
“What’s that, is it a hospital?”
“It’s a more of a hospice and perpetual care facility” he replied
“It’s in Hawthorne”
Hawthorne was a small hamlet in the hills about two miles from Turnoak.
“It will be shift work but you could walk there” he said
“I’ve never heard of it” she admitted
“Well I only know of it myself because my Nan is up there”
He said
“Well it’s worth looking into, thanks” she said just as Jack returned with the drinks
When they left the pub Jack felt a bit of a gooseberry because there was definitely some mutual attraction going on between Gary and Hannah and after goodbyes were said there was an awkward shuffling of feet followed by a rather untidy embrace then they all went their separate ways.
As Jack was the only one of the three drinking alcohol he was the only one that was in need of an afternoon nap which he did as soon as he got home.
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