On the morning after the Burns Night Supper, following the unexpected visit of Kayleigh to enflame his passions and Carole to dampen them, Jack awoke about midmorning.
So he got up and showered but went downstairs in his bathrobe and put the kettle on before dressing.
He had just filled the kettle when there was a knock on the front door.
“Who’s that?” he asked himself
“My God” Emily said as he opened “you do know it’s nearly the afternoon”
“Shut your face” he responded “I had a late night”
“I can’t imagine what you were doing” she said and then gesturing towards the Cherokee added “is this the lucky princess’s carriage?”
“No it’s not” he replied indignantly “I don’t know where you get these ideas from, “Cinders” went to the ball”
“So who does this beast belong to?”
“It’s Doctor Anderson’s, she went to the Burns Night Supper with Gemma last night” he explained “She obviously went straight home last night so I’m dropping it off for her later”
“I just knocked to say I’m going to be a couple of hours finishing off” she said
“Ok I’ll leave the door on the latch so you can use the facilities” he said and closed the door.
Meanwhile next door at Kayleigh’s they had also begun the day late and things were far from calm.
“What am I going to do?” Carole said panic stricken “What will people think of me”
“About what?” Kayleigh asked
“About this” she stated indicating the fact that she was wearing the same clothes from the night before “People will think I’m doing the walk of shame”
“Well don’t panic” Kay said
“Don’t panic! Don’t panic! It’s alright for you” she shouted “everyone already knows what you’re like”
She was of course referring to the fact that she was having an affair behind her “vegetable” husband but the moment she said it she regretted it.
Kayleigh left the room and let Carole stew in her own juice, she knew she didn’t mean what she said but it still smarted.
Jack was just putting on some clothes when his phone rang and he smiled when he saw it was Kayleigh
“Hello gorgeous”
“Hey Jack” she said in monotone
“Ok what’s wrong?”
After five minutes on the phone they hatched a plan that would get the good doctor out of what she perceived as a predicament.
So Kayleigh returned to the spare room carrying some clothes in her arms.
“The leggings and sweater should fit you although I’m a different shape to you” she said handing Carole the clothes “I can’t help with footwear because we don’t have the same size foot”
“You’re a life saver” she said and hugged “And I’m sorry for what I said”
“Get dressed” she said and left the room again, this time she returned carrying a bin bag “Put your clothes in this”
As luck would have it Kayleigh had an internal door from her hall to the garage so it was easy to get Carole into the car unseen and concealed and at the same time Jack left his house
“Hey Emily” he called “I’m going to drop the Doctors car off”
“Ok” she replied
“I’ve left the door on the latch for you” he added “if you’re done before I get back can you lock it?”
“Sure thing” she replied
“The path looks great by the way” Jack said “but we’ll have to re-landscape the garden now”
“We?” Emily said “I will have to re-landscape”
“There’s no “I” in team Emily” he replied “See you later”
About two miles outside the village there was a secluded layby where they could exchange their cargo before continuing to Clarence and when they reached there Jack drove the car onto her drive and Carole said
“The remote for the garage is in the glove compartment”
Jack found the clicker and opened the garage door as instructed and drove in, then closed the door behind him.
“Home safe and sound” Jack said and Carole burst into tears.
“Hey it’s ok, there’s no need to get upset”
“But there is, I was really nasty to Kayleigh” she sobbed
When he got her to calm down they got out of the Cherokee and went into the house safe from prying eyes and they emerged in the kitchen where she said
“Make a drink darling while I get Kayleigh”
So he boiled the kettle and made them coffee and he was sat on a stool drinking his when Carole and Kayleigh joined him in the kitchen about 15 minutes later and it was clear that they had both been crying.
It was also clear that they had cleared the air and they spent the rest of the day talking at length about relationships and in particular Kayleigh and Jack’s.
When they left Carole’s house it was into the evening so they stopped at the Rose and Crown in Clarence and had dinner and when they got back to Turnoak they went into White Rose Cottage and he made good on his promise to make it up to her for the night before.
On Sunday they were hoping it would be predominantly a day of rest, but they did plan to go to church however, but afterwards, even though they didn’t intend to, the pair of them ended up lunching with Elise at the Hen and Chickens.
One of their usual companions, Gemma still hadn’t returned from Purplemere after the Burns Night Supper and with her Uncle Ian naturally preferring the company of romantic companion Hannah Peters, she was at a loose end so they decided to lunch with her to cheer her up.
But it soon became apparent that she didn’t need it, she was delighted that her Uncle had found someone at long last, and that her friend Gemma had met a man worthy of her and her enormous heart and as for herself she was desperately in love with Jacks friend and colleague James, who she never stopped talking about.
But Jack and Kayleigh were rewarded for their consideration with a very enjoyable lunch in very good company.
After the meal they were joined by another loved up friend, Martina Wingrove who was romantically involved with the new Vicar and the verger Sarah Peters who was the only one of the group as yet unattached though she was in love.
But her heart’s desire, Jacey Linton, another of Jacks friends and colleagues had as yet not done anything about their obvious mutual attraction.
For Sarah’s part she was embarrassed by her drunken behaviour when they all met up in Purplemere before Christmas and didn’t think he would be at all interested in her as she had been so embarrassing.
That was not however how Jacey thought at all, he didn’t find her embarrassing in the least bit, he thought she was lovely, what was holding him back was the fact that because she was so lovely in his eyes she couldn’t possibly be interested in someone ordinary like him.
However just because Sarah was not in a relationship she still delighted in everyone else’s good fortune, Jack resolved that day that he should begin giving Jacey a little nudge in Sarah’s direction.
Martina was in a particularly ebullient mood as a result of her engagement to Paul.
Suffice is to say they were all in the pub considerably longer than anyone originally intended, in fact the session only ended when Paul came to meet Martina and take her to spend the afternoon with Katie.
When Kayleigh and Jack finally got back to his cottage they sat down on the sofa to enjoy a quiet and restful afternoon and within a minute or two she promptly fell asleep on the sofa while he was making drinks and he was quite tired himself so he put the drinks down and scooped her up in his arms and carried her up to bed and they stayed there until morning.
On Monday morning he left Kayleigh in bed and drove over to the club for what was going to be the last time for a few months.
Since his semi-retirement he had restricted his visits to the club to one or two a week so he could keep abreast of things and sign any important documents but with his priorities having to change due to Katie taking up residence they would have to meet him at the cottage instead, which was one of the reasons he wanted to get the study up to spec.
James and Jacey had no problem with the new arrangements, not that he thought for a moment that they would, but as he drove back to Turnoak he still had the overwhelming feeling of “Mission accomplished”
His reason for wanting to clear the decks so to speak was because Tuesday was the day of the meeting at the Church Hall to make the final arrangements regarding Katie Watson’s palliative care.
And as a result he wanted to ensure he had no more demands on his time than was necessary.
His February schedule was pretty clear save for his 40th birthday, which he was hoping would be rather low key and Valentine’s Day which would probably be much the same owing to the fact that the love of his life was a married woman.
Just after one o’clock on Tuesday there was a knock on the door and when he opened it he found it was Hannah Peters.
“Hey Hannah”
“Hello Jack” she responded and they embraced.
“You’re early” he added, “have you come for lunch?”
“I’m early because I came straight from work” she said “But if lunch is on offer”
“Of course it is” Kayleigh said emerging from the kitchen.
So they had a bit of lunch together and then they walked down to the church hall together.
The meeting wasn’t long in duration as all those previously tasked with particular elements of the overall care plan had completed each one with meticulous thoroughness.
The Rotas’ of every description were compiled and a timetable had been drawn up with teams of volunteers at the ready.
The only fly in the ointment was that the medical equipment was to be delivered on the 1st of February, Jack’s birthday, which wasn’t a problem as far as he was aware until Kayleigh piped up confidently and said
“You’re away from home on your birthday aren’t you?”
And kicked him under the table.
However the news of this detail failed to raise even a flicker of concern with the committee who took it all in their collective stride and said it would be taken care of and he could go off and celebrate his birthday without a care as on his return he would have a day or two of normality before Katie moved in on the 4th.
After the meeting, Hannah said goodbye and headed home which, since she got a job up at Plaxton Park was at her sister Sarah’s house and Jack waited for Kayleigh to leave the hall so he could have a word with her.
When she appeared she gave him a wonky smile and said
“Well I think I got away with that”
“Barely” he exclaimed “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise” she replied
“Oh it was a surprise alright” he pointed out
“Sorry”
“So where am I going for my birthday?” he asked
“Oh I can’t tell you that” she said “Because…”
“Don’t tell me, it’s a surprise”
“Exactly”
When he reached home he had a feeling of complete peace of mind, on the subject of Katie’s care at any rate, and intrigue as to what Kayleigh had planned for his birthday.
And this question occupied him a lot as he was alone with his own thoughts for a couple of days.
He did take a moment during his reflections to pick up the phone and ring Emily Bills.
“Hello!”
“Hi Emily its Jack”
“Oh hi Jack
I have some news that may be of interest to you”
“Oh yes?”
“The hospital bed is being delivered on the first” he said
“Um ok” she responded “Did I need to know that?”
“Well I think you do because in order for the Hospital bed to fit in my lounge all the furniture needs to be moved out” he explained
“I still don’t understand” Emily said
“Ok then this might change your mind, the furniture is being moved by a couple of farmers from Spade Oak Farm” Jack said and a few seconds later she squealed
“The Rooney’s”
“I thought the penny would eventually drop” Jack said and laughed
“That’s a coincidence, Davina and I were planning on starting the re landscaping on that day”
“That is a coincidence” he agreed “Maybe you could make use of a couple of burly young unattached good looking farmers”
“I could certainly make use of David” she retorted followed by a dirty chuckle.
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