They were up early on Friday Morning and on the road by 6 o’clock as they were headed to Tipton in the north of the county because Jack had booked them into the Tipton Manor Hotel and Spa.
He chose that area of Downshire because Kayleigh’s grandparents lived in Roespring and she was anxious to see them as her grandfather was still recovering from a fall.
Jack had phoned David Rooney the night before to see if he and his brother could put the house back together again.
“Leave it to me” David said
The Rooney family were farmers from Spade Oak Farm from Lower Hawthorne on the Clarence side of the village, the farm had been in the family since the end of the Second World War and would be for many years to come because 30 year old David and his 23 year old brother Jimmy were going to take on the running of the farm when their father Mike retired.
Their father had every confidence that they would do a great job with the farm however their mother worried about the future as there were no women in their lives.
Dave and Jimmy loved being farmers and they never saw a time in their futures when they would cease to be farmers.
Unfortunately it was not a lifestyle that appealed to everyone and young girls, even from a rural community were not always enamoured by farming or the prospect of being a farmer’s wife.
The other problem was even if they could find someone who didn’t mind farming, they didn’t necessarily fit their criteria.
The Rooney brother’s weren’t interested in the lacy bits of fluffiness who spent more on their hair, eyebrows and nails than they Dave and Jimmy did on their cars and the amount they spent on clothing was shameful.
So the reason they were single was because they hadn’t found anyone to fit the bill however they were very encouraged when they met two gardeners who were both attractive and clearly not afraid of hard work or getting their hands dirty.
David, like his younger brother Jimmy was muscular and well-toned, with red hair and a heavily freckled face, which did not go unnoticed when Emily Bills first laid eyes on him, and from that first moment she was smitten and desired to lay more than her eyes on him.
She was a pretty woman with weathered elfin features, and short brunette hair, and a wiry muscular physique, but she managed to look feminine, she was not however a girly girl and had always tended to be a tomboy.
She stood five foot eight inches tall, and was slender and lean and she was a townie girl from Purplemere, and was twenty nine years old and she was just what David was looking for in a woman.
Her partner in crime Davina and his younger brother Jimmy were similarly attracted.
It was on the day at the beginning of February when the Rooney boys were clearing the lounge in readiness of the arrival of the hospital equipment that the girls got to speak with them and dates followed.
Davina and Jimmy had quickly become inseparable but David was being a little more cautious.
On their first date he took her to the Worsted Viper Hotel and throughout the meal the conversation flowed effortlessly from course to course and on to the coffee and liqueurs but all too soon the evening was over and he drove her home.
Emily had enjoyed the evening very much and her like for him surpassed that and she believed that by the way he was looking at her during the evening that her feelings were reciprocated.
But when they got to her house, much to her disappointment he just kissed her cheek and thanked her for a lovely evening.
Further dates followed and they always went the same way they would have an immensely enjoyable evening ending with a kiss on the doorstep of Emily’s house.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to take it further, he did, he loved her pretty weathered elfin features, and short brunette hair, her slender, lean and wiry physique, he didn’t see the muscular he only noticed the feminine, and he loved every inch of her five foot eight.
She knew that he fancied her as much as she did him so she didn’t understand why he hadn’t slept with her yet.
Admittedly the quality and quantity of kissing had increased exponentially with each successive date but that was as far as it went.
But she had big hopes on her 30th birthday, which was on Saturday, when he was taking her to Abbottsford, he had tickets for the matinee performance of Les Mis at the Empire and reservations for The Wooden Slipper restaurant and he had two rooms at the Regents Hotel, Emily was hoping to only use one.
But on Friday morning as she and Davina drove through the village she spotted the Rooney’s Landrover parked on Jack’s drive.
“What are they doing there?” Emily asked
“Jack phoned and asked if they could get the house straight” Davina replied “But Jimmy went to the auctions with his dad so Dave’s on his own”
“Stop the van!” she shouted
“What? Why?” she asked
“Just stop!” she repeated and Davina brought the van to a halt.
“What’s wrong?” she asked
“Can you manage on your own at Mrs Browns?” Emily asked
“Of course” she replied
“Do you mind if I go and give David a hand?” she asked coyly
“No, go get him Em”
Dave Rooney got to the house early which was just as well as his brother was at the auctions so it would take him a while to get it done on his own, and even with the early start he wasn’t sure he would finish at all, because although he was strong and fit there were some pieces he would struggle with on his own.
But at 9 o’clock there was a knock at the front door, so he stopped what he was doing and opened it to find Emily Bills standing on the doorstep in her familiar dungaree’s a T-shirt, her normal gardening apparel in fact.
“What are you doing here?” he asked “aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“I’ve come to help,” she said
“Help with what?” he asked puzzled
“Putting the stuff back” she said “I heard you were shorthanded”
“You don’t have to do that, Jimmy will be here when the auctions are finished,” he said
“Well I’m here now, and the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll be finished” Emily said cheerily “And then you can buy me lunch”
“Deal” David said and they set to work, Emily set about dusting and hovering the lounge while he started carrying things in from the garage and by twelve o’clock they were almost finished, there was just one small sofa to bring in and then they were done.
So the two of them set about the task and having maneuverer it through the hall and into the lounge all that was required was to push it into place and with both of them pushing it moved easily into its position.
So with the job done and David suitably positioned southwest of her he put his hands on her shoulders and said
“Thanks Em, I couldn’t have done this without you”
Emily leant back against him and he kissed the top of her head,
“I think you’ve earned lunch”
“I think I’ve earned something” she said as she turned around and caught him off balance and pushed him onto the sofa and then she jumped on top of him and kissed him.
“Have we got time for this?” he asked when she let him up for air
“Indeed we do” she said and kissed him again.
“But aren’t we going to be late for lunch?” he enquired
“Maybe but the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll be finished” Emily said
The upshot of their encounter was firstly that they almost missed the last serving for lunch at the Hen and Chicks and secondly there was no further reason for them to have two rooms booked at the Regents Hotel that weekend.
When Davina picked her up from the pub carpark at four o’clock she was grinning from ear to ear.
Jack and Kayleigh returned to Turnoak late on Monday afternoon after their dirty weekend away in Tipton and Kayleigh went straight up to Plaxton to see Carl and left him all alone.
It was so strange to have the house so empty and quiet, in fact he thought it was eerily quiet.
He made himself some food and was feeling quite down as he sat in the kitchen alone eating some rather uninspiring pasta and sauce.
During the previous few months the house had been such a hive of activity and now there was only him.
He didn’t see as much of Kayleigh that week as he would have liked which didn’t help his mental state and he still hadn’t managed to shake off his depression as he drove into Purplemere on Saturday night to meet up with Jacey Linton, and Gary Spiers who had persuaded him to go over to the club for a drink, in the hope it might cheer him up a bit.
Jacey was Gary’s ex brother in law, the former was the Manager at the Waterside club and the latter was a “noise boy” and had his own sound engineering company “Sound in Spiers”.
Jack had known Jacey for many years and Gary for about ten and along with his Entertainments Manager James Lynch were Jacks best friends.
They went to the club because James had to work so as he couldn’t join them in Purplemere they decided to drive over to the club and join him and Jack had to admit that he welcomed the distraction.
It was a packed house at the club as it was a 70’s night with a full bill of “has been” acts who really should have been at home watching TV or even in a home and the audience were even more past it than the performers were.
Conversation was difficult in the club due to a combination of the music and everyone singing along loudly and as a result they all had a little more to drink than they would have otherwise had.
It wasn’t until the last encore was over and people started to leave that they had a proper conversation that is to say “a proper conversation” when three members of the party are pissed and the other one isn’t.
And James was the sober one who had to listen to Jacey gushing about the love of his life, Sarah Peters, and how wonderful she was.
“Things are going well then?” he asked
“Oh yes” he said, “I think so”
He then proceeded to give them all the minutiae of their burgeoning relationship.
Jack wasn’t anywhere near as drunk as Jacey but he had more than enough to prevent him from driving home so he phoned a cab and as Gary lived on the Turnoak side of Purplemere he dropped him off on route.
And Despite the very real risk that Gary might bore him to death James offered to drive him home, but his worst fears weren’t realized as his passenger rewarded him by promptly falling asleep.
When James got to his house James stopped the car on his driveway and shook him awake.
Jacey got out of the car rather ungainly and took a few unsteady steps to his front door where he fumbled briefly in his pocket for his door key, which he waved at James with a flourish before inserting it into the lock at the third attempt.
When he had the door open he turned and waved before stumbling inside and closing the door.
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