The village of Brocklington was on the River Brooke about six miles downstream from Sharping St Mary in the Finchbottom Vale, which was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north, but there were only three small bodies of water left in the Vale now one in Mornington, one in Childean and third of course was Purplemere, which was where Brockington’s most recent newcomer had arrived from.
His name was Mark Diamond and he worked for Brocklington Broadcast International, who were based in the village for more than five years and had waited for four years for a suitable property in the village to come on to the market, and it was a life changing move especially when he met his next-door neighbour, Molly Ford.
Molly was a divorcee and immediately lost her heart to him but was reluctant to do anything about it and thought that any search for a meaningful love with someone of a like mind would be a fruitless exercise as she had been let down before.
She was a striking looking woman, not model beautiful but very lovely with dark hypnotic eyes.
Though the woman that stared back at her from the bedroom mirror each day thought she was far from lovely.
She stood 5 feet 4 inches tall in her stocking feet and was a stone heavier than she should have been which was thanks to her own baking.
She wasn’t though disappointed with everything she saw in the mirror she liked her legs which she thought were quite shapely and her hair which she thought of as her crowning glory, which was long and straight and was of a brown so dark that it looked black.
However, Molly didn’t think that nice legs and beautiful hair was sufficient to win the love of her new neighbor Mark Diamond, she valued herself so little, which was why she held no expectation in his regard.
He for his part had shown no interested in her nor given any indication that he thought of her in anyway other than as a friend and neighbor, and her dilemma was that if she did tell him of her feelings for him and he didn’t feel the same about her it would create an unbearable awkwardness, with him living next door.
So that was why she decided it was best not to upset the Status Quo, and to just remain as friends.
After all friendship was better than nothing and that had been her opinion for nine long months.
Molly had not however gone unnoticed by Mark, but he too had decided discretion was the better part of valour and also opted for the Status Quo option.
His role at BBI was as a middle management strategist but that year, due to a sudden heart attack striking down the woman who organized the Christmas entertainment for the company, Mark was given a new project, cater the Christmas office party from scratch in 10 days.
Maureen had her heart attack in October and he wasn’t given the poisoned chalice until well into December by which time all the venues were fully booked, including The Mulberry Tree in the village, and no one could cater it at such short notice.
The venue wasn’t so much of an issue as they could hold the party at BBI, but catering was, because the staff were going to expect more that Pork Scratching’s and cheese footballs.
So, his thought returned to his beautiful buxom neighbor Molly, because apart from the fact he thought she was gorgeous, he also knew that she was a brilliant baker, and she was also the manager of Addison’s Bakery in the village, so she had the wherewithal to get the job done and get him out of a hole, provided she wasn’t already over committed.
What he didn’t know was that there was a great deal of completion within Addison’s and Brockington were neck and neck with their nearest rivals in Dulcet St Mary at the end of November and a huge catering order would push them over the line, which would mean both the kudos and a nice bonus for Molly’s shop.
He got up late on Monday morning, so when he knocked on Molly’s front door he got no answer, so he took a walk into the village and wandered aimlessly down the road with no particular purpose and found himself walking past Stephenson’s corner store, and as he’d used the last of the milk in his morning coffee, he decided to pop in and get some.
And as soon as he walked in, his eye was drawn to a large stack of magazines. the Radio Times to be precise, and the bumper Christmas edition at that.
He knew that it was a bit sad, but he really looked forward to getting the Bumper Christmas Edition of the Radio Times, (other TV Guides are available).
It was one of the highlights of the season for him, and he would have gladly acknowledged that it did indeed sound really sad, but he didn’t care, it was part of Christmas for him, but to make it even sadder, he bought two copies.
The magazine reminded him of his childhood when the family would mark the programs they didn’t want to miss in coloured pen.
At that time, you had to buy a Radio Times for the BBC channels and a TV Times for the commercial stations.
After leaving Stephenson’s with the Bumper Edition of his magazine he headed towards Addison’s to see his other favourite bumper bundle, Molly, and on arrival went inside.
“Hello Mark” Molly said, her face blushing slightly
“Hi Molly, I missed you at the house this morning” he said, and she completely coloured up
“Oh? How can I help?” she asked conscious that her colleagues were watching her every move
“I’m hoping you can save my life, I’ve been lumbered with organizing the Christmas party” he said fishing inside his coat and bringing out a folded piece of paper and handed it to her
“At the last minute to boot, can you cater for one hundred, in a week?”
Molly said nothing, just read the list so he added
“I’ve listed a few things that are a must, but the rest is up to you and money is no object”
Molly smiled and handed the list to her colleagues and gave him a bear hug almost crushing his Radio Times
“You are my hero” she announced and kissed his cheek several times, and then as they stood face to face smiling at each other they kissed, and it was a long slow and deliberate kiss.
“Do we get one of those now” Karen asked from behind the counter when they had finished.
“No, you certainly don’t” Molly replied
“It’s one of the perks of management” she added, and she kissed him again
When they had finished a queue had formed so she blushed and said
“Well thank you for your order Mr Diamond”
“Here if I order something do I get one of those?” and elderly customer asked, prompting a peel of laughter
“I’m sorry Mr Oakley” she said “Special customers only”
As a result of their exchange in the shop BBI got their Christmas Party, Addison’s staff got their bonus, Molly got her man and Christmas for Mark was a special Bumper Edition.
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