Shallowfield
sat on the southern edge of the Finchbottom Vale and was bordered on the other
side by the Dancingdean forest and the town’s fortunes had always relied
largely upon forestry and agriculture for its survival and thirty-four-year-old Abigail Vann had made
her living off both of them as she was the manager of the Farming, Agriculture
and Forestry Supplies business in Shallowfield.
When she wasn’t working at managing FAFS she was managing her brother Neil,
who was a handyman, and she had raised him since she was 17, when their parents
were killed in a car accident.
And she had made it her mission in life to see him settled before she
could put her own needs first.
Which was why they spent a lot of their spare time together and one of
the things they liked to do was visit the Childean leisure center Swimming Pool,
which was what they were doing when life changed for the two of them.
They got to the front entrance before paying at the kiosk and then proceeded
to the changing rooms.
It was a very modern facility with modern unisex changing rooms, with two
long rows of cubicles’ flanked by lockers, and as she always did she selected a
cubicle at the far end of the row where she quickly got undressed and into her
one piece swimsuit, then She put her street clothes into her bag and then put
everything but her towel in the locker.
“Come on slowcoach” she called to her brother “why do you always take so
long?”
“I’m nearly ready Abi, you go on and I’ll catch you up” Neil responded
“Ok I’ll see you in a minute” Abi said as she was moving away.
Abigail just reached the poolside when she realized she still had her
watch on, so she turned, rolled her eyes, tutted and headed back towards the
changing rooms and she just reached the lockers in time to see a pair of female
hands grasp the towel draped around Neil’s neck and pull him forcefully in to a
cubicle.
After which she heard the door close and the lock click, and she smiled
broadly as she removed her watch and placed it in her locker, before heading
back to the pool.
After about 20 minutes Neil emerged from the changing rooms which was
when she discovered that the hands belonged to Michele Norman from Bizzie
Lizzies Florists, and as she watched them together it was plain to see that it
was no passing fancy.
In the week that followed she saw nothing to change her initial
assessment of the situation, so with her brother finally being snapped up she
decided it was time for her to get the love of her life firmly in her life.
Rachel Wright had been on her radar for two years, which was when she
started working at FAFS, and she impressed Abi immediately as she was a quick learner, hardworking, eager
and reliable, but she also thought she was gorgeous, but she hadn’t acted on that
attraction, partly because of Neil being dependent on her, partly because she
was an employee, but mainly because she was ten years her junior.
She was
confident that her advances wouldn’t be rebuffed despite the age difference, it
was her that had the reservations, but seeing Neil so happy with Michelle she
felt a pang of jealously, so she decided to go for it.
Rachel was a very hard worker, and apart from working full time hours at
FAFS she also worked weekends, cleaning at the Shallowfield Lodge and evenings
behind the bar at The Plough
which was where Abbie planned to meet up with her on St Patricks’ Day.
It was bitterly
cold and was trying to snow as she walked the half a mile to the pub and the
Plough was a welcome site.
As it was
St Patrick’s Day, the pub was bedecked in Green bunting, and the Irish flag was
draped everywhere,
It wasn’t a
proper Irish pub despite the décor, the Guinness on tap and the Irish music.
It was very
busy and although she’d tried her best to spot her target, there was no sign of
Rachel, so she squeezed her way to the bar and ordered a Guinness and sat on
the nearest empty seat she could find and smiled at the tableaux before her.
The music
was good, the only problem was they were playing a mixture of Orangemen and Irish
rebel songs, luckily there was no one in the pub Irish enough to be offended.
It was just
a bunch of piss heads taking advantage of the two for one specials and using St
Pats’ as an excuse to get pissed on cheap booze.
Abbie was
halfway down her pint when she spotted the familiar face she had been searching
for.
Rachel had
long straight brown hair and a rather plain, heavily freckled face, but lovely
blue eyes, a cute nose and a thin-lipped smile, but Abbie thought she was
gorgeous.
She was
short with a nice little figure, and she was decked out for the occasion.
The shabby
tights that she normally wore had been replaced by a rather more superior
quality product in green which encased her shapely legs beautifully.
She also
had on a flared green dress and a green hat, in fact the only things she was
wearing that weren’t green were her tiny black shoes.
Abbie
watched her move from table to table collecting empties and putting them on the
bar, and as she watched her nimbly negotiating her way around the drunks she
was overwhelmed with love for her, so she called out.
“Rachel?
Rachel Wright?”
“Yes” she
answered as she turned towards her, and as recognition dawned on her face she
went crimson red and smiled
“Abbie” she
said and walked over towards her.
“Hello” Abbie
said
“Hi Abbie”
she responded still blushing then asked
“What
brings you here?”
“Well it’s
not the beer” she remarked
“I’ve never
seen you in here before” she said in a coy mousy voice.
“I’ve never
been here before” she retorted “but I had to come tonight”
“Why
tonight?”
“I came to
see someone” Abbie said
“Oh”
“Yes, I
came to see you” Abbie said and watched intently for her reaction which was
instant and unmistakable
“Really?”
In response
to her question Abbie stood up and grabbed her hand and dragged her out to the
vestibule, where the phone and cigarette machine lived, Abbie pushed her gently
against the wall and as she towered over the diminutive figure of Rachel she
kissed her.
It was a
long sumptuous kiss, which would have lasted longer had the landlord not stood
in the doorway coughing audibly
“I’ll be
back later,” Abbie said
“I finish
at ten” Rachel replied
“I’ll be
here”
It was a
few minutes before ten when Abbie got back to the Plough, she didn’t bother
going in she just sheltered in the doorway out of the wind.
A few
minutes later a small figure wrapped up against the cold came through the door
from the noisy lounge bar and stopped dead when they caught sight of her.
“Hi Abbie”
she said, her voice muffled by her scarf.
“Is that
Rachel under all that?” she asked, but didn’t speak again she just nodded, then
they hugged.
“Where should
we go?” Abbie queried and got a shrug in response
“How about
the Woodcutters? It’ll be quiet in there” Abbie suggested, and Rachel nodded
again
Once they
were in the pub Rachel emerged from the scarf and hood and Abbie immediately
took the opportunity to kiss her, then they walked hand in hand to the bar,
ordered drinks and settled down in a quiet corner on the nearest two-seater.
“I can’t
stay long” Rachel said “I’ve got to get home”
“Oh” Abbie
exclaimed unable to hide her disappointment “I was hoping we might go back to
mine”
“I would
like that” she said “but I can’t”
Rachel read
Abbie’s expression as a question, so she added
“It’s my
mum, she has dementia, and I’m her carer”
“Why didn’t
you tell me?” Abbie said “I could have adjusted your hours to fit better with
your mum’s care”
“I didn’t
want people to feel sorry for me, especially you”
“Well I
know now, and we will rearrange your rota” Abbie said
“Thank you”
“It’s the
least I can do” she said “for my girlfriend”
“Girlfriend?”
Rachel asked, “For real?”
“For real”
she replied and squeezed her hand
“It’s a
shame I can’t come back to yours” she said “but you could come back to mine”
but as soon as she finished the sentence she felt foolish and doubtful “only if
you want to”
“Of course,
I want to” Abbie said and leant over and kissed her
“Can we go
now?” Rachel asked already on her feet by the time she said “now”
“Yes, we
can, but I’m trying to be calm and aloof to disguise the fact that I have a
roller-coaster doing loops in my tummy”
“I feel
like that too” Rachel admitted and stood on tiptoes to kiss Abbie
“Good let’s
go” Abbie said and they almost sprinted towards the door.
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