The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – The Confidence to Act

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa which had become very important to the lives of those living in the village community with St Giles’ Church at its hub.

It was a busy village with all the usual amenities you would expect, in addition to St Giles’ Church there was a village Hall, and primary school of the same name.

There was also the Trinity Methodists Church, two pubs, Étienne of Normandy and the Saracen and Stephenson’s General store which included an off-license, newsagents and Post Office.

 

The General Store was run by Ilyas Patel, although it was his young wife Anjuli and her Aunt Shula who did all the work, along with a few additional staff.

One of the shops regular customers was Trevor Clark, who did the maintenance up at the hotel, and he didn’t like Ilyas, he was a surly old goat, old enough to be Anjuli’s father, in fact he was old enough to be Trevor’s father, at a push, who spent most of his time sat on his arse watching cricket.

He thought his wife and her Aunt were both lovely though, Anjuli was twenty years younger than him, but her Aunt Shula was the same age as him.

She too had been married to an older man, but he had died very soon after the marriage and as a young widow she was of considerably less worth than an unwed young woman, so her lot was to be a skivvy with no status in the household, not that Anjuli ever treated her that way.

They were both tall and slim with thick black hair with big almost black eyes and huge toothy smiles, which lit up the whole shop, if not the village.

Whenever he was in the shop he always flirted dreadfully with her and her niece and the latter would always flirt back, but Shula was too shy, she would just smile and blush.

On the days she was at the till and it came time to pay there was always a lingering exchange where their hands would almost touch but not quite, and occasionally he would caress her hand with his thumb or brush his fingertips against hers and she would blush and get very flustered, which he thought was very endearing.

But as much as he liked her, despite him not being as shy as her, he was not confident enough in himself to ask her out.

 

One day he did almost ask her out, it was mid-morning and he was on his way home.

The shop was almost deserted, he had seen lazy Ilyas and his lovely wife Anjuli driving away from the village, but the lovely Shula was in the shop, and a young woman called Shelley Prangnell was filling shelves.

When she saw him walk in she quickly fussed with her thick black hair and made herself look even lovelier.

“Morning Shula” he said, and she instantly got very flustered

“Oh, oh, good morning Trevor” she said and moved awkwardly to the counter

“I saw Anjuli driving off with Ilyas” he said

“Yes, he has a hospital appointment” she replied

Trevor only needed a newspaper which he put on the counter.

“Here’s my chance” he said to himself “Ask her now while there’s no one around”

So, he took a deep breath and prepared to ask her as he brushed her hand as he was paying, but another customer entered the shop, and then another and another until there were five people in the shop, and his moment had gone so he gave Shula’s hand a final stroke

“Bye Shushu” he said and winked at her, turned and left.

 

He didn’t see much of her over the next few weeks partly because he had been working late into the evening as there was a lot going on at the hotel, and subsequently the shop was shut by the time he finished.

The other reason was because Ilyas was very ill and was in hospital so Anjuli and Shula had to take turns being with him at the hospital, and as luck would have it that was where Shula was every time he went into the shop.

But one night as he walked home he noticed the lights from Stephenson’s General Store spilling into the street and as he got close he was delighted to see the lovely Shula closing up and his heart soared.

“Hello Shushu” he called as he approached

“Oh Trevor” she said flustered, not quite knowing what to do or where to look.

“Where is everyone?” he asked, he knew Ilyas was in hospital even if he didn’t know why. 

“Anjuli had to rush to the hospital, Ilyas had a bad turn” Shula said, “So I’m closing up on my own tonight”

“Let me help then” he offered

“Thank you, Trevor,” she said smiling coyly and between the two of them they soon made light work of it and when the last stack of plastic goods went in through the door he stood in the doorway and said

“Well that’s everything”

“Thank you, Trevor,” she said and beamed him a beautiful smile

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going” he said, and the smile left her face

“No, no” she said “come in, come in”

And she pulled him forcefully aside, so she could close the door

“You must have a hot drink” she insisted, “You must be very cold, come, come”

This was a side of her he had never seen before, and when the door was closed and the shutter was down, she led him through the shop,    behind the counter and through the bead curtain to the inner sanctum, which consisted of a desk and filing cabinet in once corner, a small kitchen at the far end, with a fridge, a sink and a counter with the drinks making paraphernalia, and a sitting area with chairs and a table, and he thought it a rather dull and dingy place to be perfectly honest though it was brightened considerably by the lovely Shula who was at the sink filling the kettle.

Trevor didn’t think she wanted a hot drink any more than he did, so he walked up behind her and put his hands round her waist and breathed in her perfume as he kissed her ear and neck

“Oh Trevor” she sighed

“I don’t really want a hot drink,” he said

“Ok” she said and put the kettle down before turning to face him

“Perhaps you would like a soft drink or a beer” she suggested but he ignored her and before she could speak again he kissed her and the moment his lips touched hers she locked onto his mouth like a limpet and her arms gripped him around the neck like a bear trap and the shyness was gone along with his need to ask her out, he very definitely had his answer.