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 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, Stephenson’s General store which included
an off-license, newsagents and Post Office, and two pubs, Étienne of Normandy
and the Saracen, and it was at the Saracen where Jake Price and Kevin Dunn
liked to drink.
Kevin and
Jake had been friends since preschool and when they left school aged 16 they
both started work as labourers with Jakes Dad, who was a self-employed builder.
By the time they reached their early twenties they
decided to go out on their own and were doing very well for themselves, in a
much smaller way than Jakes Dad and did the smaller jobs the bigger builder’s weren’t
interested In, along with a lot of hard landscaping.
Apart
from working together they also spent a lot of their spare time together, and
one of their regular haunts was the Saracen, and it wasn’t just the beer and
atmosphere that drew them there.
They
were also very interested in two of the barmaids, Jane Stone and Jenny Lock,
and Jake Price’s partiality was for Jane, but he hadn’t been able to separate
her from her best friend Jenny long enough to ask her out.
Jane
and Jenny had also been friends since childhood and were both the youngest
daughters of farming families and lived on neighbouring farms.
They
also had part time jobs at the pub and the Palace because they were saving up
to go on holiday together.
When Jake and Kevin walked into the pub, the latter
walked up to the bar while the former paid a visit to the gents.
When he was
on his way back to the bar he was surprised and delighted to find Jane Stone
was walking towards him, and he thought he would take full advantage of the
situation.
“Hi Jane” he
said
“Hello” she
replied “Jenny’s behind the bar”
“I know I
saw her” he said “it was you I wanted to talk to”
“Me?” she
said incredulously
“Yes you” he
replied
“Why?” she
asked
“Why do you
think?” he said
“Oh I
understand” she said with a sigh “you want her phone number I suppose”
“No” Jake
replied with surprise “Why would I want her number?”
“Everybody
always wants her number” she replied “Which is a waste really as she never
wants to go out with any of them, she’s only ever had eyes for Kevin”
“Really?”
“Yes”
“Well no I
do not want her number” he said
“Now I’m
confused” Jane said “Do you want to ask her out or not?”
“No! I
wanted to ask you out” he explained
“Me?” she
said incredulously
“Yes you” he
replied
“I’ve been
wanting to ask you out for ages but you’re always working or you’re with Jenny
and I never get a look in”
“Seriously?”
she asked
“Yes” he
replied “So?”
“So what?”
“Will you go
out with me?” Jake asked
“Yes” she
said and grinned like a Cheshire cat “Definitely yes”
“Good” he
said “now can I kiss you?”
“Yes please”
she replied
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