Mornington-By-Mere - (07) Dulcet Tones

The Addison family owned and operated the Addison’s Bakery in Shallowfield and more than two dozen baker’s shops, coffee shops and sandwich bars throughout the county of Downshire.

It was a long standing family business stretching back through the generations.

The Addison’s relied upon family ties to maintain the business from the Patriarch of the family and managing director of the company, Simon Addison, to numerous aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins and among that number was 50 year old Nathan Addison.

Nathan took over as the manager of the shop in Mornington-By-Mere, a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

A quaint picturesque village, a chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12^th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

It was only a small shop located on the River Brooke side of The Street between Boddington’s Butcher’s and Norman’s General Store.

As a result of it being a small shop located in a small village it hadn’t had a full time manager since before RAF Mornington was mothballed at the end of the 90s. 

Nobody else in the family wanted to take on the Mornington shop on a full time basis because it was too small and had a limited clientele.

 

Nathan Addison was a second cousin twice removed from the head of the company Simon, and he was considered as something of a joke in the family.

Although it wasn’t always so, he was once a big wheel in the well-oiled Addison’s machine but after his wife died tragically in a skiing accident and he had a nervous breakdown, the wheels came off his wagon in a big way.

That was three years earlier and in the time that had elapsed since he had been worse than useless to the company.

So it came as some surprise to Simon when on the eve of his 50^th birthday Nathan approached him to suggest that he take over the running of the Mornington shop.

At first Simon was reluctant to agree he was not the force he once was but Nathan implored him to give him a chance.

Finally Simon came to the conclusion that if he didn’t give him that chance Nathan Addison might never come back from his breakdown.

Simon knew it wasn’t really a valuable asset to Addison’s and he couldn’t really do any irrevocable harm to the business so that was the basis under which he granted Nathan permission.

 

Everyone but everyone in the Addison clan had done a stint in the Mornington shop at one time or another but no one took it seriously and treated any time spent there as a bit of vacation.

Everyone thought it was a dead duck but Nathan and his daughter Chloe had other ideas.

 

Although in truth Chloe didn’t really share her father’s opinions that the shop could really take off she was just pleased that he was showing an interest in something.

So she gave up her assistant manager’s job in Abbeyvale and left behind her unreliable boyfriend and went to work with her dad.

 

But neither of them realized at the time just how much of a life changing decision they had made when they moved to Mornington.

 

Everyone in the Addison’s clan thought Nathan was mad for taking over the Mornington Shop, and positively certifiable for volunteering to do it, but Nathan thought otherwise because when the Mornington Estate exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself, as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.

And it was that property that made Nathan believe he could grow the business in Mornington.

He understood that it was only a small shop with a small clientele but as soon as he heard that the old Mornington Field was returning to the Estate he could see the potential and he believed that when the houses in Military Row were all occupied and the old RAF buildings on the airfield were converted to commerce that the trade would increase exponentially.

He wasn’t just going to tread water he was going to make the business thrive.

 

Before they took over the shop Chloe took Nathan away for a mystery long weekend break for his 50^th birthday which turned out to be in Salisbury.

On the way home they stopped at Stonehenge and took in the ruins of Salisbury Castle and the old Cathedral after which they headed towards home, though they took the scenic route and talked all the way talking more than they had since he’d lost his wife and she’d lost her mother.

“I’m really grateful” he said

“For what?” Chloe asked “it was only a long weekend”

“No I don’t mean that” he explained

“What then?” she asked with a puzzled expression

“For giving up your life to come to Mornington with me”

He replied

“Nonsense” she said “I didn’t give up anything”

“But you had a life in Abbeyvale” he insisted

“And I’ll have a better one in Mornington” she said

“And what if I’m wrong about the shop?”

“You’re not” she said though in truth she wasn’t sure but she wasn’t go to let him know that.

 

There was a very good reason why Mornington had retained its old English quaintness and its heart and soul into the 21^st Century.

And that was simply because everything in the village was owned by the Mornington estate, and under their stewardship the village has remained traditionally English and has not been allowed to become a soulless haven for hooray Henrys and weekenders with their second homes and country getaways.

Which was why went the new homes became available priority was given to local people or people with ties to the area or those who worked in some capacity for the estate such as agriculture and the brewery.

Consideration was also given to potential employees for any new commercial premises that might open on Mornington Field the following January.

Other than that they were to be rented with the only condition being that it had to be the tenant’s primary residence.

Gabriel St George was always conscious of creating a ghost town of professionals who live and work in Town all week and only return to the village on the weekend.

This was also meant to encourage more trade for the local shops that had to be heavily subsidized by the estate in order to survive.

 

Nathan and Chloe moved into Number 8 Military Row on August 15^th and took over the running of the Baker’s one week later.

For the first few days they had a handover period with the help of Gary Bronson who was probably the most regular of the temporary staff at the shop and then they were all on their own.

 

Chloe knew the shop was going to be a lot quieter than the Abbeyvale Bakery that she was used to.

But she wasn’t prepared for just how quiet it actually was.

Nathan was also surprised at the level of business and wondered how on earth there would be enough to keep two people occupied sufficiently to prevent them from going insane.

So almost immediately the two of them developed independent plans to change things.

 

Chloe’s plan was formulated when she sat on the small patio at the back of the shop with a view of a small grassed area that ran down to the banks of the River Brooke.

She liked to sit outside and drink her morning coffee and she would eat her lunch out there too and it helped her to think.

She had noticed that although the shop itself was quite small the footprint of the building was three times its size.

 

Along with everything else in Mornington the premises were owned by The Estate and provided free of charge to Addison’s in order to maintain the presence of a Bakers in the village.

All the businesses had similar arrangements and their trade was further protected in that for example the Post office and General store were not permitted to sell bread products or cakes other than the prepackaged kind.

So the butchers, the bakers and Legg’s Farm Shop were the only ones who sell their specialties.

That way nobody was taking trade from anyone else.

The General store sold everything else.

 

So as the shop was owned by the Estate any external maintenance was down to them and internal décor was down to the tenant.

As Addison’s as a company had rather lost interest in Mornington since the RAF moved away, they had done little to the interior for decades.

So Chloe set about smartening it up, which in the main involved cleaning really thoroughly.

The paint work required the lick of a paint brush but she could only do that on Sundays when the shop was shut.

As it turned out the spring clean that she embarked upon to revive the fortunes of the shop, revived her fortunes in another way.

Because it was on the day she finished cleaning that she met architect Scott Collier.

Scott told her that work was beginning up at Mornington field on the 1^st of October which set all her plans in motion.

She asked him to help her with some alterations at the shop so she would have a food prep area for making sandwiches and he made a rough sketch and then, using a laser measure, added the dimensions to it.

“How big a budget do you have?” he asked

“Miniscule” she replied “Addison’s HQ don’t value this shop enough to invest in it, so it’s just my savings”

“So no budget and 3 weeks to spend it in”

“That’s about the size of it” she replied

“Great I love a challenge” He said

“So you’ll help me then?”

“Yes I will” he replied “just as long as you understand I’m only doing it because you’re cute”

“Ok” Chloe replied and blushed

 

So her plans were brought to fruition thanks to her meeting Scott Collier and as her plans for the shops design began to develop so did their feelings for each other.

As a result by the time the food prep area was complete they had fallen in love.

 

 

In addition to sourcing the hardware for the shop, and falling in love with its occupant, Scott also managed to secure a self-service coffee station he had borrowed from a mate in Purplemere, on a short term basis.

So in October when work began up on Mornington Field, Chloe was fully armed to seize the opportunity.

She began on the first day with a few fresh made sandwiches and a few cakes from the shop and some tinned drinks and bottled water from Norman’s and took them up to the site in the car.

She also left them menus so they could pre order food and coffee from the shop.

Sandwiches led to pies and pasties, cakes and pastries and soon she was driving up there 3 times a day and they were making more than half their daily sales to the workmen.

 

When they first moved to Mornington they both thought it was a pleasant enough shop and they both had to admit Mornington was a very picturesque location.

Chloe was sure her dad would be happy to just go through the motions in a stress free way, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

Because while Chloe busied herself with the aesthetic, Nathan, far from being content to free wheel, was also thinking of ways to make the shop more profitable.

Nathan had been looking at the local map and soon realized that although Mornington was a relatively small village there were very many farms and hamlets dotted around the Vale who had to buy their bread somewhere so he printed off some flyers offering a free deliver service to customers who placed regular orders.

His problem was that he was how to distribute them and then an idea dawned on him.

 

One of the hamlets in the Vale that Nathan was thinking of was Dulcets Green situated between Mornington and Purplemere.

It was only a small hamlet quiet and sleepy, which was how the inhabitants liked it.

The hamlets population was more than quadrupled by the inhabitants of Oak Dale Retirement Village and Nursing home when it opened.

Oak Dale had been built in the late Victorian period by one of Gabriel St Georges’ ancestors for his wife to live in when he got sick of the sight of her, it was never used for that purpose however as he went mad and shot himself before she moved in.

During the First World War it had been hospital for wounded soldiers from France, in between times the wars it was used as a TB hospital, it was used again during World War two as a hospital at which time addition buildings were added.

After the war it fell into disuse, the Estate maintained it to keep the weather out but didn’t really have a use for it.

That was until Alexandra Barrileau approached Gabriel with her plan to turn Oak Dale into a retirement village and nursing home.

 

“I’m just popping up to Norman’s love” Nathan said

“Alright dad” Chloe replied

Normans was the Post Office, General Store and newsagents.

He walked into the shop and found the post mistress, Evelyn Norman, fussing around the magazine display.

She was in her early 70’s and had held the post for forty years

“Hello Nathan” she said “How are you?”

“I’m fine thank you” he replied “I’m after a favour Evelyn”

“Well if I can, I will” she said brightly

“I wondered if you might distribute these with the papers” he said hopefully

Evelyn read the flyer very carefully and laughed which didn’t fill him with a lot of confidence.

“You know Gavin had the selfsame notion just a few weeks ago”

She said

“Now if you could get the Boddington’s and the Legg’s on board as well it might just work”

“You mean make it a joint enterprise” he mused

“Mutually beneficial” she added

Over the next couple of days Nathan approached each business in turn to discuss the possibility of a joint enterprise and he was met with a lot skepticism however after several informal meetings between the 4 interested parties a tentative agreement was made to offer a twice weekly delivery service to the outlying homes and premises.

This service would be free to regular customers but deliveries would be liable to a nominal fee for one offs.

But what hadn’t been settled at the time however, was exactly how the deliveries would be made.

 

The head of the Mornington Estate was the resident of Mornington Manor, the family seat of the guardians of the estate, namely the St George family, the head of which being Baron Gabriel St George, who lived at manor with his four sisters and his widowed aunt Philomena.

Gabriel was a tour de force in the village who worked tirelessly to preserve village and the villager’s way of life.

The St George family had been landowners in Downshire since the Norman Conquests and at one time their lands covered the whole of the Finchbottom Vale.

However in the 21^st century the estate was much reduced and only extended to a radius of between 11 and 12 miles from the Mornington Mere. 

When Gabriel St George got to hear about Nathan trying to introduce a delivery service to the farms and hamlets he was very encouraged.

In the fifteen years since the RAF base had closed Addison’s had only paid lip service to the Mornington shop, if it hadn’t been for the Estate heavily subsidizing the shop they would have withdrawn altogether.

He enquired at the Bakers and found Chloe behind the counter who told him Nathan was at home.

 

As he walked up Military Row, with the completed houses on his right and the untouched ones on his left, he could see what a great job Ray Walker and his team had done on renovating the old RAF houses.

Ray’s job on the Estate was normally buildings maintenance but since Mornington Field came back to the Estate he had been incredibly busy.

He was another local boy born and bred and he had worked for the estate since he left school.

If you had ever met Ray you would never have forgotten him because he was a giant of a man with a shock of unruly red hair and an abundance of freckles, Gabriel liked him very much.

And after all his hard work there would be a sizable bonus in his pay packet at the end of the year.

 

Gabriel knocked on the door of number 8 and waited.

The door opened and Nathan appeared

In his youth he had been an athletically built young man with dark curly hair and blue eyes.

But with age his blue eyes were paler, and his hair thinner and greyer and as a result of his wife’s death and his subsequent illness his physique had wearied and thinned.

However after his first month in Mornington the colour had returned to his skin and he had a new vitality.

“Yes” he said

“Nathan Addison?”

“Yes that’s me”

“I’m Gabriel St George, do you have a minute or two”

 

Once inside the two men sat in the lounge and Gabriel said.

“I’ll get straight to the point, I understand you are trying to introduce a universal delivery service for the Mornington businesses?”

“Well yes, the other parties have agreed in principle” Nathan said “but they’re a bit sceptical that it will ever get off the ground, are you here to tell me it’s a non-starter as well?”

“No not at all” he replied quickly “in fact I have a proposition”

 

One of the biggest employers in the village was the Mornington Brewery, which produced some very highly regarded ales sold far and wide.

The brewery also had a very profitable side line of brewery tours and tastings sessions, and more importantly “off sales”.

There was a very heathy trade in selling bottled and draught ales to individuals over the counter.

But what they didn’t offer was a delivery service, and people in the modern age like things delivered to their door, so much so that they will sacrifice the quality just to get the convenience.

They had draymen to deliver the large delivery to pubs and distributors but no one to do the small stuff.

So what Gabriel suggested to Nathan was that along with the other village shops they could also deliver the brewery off ales as well.

“So if in return for delivering the off sales, I was to provide you with the use of a suitable vehicle two days a week and all you had to do between the four of you is supply a driver, what would you say?” he asked

“I would say you had yourself a deal” Nathan said and shook his hand.

 

With the backing and support of Gabriel St George any lingering doubt among the village businesses melted away but it wasn’t until the middle of October that the first of the deliveries was made.

Although the promised van was available immediately it was necessary to purchase some cool boxes to go in the van for the food that might spoilt in the back of a van for several hours or defrost in the case of the frozen food from Normans.

They were not unlike in design to the plastic cool boxes you might see picnickers use they were just longer and wider and were actually used by fishermen to keep their catch fresh.

 

The initial plan was to deliver on Tuesday and Wednesday for a trial period to test the water.

A Rota was drawn up so that each business would do one delivery every fortnight.

And as it was Nathans idea in the first place he did the first run not that there were a lot of deliveries on that first run, in fact there were so few that Nathan doubted himself for the first time since he arrived in the village, but over the weeks it grew steadily as word got around.

 

Chloe was thrilled with the way things were going, her trade up at the airfield was booming, she was loving the improvements her and Scott had made to the shop and she was enjoying having Scott in her life.

She and Scott had also began working on the upstairs rooms at the shop with the office and the little sitting room needing redecoration.

But above all she was so happy that her dad had got his project off the ground with the delivery service up and running he was like his old self and she shed a good few tears because she had her dad back at last.

 

Alexandra Barrileau was a small unremarkable looking woman with short blonde hair and green eyes, not unremarkable in an unattractive way but in that she was small and slight and yet despite her diminutive stature she was possessed of great strength of will and an unshakable resolve.

So Gabriel found himself agreeing with her completely when she approached him about Oak Dale.

He put Scott Collier and Ray Walker on the project as a priority and a year after she first approached him Gabriel handed over the keys to the main building, the remaining buildings took another year to compete.

 

Five years had passed and Oak Dale was thriving under Alex’s leadership.

She had turned what was a burden to the Mornington Estate into an asset, which had brought employment to the people of Dulcets Green as well as the outlying areas.

She had achieved this success despite having had no experience in either nursing or care.

Her area expertise was venture capital and she gave up a very successful career to open Oak Dale.

Her motivation for such a drastic career change was the quality of care her elderly mother received at the end of her life.

In fact Alex found it so indifferent that she chose to do something about it, she couldn’t believe that it wasn’t possible to do better, and she had.

She was fast approaching fifty now and she found her new life very rewarding

She’d never married she had been a career woman through and through and she never regretted it not at the time anyway, but now in the quiet hours she thought about what might have been.

 

By the end of November Scott and Chloe had completed the upstairs rooms at the shop so they now had a fully functioning office again and a sitting room.

Also by that time the delivery runs had proved to be very popular and all the businesses had benefited from the service.

But thoughts were turning to Christmas and a potential further upturn of business and they expected they would have to increase the number of delivery days as December progressed but they hadn’t sorted out any detailed plans.

 

And it was with the forth coming extra volume of deliveries in the back of his mind that influenced his decision when he took a phone call from the brewery.

“Nathan?” the voice asked

“Speaking” he replied

“Hi Nathan its Dane”

Dane Kincaid-Smith worked at the Mornington Brewery, specifically the off sales.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’ve just had a call from Ms. Barrileau at Oak Dale” he explained

“She ordered a case of champagne for a birthday bash and it got missed off yesterday’s delivery”

“And she wants it today?” Nathan asked

“As soon as” Dane said “I know it was my error but can you help?”

Well it was a nice bright day and Nathan fancied a run out in the sunshine so he said

“Give me her number and I’ll see if there’s anything else she needs, and I’ll run over there in my car” 

“Cheers Nathan”

 

Nathan phoned Alex Barrileau and she said as it happened there were a few bits she could do with in addition to her normal order so he wrote down the list and then went off to fulfill it.

He bagged up two dozen assorted bread rolls and four tiger loafs and said to Chloe

“I’m off over to Dulcets Green love”

“Ok, will you be back by lunchtime?” she asked

“I don’t see why not” he replied

“Let me know if not so I can get someone to watch the shop when I go up to the field”

“Will do”  

 

After visiting the Butchers, General Store and the farm shop he picked up the box of champagne from the brewery and with a boot full to over flowing he set off on the Purplemere road to Dulcets Green.

 

If you didn’t know Oak Dale was there you could easily miss it altogether, as it was tucked away behind a stand of Oak.  

In fact he had driven past it himself the first time he was looking for it.

He pulled up by what he knew from a previous visit to be the kitchen door and got out.

As he got closer he saw the door was slightly ajar and so he pushed it open and was just about to call out when he heard a woman’s voice singing a familiar song.

The reason it was so familiar was that it was one of his wife’s favourites.

It was a song called “Twilights love” and was made famous by a beautiful young singer called Kayleigh Parkes.

She released her debut album when Nathan and Dianna began courting and it was a kind of soundtrack to their courtship.

It was a massive hit at the time but she never followed it up, although in recent years she had begun to record again.

The voice Nathan could hear was no Kayleigh Parkes but it was very pleasing to the ear regardless and he was sorry to have to cut it short.

“Hello” he called and the sweet song ceased and a blonde head with a slightly embarrassed face and green eyes appeared around the corner followed by the rest of her.

Not that there was a lot of her, he thought, she was a diminutive figure of a similar age to himself

 

“Sorry about that” she said blushing slightly “I thought I was alone”

“It was very nice” Nathan said gallantly and she smiled coyly

He didn’t recognize her from one of his previous visits so he added

“I have a delivery from Mornington”

“Ah, you must be Nathan” she said and offered her hand

“That’s right” he replied “Are you Miss Barrileau?”

“Yes but please call me Alex” she said

“Well Alex” he said “Where would you like it?”

“In the kitchen please” she replied

“In the kitchen it is” said Nathan and walked back out the door and opened the boot

“Oh splendid you have it all” she said having followed in his wake

“I hope so” he said picking up the case of champagne

“Here let me help” she offered, taking the bags of bread and then leading the way through the kitchen door.

 

“Thank you so much for this” Alex said as he put the last bag on the counter

“No problem” Nathan said “I’m pleased I could help”

“Well I’m grateful” she said “will you stay for coffee”

“Yes that would be nice” he replied “Thank you”

He hadn’t finished the coffee he made himself at the shop because he took the call from Dane.

“So what’s the occasion” he said patting the champagne box

“One of our lady residents is 100 today” Alex replied

“So we’re having a party”

“I can see why you would need the champers ASAP then” Nathan said

A small group of women came through the door and the kitchen got loud and busy all of a sudden.

So as Alex put two mugs of coffee on a tray with a milk jug and sugar bowl and picked it up she said.

“Let’s go through to the office”

 

He thought she was a petite woman as she led him down a carpeted corridor and into a modest sized office and set the tray down on a small table.

“Take a pew” she said

As he did so he noticed that also on the table was a CD case of Kayleigh Parkes debut album.

“You’re a fan then” he stated

“Yes” she said “I know she’s recording again now but it was such a shame she didn’t follow it up at the time”

“My wife used to say the same thing” he said and then pressed on “you know she’s going to be at the Waterside Country Club in Purplemere next week”

“No I didn’t know that” she replied

“You should take a drive over there to see her” he suggested

“I don’t drive” she admitted

“You don’t drive?” he said aghast

“No, I never learned”

“How come?” he asked

“Well in a previous life I worked in venture capital” She said “I lived in London and worked in the city so there didn’t seem any point, of course now it would be really useful”

She then went on to explain at length the motivation for her career change, which was the quality of care her elderly mother received at the end of her life.

Nathan sat spellbound by her green eyes and listened intently as she spoke with passion and resolve

In fact so absorbing was the conversation that he completely lost track of the time.

When he checked his watch he was surprised how the time had passed.

“My goodness” he said “Where has the time gone?”

She too was surprised, she couldn’t remember the last time she had enjoyed converse so much.

“I’m so sorry to have detained you” Alex said

“No it’s not that I’ve rather enjoyed it” he said

“In that case why not stay for lunch, it will only be a sandwich but I understand the bread is outstanding” she said and her green eyes twinkled.

“Yes please that would be lovely” he said

“But I should just call my daughter at the shop”

“You work with your daughter? That must be nice”

“Yes Chloe, and yes it is nice”

“Well I’ll go and organize lunch” she said picking up the tray “while you call Chloe”

 

“Hi Dad” Chloe said “is everything alright you’ve been a while”

“Everything’s fine Chloe” he replied “Can you manage alright on your own for another couple of hours?”

“Why what’s up?” she asked with real concern in her voice fearing he might have been having a relapse

“No everything’s fine” he said and laughed “Alex, Miss Barrileau has invited me to stay for lunch, as a thank you for making a special trip”

“A lunch date? Excellent” Chloe said

“No just a sandwich” Nathan said feeling a little embarrassed

“No problem dad Ruby will cover here while I do the sandwich run”

“Alright love, see you later”

No sooner had she hung up her call to her dad she dialed Ruby Legg’s number

“Leggy!” Chloe said “You’ll never guess what” 

 

Ruby Legg worked unsurprisingly at Legg’s Farm Shop, at the opposite end of The Street from Addison’s.

She liked Chloe a lot and they’d become good mates but she was a bit jealous of her as well, not because of her looks or anything like that, if anything Ruby was the prettier of the two.

No, what she was jealous of was that Chloe had found someone.

She had only been in the village for 5 minutes and she snaffled Scott Collier, she’d lived in and around Mornington all her life and she’d had hardly a nibble.

They had become friends because they had a lot in common.

They were a similar age, both only children and had both lost a parent and they had both moved into Military Row within weeks of each other.

 

While Ruby Legg watched the Bakers, Chloe did her sandwich run up to the field and Nathan enjoyed a pleasant repast with Alex in her office.

“How old is Chloe?” she asked

“24” he replied

“There’s just the two of us now since my wife passed”

“Oh I’m sorry” she said “How long?”

“3 years” Nathan replied “3 difficult years”

He then inexplicably went on to give her the unvarnished account of his grief fuelled descent into despair and the guilt he felt for dragging his daughter away from a good job to be his crutch.

“And how is she doing?” Alex asked

“She doing great” he replied “she’s loving the job, she’s even built up a very good sandwich trade with the workmen up at Mornington Field, and she has fallen in love with the local architect”

“Scott?” she asked

“Yes do you know him?”

“He did the plans for this place” she replied “she’s got a good man there”

“Yes I think so too” he agreed

“What about you, do you have children?”

“No, no children, no husband, no significant other”

She replied

“How come?” he asked finding it inconceivable that an attractive woman like her should reach middle age alone.

“Alas I was all about my career, so I made a choice”

“And do you think you made the wrong one?”

“I have always believed that there is no such thing as a bad decision at the time you make it” she said “I made the right decision for me at the time, but perhaps not for now”

Nathan nodded his understanding and then she continued

“But I couldn’t be happier with my decision to come to Dulcets Green, I absolutely love it”

“Even without being able to drive” he said

“Yes even without that” she agreed and roared with laughter

A sound the staff had never heard from her office before.

 

When he arrived back at the shop Chloe was grinning from ear to ear.

“What’s that look for?”

“How was your lunch date?” she asked

“It wasn’t like that” he corrected her

“Alex is a nice woman and we hit it off, I think we could become friends”

“Friends?” Chloe said with disappointment in her voice

“Well I’m not looking for anything else” Nathan said and went upstairs to the office

“That’s a shame” she said to herself

She would love for him to find love again and so would her mum.

 

Alex meanwhile was sitting in her office enjoying the lull before the storm which would be the 100^th birthday party and thinking how much she had enjoyed the day.

She came to the conclusion that she really liked Nathan and she for one was definitely hoping for something more than friendship.

Despite the fact she was a spinster Alex had not been without “companionship” during her high flying years though she would be the first to admit that her time in the Finchbottom Vale definitely constituted a dry spell.

 

On the last day of November, after Sunday lunch Nathan took a drive over to Dulcets Green, he didn’t tell Chloe where he was going as he didn’t want her getting the wrong idea so he waited until she went out with Scott and then got in the car.

It was a lot busier in the carpark than it was the previous time he was there.

As it was Sunday there were a lot of visitors, so it took him a while to get parked.

He walked into the reception and spoke to a young woman who according to her name badge was Megan Murray, who he recognized as being from Mornington.

“Hello Mr. Addison” she said cheerfully “I didn’t know you had anyone here”

“No I haven’t Megan I’m actually here to see Miss Barrileau”

“At this time of day she’ll be in her private apartment” Megan said “Turn right at the top of the stairs, second door on the left”

“Thank you” he said and set off to follow her directions and when he reached the second door on the left he paused before knocking as he could hear her singing another Kayleigh Parkes number, so he briefly paused to listen to her dulcet tones, which ended abruptly in response to his knock.

“Oh hello” she said with surprise as she opened the door.

“Hi Alex” he said suddenly feeling rather foolish

“It’s nice to see you again” she said and then sensing his awkwardness she added “Do come in I’ve just made a pot of tea”

“That’s very kind” he said with relief

 

Seated in what she called her drawing room, where she had already placed a large tray on the glass topped table, she poured tea into china cups and said.

“I only drink tea on a Sunday afternoon, it reminds me of my mother, so it’s become a bit of a ritual”  

“That makes sense” he said

“So what brings you out this way on a Sunday, not more deliveries surely”

“In a manner of speaking yes” he said and reached into his jacket pocket

“I bought two tickets to see Kayleigh Parkes at the Waterside on Friday night, and I was hoping we could go together” he said

“How lovely” Alex replied “I’d love to”

“Just as friends” he said

“Yes of course” She said though she wanted to say if you only want to be my friend then let’s not bother but that would have been cutting off her nose to spite her face.

“Just friends” she agreed

 

On Friday night Nathan left home with Chloe’s teasing following him out the door and he drove over to Dulcet Green to pick up Alex who looked marvelous and smelt even better as her perfume intoxicated him all way to Purplemere in the car.

At Waterside they had brilliant seats and Kayleigh Parkes was amazing and they had a great evening and they both enjoyed it very much.

Then on the drive back to Oak Dale her perfume intoxicated him all over again especially when he leant over and kissed her goodnight on the cheek.

 

They hadn’t made any other plans but Nathan phoned Alex on Sunday morning and suggested they go for a drive in the country. 

But when they got to Mornington he took her up to the old airfield and gave her a driving lesson.

“But I don’t have provisional license” she protested

“It doesn’t matter these aren’t public roads yet” he said

The conversion from RAF Mornington to commercial estate had meant the laying of new road layout which as it wasn’t open to the public was perfect for someone to have their first lesson.

They spent an hour up at the field doing basic maneuvers which Alex took to very well but to aid her concentration she would stick her tongue out the side of her mouth and when he asked her to do something more difficult to disguise her nervousness she sang softly under her breath”  

 

When Nathan got back behind the wheel he drove her back to Dulcets Green and when he dropped her back at Oak Dale he gave her a driving license application form.

“As soon as you have a provisional license you can drive on proper roads”

“Thank you Nathan” she said and kissed him on the cheek.

“That’s what friends are for” he said “Same time next week”

 

Alex however couldn’t wait until next week and so on Wednesday she phoned Nathan and invited him to the pictures.

“Yes of course” he said “Just as friends”

On the following Sunday they went out for another driving lesson because that’s what friends do.

Then Nathan got back behind the wheel and drove her back to Oak Dale and she invited him in for tea.

 

The Wednesday after that, it was Nathans turn to invite her out, this time to the theatre in Finchbottom and they went “just as friends” and on the last Sunday before Christmas Alex had driving lesson number three.

However this time he didn’t drive her back to Dulcets green instead when he drove into Mornington he parked outside number 8.

“More surprise’s?” she said

“This is where we live” he said “I’d like you to meet Chloe”

“I’d love to” Alex said

They got out of the car and walked to the front door and as he unlocked it and called

“Chloe, we have a visitor”

He then stepped aside and let Alex go in first.

Chloe was in the kitchen having just finished the washing up and was filled with dread when she heard the word visitor.

“That’s ruined my afternoon” she muttered to herself imagining the visitor to be one of the Addison clan come to Mornington to check up on them.

She didn’t have a lot of time for the Addison’s after the way they treated her dad during his breakdown so as far as she was concerned they weren’t welcome.

But for her dads sake she dried her hands, took a deep breath and put on her best smile and then stepped into the hall.

 

When Chloe emerged from the kitchen it wasn’t to be greeted by one of the Addison’s at all it was a small blonde haired woman.

“Alex I would like you to meet my daughter Chloe” Nathan said

“I’m so please to meet you” Alex said “I’ve heard a lot about you Chloe”

“Likewise” Chloe said and kissed her on both cheeks before steering her into the lounge “Go in the lounge and dad will make a drink”

And to her father she gave the thumbs up to show her approval.

He didn’t rush with the drinks he knew that they would do a far better job of introducing each other than he could manage.

When he did join them they were laughing about something they were not prepared to share with him.

 

As soon as he walked back through the door after he had taken Alex home Chloe said

“She is really lovely dad”

“Yes she is” he agreed “and she’s a good friend”

“Pah” Chloe exclaimed and walked away “Friends indeed”

“What’s that supposed to mean” he asked following her

“She’s lovely Dad” she said “and she really likes you”

“And you wouldn’t mind if we were more than friends?”

“Why would I mind?” she asked “and I’ll tell you something else Mum wouldn’t either”

 

Then two days before Christmas it was Nathans turn to do the shop deliveries and one of his first drops was at Oak Dale.

It was snowing as he pulled up by the kitchen door and as he got out of the van the door opened and Alex stepped out wearing her overcoat.   

“Hi Nathan” she said

“Don’t come out it’s very cold, I’ll bring everything in” said Nathan

“I’ve booked a table for us tonight at The Runcible Spoon in Purplemere, it’s supposed to be the bee’s knees” she said

“What just two friends going out for dinner?” he asked

“Exactly” she replied

“Then I don’t want to” Nathan said flatly

“What?” she said with alarm

“I do want to go to dinner you” he explained “but I don’t want us to go as friends”

“You don’t?”

“No I don’t” he confirmed

“Why?”

“Because of the way you stick your tongue out when you concentrate, the way you sing beneath your breath in the car when your nervous, the sound of the beautiful dulcet tones of your singing when you think no one’s listening, your joyous laugh, your smile, your good and kind heart, all of these thing I want to enjoy but not just as your friend, that’s why I don’t want us to be just friends” he said and moved closer to her, “I want more than that,

I want so much more”

“So do I” Alex agreed looking up at him very childlike with snowflakes settling on her face.

“And now I want to kiss you” he said “but not like a friend”

“Ok” she responded, and that was how they shared their first kiss in Oak Dales car park with the snow falling gently.

 

After he had unloaded the groceries he got back in the van and wound down the window then Alex leant in and kissed him again.

“Let’s do the Runcible Spoon another night” she said “I suddenly fancy a quiet night in”

“I’ll see you at 8 then” he replied