Mornington-By-Mere – (14) I Want You Back

 

Twenty-three-year-old Carina Crockford lived at number 5, The Close, in Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and three younger siblings.

She was small, a smidge over five foot, with delicate features and short strawberry blonde hair and a heart as big as a house and felt blessed to have 4 particularly good and longstanding friends.

 

Apart from the fact they all lived in Mornington and were all 23 years old, the five girls also went to Abbottsford University together.

And it was while they were at University that Lisa Kincaid-Smith, Megan Murray, Carina Crockford and twin sisters Cordelia and Corliss St George performed as the Jackson 5 for the first time.

It was during rag week on their first week when they donned gold lame flares and black wigs and sang “I want you back” and from that moment it became their party piece and one that had been repeated on many occasions since.

So when they signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday, a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year, much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route whilst in fancy dress, it was a forgone conclusion who they would dress up as.

Sharpington-by-Sea was a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the tame compared to a 21^st century roller coaster but still fun.

But on the August Bank Holiday Monday it wasn’t the Fun Park people were interested in.

It was the parade that attracted people from all over Downshire and beyond and Carina had an idea to make their Jackson 5 homage even better by having all the girls professionally made up to match Megan Murray’s skin colour which was dark caramel due to her mixed race heritage.

However much to her consternation her suggestion wasn’t greeted with universal approval.

That was mainly due to the fact that the St George girls were very white with pale skin and blue eyes and Lisa was a proper ginger who actually ended up paler when she went out in the sun.

Although their concerns centred more on not wishing to look ridiculous rather than the fear of any offence they might cause.

 

However their fears were soon put at ease when Carina explained what she had in mind. 

Since leaving University Carina Crockford had worked in the makeup department at the Purplemere Studio’s and it was there where she had charge of a group of trainee make-up artists and among them were Karen Cooper and Ivana Holubova, and it was they who Carina had persuaded to make the girls up.

Also she had co-opted the help of Sue Moss and Lisa Mendez from the costume department.

As a result the girls reluctantly agreed to go along with it but reserved judgement on whether they would allow themselves to be seen in public made up and costumed.

 

As it turned out the makeup and costumes were so good that on the day of the parade no one realised that only one of the Jackson 5 was actually black.

It was only at the very end of the day as they were getting into the car when Lisa’s wig fell off to reveal her ginger hair that a member of the public realised something was amiss.

There was however no public outcry though they got a mention in the Sharpington Courier and there was talk of a Police investigation but nothing came of it and the tale of the Jackson 5 passed into modern folklore.

 

Carina Crockford had always been a contented person and altogether happy with her lot and she very much enjoyed her job. 

Though not a wealthy person, by any measurement, she had everything she wanted and all was well in her world, well for the most part anyway.

There was just the small inconvenience of a broken heart and it was that fact which determined her tremendous work ethic.

She had a job that she loved at the Film Studios, a family that she loved to pieces and the most precious friendships.

She had everything a young woman of 23 could want but she did not have the man she loved. 

Carina could have had someone else after all she was not short of offers but she wouldn’t settle for second best.

But despite that she was content, that was, until a few weeks after her twenty fourth birthday when she saw a face from the past.

 

It was a glorious Sunday morning in May and she was on her way to St Mary’s Church in Shallowfield.

She was not wholly unfamiliar with the inside of a church but it was not somewhere she had been as often as she should have.

Though on that particular morning she had a more pressing need to be there other than to atone for the neglect of her spiritual wellbeing.

On that morning she was going to the christening of her Cousin Maya’s baby girl Poppy and she was going to be her godmother.

 

Her Cousin Maya was three years older than Carina but they had always been close.

The christening was a big deal as Poppy was the first baby to be born to Carina’s generation of the family and now the baby was about to be christened.

 

But as she drove through the picturesque Downshire countryside she was running late.

It was as she drove to the church, preoccupied by the thoughts of pride at her impending godmother hood and mild panic at her tardiness, that fate took a hand, and threatened to change her life forever.

 

Having caught sight of Maya on the steps of St Mary’s Church she gave a wave as she turned into Church Lane and was faced with a Jay walker in the road which brought her rudely to her senses and she gave a loud blast of the car horn.

The man jumped out of the way and reached the safety of the footpath and braced himself against the wall.

She had come so close to hitting him that she expected the figure to launch a tirade of abuse at her.

So she turned to face the pedestrian and delivered a disarming smile and mouthed the word “sorry”.

Which was when she got her first proper look at her near miss and quickly realised it was someone she knew and she found herself wishing that she had run the bastard down.

 

She turned again to look at Maya and her husband Mark watching from the Church steps and could see them laughing, they obviously thought it was highly amusing that she had nearly turned some unsuspecting pedestrian into road kill.

She gave them a withering look and then returned her attention back to the survivor of her vehicular assassination attempt but he had gone and that was that, or so she thought and she went and parked the car.

 

It was at the end of the main service at St Mary’s when the Reverend Shenton began the Baptism of Carina’s goddaughter Poppy Crockford into the faith that she saw him again, Barry Smart, the man she had nearly run over, the man who was Dick Dastardly to her Penelope Pitstop.

The tall ruggedly handsome, brunette with the most  beautiful eyes was a close friend of Mark’s and was also to be a Godparent to Poppy, which she thought was fair enough, but that didn’t mean she was pleased to see him.

She was undoubtedly proud be Godmother but she didn’t really follow proceedings as closely as she should have as her eyes were constantly drawn to the good looking man on the other side of the font who she very nearly married.

But the fact that he was there spoiling her special day wasn’t the worst thing to happen that day because when he noticed her watching him, he smiled at her which made her feel very unchristian. 

 

At the end of the christening, still smiling, he made a move towards her.

Carina was in no mood to have her day spoilt any more than it already had been so she slipped away into the crowd and lost herself in the melee as everyone decanted from the Church.

As she drove the short distance from St Mary’s Church to her Aunt’s house in Forestdean she was full of trepidation that Barry might also be there. 

She parked on the street outside the Crockford’s house and went in.

“Hey Carrie” Maya said as she entered the kitchen “you got here safely then?”

“Very funny” she countered

“Well when I say “safely” I can’t speak for the poor pedestrian’s” She said and roared with laughter.

“Shut up and give me a drink” she replied

“Beer or wine?” Maya asked

“Beer please” She replied and her cousin went to the fridge and took out a bottle, opened it and handed it to her.

“Thanks” she said “have you got a glass?”

Carina didn’t like drinking from the bottle, she couldn’t stand it, and it was a bit of a joke within the family but she thought it was common.

“You are so old” Maya said laughing

“I just have standards” she retorted pompously “Where’s Mark?”

“He’s in the lounge showing Gran the video” She replied.

Gran was 91 and quite frail and wasn’t well enough to attend the Christening so the ceremony was videoed by Maya’s brother Benny and it was being played back for her so she would feel included in proceeding.   

“You should go and watch it yourself” she added “as you missed most of it as you were giving Barry the evil eye for the duration”

“I was not” she retorted

“Yes you were” Maya insisted

“I think you’re imagining it” she answered as she left the kitchen.

“I think you’re deflecting” Maya shouted after her.

She was about to turn around and unleash a witty retort in response but she was suddenly knocked sideways into the wall slopping her drink down her skirt.

 “Sorry” he said “I wasn’t looking where I was going”

Carina turned around to face her assailant

“That’s…” she began and that was all she could say as he gazed upon the smiling face of her former fiancé.

“Oh it’s you” she said disappointed “I should have known”

“Oh don’t be like that Carrie” he said

 

Barry and Carina stood there in the hall staring at each other for goodness knows how long and would have continued to stare had Maya not broken the silence.

“This is becoming a bit of a habit” She said as she walked past them and the spell was broken and they drifted away.

 

They met while at University, at a house party, and no sooner had the introductions been completed and they were smitten.

And from the first moment they met they brought something into their world that they hadn’t even noticed they didn’t have, a perfect love.

He was immediately besotted with the diminutive little redheaded young woman with the immense personality and a heart as big as the moon and she was captivated by his good looks and good nature in equal measure.

They became the perfect couple, the envy of their friends, and their relationship became the benchmark against which all others aspired to and no one was at all surprised when they became engaged.

They planned to marry in the year after graduation and indeed plans were well advanced, when quite out of the blue Barry announced he had been offered a research post in America.

When Carina made it clear she did not want to cross the pond it forced him to choose between her and the job and he chose the latter and broke her heart. 

But he was back and so were the same feelings and both of those things made her angry.

 

She spent the next hour trying to avoid him but that just seemed to make her angrier so eventually she decided to grasp the nettle and cornered him in the garden.

“Why are you here?” she asked

“I’m here for the same reason as you” he replied “the christening”

“That’s not what I mean, as well you know” she snapped “why are you not in America?”

“I came back” he said enigmatically

“That much I know already” She barked “Are you back for good?”

“Yes” he replied

“Why?” she asked suspiciously

“It didn’t work out” he replied

“In what way?”

“I made a mistake, a bad mistake” Barry said

“Really?” she retorted with derision

“Yes I made the wrong choice” he said “and I want you back”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, the cheek of the man, who the hell did he thing he was?

She was so angry, all the pain and hurt she had felt when he’d left came bubbling back to the surface.

“Is that it?” she asked disdainfully

““I want you back”, that’s the best you can do?”

“I’ve missed you” he said tamely

“So what am I supposed to say to that?” she barked

“Is that supposed to make me run into your arms? Am I supposed to just forget about the last two years?”

“Of course not” he replied “I know I did wrong”

“You chose a job over me, a bloody job” she said angrily “I loved you so much and I thought you loved me”

“I did, I do” he said meekly

“You are unbelievable, you waltz back into my life after two years and expect to pick up where you left off” She shouted

“No, but…”

“You broke my heart Barry” She said quietly and walked away.

 

“I want you back” he’d said

Barry’s words shocked her, because at the start of the day she had been quite content with her lot and had not felt her life suffered for the want of love, she had not craved it nor coveted it, she just thought it was something that was inflicted on other people and since Barry broke their engagement she had become immune to cupids arrow.

But once the words left his lips they touched her heart, and her feelings were revealed, but she couldn’t just roll over and concede to him like nothing had happened.

 

But she couldn’t deny the universe was clearly trying to tell her something, after all had it not been for the fact that she was late, something so very out of character for her, she would not have almost run him down and was it not fate that decreed they would both be Godparents to the same child.

However, fate or not she didn’t think he would ever have spoken those words to her again.

She had dreamt of such a thing many times but never believed it would ever happen.

But in the two years he had been away her heart had hardened and she wasn’t sure she wanted to put herself at risk again so she decided she would just ignore him and pretend that the conversation in the garden had never taken place.

 

Having made the pledge to ignore him it was made very difficult to keep as Barry clearly had different ideas.

It began with phone calls from an unknown mobile, although they were easy enough to deal with as she just blocked the number.

Then came emails, again easily dealt with by marking them as spam and deleting them unread.

She was left to hazard a guess that it was her cousin Maya that had provided her phone number and email address, clearly showing her elegance.

 

After that she thought he would get bored but then he upped his game.

It began on Friday morning with a delivery of flowers from Bizzie Lizzies to the Purplemere Studios.

They went straight in the bin, so did the ones received at home on Saturday morning, much to her mother’s disgust.

Sunday she was flower free, but every day the next week a bouquet was delivered and immediately binned.

After Friday’s delivery she sent him a text message telling him to stop sending flowers.

On Saturday morning a smiling Michelle Norman knocked on the door at her Mornington home and delivered another one.

After that one was consigned to the wheelie bin she emailed him and told him to stop wasting his money and his time, she was not interested.

 

Her emailed appeal went unheard as once again a bouquet was delivered to the Purplemere Studios.

She phoned Bizzie Lizzies head office and asked them not to deliver anymore flowers from him but as they explained if they stopped his deliveries he would simply use another florist.

For a split second she even considered reporting him to the police but she didn’t for two reasons, firstly because she didn’t think it was actually a crime and secondly she rather admired his commitment and she even stopped throwing them in the bin.

Then on the Thursday of the third week after the christening she received no bouquet and she found that she was a little disappointed nor did one arrived at the studios on Friday.

 

On Saturday she found herself looking out of her bedroom window for Michelle Norman’s liveried van but there was no sign all morning but at a few minutes after midday the postman knocked at the door with a parcel and a letter.

The parcel contained a single red rose and the letter had a hand written envelope in a familiar hand.

 

The rose stood in a vase which sat on her bedside table and her heart was pounding in her chest as she sat on the bed in her room and opened the letter.

Carina withdrew the folded sheets from inside and unfolded the six pages.

It began “Dearest Carrie” and ended “all my love forever, Barry” and every word in between brought another tear to the cascade.

By the time she had read it through for the third time she had no more tears left to shed and her eyes were as red as her hair.

 

Carina took a deep breath and keyed in his number.

Until the christening, just three weeks before, she had never imagined she would ever see him again let alone that he would ask her out, but ask her out he did and furthermore Carrie said yes.