Six months had passed
since Francine Delise and Iain Akhurst made love in his room at the Seaview
Hotel in Sharpington and two days short of six months since she said she wasn’t
sure that they could be together.
Not that she didn’t
love him or enjoy being with him, and it was fairly obvious on the evidence of
the weekend in June that it wasn’t because she didn’t enjoy making love with him.
Nor did she think it
was a mistake, a moment of madness or because she had drunk too much.
“I don’t regret it for
a second” she said as they lay entwined beneath the duvet
“I just have doubts”
Francine wasn’t sure
if she could or should give over her heart, soul and life to a man 12 years older
than herself.
Iain couldn’t deny
that he was disappointed and he wasn’t altogether happy about it but he wasn’t
angry with her in fact he agreed with her up to a point, and he wanted her to
be as sure as he was.
After all he had no
words to convince a 29 year old woman to give her life to a man the wrong side
of 40 and nor would he have wished to have used them if they were in his
possession.
“I love you Iain but I
just have to be certain sure” she said the moment before she drove away.
It was heart-breaking
to watch her drive away because Iain had no such doubts.
For him that first
night together was the blissful culmination of eight years of hope and desire.
Not just the love
making, which he thought was wonderful, but to hear his declaration of love
returned in word and delicious deed.
It had been pretty
much love at first sight for him, but then she was a beautiful sight to behold.
For her it was a more
gradual falling and one that she desperately fought against tooth and claw
whereas Iain simply surrendered to her.
Even before their
chance meeting at the Seaview Hotel, Francine had agreed to take a six month
secondment in Sharpington where she could be close to her sister and the twins
so she suggested they take that time to think.
And in that time she
would either get over him or know for certain sure he was the one.
While she was away he
convinced himself almost on a daily basis that it was over, and rightly so he
thought at times.
If the worst came to
the worst he consoled himself with the thought that he would always have the
memory of that wonderful weekend when his love for her was finally validated.
Though in his darkest
moments he did question if it was indeed a moment of madness that brought the
gorgeous young Francine to his bed.
Though he was glad for
that madness if that’s what it was.
But if Francine did
resolve that it was a mistake and that it was over he would at least have the
memory of that wonderful weekend to sustain him forever.
He preferred to think
that it was fate that brought them together on that wonderful weekend and not
an error of judgement.
He would have liked to
have exchanged the occasional text or email with her but Francine had asked for
total separation.
As a result all he
could do was throw himself headlong into his work totally and fill his every
waking moment with thoughts of anything and everything that wasn’t her.
Impossible of course
but if in the unlikely event that he could exclude her from his thoughts for a
single second he couldn’t stop her invading his dreams.
When he slept he dared
to dream, so in the small hours of the sleepless night he resorted to the only
thing that prevented him from being driven insane.
He wrote in a diary,
which he called a dream diary, it was where he wrote every detail, every
thought that filled his troubled sleep on a nightly basis, thoughts of love for
the girl of his dreams.
The closer the end of
the six months got the more intense the dreams became and evermore vivid with
each passing day.
It was the day before
Christmas Eve when he got the long awaited phone call, so he took a deep breath
and hit the button.
“Hello, Iain Akhurst” he
said
“Hey Iain” she said
“Francine?” he asked
“God it’s good to hear your voice”
“Ditto” Francine
replied “Where are you?”
“I’m in Abbotsford” he
replied “Are you still at your sisters in Sharpington?”
“Yes and No” she
replied enigmatically
“I’m at the Hotel, the
Seaview”
“When are you back?”
he asked
“I don’t know yet”
“Oh” he responded
disappointedly
“Can you come down?”
Francine asked
“When?” he asked
“Tonight” she replied
“Sure, but I don’t
know what time I’ll get there”
“That’s ok but I want
to meet” Francine said
“Alright I’ll leave
now” he said “Have you made a decision?”
“Yes I have” she
replied
“And?” he enquired
trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice
“I don’t want to say
on the phone” she answered “I want to do it face to face”
“Ok” he said not
knowing if that meant it would be good or bad
“Come straight to the
Hotel” she said
“What time do you
think?” she asked
“Around eight” he replied
“I’ll leave a note at
reception in case you’re late”
“Ok, I’ll see you
tonight then” Iain said
“Ok, bye”
The journey out of
Abbottsford was an absolute mare and consequently he was significantly late and
it was nearly 10 o’clock when he drove onto the promenade at Sharpington-by-Sea.
It was a bit different
from when he was there last, back in June but it still made him smile as it
always did when he visited the traditional seaside resort.
Sharpington still
boasted a Victorian Pier, The Palladium ballroom, and of course the Sharpington
Fun Park which were considerably quieter than at the height of the summer.
He liked it because it
was like stepping back in time with the illuminations, crazy golf, and the amusement
arcades in fact all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside.
He parked the car and
walked briskly along the promenade and unlike his last visit he didn’t pause to
sit in the well maintained gardens and look out to sea or muse over all the
happy hours he spent in the Sharpington Fun Park, on the Rotor and the Wild
Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper.
He was in too much of
a hurry to reach the Seaview Hotel.
Since her phone call
his stomach had been in absolute knots and arriving in Sharpington late didn’t
untangle it in the least.
He wondered if she
would be sat at the bar surrounded by admirers or sat alone in a corner the
worse for drink and coiled to strike with venomous words on his tardiness.
He only hoped she was
still there and hadn’t got tired of waiting.
As he sat in the
pre-Christmas traffic he tried to ring her to warn her of his delay but his
phone died.
So he stood in the
foyer trying to summon up the courage to go further, he was so desperate to
know her answer but equally terrified of what it might be, yes or no.
“Yes” meaning she was
sure and she would give all of herself to him unreservedly
Or
“No” and they would
never be together.
He reran the earlier
conversation through his head and tried to read between the lines to find some
hidden meaning or some indication as to her decision.
He checked in the bar
and there was no sign of her
“Shit” he exclaimed
and unzipped his coat and walked up to the reception desk.
“Hi” he began “Do you
have a message for Iain Akhurst?”
“I’ll just check for
you Sir” the receptionist said
“Oh yes here we are”
she added and handed him an envelope
“Thank you” he said
and when and sat down to open it.
He slowly opened the
envelope and withdrew a sheet of note paper which he unfolded and read the few
lines
“What kept you? I
thought you were impatient for an answer,
I’ve gone up, use the
key, and I’ll see you when you get here”
Frankie x
“Well that was all
cheerful and light hearted” he thought to himself “but it still doesn’t tell me
anything”
So he tipped up the
envelope until the key card fell out and he saw it was for one of the posh
rooms on the top floor and walked towards the lift.
Iain slowly opened the
door and stepped inside.
“Hi Francine” he
called “I’m sorry I’m late the traffic was hell”
But there was no
answer.
He closed the door and
walked into the room and expected to find Francine asleep having got fed up of
waiting for him.
But it was just a
dimly lit little lounge area, which was empty.
Although hung on the
back of a chair he noticed a coat.
“She is here” he said
“But where?”
There were two doors
leading from the lounge so he opened the first one which proved to be the
bathroom, he hoped the other was to a bedroom and not an adjoining door to the
next room.
Then he questioned
whether or not she would even be in there, the fact that her coat was there
meant nothing she could just have left in a huff and forgotten it.
But then something
caught his eye, tied around the door handle he saw a black stocking.
“Well she wouldn’t
have gone without that” he said
Iain slipped off his
coat and threw it onto the armchair and walked towards the door and that was
when he noticed something else attached to the stocking, it was a gift tag.
He opened it and read
the words inside
“Happy Christmas Iain
All my love
Francine”
And beneath her
signature there were three letters
“PTO”
And when he turned the
tag over there was only one word
“Yes”
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