Neil
Etherington was an average man approaching his thirtieth birthday not that he
was a bad looking man, he wasn’t, but he wasn’t stunning, sexy or buff, he was
strictly middling but his girlfriend
Samantha
Barraclough was anything but, she was an absolute beauty three years younger,
elegant, daintily petite, intelligent, funny, sexy and with a perfectly
beautiful angelic voice, pure Carrington Chase educated perfection, Carrington
Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought
it was the other way around, and it was a voice that made Charlotte Green sound
common.
He pinched
himself at the start of everyday, especially the ones on which he woke up
beside her, just to check he wasn’t dreaming.
Because the
good fortune that brought Samantha into his life was the type of thing that
didn’t happen to him, and everyone who witnessed them together unanimously
agreed that he was punching well above his weight.
They first
encountered each other at a business meeting at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel, where
she was a potential new client and he was trying to win a new account, but the
meeting was unresolved as it was love at first sight.
Neil worked
for a firm of architects called New Horizons whose head office was in
Sharpington by Sea while Samantha Barraclough was approaching her 28th birthday
and was a project consultant for the family business, Barraclough Ventures and
the project that Samantha’s company was heading up was the regeneration of the
former Industrial Power House of the county, Northchapel.
The love
that bloomed between Samantha Barraclough and Neil Etherington in Abbottsford
in June went from strength to strength
However
things had not been all plain sailing since they had met, though not between
the two of them they were completely simpatico.
The
problems stemmed from a different quarter entirely and from those who should
have been the most delighted for them, their close friends and family.
Neil and
Samantha were the victims of snobbery, inverted and otherwise.
Her family
thought she had set her sights to low while his nearest and dearest believed he
had set his too high.
Her friends
thought he was common while his thought she was a snob.
Only their
closest friends Jonathon Hardman and Isabelle Decoene stuck by them.
So as a
result they had found it difficult to fit inside each other’s worlds, but the
couple believed that love will out and Samantha drew a line under the
difficulties when she said
“If you
can’t live in my world and I can’t live in yours we shall just have to make a world
of our own”
If he
hadn’t been in love with her already he certainly would have been after that
speech
As part of
“making a world of their own” and to increase the time they got to spend with
each other they decided to plan a holiday together.
Obviously
there were certain stipulations, it had to be for at least two weeks, they had
to go somewhere they were unlikely to run into any of their friends and ideally
it had to be somewhere or something they had never been or done before and Neil
left it to Sam to make the arrangements because he knew she would come up
trumps.
Samantha
gave him no indication of what she had planned, where they were going or what
they were doing but Neil didn’t mind in the slightest as long as he was with
her.
It was a
pleasant morning as Neil Etherington stood waiting outside his Brocklington
cottage for Samantha to arrive and he looked at the sky and hoped it would stay
fine.
It was
warmer than it had been over the previous week, with the skies a mainly blue
expanse, broken only by the occasional passing cloud of fluffy white.
And it was
when he was surveying the sky that she appeared in typical Samantha style on
time to the minute and was looking as lovely as the weather, and she was immaculately
turned out as usual.
She was
wearing a large peaked white cap with her blonde hair scraped into a ponytail
sticking out the back.
The rest of
her outfit was all matching, predominately white with jade trim, Polo shirt,
short flared skirt and ankle socks.
Her
ensemble was then finished off with white pumps.
“Neil
darling” she said as she launched herself at him for a kiss.
“I’m a bit
excited”
“Good I
like it when you’re excited” he said and she gave him a look
“You look
really gorgeous”
“I look
gorgeous do I?” she said and kissed him
“God yes”
he replied
“That’s
just goes to show what wonderful taste you have” She said smugly
Samantha
opened the boot so he could throw his bag in and as she rearranged the boot to
accommodate it he got a lingering look at the girl he loved so much and as she
was bent over he gave her a playful slap.
“You can
stop that Neil” she chastised “you can spank me when we get there”
“Well the
sooner we get going then the better” he retorted
“Get in the
car then” she snapped
“So you
want to be punished then” he said
“Just get
in the car,” she ordered and smiled, so he did what she said and got in the car
and buckled up tight as he knew it was going to be a white-knuckle ride.
Samantha
raced out of the side road and headed off away from the village and they sped
off across the Vale.
He had no
idea where they were headed and every time he thought he knew, she sped past
the turning.
It was when
they were on the main Abbottsford road when he had convinced himself that that
was their destination when Samantha indicated left and turned off into the
country where she race along narrow lanes that he was unfamiliar with and they
drove for about 45 nerve-jangling minutes until she suddenly turned off into a
little car park by the canal and came sharply to a halt.
“We have
arrived,” she said
“Where are
we?” he asked genuinely not knowing where the hell they were.
Where they
were precisely was in a carpark beside The Downshire Navigation, part of the
canal network which ran between Nettlefield in the north, down through Millmoor
and the Oakhams to Northchapel, Abbeyvale and then to its most southerly point,
Abbottsford, where it again headed north, this time to Childean, Purplemere and
Finchbottom where it joined the River Finch.
“Come on”
she instructed and got out the car and opened the boot.
“But where
are we?” he asked again
“Shut up
and grab the bags” she retorted, and again he did as he was told but they only
went about 20 yards along the canal bank before she climbed aboard a narrow
boat.
“Hey what
are you doing?” he said with alarm and looking around to see if anyone was
looking.
“Don’t
panic” Samantha said mockingly as she picked up a plant pot and recovered a key
that was hidden underneath it.
“This is
our boat, come on” she said brandishing the key like a trophy.
“Oh, ok” he
said and climbed aboard.
By the time
he’d climbed down the companionway with the bags and closed the hatch behind
him Samantha was already unpacking the bags that she carried aboard.
“I think I
should say right from the outset, as this is our first holiday together, that
on this trip I am the captain so don’t get any ideas” she said and laughed
“So what am
I then, your first mate?” He asked
“No you’re
the cabin boy” she replied and completely disitergrated into laughter at her
clever joke
“Well I
have just one thing to say to you” he said
“Whats
that?” she asked between giggles
“Mutiny” he
said and propelled her along the cabin to the sleeping compartment with her
giggling all the way.
The barge
was moored on a stretch of cut between Abbottsford and Applesford, the latter
being a quaint country village, which would at a later date have great
significance in their lives.
And for the
next week they poodled along the canal enjoying eachother and the stunning
downshire scenery, by which time they had reached the Northeast corner of the
Finchbottom Vale where they turned around and headed back the way they came.
On the
journey back to Applesford Samantha said
“I’ve
really enjoyed our holiday”
“Me too”
“I’ve
enjoyed being with you all the time” Sam said
“It’s been
great hasn’t it?” he agreed
“I wish we
could be together all the time” she mused
“You as
well?” He asked
“You mean
that’s what you want?” She queried and he nodded
“So you
want us to live together?”
“I do” he
said
“In Tipton
or in Brocklington?” she asked
Her house
was up in Tipton, although she was rarely in it as she spent more time living
in hotels than she did her house so it had never felt like home to her, but she
thought it might if she had someone to share it with but Neil had a nice
cottage in Brocklington and that would also be lovely so when he replied.
“Neither”
To her
question, she was taken aback.
“Neither?”
she asked
“I think we
should buy somewhere new, a blank canvas, somewhere that will be ours and not
yours or mine” he replied and a she exclaimed
“That’s
perfect, that’s brilliant, why didn’t I think of that” she said and she hugged
him tightly and said
“You’re
perfect and I really love you”
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