August
Monica Gipki
was 26 years old and worked in the costume department at the Purplemere Studios
for eight years.
It was her
first job after she finished college and she had been happy there, mostly.
But while she
was there, she had been seeing a design director, Scott Newman, he seemed nice
at first, but ultimately, she realized it wasn’t working, so after a couple of
months, she ended it.
However, when
it ended, Scott wouldn’t accept it and he wouldn’t stop pestering her, but she
remained resolute, which was when he turned nasty and made her life a misery.
So, she chose
the only course of action left open to her and resigned, that enraged him even
more and he pledged that she would never work in the industry again.
“I will have
you blacklisted” he screamed
Fortunately,
she had been approached several times by the Heartstone Theatre in Pipershaven.
As luck would
have it her cousin George was the village Police Sergeant, in Pepperstock
Green, so she was able to stay with his family for a couple of months at the
Police House while she found her feet and she knew that the job was going to
work out.
She lived with
her brother Morgan in Purplemere while she was working at the Studios, and when
she moved to Pepperstock Green she left a lot of her stuff there as she didn’t
want to burn her bridges completely.
They were both
from Wales originally and moved to Downshire together, and they had lived
together in his flat for 7 years.
In the middle
of July Monica started working at the Theatre and was welcomed with open arms
as they had been trying to poach her from Purplemere for two years.
She was also
introduced to the Town’s nightlife by her co-workers, and she immediately
turned heads.
Because she was
a pretty girl, tall and slim with lovely corn coloured hair, a fair complexion
and a lovely smile, she soon had the young men dancing attendance on her.
But she had
sworn off men for the duration, so she gave them no encouragement.
But two of her
admirers were not so easily discouraged and they were two friends who worked
for Pipershaven Council, and they not only shared an attraction to Monica they
also shared a flat in Town.
The two guys in
question were William Stuart and Morgan Collier and they were both personable
enough in their way but were as different from each other as chalk and cheese.
William was the
younger man by a year, tall and dark with classic good looks, whereas Morgan
was short, stocky with close cropped orange hair and despite her pledge Monica
really liked them.
But despite the
fact that she liked them, they were men, and she had played that game before
and lost so she was in no mood to repeat past mistakes.
However, her
reservations notwithstanding, she did weaken after a month of persistent
pursuit and went out on a few dates with them, cinema, coffee, a drink or a
pizza, but strictly as companions, nothing else, but without her meaning for it
to happen a fondness developed between them.
They were all
of a similar age and even to the casual observer there appeared to be a bit of
a love triangle forming, and as time went on Monica was enjoying the attention
and as a result, she was reluctant to upset the status quo, but in the end, it
wasn’t her decision.
It happened in
mid-August when William overheard his love rival Morgan talking to his sister
at the house they shared, where he was boasting about securing a date with
Monica and how he was going all out to win her affections once and for all, a
lavish restaurant, red roses and handmade chocolates.
“She can’t
possibly say no” he said smugly
“We’ll see
about that” William said to himself.
The first thing
he did was to make a date with Monica for the Bank Holiday Weekend, and
secondly, he went to see another friend, who worked as a carpenter, to cadge an
off cut of soft wood for a little project.
Working on wood
carving had always been a hobby of his but now he had a project that had to be
completed in less than two weeks.
On the day of
the big date Stuart picked Monica up from the Police House.
“So where are
we going?” she asked as she closed the passenger door
“You’ll have to
wait and see” he replied and accelerated away.
An hour later
he pulled into an empty parking space on the promenade at Sharpington-By-Sea
“The seaside?”
she asked
“Disappointed?”
he countered
“No, not at
all, I love the seaside, but I’ve never been here before”
“Then you are
in for a real treat”
August Bank
Holiday weekend was a busy time to see Sharpington, but it was at its best.
The first place
he took her to was Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour on Sharpington Pier.
“Ice cream!!”
she exclaimed
“It’s not just
ice cream, its Bizzoni’s ice cream” he explained “And no visit to Sharpington
is complete without one”
“I don’t need
asking twice she retorted”
They were walked through the gates and
Monica put her arm through his and she felt comfortable, because William was a
tall man, six feet four in fact, Monica was tall herself, so it made a nice
change to walk arm in arm with a man who was taller than her and it made her
feel very feminine.
When they got
to the Fun Park he went to the kiosk to buy a shed load of tokens, because he
didn’t know how many rides it might take to do what he needed to do.
As he queued
for the tickets Monica looked on, and he turned around and smiled and she
surprised herself when she said to herself
“I think he’s
the one”
When he
rejoined her, they went deeper inside the park and ambled around aimlessly
until he said
“Let’s go on
the Tunnel of Love”
“Oh ok” she
agreed
There was a bit
of a queue as the ride was clearly still popular even if it was a bit
old-fashioned for the 21st century.
When their turn
came, they got in the next empty boat and it set off, it was an altogether
slower ride than anything else in the park but that suited him.
“I’ve got you a
present” he said as he fished in his pocket
“Why?” She
asked suspiciously “What’s the occasion?”
“Does there
need to be one?”
“No”
“Then enjoy!”
He said and held a small, gift-wrapped package in his hand.
“What’s this?”
“Open it and
find out” he suggested but her fingers wouldn’t work because she was
overwhelmed, she had never felt such romantic feelings.
When she
managed to gain control of her digits and tear the paper to reveal the contents
of the package, she audibly gasped
“It’s a love
spoon” she whispered
A Welsh love
spoon was traditionally given as a gift to woman and was ideally hand carved by
the suitor, but in the contemporary age they are normally bought commercially.
“It’s
beautiful” Monica said, “where on earth did you find it?”
“I made it”
“You made it?”
she asked in disbelief “For me”
The romantic
feelings that she had felt previously, multiplied exponentially as she held the
hand carved spoon in her hands.
She only took
her eyes away from it long enough to look at the man who had made her feel so
special.
Her eyes had
only just returned to the spoon as the boat emerged into the night air.
“Let’s go
around again,” she pleaded “Twice”
So, he handed
over two more tokens to the operator and their boat passed through the entrance
again and the moment the door closed behind them Monica kissed him, and they
were still kissing when they emerged into the sunlight again and for most of
the next circuit.
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