Shallowfield sat on the southern edge of
the Finchbottom Vale and was bordered on the other side by the Dancingdean
forest and the town’s fortunes had always relied largely upon forestry and
agriculture for its survival.
In the post war years with rationing and a
shortage of work a lot of people moved away from the area and it only just
survived and the community around Teardrop Lake fared even worse.
Only a few of the houses around the Lake
were thriving, a lot of the houses had been rented out and those that hadn’t were
in a poor state of repair, some too such an extent they were little more than
ruins.
But by the 70s however things were
beginning to change, thanks mainly to tourism as a result of an increase in
leisure time.
This trend was reflected by the fact that the
previously derelict Shallowfield Lodge, which had been inherited by a young
couple from Lincolnshire, Rob and Sheryl Brown, was being turned into a Hotel.
From then on Shallowfield went from
strength to strength which was echoed by the fortunes of the Claremont Hotel.
It was once the home of a wealthy Downshire
family but like so many similar great houses in the county it fell into disuse
as the fortunes of the owners suffered after the Great War.
It had had many reincarnations since then,
particularly in the years between the wars and had been used for many things
over the post war years but it wasn’t until the 60s that it became The Claremont Hotel.
However things had got tough in the Hotel
trade with the success of Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express and so places like
the Claremont needed to offer something extra to attract the guests.
In the early summer a new manager was
appointed, Matthew Millward, and he was an instant hit with the locals
because
he was young, tall, dark and handsome, physically fit, well-toned and had a
reputation as a fair minded guy, which had very much preceded him.
He was 28 years old and his father owned the Millward Manor chain of
hotels and he was grooming him to one day take over the reins of his worldwide
hotel empire, the problem was that Matt had no head for business and he felt
that he was more of an artistic soul.
Which could possibly have been ignored but for the fact that he had
broken off his engagement with the granddaughter of his father’s oldest friend.
However that in itself wasn’t what had him exiled, it was Elaine’s
attempted suicide, not that his action had caused her mental meltdown, it was
rather more her mental instability being the deciding factor that forced him to
end the engagement.
So it was decided to send Matt to the Claremont Hotel where he could do
no real harm until the dust settled.
When he first found out he was being sent
to Shallowfield, Matt was very unhappy, he was a city boy, born and bred, and
he viewed being sent to the country as purgatory, but no one was more surprised
than he was when he found that he actually loved it, it was a beautiful place,
it was quiet and the air was clean and he felt immediately at home.
He had also fallen head of heels in love
with Sarah Poole, the Hospitality Manager, in spite of the fact he had pledged
not to get romantically entangled with anyone, but all his resolve evaporated
after she kissed him out of the blue, but then she ran away.
Sarah Poole was five foot eight with short
red hair, in a pixie cut, mesmerizing green eyes and a cute figure with curves
in all the right places and long slender legs.
She was 26 years old and wasn’t looking for
a relationship either because she was married, albeit to an alcoholic who
hadn’t had shown her any marital attention for two years but she was still
married to him nonetheless.
Sarah had worked at the hotel since she
left school, five years in housekeeping, reaching deputy manager, and five more
in hospitality, and for two of those she was Manager and she loved her job, and
she also loved Matthew Millward.
But she was a married woman and so she told
herself in no uncertain terms that she couldn’t have him, and she decided the
best way to ensure that nothing happened between them was to avoid him.
And that worked very well for the first few
days, however fate took a hand when an angry guest had a problem that demanded
the presence of both of them.
As suspected the guest had somewhat
overdramatised the situation and what he had suspected was a water leak, turned
out to have been caused by him knocking his glass of water off his night stand
while he was sleeping.
With a very embarrassed guest skilfully
placated by Sarah the pair of them went down the fire escape stairs.
“Well done” he said and a moment later
added “and you look very nice today by the way”
“You shouldn’t say things like that” she
said “it might be misconstrued”
“In what way?” he asked
“It could be seen as sexual harassment” she
asked
“Not at all, I’m merely complimenting a
co-worker on her appearance” he said
“But it might be seen in a different light”
she pointed out in a flirtatious way
“Well I can give an example of sexual
harassment if you like” Matthew said
“Ok I’m here to learn” she said so Matthew
pushed her into the corner of the stairwell and kissed her and when he had
finished he said
“That would be considered a mild example”
“Wow” she said “can I have another
example?”
Matthew obliged her request but they both
wanted more than stolen kisses in a stairwell but they also knew it couldn’t
happen.
