How do I love thee?
Was Ms Browning’s question
Let me count the ways.
Was her suggestion
But how to begin
That list of criteria
Or to select one
phrase
To serve as a Panacea
Her answer was
perfection
The perfection such as
I desire
I love you as deep and
wide
And as high as my soul
can aspire
The Purplemere Film Studio’s was a large complex of production spaces
and studios that almost fell into disuse, but its fortunes were turned around
by Peter Lutchford the renowned film
director who had turned it into one of the premier film industry resources in
Europe.
The complex catered for every aspect of film production including set
design, costumes, sound and visual FX, in addition to the stages.
Some areas were in a security-controlled zone but there were still a
lot of others on the periphery and it was into the small staff car park of one
of the companies in a peripheral complex that Jed Anderson would park while he waited for his ex-wife Karen to leave
work.
Karen and Jed had divorced the year before, but it was a completely
amicable split because after eight years of marriage they both realised it
wasn’t really working.
In fact they carried on living under the same roof for nine months
until they sold the house and it wasn’t really very different to when they were
married, and it really should have been if they belonged together as a couple,
so they knew they had made the right decision.
But even after the divorce they were still very good friends which was
why he still picked her up from work.
Even after they stopped living under the same roof they still lived
within half a mile of each other and as the split was so amicable it made no
sense to abandon their long standing routine of travelling to and from work
together.
However everything changed one Monday night at the end of April, she
looked out of her office window just before she left and saw Jed was already
parked and Keith Clarke, the odious buildings manager was talking to him
through the car window and she could tell by his body language that he was
actually talking at him so she put a bit of a spurt on.
As she stepped out of the lift she passed the pompous little man who
was muttering to himself in a thick Scottish accent, he didn’t look happy she
thought as she walked down the steps to the car park.
She was going to ask what it was all about once she got in the car but
she got distracted by a song on the radio and he didn’t mention it so she
thought no more about it.
Until the next morning when she found out that Mr Clarke, who was the
de facto landlord, had made a complaint to the Facilities Manager, of the
company Karen worked for, Pioneer Productions, who were involved in many
aspects of film production.
Karen was very embarrassed when she was summoned to the office of Suzy
Ford, the Facilities Manager, to be told that her husband had verbally abused
the landlord, or at least his representative.
Karen was very embarrassed when she was summoned to the office of Suzy
Ford, the Facilities Manager, to be told that her husband had verbally abused
the landlord, or at least his representative.
“Ex-husband” she interjected
“What?” Ms Ford retorted
“Jed is my ex-husband” Karen explained to her
“But he still picks you up from work?” Suzy queried
“Yes” she replied
“Is he still carrying a torch for you?” The Facilities Manager asked
“No not at all” Karen replied “he’s just a very good man”
“I wish mine was” Suzy confided “the lousy bastard”
“Ah” Karen responded
“Anyway, Mr Clarke has alleged that your ex-husband was aggressive and
abusive” Suzy continued “Shouting and swearing at him”
“Nonsense” Karen said
“Excuse me?” replied the FM
“Jed has never raised his voice in anger to anyone in his life, and as
for swearing that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard”
“Well Mr Clarke says otherwise” Suzy said and handed her the email she
had received from Keith Clarke which included a transcript of the alleged
confrontation.
Immediately after the meeting Karen phoned Jed and she was not at all
happy and she told him that Keith Clarke had accused him of shouting at him and
swearing at him and as a result he was banned from picking her up in that car
park in future.
“I promise you that not once did I swear at him or even raise my
voice” he said “I may not have paid him the due deference that he was clearly
expecting but that was all, in fact if anything he was the aggressor”
“It’s alright I’m not mad at you, but I had to find out your side of
the story” Karen said “I didn’t think it sounded like you”
“I can’t believe he lied” Jed said
When Karen relayed her ex-husbands version of events to Ms Ford, the
Facilities Manager said
“I have heard that about him from other sources, but unfortunately
without proof that he has lied we have to obey the landlord’s instructions”
If Mr Clarkes intention had been to cause inconvenience to the man
that had shown him no respect, then he failed miserably.
The alternative road, Studio Approach that he subsequently had to pick
Karen up from was in fact better for her than the car park was, as it was
nearer the exit, she used to come out of in the evening so every cloud had a
silver lining.
Karen Anderson was thirty years old when her life began in earnest.
She was an attractive woman with shoulder
length brunette hair and green eyes and was a divorcee who lived alone since
the house she shared for more than eight years with her ex-husband Jed was sold
and they went their separate ways
And even though she
was living on her own her life still seemed to be on hold and she was unsure
how to change that and she gave it a lot of thought.
So perhaps it should
have come as no surprise that it was something beyond her control that actually
got her in gear.
It was Monday morning and the moment Karen walked into the office her
boss Bob Turner called her over.
“Karen! Just the
person” He said “My favourite person”
“What do you want
Bob?” she retorted
“What makes you think
I want something?” he said innocently
“Because you’re being
nice to me” she replied
“Ok fair enough” he
said “I need a favour”
“Ok what is it?”
“I need you to go over
to Finchbottom” he replied
“No not Finchbottom,
anywhere but Finchbottom” she said
“I wouldn’t ask if it
wasn’t urgent” he said
After 20 minutes of begging she reluctantly caved in and agreed to
deliver some old film stock that had been unearthed to a specialist film
restorer, Reel Times, Bob called them “cutting edge”
She had once lived in
Finchbottom in fact for quite a few years until her mid-teens when she was
still Karen Myles and she hadn’t been back since as it held bitter memories for
her.
Because it was where
she fell in love for the first time and where her heart was savagely broken.
They had been going
out together for two years and she was head over heels in love with Peter and
she thought he felt the same about her but she soon saw his true mettle.
It all came to a head
when her dad dropped the bombshell that they were moving to Abbeyvale because
the firm he worked for was relocating.
She was devastated by
the news and didn’t speak to her dad for three weeks but she thought everything
was alright between her and Peter.
When the time came for
the move they agreed to spend the whole of the previous day together and
planned to meet at the Mall as soon as it opened at 8am.
But on the actual day
she stood there by the door at the moment the doors opened but there was no
sign of Peter and she stood there until the clock on St Martha’s church struck
12.
She had stayed there
every second and she had tried phoning him and got no response so the moment
the last chime struck she went home fighting back the tears every step of the
way and when she reached her house she went straight to her room and cried for
the rest of the day.
She was inconsolable
and her mum tried her hardest
“It’s totally out of
character for him” She said “are you sure you got the time right?”
The suggestion that it
was her own fault just made her howl even louder so her mum left her to it and
her dad fared no better when he suggested he drive her over to his house.
In the end they just
had to leave her to cry herself to sleep.
The next morning she
was much recovered but no one ever mentioned his name again.
Although she often
thought of him and wondered why he had been so cruel.
The favour for Bob Turner turned out to be a bit more complicated than
just dropping off a few cans of film, she was also tasked with seeing the
restoration through to fruition and she was required to meet with the chief
technician and discuss not just the restoration of the film she was carrying
but also a large number of other films found in the vaults, which would be a
potentially big deal for Reel Times.
As her ex-husband dropped her off to work in the morning she didn’t
have and transport so she got a cab to the station and caught the first
available train to Finchbottom.
Once she had
disembarked she took the first cab on the rank and she was quickly headed
towards the address that Bob Turner supplied.
When she pulled up
outside the Reel Time Building she was in truth not particularly impressed.
The premises were drab
and dingy and quite frankly uninspiring.
Her first instinct was
to get the cab to return her to the station but Bob had said that they were
experts with a great reputation so she decided she would at least meet with
them first.
Karen paid the cab
driver and walked towards the unimpressive front entrance.
Failing to locate a
doorknob, she placed her hand on the push plate and put her weight behind it
but the door didn’t open to her touch which was when she looked to the left and
saw an intercom so she pushed the buzzer and a moment later the speaker
crackled and a tinny voice said
“Yes?”
“Karen Anderson to see Mark Cross” she shouted at the wall
“Come up” the voice
said and the lock buzzed so she repeated her previous action with the door and
this time it yielded to her.
On entering the dimly
lit lobby her first thought was that at least it was in keeping with the façade.
She trudged up the
stairs wishing she’d said no to Bob more forcefully but when she pushed open
the door at the top of the staircase she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Everything was shinny
chrome and bright lights and there was hi-tech equipment everywhere, it was
such a stark contrast to the outside.
“Can I help?” a voice
said in a manner that conveyed anything but the desire to help, however she
couldn’t help smiling as she thought that she had done the speaker quality a
disservice as the girl actually had a tinny voice.
She was a small girl
in her mid-twenties, Lilya, according to the name on her coffee mug, and she
was about 4ft 10 quite slim but with the most enormous breasts, rather too big
for the rest of her in Karen’s opinion, they were almost in the realm of comedy
breasts, totally out of proportion to her tiny frame.
They were displayed in
a very low cut black top and looked like two bald men sharing a coat.
Her face was not an
attractive one but Karen supposed, perhaps unkindly, that when you have your
breasts on display like that, most visitors wouldn’t notice her face.
The diminutive
receptionist, Lilya, sat with her disproportionately large breasts on display
in a very low cut black top and they looked like two bald men sharing a coat.
Her face was not an
attractive one but Karen supposed, perhaps unkindly that when you have your
breasts on display like that, most visitors wouldn’t notice her face.
“Can I help?” she
asked
“Yes” Karen replied,
“I’m here to see Mark Cross”
“Name?” she barked
“Karen Anderson” she replied rather sharply as she’d already told her
all of this over the intercom.
“Wait there” she
ordered and walked away, Karen assumed that they probably employed her because
of the size of her breasts and not for her expertise or personality.
A few moments later
she returned
“This way” Lilya
called and led her to her appointment.
When they reached Mark
Cross’s office she stepped to one side and grunted
“In there”
Karen stepped through
the open door and was greeted by a middle-aged man dressed like a used car
salesman, who didn’t really project “Cutting Edge”.
“Karen?” he said
standing up and proffering his hand which she took.
“Mr Cross” she said
shaking his hand, and she thought he certainly shook hands like a salesman and
it even felt like a used car salesman’s hand.
“Please call me Mark”
he said pointing, “Take a seat”
She sat down and
thought that Bob had clearly been given some bad information about Mr. Cross
and she thought there was little chance she would remain there for long.
“I must apologize for
Lilya, she’s just a temp our usual receptionist is on maternity leave” he said
Karen wasn’t really in
the mood for chit chat so she pressed on him the reason for our meeting.
“Bob Tuner tells me
you come highly recommended”
“Well not me” he
interrupted “it’s my company but Peter is the genius”
“I’ll introduce you”
he said and stood up and walked around the desk and then she led him along a
corridor and into an office/workshop, which had computers and editing desks and
every gadget imaginable, clearly Peter was the “Cutting Edge” that she had
heard about.
And sitting at a
console was a man with his back to them wearing headphones with his eyes glued
to a screen.
“Peter?” Marcus
shouted and as he turned around he looked up and smiled as he took off his
headphones.
He rose from his chair
and she saw Peter was a tall man, stick thin, with an unusual posture.
She ascertained he was
probably mid to late twenties and wore a neatly trimmed beard.
He had a handsome
face, what she could see of it even more so when he smiled, which he did as he
approached with his one hand extended in greeting and other grasping a walking
stick.
“Peter this is Karen
Anderson” he said to him but Peter corrected him
“No this is Karen
Myles”
“Well I used to be”
she said “But not for quite a few years”
“I thought it was you,
you haven’t changed a bit” he said
She studied his face
but couldn’t place him, there was something familiar around the eyes, but not
enough to identify him, but clearly he knew her.
“You have me at a
complete disadvantage” she said which was when Mark completed the introduction
“This is Peter
Strickland”
Which was when Karen
did something she had never done before in her life, she fainted.
Peter Strickland was
the boyfriend who so cruelly stood her up when she was just 15 years old and
broke her heart.
When Karen came to she
was slumped on the floor leaning against the wall while Mark Cross, Peter
Strickland and a skinny minnie of a girl called Claire, who was the first
aider, all fussed around her uttering words of concern.
“I’m fine, I’m fine”
she insisted “I just feel a little ridiculous sitting on the floor”
With that Peter and
Mark helped her up and into a chair while Claire went off to get her a cup of
tea.
After finishing her
cup of tea Claire excused herself and went back to work and Mark asked once
more if she was alright before shaking her hand and returning to his office.
She was a little
uneasy about being on her own with Peter, she was scared that 15 years of pent
up anger that she felt towards him might erupt and she would beat him to death
with his walking stick, what was that all about anyway?
Even before she
realised that Peter Strickland was the “Genius” of the company, Reel Times hadn’t
so far lived up to her expectations, and she was lost in her own thoughts when
Peter said.
“Karen Myles, I would
have recognised you anywhere”
It was funny but
although his face was unfamiliar the voice was unmistakeable.
“Really?” she asked
blandly “is that supposed to make it all better?”
“I don’t understand”
he said
“That was a cruel,
cruel thing you did to Karen Myles, you broke her heart” she said
“But…” he began but
Karen was in full flow.
“Four hours she
waited, I waited, outside the Mall and you didn’t show up, I phoned you and you
wouldn’t even pick up the phone”
“But…” he began again
“It was a cowardly
thing to do, if you didn’t want to see me again you just had to say, I would
have been hurt, but not the way I was, and later when I was distraught and
crying in my bedroom, you could have called me, to explain but no, that was too
much to ask, too much to expect and all I got was silence, and I see you’re
still silent”
“But…” Peter began
“You ruined my
childhood, you broke my heart so badly it took two years to repair and even now
it doesn’t work properly, when I get close to someone I am afraid they will
have feet of clay like you did, God I can’t believe it even after all these
years it still hurts, to feel you weren’t special enough, weren’t loved enough,
to be let down with a gentle word, instead of a cowardly act.
I loved you so much
and as if it wasn’t heart breaking enough that I was moving to another town you
had to pull the rug from beneath me.
Silly me, I thought
even living in different towns we would carry on, I thought our love was strong
enough for that, but how wrong I was.
And where were you
while I cried myself to sleep for the next two weeks? Answer me that Mr clever
Dick, cutting edge, genius bloody whiz kid”
“If I remember rightly
I was in a coma” he replied and Karen almost fainted again.
Karen and Peter had
been going out together for two years and she was head over heels in love with
him and she thought he felt the same about her.
But her dad dropped
the bombshell that the family were moving from Finchbottom to Abbeyvale and
when the time came for the move Peter and her agreed to spend the whole of her
last full day in Finchbottom together and planned to meet at the Mall as soon
as it opened at 8am, but Peter was a no show.
And when, 15 years
after the event, she confronts him he says the reason he wasn’t there was
because he was in a coma and she was suitably dismissive.
“What do you mean you
were in a coma?” she asked “is that supposed to be amusing?”
But she could see by his
expression that he was deadly serious so she sat down and waited for him to
gather himself.
“I was as desperate to
see you that day as you were to see me, perhaps even more so” he said “I was
certainly in a hurry to get there”
In fact so much so
that he took risks that he had never taken before but he was so much in love
that he felt he was invincible.
“My mum made me have
breakfast before I left so I was ten minutes late leaving so I took my bike and
tried to make up the time, unfortunately I tried too hard and ended up under
the wheels of a van”
Karen gasped on
hearing his words and tears welled up in her eyes, partly because of his
revelation and partway because of the remembrance of the day when she stood by
the doors at the Mall the moment they opened at 8 o’clock and stayed there
every second until the clock on St Martha’s church struck 12.
The tears that had
been welling that she had been fighting to hold back flooded from her unabated
and accompanying her tears was an overwhelming sense of guilt and a sense of
relief that she could let go of the hate and bitterness she had held in her
heart for 15 years.
As he explained about
the accident and the horrific injuries he suffered she suddenly felt very
foolish, all the while she was feeling sorry for herself and wondering why he
had been so cruel he was actually fighting for his life.
As she cried Peter
comforted her which made her feel even guiltier after the tirade she had
launched at him and berated him so vehemently.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I never hear from you?”
She asked when the flow of tears was finally stemmed.
“I didn’t have your address of phone number” he said and she recalled
that she hadn’t told him the address in Abbeyvale, she had kept it to herself
and teased him with it and wasn’t going to give it to him on that last day
together.
“Oh God I remember now” she said
“I tried to get your address and phone number from Julie and Kelly but
they wouldn’t tell me” Peter said and Karen put her face in her hands.
“I told them not to, because you were such a bastard” she mumbled and
then started to cry again.
As if she didn’t feel guilty enough about everything, the anger, the
ranting, the insults and the tears, she left the offices of Reel Times, without
discussing the cans of film she had taken with her at Bob Turner’s behest or
even discussed them and then she allowed the victim of her wrath to buy her
dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant, The
Leathern Bottle and even drive her back to Purplemere afterwards.
Over dinner he explained more about his injuries and the fact that he
almost lost his leg, but the surgeons saved the limb although he walked with a
pronounced limp and needed a walking stick as the musculature was prone to
spasm or cramp whenever the will took it.
He also broke several bones in his face had some reconstruction on his
face and some of the scarring resulted in his wearing a beard.
But overall he was quite sanguine about the whole incident after all
he was still alive.
“But my greatest injury” he said over coffee “and the one that bears
the deepest scars was losing you”
That one sentence made her heart skip a beat and caused a tear to form
in her eye but it was not like the earlier tears.
“You shouldn’t say things like that to a married woman” she said coyly
“Are you married then?” he asked “I don’t see a ring”
“That’s because I’m divorced, but that’s not the point” she said “And
what about you, what would Mrs Strickland say if she heard you say such things
to another woman?”
“There isn’t one” he said and she smiled to herself “There has never
been one”
And so the conversation turned towards their lives and relationships
in the fifteen years since they last saw each other.
She told of her eight year marriage to Jed and the amicable divorce
and even when the marriage was over they carried on living under the same roof
for nine months until they sold the house and how it wasn’t really very
different to when they were married, and it really should have been if they
belonged together as a couple, so they knew they had made the right decision.
His story was a much shorter one he had never married or even come
close to it, he couldn’t find anyone that fitted him.
On the drive back to Purplemere they arranged another evening out,
they both avoided using the word date in fear of jinxing it.
Over the following two months they had many evenings out but Karen was
holding back from total commitment, partly unable to in case her heart was
broken again and a little bit of her was waiting for permission.
It wasn’t until May when that permission was forth coming.
It was time for her to leave work and she was nowhere near ready to
go, so she picked up her phone and rang her ex Jed who was her ride home.
“Hi” he said
“Hey Jed” she replied “I’m running late”
“No problem” he responded “how long?”
“About an hour” she replied “But you don’t need to wait, I’ll get a
cab”
“No problem, I’ve got no plans” he said “I’ll meet you in the
Directors Arms”
“Brilliant” she said “You’re a star”
She hung up the phone and cracked on with the task she need to
complete.
As Karen pushed open the door of the Directors Arms she saw a young
woman talking to Jed, she had jet black curly hair and she estimated she was
mid to late twenties, attractive if not beautiful and was wearing a smart grey
suit and dark tights.
As she said goodbye and walked away she noticed Jed was surveying her
lovely legs and her curves and she smiled.
“Who was that?” Karen said when she reached the table
“Just someone I bumped into” he replied
“It looks as though you wouldn’t mind bumping into her again” she said
“Funny you should say that, I’m seeing her on Saturday” he said
proudly
“Good for you” Karen said and meant it
“I’m sorry I’m so late, it’s been a pig of a day”
“That’s ok” he assured her “Do you fancy a drink?”
“Oh yes please” she said “as long as I’m not holding you up”
“I wouldn’t have offered if it was a problem” he insisted “as I said I
don’t have any plans tonight”
He went and got her a large white wine and himself a coke and returned
to the table
“What about you?” he asked
“What?” she said
“Plans for tonight” he explained
“No nothing” she said
“Why don’t we eat then” he suggested “the foods pretty good in here”
“That would be really nice, Jed” she replied “Thank you”
Jed got menus from the bar and they ordered their food and then they
spent a couple of hours on a proper catch up which they hadn’t done in a while.
When they split up, even though it was amicable and they remained the
best of friends themselves, some of their friends felt it there duty to take
sides.
So it was about the people “they” as the enemy had lost touch with
that filled most of the conversation, then they moved on to the more personal
stuff.
There was something Karen had been reluctant to tell him, so she
thought she would take the opportunity to share the fact that she had been
seeing someone else for a couple of months, his name was Peter and she had met
him at work.
“That’s brilliant Karen, I’m really pleased for you” he said “but why
didn’t you tell me before?”
“I don’t know really” she replied “it seemed a bit insensitive”
“Well for future reference you can tell me anything” he said
“But you haven’t told me” she said in her defence
“Well there hasn’t been anything to tell” he said “I’ve been on a
couple of disastrous blind dates and that’s about all”
“Until today” she added
“Yes until today” he concurred and smiled
They finished their drinks and Jed dropped her off at about 9.30.
Even after they stopped living under the same roof they still lived
within half a mile of each other and as the split was so amicable it made no
sense to abandon their long standing routine of travelling to and from work
together.
“Thanks Jed” Karen said “Enjoy your date on Saturday”
“I will” he replied and drove the short distance home.
Now she had found the courage to tell him about Peter she could now
move on, she could permit herself to get on with her life.
The day after Karen
had given herself permission to get on with her life she was once again on the
train from Purplemere to Finchbottom and once she had disembarked she hurried
off the platform and out through the barriers and took the first cab on the
rank and was quickly heading towards the Reel Times building.
When they pulled up
outside she was still not at all impressed with the drab and dingy exterior of
the premises, she had been meaning to ask Peter what the deal was but it always
slipped her mind.
She paid the cab
driver and walked towards the unimpressive front entrance and pushed the buzzer
on the intercom and in response the speaker crackled and a tinny voice said
“Yes?”
“Karen Anderson to see Peter Strickland” she shouted at the wall
“Come up” the voice
said and the lock buzzed, Lilya’s manner clearly hadn’t improved since her last
visit, she thought as she climbed the stairs.
Karen was still struck
by the almost lavish interior of the premises, with everything trimmed with
shinny chrome and bright lights everywhere illuminating all the hi-tech
equipment, it really was such a stark contrast to the outside.
“You can go straight
through” Lilya said as she packed away her laptop, her enormous breasts, rather
too big for the rest of her, were hindering rather than helping her efforts.
As she left reception
she glanced at her watch and thought she must have been later than she intended
but no it appeared they finished early
on a Friday, and why not she had after all.
Karen finished work at
midday and went home to get herself ready for what she hoped would be a big
night and changed into something more appropriate for what she had in mind.
So she was wearing a
knee length emerald green dress that hugged her figure, well what figure she
had, and her shoulder length brunette hair was down so it danced around her
nape as she walked.
And although it wasn’t
obvious to the casual observer she was wearing black stockings on her lovely
legs.
When she reached Mark
Cross’s office he was stood by the hat stand putting his coat on, he paused
briefly and gave her a wave, so she waved back and continued down the corridor.
Her shoes were also
green to match her dress and because she wanted to make the best of herself she
was tottering along on heels.
When she reached the
door to Peter’s office/workshop she knocked on the frame.
“Come in, it’s open” a
voice called so she turned the handle and pushed on the door and Peter was
stood among his gadgets and consoles and he smiled when he saw her.
“Wow this is a nice
surprise” he said and it was a surprise because they weren’t supposed to be
seeing each other until Saturday.
“You look fabulous” he
said “are you going out?”
“Well I hope so” she
replied “I didn’t dress like this for nothing”
He thought she must
have a hot date because she’d really gone to town and she had been very liberal
with the perfume which was very pleasant.
“So where are you
going?” he asked suddenly feeling jealous,
“Well that depends on
where you take me” she replied coyly
“You choose” he said
relieved that she had dressed up for his benefit
“The Beaumont Park
Hotel” she replied
“Good choice” he
replied “They have a fabulous restaurant”
“I was thinking more
along the lines of room service” she said as she sidled up to him and his mouth
fell open, so she kissed it.
It was a wonderful
kiss, which took her back to the magical moment when they first kissed when
they were childhood sweethearts.
Every dream I’ve dreamed
Was because of you
Every wish I’ve wished
You have made come
true
You read me like a
book
And you are written on
every page
Everything I've longed
for
Is rolled up in one
package
You came to me like a
gift
Delivered out of the
blue
And the greatest gift
of all
Is being loved by you
It was a beautiful
sunny day in the village of Dulcet-on-Brooke where Peter Nesbitt sat on the
sunny terrace looking at the girl in the yellow dress, with her brunette hair
cascading onto the sun kissed skin of her shoulders.
The Sun Terrace James
was sitting on looked out across an expanse of lawn which ran down to the bank
of the River Brooke.
But he had eyes only
for Sarah who was the gorgeous girl wearing the pretty yellow dress, which he
found deliciously attractive, and rather arousing but then that may have been
because he knew she was wearing matching yellow underwear beneath it.
And the reason Peter
knew what underwear was beneath the dress was because he had watched her
getting dressed that morning.
Twice in fact, because
after the first time he undressed her again and they made love.
And at that precise
moment on the Terrace he looked forward to slipping them off her again, and
soon.
Yet this brown haired
beauty only a year previously had been to all intents and purposes a dowdy
frump.
Her name was Sarah,
Hallam as was, but that was before she married Peter.
They had met in the
fog on a lonely hill side in the Pepperstock Hills when they were both on a
walking break and on the day they first met, Sarah Hallam was dressed in stout
old fashioned brogues, long argyle socks, grey tweed skirt and a shapeless
sweater of indeterminate colour, which was very drab in the foggy gloom
although she would have looked drab even in bright sunshine so drab really
summed her up.
Her hair was tied in a
bun beneath a tweed cap that matched the skirt and she appeared to be dressed
for the 1930s and looked about forty.
Unfortunately the fog
came down so thick and fast it wasn’t safe to try and move in any direction so
they had to sit down and wait for the fog to disperse.
It was only as they
sat on some rocks in the fog and shared her provisions, packed for her day’s
adventure, that he saw and fell in love with the girl beneath the façade and
discovered that beneath the frumpy exterior his soul mate was hidden from view
and in the year since that day on the hill they had been the happiest either of
them had ever been.
But on that warm
summer’s day they were in the back garden of their first home together and they
were entertaining guests.
Apart from Peter and
Sarah, in the party were Peter’s brother Johnnie and his wife Patti, and
Patti’s sister Rose and her partner Christian.
He was smiling as he
watched her and when she looked up she smiled at him and blushed and the reason
Gemma blushed was because she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Peter was thinking
about how he had undressed her and ravished her that morning, and at that
moment in the summer sunshine so was she.
Sarah also knew that
he was going to do it again as soon as the opportunity presented itself, and
she couldn’t wait for that moment, her whole body tingled just thinking about
it.
It was a year and a
half since they had first met and the thought of making love with him still
made her quiver with anticipation.
“Let’s go out on the
boat”
Johnnie suggested,
though Patti wasn’t at all impressed by the idea and threw him a glare, she had
just got herself settled on a lounger after clearing away after lunch.
Despite Patti’s
displeasure however the general consensus was in favour of cruising on the
River.
So with almost all of
them agreeing with Johnnies suggestion Sarah was excitedly gathering everything
together off the terrace as the group slowly made their way to the jetty, she
loved going out on the boat it was her idea to buy it when they bought the
house on the River.
But James stopped her
in her tracks when he took hold of her hand
“Haven’t you forgotten
something?” he said
She had a quick look
around the terrace
“I don’t think so” she
said
“I do” Peter insisted
“What?” Sarah asked a
little confused
She had a quick look
around the terrace
“I don’t think so” she
said
“I do” Peter insisted
“What?” Sarah asked a
little confused
“Well you know how
breezy it gets out on the water?” he asked cryptically
“Yes” she replied
still confused.
Then a look of
comprehension spread across her face.
“I’ll get a cardigan”
she said and Peter laughed
“I wasn’t thinking of
that”
“What then?” she
giggled
“Well you’re out on
the windy water wearing your pretty yellow dress” he said
“Yes”
“Oh” she exclaimed
finally comprehending
“Everyone will see my
knickers”
She chuckled and gave
him the armful of bits she had gathered and rushed off to change.
James followed her
into the house a few moments later and dropped the pile of bits she had given
him on the first surface he passed and went upstairs.
When he opened the
bedroom door Peter found Sarah sitting on the end of the bed in her yellow
underwear pulling a pair of shorts up over her ankles.
He sat on the bed next
to her and as she leant forward he unhooked her bra.
“We haven’t got time
for that” she said with a giggle
“I would hope we will
always have time for that” he said running his hand across her naked back and
Sarah responded by kicking off her shorts.
Holding hands, Peter
and Sarah ran headlong down the lawn towards the jetty.
Sarah was now wearing
pale blue shorts and a matching top which also matched everything else.
“Where have you two
been?” Patti shouted crossly as they ran onto the jetty.
“Sarah needed to
change and I was attending to security” Peter said as he helped Sarah on board
the Cabin Cruiser and then squeezed her buttock as she passed him, and she
turned around and kissed him before heading to the bow to join the other girls
who were already sitting on towels sunning themselves.
“All that time for a
couple of windows and a door?” Rose asked tongue in cheek
“Peters very thorough”
Sarah replied and blushed
“I bet he is” Rose
added
Peter meanwhile had
joined the menfolk in the cockpit
“I admire your
diligence” Christian said as he reversed the 26ft cruiser away from the jetty
“security is so important”
“I think we all know
what you were attending to Pete” Johnnie said “and it wasn’t security, you
dirty pair”
And their laughter
echoed across the water.
I fell in love with you
When you were glam
And I still love you
now?
That I’m an old man
I fell in love with
you
When you were buffer
And I still love you
now?
That I’m an old duffer
I fell in love with
you
When you were fit
And I still love you
now?
That I’m an old git
The traditional
seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea suited her very well with its Victorian
Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium 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 and it was Emma Goldup’s hometown.
She was 23 years of
age and was a pretty girl, with fine blonde hair and was only a tiny little
thing, four foot eleven if she had her hair up.
Emma was the only
child of a local couple with several businesses in the town and a huge house in
the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco the
locals nicknamed Nob Hill.
But when she finished
her expensive education she had no interest in working for any of the family
businesses and got a job working in a small riding school at Brooke Side Farm
on the outskirts of town, between Sharpington and the Dulcets.
The Dulcets were a
collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary,
Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke to name but a few and Brooke Side Farm was quaintly situated on the Sharpington side of the
River Brooke.
Her parents were
outraged when she chose to be a stable girl, her father offered to buy the
riding school and let her run it but she forbade him from doing any such thing
and threatened never to speak to either of them again if he did.
She just wanted to
work with horses and when she wasn’t working she could be seen sat astride a
great Honey coloured colt called Paris.
But the most
remarkable thing about Emma was that in spite of her parent’s wealth and
snobbery she had no airs and graces whatsoever.
One day she was riding
Paris along the bridle path when she saw a familiar face
“Morning Mr Goodman”
“Morning Emma” he
replied
She always called him
Mr. Goodman even though it was 7 years since he retired from teaching.
He retired from
teaching the same time she left school when she was 16.
She had no idea where
he was headed but she knew one thing for sure and that was that he was doing
something good for someone.
She had never met a
more appropriately named human being because he really was a good man.
Emma liked him very
much but he was her second best favourite man because she liked someone else
better, Harrison
McQuiston.
She had met him the
first time back in May and it had been such a beautiful morning that she rode
considerably further and longer than originally intended so on the way back to
the Brooke Side Farm Emma decided to walk the horse part of the way to give
Paris a little breather.
So she was walking
Paris alongside the River Brooke and both she and the horse were spattered in
mud.
Emma was chatting away
to Paris when there was a bit of a commotion ahead of them and a man suddenly
appeared from the bushes causing Emma’s horse to rear up.
“Whoa! Steady boy” she
said as she tried to calm him down.
“Alright” Emma said
softy patting the horse’s neck “Good boy”
Once she had complete
control she led him by the bridle.
“I’m so sorry” the man
said
“We didn’t mean to
startle you”
“We?” Emma queried
“Yes” he said “I’m not
alone”
“Excellent” she
thought “I’ve stumbled upon the local nutter”
At which point a King
Charles spaniel emerged from the bushes and she laughed.
“Meet Charlie” he said
“Well hello Charlie”
Emma said
“We really are sorry
for startling you” Harrison said
“That’s ok, no harm
done” she said
Once she realized he
wasn’t a nutter she saw him in a much different light, he was a tall skinny
man, a few years older than her, with short brown hair and glasses with a
lopsided grin on his face.
“I’m Harry by the way”
“Emma”
“Are you going far?”
he asked
“No, he’s stabled at
Brooke Side Farm” she replied
“Do you mind if we
walk with you? We live at Waterside Cottages”
“Not at all” she
replied “As long as you don’t mind being seen with me looking like this”
“I don’t mind if you
don’t, I’m the River Warden so I’m almost always a mess” he said “Not that I
think that you look a mess”
Harrison got very
flustered and went a delightful shade of scarlet.
“It’s ok Harry, I am a
mess” she said and laughed “I always look like this when we hack through the woods,
I’m not very glamorous am I?”
“Oh I don’t know”
Harry said “you still look lovely even under the mud”
“What makes you think
I’m lovely under the muck?” she asked suspiciously wondering if he might still
be a nutter, or a stalker.
“Well I’ve seen you a
few times before” he explained “going past the cottage, minus the mud”
“Oh I see” she said
“That makes sense”
Harrison McQuiston worked as a
River Warden for the Downshire County Waterways and his stretch of river
reached from Dulcet-on-Brooke to Sharpington and his cottage was situated
equidistant between the two.
They started to walk
and exchanged small talk as they went Emma told him about her work at the
riding School and her love of horses and how her career choice disappointed her
parents.
And he told her about
his love of the River and all the diverse life that depended on in.
It was his dream job
and his cottage was within yards of the River he loved so much.
They also discovered
that neither of them had a significant other in their lives but as they were
only about half a mile from his cottage it didn’t take long for them to reach
it and when they did he said
“Sorry again for
scaring you and Paris”
“It’s not a problem
really” Emma insisted “we will be more alert in future, and be on the lookout
for brown haired ninjas with spaniels”
“Goodbye then” he said
as he opened his front gate.
“Maybe our paths will
cross again” she said
“I do hope so” Harry
said
It was late afternoon
when Emma got back to Brooke Side Farm and she was spattered from head to toe
in mud but she was also grinning from ear to ear.
Over the month
following that first meeting and the resulting walk, they had had many other
such meetings, at first by chance but subsequently by design.
But they all they did
was walk together and talk as they walked along a mile long stretch of the
riverbank path.
Emma for one would
have liked them to have broadened their horizons after a month of converse but
she didn’t want to force the pace so she remained patient.
When Emma left Brooke
Side Farm on the morning in June that she eventually rode past David Goodman
she was full of nervous anticipation about seeing Harry, much more than she had
previously and she didn’t quite know why.
The feeling
intensified as she approached the spot where he and Charlie normally waited but
there was no sign of either dog or master.
Her feelings of
nervous anticipation were instantly replaced by one of disappointment.
Although she was only
a tiny little thing, four foot eleven on a good day, when she was sat upon her
great Honey coloured colt, Paris, she was a giant and the additional height
gave her the chance to see beyond the fences and the hedgerows but still she
couldn’t see him.
Emma pressed on and
hoped Harry would be at his cottage.
Alas when she reached
the Waterside Cottages there was again no sign of man nor dog and his cottage
was in total darkness.
She and Paris slowly
walked on following the stretch of river bank they normally shared, looking
over the bushes on her side and then scanning the opposite river bank.
Emma waited for five
minute at the point where she left the river and followed the bridle path into
Sharpington, but he was a no show so she set off at the canter.
It was at the other
end of that bridle path where she saw the familiar face of her old teacher.
“Morning Mr Goodman”
“Morning Emma” he
replied
She would have stopped
to chat but she was close to tears so she put on a brave face and rode on.
She continued on her
normal route and when she heard the clock at St Lucy’s church chime she
realised she was going to be late back so galloped back the way she had come
and let out her frustration as she did so and pushed Paris a bit too hard.
When she felt him
labouring she pulled up sharp and jumped down and checked him over.
“I’m so sorry boy, I’m
so sorry” she said and when she had finished and all was well she patted his
neck and burst into tears.
The reason that
Harrison McQuiston was not waiting for her that morning was not, as Emma was
thinking as she sobbed against the horse’s neck, that he was not interested in
her, on the contrary he was very interested.
What had stopped him
from meeting her and taken him from his cottage just after dawn was a crisis on
the river.
About two miles
downstream of Brooke Side Farm half a dozen cows had taken advantage of a
broken fence and wandered down to the water’s edge and couldn’t get back up to
the field.
As River Warden his
presence was required along with a vet, the police, the fire service, the
farmer and several labourers.
It had taken hours of
their combined efforts to rescue the beasts and he was exhausted when he had
finished.
The police offered to
drop him off at home but he fancied a walk, so he declined the offer and set
off to walk back to his Cottage.
He hadn’t been
entirely honest with the police because what he really wanted to do was
intercept Emma on the return leg of her journey so he took a short cut through Kings
River Woods.
The woods were dense
and thick and it was so peaceful and quiet as he hurried on his quest.
It felt strange to him
not to have Charlie walking along with him through the woods but to take him to
that mornings emergency would not have been sensible so he had to leave him at
home.
As the trees began to
thin out he knew he was close to the bridle path and when he was a few yards
away he became aware of movement through the thinning woodland and as he got to
the edge of the wood he saw that the movement was Emma and her colt Paris
thundering along the bridle path.
He tried calling after
her but she didn’t hear.
At the speed she was
galloping he had no chance of catching her so he reduced his speed and walked
slowly towards home.
After about half an
hour he could see something ahead of him to the side of the path, so he picked
up the pace again.
As he got closer he
could see there was definitely someone at the side of the path and he could by
the find strands of blond hair below her riding hat that it was Emma and Paris.
The colt was tied to a
fence rail and she appeared to be grooming the beast.
He moved a little
closer and was about to say hello when he realised she wasn’t grooming the
horse at all.
She was actually
sobbing against the horse’s neck which caused
Harry to hesitate.
He was not well versed
in comforting crying women and were it not for the fact that he had feelings
for Emma he would probably, to his shame, have tiptoed away unnoticed.
So skulking away was
not an option so he considered his next move as he looked at Emma stood beside
the tethered beast, still wearing her riding hat and he was standing on her
blind side.
He walked slowly across
the bridle path closing the distance between them and as he got closer he could
hear the sobs accompanying her trembling shoulders.
Harry was a couple of
paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence.
“Oh Harry” she said
and threw herself into his waiting arms and buried her face in his chest.
Because of the height
difference she only just reached his chest so he kissed the top of her head and
said
“What’s the matter
Emma?”
At first she just
stood stock still against him but when she tried to tell him what was wrong in
was completely incomprehensible.
“Ok don’t talk honey
just cry it out” he said and ran his hands up and down her back.
After about ten
minutes when her breathing slowed and her sobs had subsided he asked again
“What’s the matter?”
“You weren’t there”
she said “You weren’t anywhere”
Then she started
crying again so he held her close to him again and explained what had taken him
away at such short notice and kept him away all morning.
“So it wasn’t me?” she
asked quietly
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t because you
didn’t want to see me” she explained
“Of course not, I want
to see you all the time” Harry said
“All the time?” she
asked in disbelief
“Yes all the time” he
confirmed
Emma pushed herself
away from his chest and looked up at him and a smile spread across her
tearstained face and then she leapt up and wrapped her arms around his neck and
said
“Me too”
She was hugging his
neck tightly and didn’t ever want to let go but the next thing she knew he was
sitting her on top of the fence.
“No don’t let me go”
she begged
“But I have to” Harry
said
“But why?”
“So that I can do
this” he said and kissed her trembling lips which met with no further
protestations.
Afterwards they walked
along with Emma holding the reins in one hand and Harry’s great paw of a hand
in the other, he with tears stains on his shirt and she with mud spattered up
her jodhpurs and both of them smiling inanely and from that day onward she
never knew disappointment again.
You are warmer
Than a summer day
You are cooler
Than ice cubes in a
tray
You are sweeter
Than raspberry sorbet
You are as refreshing
As the ocean spray
You are perfect
In every single way
