In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (087) – Searching for a Soulmate in Sharpington

 

June

 

Best friends, 32-year-old Kenny Barnhill and 29 years old Chloe Bulman, had moved in together and were saving hard to fund their dream holiday in Greece where they were hoping to find their soulmates.

Alas when they were ready to book, they found they had insufficient funds for a Grecian holiday so had to settle for two weeks in Sharpington.

They would have liked to stay at the Seaview Hotel for the two weeks, but they needed to strike a balance between comfortable accommodation and adequate spending money, so they decided on sharing a family Chalet on the Whitecliff Hill Caravan Park.

 

It was on the first of June when the successful candidates started their new positions at the St Adelaide’s Reflection and Healing Retreat.

It was also in the first week of June, with their bags packed, Kenny and Chloe splashed out on a taxi to Pipershaven and from there they took the train to Sharpington. 

 

As they walked into their chalet, they had travelled for a total of 4 hours door to door, but they enjoyed every minute and thought it would all be worth it when they met the person of their dreams.

 

The Chalet was very comfortable, and they quickly unpacked and on that afternoon, there was an informal get together of new arrivals, a kind of orientation meeting covering all the do’s and don’ts and a member of staff handed out information on places of interest, transport timetables, day trips and local entertainment.    

However, the two of them were less interested in the information than they were in their fellow guests as they were looking for romance on their holiday.

But as they scanned each and every face in the assembly they noticed there appeared to be no singles present.

Although Kenny and Chloe both noticed independently, they chose to keep it to themselves.

However, over the next 24 hours they both came to the conclusion that they had come to the wrong resort for romance because the visitors were all, without exception, already paired up.

 

Over an Al fresco breakfast next morning on the seafront, as they sat in the fresh morning air at a promenade café it was Chloe who broached the subject.

“Have you noticed they’re all couples?” she said.

“Yes” he replied.

“We’re not going to find them here, are we?” she asked and by “Them” she meant their soulmates, their perfect other halves, Mr. or Miss Right.

“I’m afraid not” he agreed.

“So, what now?” Chloe asked glumly.

“Now we just have fun” Kenny said.

So, they resigned themselves to the fact that they were not going to find who they were looking for and decided they should just enjoy every minute of their holiday instead.

Their search for love over, they spent a lot of time on the beach or in the water, or on a boat or in bars and arcades, and they filled every possible moment.

Walking the beach together, playing in the waves, swimming in the Lido, playing crazy golf and having fun, before finding a quiet sheltered spot or the pier to siesta under.

They took day trips to see the seals and took coach trips to several of the local places of interest.

 

Evening entertainments included cocktails at what had become their favourite bar, enjoying jazz at the Tainted Angel, dining at The Angels Tears or L'uccello canto, nightcaps at the Sandcastle Arms, dancing at the Palladium Ballroom, entertainment at the Bluebird theatre, and Beach BBQ’s

But most of all they spent their time during the day was in or near the water.

 

As the holiday drifted amiably into the second week, any casual onlookers could have been forgiven for thinking that Kenny and Chloe were a couple, they behaved like a couple and a happily married couple at that.

Every evening the pair dined together, and they were happy in each other’s company but unknown to everyone they slept alone.

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (086) – Getting Noticed

June

 

In the village was the Shady Glade Guesthouse owned and run by divorcee Debbie Barrington.

She was a native of the village, as was her husband, and they started the Guesthouse together, but he did not share her passion for it, but he did have passions, but those were mainly for the female guests and it was with one of them that he chose to leave Pepperstock Green and Debbie, undeterred divorced him and continued to run Shady Glade alone and as she approached her forty seventh birthday she had been doing so for twenty years.

There had been men in her life over those twenty years, but none were worthy of her because they didn’t share her interest in the Guesthouse or have the same work ethic as she did.

But there was one man who she hoped might fit the bill, Civil Engineer Sam Richardson, who had been a regular guest while the work was going on at the old St Adelaide’s Convent, but he was splitting his time between the village and Beaumont Island where there were some other projects going on.

She really liked him, really liked him, he was a gentle goodlooking man, who was sadly widowed the year before, he was also a kind man who helped her out went he was staying, with repairs and maintenance.

The problem was that he was a little backwards in coming forward on the personal front, and she hadn’t been able to get his attention.

 

One morning in June she had to call on him for help because the shower in her ensuite bathroom wasn’t working, and there was a dripping tap in one of the rooms, which he was happy to do, but he was his usual bashful self, so she went on about her morning, dealing with the guest’s breakfasts, which kept her busy for the next two hours and at the end of it she noticed Sam coming down the stairs, so she went to intercept him.

“All done?” she asked brightly

“I’m afraid not” he replied “I just need to go and get a new pump”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that, I’ll get the plumber to do it” she said

“Nonsense, it’s no problem” he replied

“Oh, ok I’ll see you later then?” Debbie said

“Yes, I shouldn’t be too long” he replied and went out the door.

 

When the guesthouse was busy, which was pretty much all the time, Debbie employed two local girls to clean the rooms and the common areas, so with them gainfully employed, breakfast finished with and Sam off at the plumber’s merchants she had a couple of hours to spare before she had to think about lunch, so she decided to go and have a bath in the guest bathroom as her own was out of commission.

She had told the girls what she was doing so she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed, and she had a long hot soak in the tub.

She really enjoyed it, but she knew she couldn’t stay in there forever, so she pulled the plug out and got to her feet, before stepping out and wrapping a fluffy white bath sheet around herself and wrapping a smaller one around her head.

 

Once she was dry, perfumed and powdered she wiped the steam off the full-length mirror and then loosened the towel wrapped around her and stood with her arms outstretched and the towel stretched behind her like a victory flag and admired herself in the mirror

“Not bad for an old bird” she said to her reflection, “Not too bad at all”

And then the door opened and startled her, and she turned towards the door, still with her arms outstretched with her full nakedness on display, to find Sam Richardson standing in the doorway with his mouth open.

Debbie was not as surprised as he was, and she knew she should probably have covered herself, but he just stood staring at her and was clearly struggling to draw his eyes away, and she liked that.

“I appeared to have got his attention at last” she thought and then he said,

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think, washer… tap… drip…”

And then he closed the door and headed hurriedly across the landing, so she covered herself and opened the door and could hear him repeating

“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry” Until he reached the sanctuary of her bedroom, and by extension her ensuite.

 

Debbie replaced her towel with a toweling bath robe and crossed the landing and was smiling broadly to herself.

She slowly opened the door and stepped in and found the room empty, but she could hear muttering and what she assumed was the sound of him putting his tools away, so she just stood her ground and waited, and she didn’t have to wait long.

He stepped through the door from her ensuite and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.

 “IIIII’m…” he started to say but she put a finger up to her lips gesturing him to silence, and then she undid the belt of her robe, and it fell open briefly before she dropped the toweling dressing gown to the floor revealing her dry, perfumed and powdered nakedness, before she walked towards him and kissed him, and he made no protest.

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (085) – Whit Monday

 June

 

July 1st marked the official reincarnation of the former St Adelaide’s Convent with the opening of the St Adelaide’s Reflection and Healing Retreat, although it wasn’t expected to be fully up and running until the beginning of August.

Over the month prior to its opening new employees came on board and one of them was Jake Cox who was taken on as one of the gardening team, but he didn’t join until after the Whitsun Bank holiday.

The reason for that was that he and a group of University friends were on holiday at the traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea.

Which was a popular destination for visitors with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, and has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

They were staying in a Caravan Park up at Whitecliffe Hill for a week ending on the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend and were blessed with warm clement weather, which brought many more visitors to enjoy all the seaside fun.

He and a couple of friends got there a day and a half before the rest of them arrived and among them was his sister India and her best friend Cheryl Leman.

Jake had fancied her for years, but she had always given him the cold shoulder, but suddenly they were both at the same resort, at the same time and with no romantic attachments, so he thought he would chance his arm one more time.

It took the best part of three days, but she eventually weakened and agreed to go to the Palladium Ballroom with him to see an ABBA tribute band.

It was a great night, they sang and danced and cheered, and afterwards they went to the bar and drank and talked for a couple of hours, before they walked along the beach together, hand in hand in the moonlight.

The beach was deserted and silent but for the gentle breaking of the waves on the shore.

When they reached the pier, she stopped and turned toward him and smiled and a moment later their mouths met in a kiss that was a delicious taste of tender passion.

It was a kiss he had dreamt of for years, but the reality of it far surpassed his wildest imaginings, but for Cheryl it was a revelation, an unexpected delight, and her senses were heightened, her perception altered, as the kiss had opened her eyes and her heart.

“Wow, it looks like you finally got me” Cheryl said with her head on his shoulder

“I was beginning to think it would never happen” Jake admitted

“I was certain it wouldn’t” she replied “But what do I know”

She added and giggled and then she kissed him again before she ran to the water’s edge where she began splashing in the breaking waves.

“I was wrong” she shouted to the moon “I was wrong”

Then she ran back up the beach giggling to where Jake was standing

“I was wrong” she said quietly and hugged him “All these years I was wrong”

Jake was speechless as he held her, and he prayed that it wasn’t just a vivid dream and then she whispered.

“But I’m not wrong anymore”

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (084) – Ascension Day

May

 

On the western side of Pepperstock Green was the quiet residential estate known as Hill Bank, and in one of its quiet roads, was the home of the Lawson’s, where Nurse Mia lived with her Parents and her younger siblings.

She was the oldest and, as her mother kept reminding her, was still single, which wasn’t for the want of trying on her part.

The problem was when you worked shifts it was difficult to have a social life and meet new people, but although she wondered sometimes why she was alone she wasn’t unhappy, she didn’t feel diminished by her unattached status.

But there were many times when she wished she could change her Facebook status to “in a relationship”.

She had plenty of friends and two sisters, all of whom took turns at throwing single men in her direction, but she evaded most of them and of the ones she didn’t evade, none of them turned out to be keepers.

As she was a Nurse at the Pepperstock and District Hospital, Doctors always tried their luck of course, but news and reviews of doctors travelled fast along the nurse’s grapevine, so they generally knew who to avoid and working in the Emergency Department meant that patients weren’t an option.

She liked the ED though, and there was one regular visitor that she had her eye on, PC Jamie Osborne, and she had been applying some intense flirting for several months, however she had not been able to get anywhere with him, but she was determined to persevere.

In fact on one Thursday evening in May, Mia, who was tall, skinny and freckly with straw coloured hair, thought she had made a breakthrough, his partner PC Koenig, was taking a statement from a mugging victim and Jamie was stood by the nurses station, and as she had just finished stitching a nasty scalp wound, Mia decided to go and flirt with him again.

As she was tall it made a nice change for her to talk to a man who was taller than her as Jamie was six feet plus and she had always had a weakness for red hair, and his was very red.

It was a very busy shift in the ED and she should have felt a bit guilty under the circumstances, and very unprofessional, because she was flirting with him shamelessly and she couldn’t help herself, as she inclined her head to one side and played with her hair and behaved like she did when she was still at school, and fully expected it not to get her anywhere, when his demeanour changed and it looked like he might be about to say something that was giving him a dry mouth.

So, she held her breath expectantly, but before the words came out a group of rowdy drunks came in and he had to leave her to go and separate two scuffling revellers, and she had to return to cubicles, and that was that.

 

But by the end of a busy shift he returned and this time he sought her out.

“Hi Mia, I’m looking for a Mrs. Tweed, Emily Tweed”

“Hello Constable.…” she began, and was about to start flirting, when she had another thought “She’s been admitted”

“Do you know which ward?” he asked

“I’m going up myself, so I can show you if you like”

“Great” he responded

 

Thankfully the lift was there waiting, it was only three floors, but she was feeling a bit leg weary.

“Thanks for doing this” he said

“No problem, my pleasure” she retorted and was momentarily distracted by thoughts of pleasure as the lift began to ascend

But her unprofessional thoughts were abruptly halted when the lift started rattling and shaking and threw the pair of them, nose to nose, into one corner.

“Well, this is fortuitous” she said and kissed him.
“That was so much better than flirting” 

“I can’t argue with that” he said “especially as I’ve wanted to do that for a while”

“Really? me too” she concurred “Seconds then?”

His reply came in the form of a kiss, and it was even better than the first and only came to an end when the lift started moving again.

By the time they had reached the floor they wanted and emerged from the lift they had a dinner date for Saturday evening.

And after showing him to Mrs Tweed’s ward she returned to ED, but not in the lift, she skipped down the stairs instead.

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (083) – The Good Neighbour

May

 

It was on a bright sunny January day when 59-year-old widowed retiree George Wozniak was awoken from the comfortable solitude of his cottage on the northern outskirts of Pepperstock Green by his attractive new neighbour, 51-year-old Julia Kaiser, who wanted to borrow a screwdriver.

“Of course, you can” he replied, “Come in a minute”
“Thank you” she said
“I’m George by the way”
“Pleased to meet you George” she said and smiled again.
“Would you like a coffee while you’re here?”
“Oh yes please” she replied enthusiastically

After a brief conversation he soon ascertained what task she was doing at home, the dreaded flat pack furniture, and what type of screwdriver she required to do it with, and he could easily find her a small selection from the tool shed for her, but after having coffee with her he said
“Why don’t I come and give you a hand, I’ll only doze off in the chair again, so make use of me”
“No I couldn’t ask you to do that” she protested, but in truth she pleased so didn’t protest to vehemently.
“I insist” he said
George had retired from Teaching and lived alone, his wife had died nine years earlier and his two sons had families of their own so he had a lot of time on his hands, a lot of which ended with him sleeping in his armchair.
So the prospect of getting out of the house and doing something useful appealed to him greatly.
Although he would have had to admit to an ulterior motive in volunteering his services, other than to alleviate his boredom and that was because his new next door neighbour Julia was very pleasing to the eye and although that wasn’t enough in itself to get his motor running, it was a bloody good start, even if he only looked at her as a friend.

George and Julia did become friends, from that first day she asked to borrow a screwdriver and he helped her with assembling flat pack furniture.
He had enjoyed the task and her company so much that he helped her on subsequent days with a variety of other jobs and he felt useful again.
Which was why he came to spend the spring helping Julia to decorate her house.
His previous neighbour was an elderly lady who had lived there since moving in as a bride, and it wasn’t decorated again after the death of her husband which was 20 years before hers.

After her death the family just paid someone to paint over everything so they could get it on the market, so it was decorated in neutral tones, magnolia emulsion and white gloss and one thing George had noticed, apart from her figure was that Julia was not a neutral tones kind of person, she was a vibrant kind of woman, so she wanted to make her mark, stamp her personality on the place.

George was happy to help Julia, it kept him busy and made him feel useful which gave him fresh energy and a renewed purpose and more opportunities to feast his eyes on her and he would have been content if that was all there was.
Although he wasn’t aware of it at the time, Julia enjoyed it too, but for her it was because she was lonely, she missed her boys and felt she wasn’t needed since the youngest one left to join the army.
But she wasn’t the only one because it had occurred to George very early on that he too had been lonely, he just hadn’t realized it until he met her and spent time with her.

While they worked together they got to know each other and eventually he got to find out the reason for the sadness in her eyes.
Julia hadn’t given birth to 3 babies as he first thought she had given birth to 4.
Her youngest child was a girl named Anna who at the age of 8 was struck by a hit and run driver and killed.
“My baby girl was gone” she sobbed “my beautiful baby girl”
George didn’t know what to say, what could he say?
What empty words could he have used to console someone who had lost a child?
No parent should have to bury their children, he felt so inadequate and all he could do was to take her in his arms and let her cry on his shoulder.
He couldn’t take the pain away or stem the flow of tears all he could do was hold her while she sobbed and afterwards listen while she unburdened herself.
In addition to losing her daughter she also lost her husband who decided he could best help his grieving wife by shagging the next door neighbour.
“That’s shit” George said
It was little wonder she was sad and lonely.

As spring moved into summer they completed one room after another and they were both secretly dreading finishing the job.
They had done the garden already and the exterior painting was completed, so what would they do? What would fill their days? What excuse would he have to be with Julia when all the work was done? And what reason would Julia have to ask him for his help?

So it was when May slowly gave way to June when all the work was completed, that they discovered that amidst the wallpaper, filler and the paint fumes they had fallen in love.
Which was when George and Julia realised there were other ways for them to pass their time together that didn’t involve her asking if she could borrow a screwdriver, gardening tools or a paintbrush.

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (082) – Missed Rendezvous

May

Over the month following that first meeting on the riverbank and the resulting walk, Emily Hemmings and Matt Gray had had many other such meetings, at first by chance but subsequently by design.
But all they did was walk together and talk as they walked along a mile long stretch of the riverbank path.
Emily 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 Emily left home on a morning in May she was riding Hector along the bridle path of the River Oxley when she saw a familiar face
“Morning Mr Dorrit”
“Morning Emily” he replied
She always called him Mr. Dorrit even though it was 13 years since he retired from teaching.
He retired from teaching at Barnabus 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, he really was a good man.

Emily liked him very much, but he was her second-best favourite man because she liked someone else better, Matt Gray.

 

She was full of nervous anticipation about seeing Matt, much more than she had previously and she didn’t quite know why.
The feeling intensified as she approached the spot where he and Benji 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 Chestnut coloured colt, Hector, 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.
Emily pressed on and hoped Matt 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 Hector 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.
Emily waited for five minute by Carpenters Farm and she left the river and followed the bridle path into the forest, but because he was a no show 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 again.
“Hello again Emily.”

“Hello Mr. Dorrit” she 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 Agatha’s Church chime she realized she had gone too far so she galloped back the way she had come and let out her frustration as she did so and pushed Hector a bit too hard.
When she felt him labouring she pulled up sharply 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 Matt Gray was not waiting for her that morning was not, as Emily 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 three miles downstream of Carpenters Farm, a heard of cows had taken advantage of a broken fence and wandered down to the water’s edge and couldn’t get back up the bank to the field.
As Nature 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.
Nonetheless when the police offered to drop him off at home, he declined the offer as he fancied a walk, so he set off to walk back to his Cottage.
He hadn’t been entirely honest with the Police with his reason for walking home, because what he really wanted to do was intercept Emily on the return leg of her journey so he took a short cut through the forest.
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 Benji 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 Emily and her colt Hector 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 tell by the find strands of corn coloured hair below her riding hat that it was Emily and Hector.
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 Matt to hesitate.
He was not well versed in comforting crying women and were it not for the fact that he had feelings for Emily he would probably, to his shame, have tiptoed away unnoticed.
So as skulking away was not an option he considered his next move as he looked at Emily 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.
Matt was a couple of paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence.
“Oh Matt” 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, he would have kissed the top of her head had she not been wearing a riding hat, so instead he just said
“What’s the matter Emily?”
At first she just stood stock still against him but when she tried to tell him what was wrong it 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” Matt said
“All the time?” she asked in disbelief
“Yes all the time” he confirmed
Emily 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” Matt said
“But why?”
“So that I can do this” he said and kissed her trembling lips and was met with no further protestations.

Afterwards they walked along with Emily holding the reins in one hand and Matt’s 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.

In the Village of Pepperstock Green – Chapter (081) – Holiday Plans

 April

 

Best friends, 32-year-old Kenny Barnhill and 29 years old Chloe Bulman, had moved in together and were saving hard to fund their dream holiday in Greece where they were hoping to find their soulmates.

As a result of their saving up, Kenny and Chloe had become a quite boring pair and put on hold any expectation of finding Mr/Miss Right as their focus was one hundred percent on the holiday.

The run up to Christmas added to the coffers as they picked up extra shifts at Threadgold’s as a result of the age-old tradition of seasonal panic buying.

They also restricted their spending on entertainment by only attending certain festivities, like staff parties and such like, and by cutting back on buying Christmas gifts.

This was a difficult decision as they were both huge Christmas fans and liked to make the most of the season.

The decorations went up promptly on the first of December and that Christmas they had twice the decorations to put up.

What they didn’t stint on though were the festive services from the first Sunday of advent to Christmas morning.

 

After the morning service on Christmas day, they really pushed the boat out, despite having spent a pittance.

They shopped frugally and bought the damaged or reduced items wherever possible and used their staff discounts on the rest and as a result they had a sumptuous feast.

“Well, that was very indulgent” Kenny said as they sat on the sofa after dinner.

“Very” Chloe said and burped.

Both of them laughed and Kenny patted his stomach and said.

“I don’t know why I’m laughing this belly is going to look great with my speedos on the beach.”

“I hadn’t thought of that” Chloe said and patted her own tummy and burped again.

When they exchanged presents, they both had novelty chocolates and one main present each.

Kenny bought Chloe a small Gold crucifix and she bought him a Gold tie pin engraved with his name.

 

On New Year’s Eve, they normally hit the town hard, but this year they stayed home and saw in the New Year quietly with Jools Holland and then they worked the next day for double time.

January was a hard depressing month, the decorations were packed away and the flat looked bare, the weather was bitter cold and snowy, and it was a long 5 weeks until payday.

 

When the pay day finally arrived, they put as much as possible into the holiday fund.

February brought more cold, and more snow but a much quicker payday, more saving, but no Valentine cards save for the joke ones they gave each other.

March brought an end to the snow and cold and showed the first hint of spring.

With April came Easter and another chance for extra money which would be in their fund in time for them booking the holiday.

Unfortunately, when they checked the website, the prices had massively increased and when they did the reconning, it turned out they didn’t have enough savings.

 

There was stunned silent disbelief initially, followed by tears from Chloe and comforting hugs from Kenny.

“It’s not fair” she sobbed.

“We saved so hard.”

“I know” he said sympathetically.

And after her sobbing had subsided, she asked.

“What are we going to do?”  

“Well, I think we have two choices” he responded.

“Which are?” she asked as she wiped the tears off her face. 

“We carry on working and saving and postpone the Greek trip until the end of the season, or next year” he replied.

“Or?”

“Or we have a cheaper holiday.”

After some consideration and some lengthy discourse, they opted for the latter.

 

They then spent the next two days trying to find another destination but the countries they could afford they didn’t fancy.

“How about a staycation?” he asked

“What’s one of those?”

“We stay in this country, and then we don’t have to splash out on passports” he explained.

“Good idea” she agreed.

 

They browsed on his laptop, having already made the decision they wanted a seaside resort and after about half an hour Chloe suddenly said.

“I like the look of that one, where is it?”

Kenny clicked on the link and enlarged the image.

“Its Sharpington”

“I’ve never been to Sharpington” she said.

“Nor have I” he admitted.

“That’s not far away, is it?” Chloe asked.

“No, which means we won’t need to spend a lot on travel.”