When Love Knocks Twice (A Contemporary Love Story) Page 4

“ What would your kids say?”

  Gail laughed. “I suppose I'll find out, won't I?”

  She stood on the doorstep and watched Tom climb into his car. Now she knew that madness had finally overcome her. Having chastised herself for last night's actions she had just compounded it by making it even worse. Worse, or better? The rebel that had always been there as part of her personality, seemed to come to the fore. Dammit, she thought, if I want to go on holiday with a friend then why shouldn't I? Or was she trying to justify what any sane person would condemn as reckless?

  And then Tom had gone and agreed! Tom, who could always be relied upon to do the sensible thing, whom she would have expected to point out all the reasons why they couldn't or shouldn't do it, he had agreed.

  So what was she going to do now? She was bloody well going to enjoy herself she decided, that's what she was going to do, and she proceeded to laugh out loud at odd intervals for the remainder of the day.

  Tom drove off, needing to get some shopping done before the trip north. Gail tried to decide what to pack, and how to break the news to her daughter.

  Tom tried to concentrate on the shopping in hand but found his mind wandering in circles around the phrase 'Have I done the right thing, or have I done something stupid' but getting no answers. All he knew was that he was happier than he had been the day before, and decided to follow the maxim 'live for today, let tomorrow take care of itself'. It still didn't let him concentrate on the job in hand, but at least he cheered up those around him with a silly grin on his face.

  If he had only known it, Gail was fighting the same sort of battle, with the added complication of 'how do I tell my kids', and tell them she must if she was going to disappear for a week. She still couldn't believe she had had the gall to do it, but deep down she didn't regret it. Not yet anyway.

  Emily sat down hurriedly with her mouth open, speechless for the moment, but not for long.

  “ You're doing what?” she uttered. “I don't believe it. You're going off with this man you've only just met, who could be an axe-murderer for all you know.”

  “ You told me I needed to have some fun.”

  “ But...but, but this goes against everything you ever told me as a teenager.”

  “ I know,” started Gail. “But when you get to my age you can't afford to turn down the opportunity for some adventure.”

  Emily shook her head in despair. “I don't believe this. You're determined to do this aren't you?”

  “ Yes I am.”

  “ You're going to do it whatever I say, aren't you?”

  “ Yes I am.”

  “ Well I hope you know what you're doing. But if you must, then have some fun as well. Although I warn you, I may phone you regularly.”

  She stood and gave her mother a hug, leaving Gail feeling rather guilty, but also somewhat thankful, that she hadn't told Em that she was also going to share this man's bed.

  “ For what it's worth,” confessed Emily. “I rather liked him.”

  Saturday

  Tom had hardly pulled his Mercedes to a stop outside Gail's front door before the door opened and Gail trundled her suitcase across the gravel. Tom came round to the back of the car, opening the boot with the remote.

  “ Good morning,” he greeted, with a peck on the cheek.

  “ Good morning,” Gail replied.

  They both stood there momentarily, neither making a move.

  “ Last chance to change your mind,” offered Tom.

  “ Too late. My reputation is already shot with my family, because I even considered doing it,” replied Gail, with a grin. “Let's do this before I think any more.”

  She paused. “Unless.... Have I forced myself on you? Please tell me if you're not happy about this.”

  “ What's not to be happy about. Going off into the sunset with an attractive woman,” joked Tom, putting her suitcase in the boot alongside his.

  “ Except it's not sunset, it's ten o'clock in the morning.”

  Tom shut the boot. “I warn you, if you're going to split hairs the whole week, I may leave you at the roadside.” Gail stuck her tongue out in an extremely un-adult fashion.

  They climbed into the car and settled themselves in. Tom started the engine but didn't make a move.

  “ Go, for goodness sake, go!” cried Gail.

  So he did.

  The first hour of the journey passed in relative silence, although had thinking been audible they would have needed ear-defenders. They were fifty miles out when Tom broke the silence.

  “ Do you like having music on in the car?”

  “ That depends,” replied Gail.

  “ On what?”

  “ If I'm in the car on my own I'll put the radio on,” she explained. “If I'm in the car with someone I'm not particularly familiar with I'll put the radio on to cover the awkward silence. If I'm with someone I'm comfortable with, then I'm happy to have companionable silence.”

  “ So do you want the radio on?”

  “ No.”

  As they lapsed into silence, Gail found herself wondering why she found the company of this man so comfortable, having only just met after forty years, and yet it seemed that they had picked up where they left off, as if the intervening years had not happened. And yet they had happened, and they each had personal histories that would undoubtedly remain personal. It was like she was entering a new season, disconnected from the previous one and yet somehow linked to her past. Self analysis could get very confusing she decided, and vowed to become more mindful of the present, pushing past and future to the back of the shelf.

  And so the journey continued, generally in companionable silence interspersed with occasional conversation, some trivial, some interesting, some contentious.

  “ Do you remember when we won the mixed doubles junior tournament at the Tennis club?” asked Tom.

  “ No,” replied Gail.

  “ Yes, we did. It was one of those random draw tournaments where your partners were drawn out of a hat. We swept the board, embarrassingly so.”

  “ I don't remember that at all.”

  “Don't you?”

  “ Are you sure it was me and not some other female?”

  “ No,” insisted Tom, “I remember it distinctly.”

  “ Well your memory must be better than mine. I just remember beating you regularly when we played against each other.”

  “ No,” replied Tom indignantly. “I don't remember that at all.”

  “Absolutely. I was a far better player than you were, most of the time.”

  “ Was not.”

  “ Was too.”

  They continued until it got silly.

  Gail brought it to a halt. “Is this our first tiff, or what?”

  They both burst out laughing and then lapsed into silence, which lasted until they stopped for coffee at a roadside restaurant.

  As they were letting their coffees cool, Tom met Gail's gaze.

  “ You know, I feel like I don't really know you.”

  “ In what way?”

  “ What makes you tick? What to you love, what do you hate?”

  “ Oh. That's an interesting one,” considered Gail. “What do I love? I love long views and big horizons, fish & chips out of the wrapper, frosty mornings, long cold drinks in hot weather, the first cup of tea of the day, the sound of waves on the shore, and the smell of coffee.”

  “ And hate?”

  “ What do I hate? I hate all-day drizzle, dark mornings, shoes that leak, cold hands, jugs that won't pour, bad drivers, and Soap operas. So. Your turn. Reveal all. What floats your boat?”

  “ I love the sight of an open fire, the smell of wood smoke, a comfortable bed at the end of a long day, the feeling of sunshine on your face and the smell of fresh bread, but I hate toilet seats that won't stay up, people who don't clear up after their dogs, computers that won't do what they're told, blunt knives, overflowing rubbish bins, loud motorcycles late at night, dripping taps and ticking clocks.” offered Tom.
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  “ Good to know,” concluded Gail.

  They drank their coffee and continued on their way, conscious of the passing of time, and how far they still had to go.

  They didn't get much further however, as passing Alexandria, at the southern end of Loch Lomond, the Mercedes engine died to a whisper, and they coasted to a silent stop at the side of the road.

  “ That's interesting,” remarked Tom.

  “ You're going to tell me we've run out of petrol, aren't you.” accused Gail.

  “ No. I filled up this morning and there is enough in the tank to get us all the way there.”

  He tried to start the engine again, which cranked but didn't catch. He repeated the attempt another three times without any result.

  “ We're doomed,” mocked Gail. “We're doomed.”

  Tom tried to stop laughing as he pulled out his mobile and rang the AA emergency number, receiving a promise of a response within twenty minutes.

  “ That means we could be here for days, weeks, years even,” declared Gail. “They'll find our skeletons here years from now.”

  “ Have you quite finished?” prompted Tom, with a grin.

  In the end the AA took half an hour, and towed them first to the nearest garage, who promised to look at the car as soon as they could, and then to a hotel by the Loch-side.

  Gail went in to see if there were rooms available whilst Tom completed the AA paperwork. By the time he arrived in the reception area with their cases Gail had already checked them in.

  “ Oh, thank you for bringing in my suitcase, dear,” she greeted them, with a heavy emphasis on the 'dear'.

  Tom momentarily frowned but replied, “That's all right, dear.” He repeated the emphasis whilst looking at the register where he noted that Gail had checked them in as 'Mrs and Mrs Drysdale'.

  Having gained the room-key they trundled their suitcases to the lift and only just managed to let the doors close before collapsing in hysterical laughter.

  Gail wiped her eyes once she had managed to calm down a little. “I haven't had so much fun since the last time I played truant.”

  “ You never played truant,” retorted Tom. “You were always the good,compliant one.”

  “ Times change you, you know,” replied Gail, before breaking into laughter all over again.

  “ So what is it with the 'Mr and Mrs Drysdale'?”

  “ You know I just couldn't bear to explain to them why I wanted one bedroom, so it seemed easier to play married.”

  “ And did you want just one bedroom?”

  “ Start as you mean to go on, I say.”

  They continued to giggle quietly all the way through their evening meal in the restaurant, like two schoolchildren sharing a private joke on a school outing. Fortunately there were no schoolteachers around to recognise the signs.

  After their meal they took a stroll by the Loch in the dying sun before returning to their room.

  “ I don't know about you but all this enjoyment has tired me out,” proclaimed Gail. “I'm going to turn in.”

  “ And I'll join you,” agreed Tom. “We still have a long drive tomorrow.”

  They dug around in their suitcases for night things and ended up, both standing by the bed, toothbrush in hand, looking almost expectantly at each other.

  “ Okay,” started Gail. “Look. I know I got us into this but I'm not going to spend the whole week sneaking into the bathroom to get dressed and undressed, like some spinster in a convent. I'm going to get undressed and if you happen to see me naked, then you just have to promise not to laugh out loud. Deal?”

  “ Deal,” agreed Tom. “And vice-versa.”

  So they did.

  Sunday

  The next morning they breakfasted at a reasonable time. Tom was glad to find that Gail's view of reasonable was fairly in line with his own. By the time they had finished, the garage was on the phone to say everything was fine, car as good as new, two hundred and fifty pounds please. With a sad shake of his head Tom handed over his credit card and they hit the road again.

  The change in the weather brought an overcast heaviness to the atmosphere, outside the car at any rate. Inside they managed to maintain the sense of a Sunday School outing, children who should know how to behave, but were intent on the naughty things in life.

  It wasn't long before more serious subjects came to the fore.

  “ What were you going to do for food on Skye? Do you cook?” asked Gail.

  “ Ah,” hesitated Tom. “I knew you would find me out sooner or later. I have arranged for a delivery of food to the cottage, however it was only for one, so we may have to augment it.”

  “ And the cooking?” persisted Gail.

  “ Well, I can. And whilst it would keep me from malnutrition and starvation, I'm not sure it's fare for a discerning third party. Besides there are some really nice restaurants and I was planning to eat out anyway.”

  “ Sounds good to me,” Gail concurred.

  They made good time due to light traffic on the roads, and with one brief stop for an early lunch en route they were well on schedule. As they climbed back into the car Gail looked across at Tom.

  “ Do you remember that school trip to Italy with the Latin class?”

  “ How could I forget it,” responded Tom. “The fact that we had to change flights before-hand, which resulted in a drive all the way across northern Italy.”

  “Arriving in Venice in the middle of the night,” agreed Gail. “And having to trundle our suitcases in the dark through the maze of streets because the bus couldn't go further that the bus terminus.”

  “I'm surprised we ever found that hotel.”

  “ I liked Venice though. Have you ever been back?”

  “ At least half a dozen times.”

  “Wow,” exclaimed Gail. “You did like it didn't you.”

  “So did my wife. Do you remember going shopping in Rome?”

  “ God, yes,” exclaimed Gail. “And that group of Italian boys started to pester us girls who had gone off on their own.”

  “You grabbed the first unsuspecting individual you knew to come and protect you.”

  “ I think you did very well. I remember your glare was particularly useful,” insisted Gail.

  “ I remember falling asleep in the sun and waking up bright red.”

  “ I remember that,” cried Gail. “I remember sitting next to you on the bus and you were glowing like a beacon. I could almost feel the heat coming off you.”

  “ Ah, happy days,” sighed Tom. “Not.”

  Other reminiscences peppered their journey and before they realised it, they were approaching the Bridge over to Skye. The sun broke through to provide a weak afternoon sunshine as they drove through Broadford.

  Gail gave a cry. “Look! Tennis courts. We can go and have a game one day, and then I can beat you all over again.”

  “ I'm not sure they would have a racquet my size,” suggested Tom, getting a swipe over the back of the head from the map Gail was holding.

  They arrived at the cottage on the stroke of four o'clock. They got out and stretched their legs, straightening the cricks in their backs. Tom stood and looked at the cottage for a few moments before moving. Gail turned and noticed his expression.

  “ You've been here before haven't you.”

  Tom just nodded.

  “ With your wife?”

  “ Yes,” nodded Tom.”With Abbie.”

  “ She was very special wasn't she?”

  “ Yes, she was.”

  “ I wish I had known her. I feel that I'm intruding,” confessed Gail.

  Tom turned to her. “Don't. You're here at my invitation remember. But I wish you had known her. You would have got on. She would have liked you. You're quite similar to her.”

  “ But I would never replace her. Remember that,” said Gail.

  “ No. I know.”

  They unpacked the car and settled into the cottage, which drew a 'delightful' from Gail.

  They agree
d that, after their long drive, some exercise was called for, and donning walking boots they set out to climb the hill behind the cottage in the warm afternoon sunshine. The track they started on petered out to a path, and as they climbed, they followed sheep tracks up towards a summit. After an hour and a half of stiff climb, Gail started to feel it was time to turn back, and suggested it to Tom.

  He shook his head. “Just five more minutes, it will be well worth it, I promise you.”

  She agreed, and they carried on. Sure enough, as promised, five minutes later they crested a rise and Tom deliberately took Gail's hand in a firm grip.

  Gail drew an audible gasp as the view opened up before them. The ground dropped away near-vertically for several hundred feet, leaving a breathtaking view for miles in the clear sunshine.

  “ It's awesome,” breathed Gail.

  Tom didn't comment, but taking in the view for a few moments suddenly realised that tears were flowing down Gail's cheeks.

  “ Are you all right?” he questioned concernedly.

  Gail took in a deep breath. “Yes. I'm all right. It's only that I know there have been times in the last five years when I've been so low that I could cheerfully have thrown myself off a cliff like this.”

  Tom's grasp tightened, causing her to smile at him.

  “ Don't worry, I'm not like that any more, especially in the company of good friends.”

  Despite her reassurances, Tom didn't loosen his grip. He was taking no chances. Had he known it, Gail wouldn't have let his hand go anyway.

  They took their time on the way back down, enjoying the evening sunshine, more pleasant now that it had lost some of its heat.

  They managed to change and reach the restaurant with enough time for a leisurely meal before returning to the cottage to face unpacking. They surprised each other by efficiently stowing everything away in logical places. By the time they had finished it was ten o'clock but the sun still appeared high in the sky.

  “ Midsummer in the high latitudes,” voiced Tom, as they sat on a bench in the garden, drinking coffee and watching the sun sink over the horizon. “You've got to love these long days.”