Chapter 2: We meet again

Derek and Cath were involved with the organisation of their daughter's school fete. A strong gust of wind had damaged the tombola stand during last year's fete and they had asked me to repair and modify the poles that formed the canopy. It was two weeks since my blind date with Sarah and the day before the fete, Cath was bringing the poles over that afternoon. I was tidying my workshop when her blue Corsa turned into the yard. My heart sank when I saw Sarah get out.

I scowled and asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Cath asked me to help her," said Sarah. "She didn't want to drag the kids out."

I went over and she handed me the metal poles that needed welding. There was no more conversation. I went into my workshop and, as I did so, the heavens opened. It had been threatening a storm all day and thunder had been rumbling around for the last hour or so. Sarah followed me in as the rain started. I got my grinder out to clean up the ends before welding them. As I started on the second pole there was a huge flash of lightning followed almost instantly by the rattling, banging noise of a really close strike. At the same moment the electricity failed.

Sarah stood rooted to the spot. She looked petrified. I told her that the power may restore itself in a few minutes. Ten minutes later it was still pouring, I do mean pouring, and the power had not come back on. I told Sarah I was going to start the generator. In a very small and frightened voice, almost pleading, she said, "Don't leave me, I hate thunderstorms."

I wondered what had possessed Cath to send her with a storm brewing but I kept my thoughts to myself and took her across the yard to the kitchen. However if she wanted sympathy she was in the wrong place. We both got drenched in the short time it took to cross the yard. I told her I needed to go out and fire up the old genny. Sarah looked scared and I told her we would be sitting in the dark if I didn't. I went back out into the yard before she could answer. The genny started first time and I ran back to the kitchen and put the light on. By this time it was dark and the storm had got worse, lightning flashed every few seconds and the thunder was one continuous rumble.

Sarah was sitting at the kitchen table and said, "I need the loo but I'm scared to go outside."

"You don't need to use the one outside," I said, "there's one at the top of the stairs."

She got up and gave me an evil look. When she came down she demanded, "Why did you make me use that horrible outside toilet last time?" I looked at her but didn't respond. She carried on ranting, "It was mean, there wasn't even any toilet paper."

I'd had enough of her attitude, and let her have the truth. "You were being a bitch. You called my place a dump. I decided it wasn't worth even trying to change your opinion."

She didn't reply to this and sat down again. I suggested that she may as well go, the power had now been off for over half an hour and the generator wasn't powerful enough to feed my welder. Cath could come back in the morning to collect the parts I was working on. The storm was still raging outside and Sarah said, "I know you don't like me and I can see you want to get rid of me but I'm scared of storms. I'd like to wait here until it has died down a bit." To be fair, the rain was so heavy that driving wouldn't be easy. I half thought about making her leave anyway, making up a story about collecting something from town, but I decided I couldn't be that cruel and replied, "OK, you'd better let Cath know what's happened."

She pulled her mobile out and I smiled to myself. After a couple of attempts she turned to me and said, "My mobile isn't working."

I laughed and said, "There's no signal here, the phone's in the corner on my desk, Derek and Cath's number is on the quick dial." She rang Cath and I listened to a lot of 'yes' and 'no' answers.

I decided to carry on with laying the new floor in the section of the house where Derek and I had put in the new beams two weeks ago. I told Sarah what I planned, and said she could stay put until the storm calmed down. I went through to the 'building site' and forgot about Sarah. I had been working for about an hour when I heard a shout from behind the plastic sheet that kept the dirt and dust out of the 'finished' section of the house. It was Sarah and she was carrying two mugs of tea.

I was surprised and it must have shown on my face. Sarah said, "I've made you a mug of tea." She walked through into the room I was working on, this was going to be the main bedroom. I sat on a pile of chipboard and Sarah sat down on the crate I was using as a workbench, she seemed more relaxed. We drank our tea but still the conversation wasn't flowing.

It was a warm and humid afternoon and, as I looked at Sarah, I finally noticed that she was wearing a light floral dress. She looked much prettier than on our first meeting when she wore those awful dungarees. She was an attractive woman with a very nice figure, it was a shame about the attitude. But, then again, she had made me a cup of tea, it was the first friendly gesture she had made.

I decided not to say anything, I would see if she started a conversation. She had caught me looking at her a couple of times, then all of a sudden she burst out laughing. It was the first time I had heard her laugh. She had a 'dirty' laugh, and her previously hard face softened to a more pleasant look.

I must have looked confused, and she explained, "I was just thinking about my conversation with Cath before I left. She was nagging me to go out with you again. I told her that after that Friday I thought hell would freeze over first. Then I saw the way you were looking at me and I wondered ... Come on, you were staring, weren't you?"

To be honest the thought of another evening trying to get Sarah to be sociable was just too much, even though I could sense that she wanted to make up. I drank my tea and just looked at her, not saying a word. After a few seconds Sarah continued, "Come on, admit it, you were staring." I carried on drinking my tea. Little Head liked what he saw, but Big Head overruled. Finally, I stood up and said, "Thanks for making the tea. I'm going to lay some more flooring," and started moving the chipboard sheets into the area that would be the spare bedroom.

Sarah didn't move and I asked her if the weather had calmed down a bit. She said that it had and that she would set off in a few minutes.

When she took my cup and said goodbye, she actually smiled. It was a warm smile and such a contrast to her normal scowl that I actually thought she looked desirable.

I worked on for another hour or so and then went down to the kitchen to start tea. I ate a simple tea, it was a ready meal, and thought that I should spend an hour or so on some paying work.

When I went to my desk to sort through some papers I found a note on the keyboard where I couldn't miss it.

Robert,

Sarah.

Her phone number was written at the bottom.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. I read the note through again then picked up the phone and dialled her number.

Sarah finally opened up and we spoke for nearly an hour. She told me about her relationship with Daniel and how she suspected him of being bisexual or maybe even gay. The relationship had been rocky for about a year, she thought he was having an affair and followed him. He met up with the man he said he was going to meet and, at the time, she kicked herself for doubting him. However, a few months later she found out that the friend was gay and there were rumours about Daniel and the gay friend at work. Eventually she confronted Daniel about his sexuality and, the following day, he walked out and she never saw him again.

Sarah said she would come over the following morning to collect the poles for the Fete.

When she opened up she seemed like a different woman to the witch I took out a couple of weeks ago and I actually looked forwards to seeing her again in the morning. I decided I was going to ask her out.

I got up early the following morning. The power was back on and I got the welding finished by seven-thirty. I was just walking back to the house when Cath's car pulled in.

Cath was driving and Sarah was in the passenger seat. They got out and we loaded the poles but Sarah didn't get back in the car even though there was room. Cath drove off with a smile on her face.

I was taken aback. We had agreed not to discuss things with Cath but Sarah explained. "Cath gave me the third degree when I got back yesterday and I told her about my note. She said she would drop me off this morning and then we would have to spend some more time together.

Sarah had a carrier bag and made straight for the kitchen saying, "Go and get on with your flooring, I'll make us a drink." I went upstairs and started screwing flooring down.

Some time later, I had lost track of time, she called me back to the kitchen. I was impressed to see that she had prepared a full breakfast. There was bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding and fried bread. "This is the first bit of making up," said Sarah as I sat down. "Cath told me you liked a full breakfast."

"It looks good, and so do you," I said as I picked up a knife and fork. Sarah was wearing a light white dress which showed an impressive cleavage and a nice pair of smooth legs. We ate and talked; things seemed to be going a lot better between us.

Then the phone rang. It was Cath and she was quite upset. Derek had slipped on the stairs and hurt his ankle badly. She thought it might be broken and she needed to take him to the A&E at Skipton hospital. She asked if we would come over urgently to look after Sophie and Becky and then take them to the school fete and sports day. I said we would.

As soon as I finished on the phone I told Sarah what had gone on and she said "OK, lets get tidied up and get over there." Ten minutes later we were in the car and half an hour after putting the phone down we arrived at Cath and Derek's. Derek was obviously in a lot of pain, Cath hurried through the plans for the day and then rushed off with Derek to Skipton hospital.

We spent the morning in the house with Sophie and Becky until it was time to set off for their school. When we got there we had no idea what was going on but eight-year-old Becky introduced us to her teacher and we explained the situation. Everyone was friendly and we acted as their parents. Cath rang me at about two o'clock to say that Derek had torn tendons. He would be off his feet for several weeks but at least nothing was broken and he wouldn't be in plaster.

I ran in the Dad's race and came tenth out of twenty. Sarah came second in the Mum's race and I must admit the sight of those boobs bouncing while she ran got me excited. For a big girl she could certainly run. I congratulated her and the kids were happy, they told us their mum was often last. Next was the Mum and Dad three-legged race.