Chapter 7

I threw myself into my work and tried to keep my mind off the gorgeous Gail. It was obvious that she had stuff going on in her life and I was always going to come a poor second to that. So, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and she never got in touch. I never really drank in the local pubs so never worried about bumping into her.

Then one Saturday morning there was a knock on the door, I was doing some work in the garden, so I walked around the side of the house, a young girl was standing by the door. She looked familiar but I could not place her.

There was a car on the drive and a young lad about the same age was leaning against it. I looked back at the girl, where did I know her from, I wondered to myself as I walked toward her?

“Hello there!” I said, “Can I help you?”

“Hello Sir are you Zak?” she asked, flashing me a smile.

“Yes ... Yes, I am Zak, “I said, my head whirling. I still could not place her even though she looked awfully familiar.

When I got close to her, she launched herself at me, giving me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. It was a nice hug and a nice surprise, but I still had no idea why she was hugging me. But it always does the old ego the world of good to be hugged by a good-looking girl...

“Wow, I owe you my life, “she said as she held me tight.

Then everything rather clicked into place, this was Gemma. The last time I had seen her she was being carted into the ambulance.

“You’re my Hero!” she said and beckoned over the lad by the car. He grabbed a parcel and walked over to us. He shook my hand, and he had a firm grip.

“Thank you, sir, if you had not helped Gemma that day, I would have lost her” he gushed as he pumped my hand. He had a posh plumy voice and sounded like he had attended a boarding school.

“Yes, thank you so much, “Gemma said, there were tears in her eyes, “you really did save my life!”

“Look you two this is mad, I just did what anyone else would have done,” I said, my head spinning I invited them both into my house and made us a coffee.

We sat for a while and she told me about her recovery and how things were going, she asked me about the day I had found her as she remembered little about it. Her boyfriend, she introduced him as ‘tobes’ which I presumed was short for Toby told me the police had yet to find the car driver that had caused the accident. I had never thought about the driver that had scared Gemma’s horse and then run me off the road. This was not the sort of area that had CCTV so there would be few witnesses.

We sat for a good two hours and chatted, drank coffee, and ate biscuits. Gemma told me that the only good thing to come out of the accident was that her mother and father had started seeing each other again. So that was why she had not been in touch, it all made sense I thought to myself.

In a way, I was sad as I would have liked to spend some more time with the gorgeous Gail, but I was also happy for her, she deserved to be happy.

Toby gave me the parcel; it was a rather nice bottle of gin.

“I hope you like it, sir, “he said as he gave it to me.

“Mummy mentioned you like the odd glass of gin,” Gemma said as I unwrapped it.

They made their excuses to leave and I walked them back to the car. Toby shook my hand again and Gemma gave me a huge hug.

“So, I guess we will see you at the awards ceremony,” she said as she got in the car.

“I am sorry did you say awards ceremony?” I said, a bit taken aback

“I take it you will be going?” she said with a smile

“Where?” I asked, more than a little confused.

“To the awards ceremony?” she said with a smile.

“I am sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about?” I replied truthfully.

“Oh, you have been put up for an award, it’s the local Mayors thing,” she said, “They do it every year. You should be getting a letter about it soon”

And with that, they were gone.

The letter arrived in the post three days later.

I have been nominated for a good citizen award. It was a black-tie affair at the local town hall. At first, I was reticent about going but one of the mayor’s team called me and persuaded me to go.

So, I invested in a new suit, a shirt, and a tie. I even booked a local hotel, so I did not have to drive. I had the option to take a plus one but there was no one special in my life so I decided to go alone. I drove into town on Saturday afternoon.

I checked into the hotel and shaved and showered, got my new shirt out and ironed it before donning my suit. It was a short walk to the town hall, so with my invite in my hand, I headed over.

The place was packed, lots of guys in suits and lots of ladies in their best frocks. I went to the bar and ordered a drink. I did not know anyone and was worried I would get bored when I saw Gemma and Toby coming over to me.

Kisses and handshakes were exchanged. They were both dressed to impress, all designer labels and stuff. They looked really good together and to be fair when I saw Gemma in her very short and very low-cut dress, I was more than a little jealous of young Toby.

“So are your folks here, “I asked worried about seeing Gail again.

“No mummy and Daddy are on a cruise around the med,” she said, “it was planned before this all came to light”

We made small talk, I asked Gemma about her horses and stuff. Toby told me he was in the army, so we talked about that. Then one of the mayor’s team came over and led us toward where the mayor and his wife were standing, and we were introduced to them. They seemed nice enough, they knew the story of how I had come across Gemma at the side of the road and they asked me about it, it was a short but pleasant chat.

They left us to speak to some other folks and Toby headed to the bar to get some more drinks for us all.

“Zak, while we are alone, “Gemma said looking around, “Mummy said to tell you she is sorry things didn’t work out”

“Oh okay,” I started to say. But she interrupted me

“If she and daddy had not got back together, she would have lost everything, the farm, the house, the horses, she really had no choice,” she said with a little sadness in her voice.

“Please tell her I understand and it’s cool,” I said, Gemma smiled and winked.

“She did say she had a great time” and she blushed. That made me wonder exactly what Gail had told her daughter.

Toby came back with the drinks, so we went back to small talk.