Teen Dreams Book 4
Copyright© 2023 by ProfessorC
Chapter 18
It was nearly four am before, exhausted we fell asleep in each other’s arms and nine o’clock before we emerged from sleep to dress quickly and get downstairs just before breakfast finished for the day.
“Where did you park your car last night?” I asked.
“At home,” she replied, “we all came over on three coaches yesterday morning and I told them that I would be going home with Mum last night. Which was true when I said it.”
“Great, then let’s have breakfast, go back to the room for showers and I’ll take you home, we can spend the day together and then I’ll drive back down south on Sunday.”
“Then we can take our time getting back,” she said, “how about we drive up to the lakes and set off back this evening.”
“That could be nice,” I said, “Windermere?”
“How about we go to Lakeside, then take the boat up the lake, spend a few hours in the village get something to eat and then back on the boat?”
After showering, which may have involved what some people might think of as inappropriate touching, we dried each other, dressed, packed our dirties into one bag, checked out of the hotel and set off North to the Lake District.
It was almost two hours later that we pulled off the M6 at junction 36 and took the signs to Windermere, arriving at Lakeside just in time for a light lunch and then the forty minute trip up to Bowness.
It was a bright, sunny day, pleasantly warm and we sat out on deck enjoying the fresh mountain air and the beautiful countryside.
We sat on a white painted bench seat at the very front of the boat, my right arm around Cal’s shoulders and her head lying on my shoulder.
“This is nice,” she said, “do you think they’d sell us the boat so we could just do this for the rest of our lives?”
“I doubt it,” I replied, “but I agree, it’s nice.”
We got off the boat at Bowness Pier and, of course, Cal being of the female persuasion, we headed straight to the high street and its shops.
“What are we looking for?” I asked, hoping to at least get a handle on how long we were going to be.
“I don’t know,” she replied, “inspiration. I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’ll know it when I find it.”
I offered up a silent ‘yes dear.’
We spent a couple of hours shopping and another hour in the Peter Rabbit Museum. For some reason Cal was enchanted by Beatrix Potter and the world she’d created. I knew she had all the books in her bedroom and even still read them from time to time.
“Remember the last time we walked down this street?” I asked.
“Eating fish and chips out of the paper,” she replied.
I just nodded, remembering happier times.
“Do you think we’ll ever be that way again?” she asked.
“What way?” I asked.
“As happy as we were then?”
She suddenly went off at a tangent.
“Do you think they’ve still got it?” she asked.
I was confused.
“Got what?”
“The boat, the Lady Calista, do you think it’s still there?”
“I would think they’ve probably towed it out somewhere and blown a big hole in it by now. It was going to cost a fortune to make it worth having.”
“Maybe they don’t want as much for it now,” she said.
“They’ll probably want even more to repair it,” I objected.
“Well, can we go and look?”
“yes, we can go,” I agreed, “and we can look.”
We went, we looked, Cal was disappointed, they no longer had the boat. They’d sold it a short time after we’d seen it.
They’d sold it to a businessman who only wanted it for the name. His wife was called Calista and he wanted to call his new boat after her but couldn’t because the name was already in use.
We walked back into town holding hands and caught the next boat back to Lakeside. Cal was a little bit down.
“I’m sorry they didn’t still have it, love,” I told her as we took two seats in the lounge on board the steamer.
“You’d have bought it for me wouldn’t you?”
“Honestly? No,” I replied, “it would have been a complete waste of money, but one day, if you really want it, I’ll buy you a boat.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, one day,” she said, sweetly.
“I’m going to let you,” I said, “but only if you really want one, not just on a whim.”
She was quiet for a couple of minutes.
“You’re right, aren’t you,” she said, “I do too much of that.”
“Of acting on a whim?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you do.”
There was another silence, but I could see from her expression that she was thinking about that one.
“Do you think I’ll be able to change, to stop doing things on impulse?” she asked.
“If I didn’t we wouldn’t be here,” I replied, “I’d be long gone.”
“I will try,” she answered, I could hear the hope in her voice.
“That’s all anyone can ask, Cal,” I said, “that you try your best.”
“I will, I promise,” she said.
“All you really need to do, you know, is, when you have a sudden idea, talk it over with someone, me, your mother, a friend. Let someone else think it through with you, they may be able to see the pitfalls that you miss.”
“I’ll try, David, I will try.”
She was getting upset and it showed, so I changed the subject.
“Do you have to do recitals at school?”
“Yes, I have one next term, are you going to come?”
“If I can,” I said, “I’ll try and be there.”
“Thank you,” she said then sealed the bargain with a kiss.
Back at Lakeside, we had a very pleasant dinner, sat on the terrace overlooking the lake and after I’d paid the bill, we walked back to the car park and set off home.
It was a three hour drive back home, we could have done it quicker, but we took the scenic route back down the A65 through Skipton and arrived home at just before nine.
“Hi kids, have a good day?” her mother greeted us as we walked into the living room, she was sitting on the sofa, the TV showing some sort of game show in front of her.
“Hi, Mum, yes, we went up to the lakes for the day.”
“Have you got any plans for tomorrow?”
“Apart from me having to get back down south ready for Monday morning, I haven’t. Have you Cal?”
“Not particularly, sleep in, have lunch, maybe a trip down to the outlet centre, but nothing special. Why was there something you wanted to do, Mum?”
“Not special, but I thought the three of us might do something.”
“I’d like that,” I said, “even if we don’t go very far, I’ve noticed that whenever Cal and I have done something with family, it’s tended to be with mine, even though you tend to come with us, it’s still doing what my family wants. So yes, what shall we do?”
“How about a trip to Harrogate, there’s a food fair on in the Valley Gardens, we could go to that, have lunch out, then come back in the afternoon and you can get off.”
“Maybe David should stay here tonight then,” Cal said.
“You know David’s welcome to stay the night whenever he wants,” Aunt Mary said, “regardless of whether he sleeps in your room or the spare one.”
“Well if I’m staying, I’d better ring home and tell them.”
“I’m sure they were already aware of the possibility,” Mary said, “but they’ll appreciate the thoughtfulness.”
I made the call; told them we’d come round for breakfast on Sunday and said goodnight.
I hung up, Cal and I said goodnight to her Mum and went to bed, we were both tired.
Not too tired for a sweet, gentle love making before we fell asleep.
Nor were we too tired the following morning for what Cal demanded, a good hard pounding, followed by a trip to the bathroom together for a long shower courtesy of the over bath shower and the ability to both fit in there at the same time.
Suitably refreshed and satisfied, we were dressed by the time we were called downstairs to go next door for breakfast.
Over breakfast we discussed the logistics of the day, we agreed that we’d all go together, come home mid-afternoon after having lunch there then I could have tea with my parents before setting back off down to Gerrards Cross without the need to eat anything else before bedtime.
I thought it was a good idea so, at ten we set off for the drive to Harrogate, arriving just before the eleven o’clock start of the festival.
All the local big restaurants and hotels had stands in the Gardens, plus a lot of smaller companies. A couple of local breweries, street food vendors and even some general souvenir stands.
We had little samples from a lot of the stands, so much that none of us felt like eating when it came to that time of day.
We arrived back around four in the afternoon, in time for me to get a quick shower before we went next door to eat.
Mum had pulled out the stops, a full traditional Sunday roast with all the usual trimmings and, it was delicious. Despite Mum’s insistence I passed on the seconds that she offered.
I set off at six thirty and after an unremarkable journey, arrived back at the hotel a little before ten, checked in and went up to my room, where, I discovered some script changes had been delivered.
When I checked my email, I’d also had the revised script delivered electronically, which meant that I didn’t have to sit up tonight learning the new lines, I could just take my laptop in with me and read them from there. The coming week was to be the last week before we moved to the studio to rehearse on set and, eventually in costume and make up, prior to beginning filming in earnest.
I set an alarm call for seven in the morning before getting myself ready and getting into my bed.
As soon as my alarm call came in, I was up got my running clothes on and did a steady five miles, before showering, having my breakfast and arriving at the rehearsal room just before nine.