(Mf)
A chance meeting on
the bus can lead to other things
This story is very
loosely based on lots of different conversations overheard on the bus.
Chapter 8
Saturday comes round, beds have been stripped and laundry done.
The rather sticky sofa has been cleaned. The house smells a lot fresher than it
did a week ago, and a whole lot fresher than it did two days ago.
Mary hasn’t seen Peter again as he is away at his other
restaurants, although they have been messaging, once Sally has taught her mum
how to do that. We assume the messages are clean, but don’t really want to ask
or know.
We head for home. The family bond has been strengthened, Sally
and her mum are closer than ever, and Laura and I feel like we are now fully
part of the family dynamic.
The journey home is a nightmare with the M1 closed, and we don’t
get home until after midnight.
On the doorstep, we find bin bags containing the rest of Laura’s
stuff, dumped on the doorstep sometime by her parents while we have been away.
Laura is obviously saddened by this, but Mary and Sally do their best to keep
her cheerful.
I pop back to my house for some fresh clothes, and find lots of
letters amongst the junk mail. I bring them back with me.
Mary has somehow found enough food to cook a meal and I open my
letters while we eat. I have four job offers, assuming that I pass. The offers
are very attractive financially at up to three times my present salary, but
none of them are local and I have no plans to move away from Laura and Sally,
or as I put it “I’m not leaving Mary’s cooking”. I get two slaps for that.
Sunday sees us back at my house, with more decorating and
cleaning being done. I try to stop her, but Mary has gone straight back into
‘wonder woman’ mode.
Monday comes and as I technically don’t have a job until I get
my exam results, the four of us drive into the country and have a pleasant
lunch at a country inn. Another three job offers have arrived, again all too
far away from Laura and Sally.
TUESDAY!
Tuesday is results day for all three of us. I go into the
office; I have passed with flying colours. I get an attractive job offer from
my present company, I show them the other offers I have received and they up
their offer to match the highest one plus a starting bonus. I have a job.
In between conversations, I am checking my phone anxiously for
new from Laura and Sally.
I am taken out to lunch by the partners, still no news. I fear
the worst, not for Laura, but for Sally.
I pop to the toilet and phone Mary, no answer. I try Laura’s and
Sally’s phones, switched off.
At the end of the day, I am really panicking, I get to Mary’s
house as fast as I can, and there is no one there. I try the phones again, no
answer.
“Maybe they are at my house” I think although I can’t think of a
reason why they should be.
I get to my house; there are three banners outside –
“Congratulations William Rupert Benson”; “Congratulations Sally Callaghan” and
“Congratulations Laura Murphy”
The front door is open Laura rushes to greet me and hugs me
tight “We did it” she screams in my ear
“Rupert!” Sally rushes towards me like a Labrador, almost
knocking me over.
Mary is in the kitchen popping champagne “Well done all three of
you”
In the kitchen are blown up copies of today’s Times with my bit
of the accountancy results highlighted, together with blown up copies of Laura’s
and Sally’s exam results. Laura has got 5 A*’s and 4 A’s. Sally has got 2 A*’s, 3 A’s, 3 B’s and a D
“Fucking hell” I say and I am quickly rewarded with a “Language
Billy” from Mary
“I’ve been worried sick all day, why didn’t you answer the
phones?”
“We wanted to surprise you” Laura answered.
“Fucking hell”
“Language Rupert” Sally smirks
“A ‘D’ in geography Sally, shame on you” I smirk back
“Come on, Giovanni’s is booked and you need to get changed” Mary
says as she hands me a glass. I notice that all three of them are in their very
best clothes.
A Mercedes arrives to take us to the restaurant. I don’t notice,
but it is not a private hire car.
At the restaurant, Peter is waiting for us, having driven up
especially at very short notice. Several bottles of really good champagne are
next to the table in a private function room that could hold twenty people, but
has just us five in it.
“By the way” Mary says, “don’t come back to my house tonight,
I’ve made other plans”
Several years have passed.
I have sold my house, and moved to the south coast, buying a
very large four bedroom villa just down the road from my old Nan’s villa.
I am a full partner in an accountancy practice in town, with
Peter’s businesses as a personal client.
Laura and Sally live with me. Laura is a junior partner in a law
firm. Sally, having gone to a performing arts college, is currently appearing
on stage in London every night, in the chorus, but she is getting noticed, and
is making good headway in a tough profession. I use a car service to take her
in and bring her home everyday
Mary is living in Nan’s old villa, having sold her house as
well. Everything ‘old Nan’ has gone to be replaced by modern furniture. She
thinks she is paying me rent. I have actually transferred the ownership to her
name, and have paid all the property taxes, and the rent goes into a pension
pot for her. She sees Peter regularly, and owns, with Peter, the cleaning
company that supplies and cleans his, now eight restaurants as well as several
other businesses owned by friends of Peter. She has no intention of getting
married again.
I have sex most nights with Laura, and most mornings with Sally,
the ‘rules’ having been relaxed some time ago. They are rarely awake in the
same house at the same time anyway, but the sex is ‘fucking awesome’ when they
are.
It just goes to show how a chance meeting on a bus can change
your life forever.
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