Another pause. “Cheers, mate. See you soon.”
He turned back to Jazz. “He’s fully booked, but willing to do an evening shift for an old mate. He’ll just charge us standard rates, but he can’t get here ’till eight o’clock tonight. I said there will be someone onsite to let him in. I’ll do it myself if you need me to?”
“No, that’s fine. So long as I get this done today, then the time won’t be wasted. I’ll stay on myself, I want to meet this Brad, see what he’s like.”He looked a bit less grim.“Good work Jeremy, and thanks, it’s appreciated.”
Chapter 4
An Organisational Nightmare
The market was in full flow as Crystal approached the centre of town. The traffic was dreadful and she slowed the vehicle to a crawl. Jeremy had loaned her the Land Rover for the day and she already felt as if every bone in her body was bruised and sore. The ancient old Series III, was something that Jeremy refused to be parted from and it had a charm all of its own. He’d shelled out several thousand pounds in repairs on the vehicle which her been her father’s pride and joy, and it was only family sentiment that kept the thing running these days. As durable old work-horses went it was a stunner, but for comfort and practicality it was a non-starter.
Parking it would be her next challenge, it was not the most manoeuvrable of vehicles. She glanced at her watch, she was already five minutes late. She hoped that Brad would wait for her. He’d agreed to meet up with her in the market square, there was an old pub there called ‘The Chough’, which he remembered from his student days, he said they could grab a nice lunch there and get re-acquainted, whatever that meant. She hoped Jez hadn’t been playing cupid again. His taste in ‘suitable’ boyfriends had always been a disaster. Not that her own choices had been much better, now that it came down to it, she supposed.
They had been barely out of high school when he’d introduced her to Carl, the nerdy guy with pimples, who was a top London barrister now, incidentally. Then there had been Rupert, ‘call me Rupe’, who had been ‘into’ new age and all things hippy. His dad had turned out to be a High Court Judge and he’d taken the silk too, all in his own good time. She was a bit apprehensive where Brad was concerned. She had him down as a ‘beach boy bum’ the last time she’d met him, and she’d not heard anything in the intervening years to change that opinion.
She finally skittered into the pub ten minutes late, having abandoned the Land Rover on double yellow lines, right outside. It wasn’t registered in her name, so she wouldn’t get the ticket. It was easier than trying to park the thing, anyhow. She stared around in the ‘courtyard’ style interior, trying to recognise her ‘date’.
Her eyes fastened on the rear view of a guy with head of golden hair, tied back in a ponytail and accompanied by brawny muscles and a perma-tan. Was that him?
“Crystal?”
She spun around and almost collided with a tall, lean, rangy guy wearing well washed levis and an old college sweatshirt, faded and washed pale with age.“Brad?” she stuttered. She’d recognise those eyes anywhere. ‘Come to bed’ eyes, her friend Babs had called them, and she wasn’t far wrong.
He stepped forwards and held out his hand, very formally.
His palm was dry and warm, with just the right amount of flesh and muscle for a firm and warm handshake. Her knees began to buckle. What was wrong with her these days? Since she’d walked out on Phil, it seemed like her body and her libido had come out of some year-long hibernation or something. Her tongue stuck firmly to the roof of her mouth.
“Wow, don’t look at you, all grown up.”He whistled softly under his breath. “Jez sure kept you out of my orbit. He said you’ve been away for the past year or so, America?”
“Um, yes.” She didn’t know which part of the question to answer first. In the end she settled for, ‘likewise’, meaning that he’d grown up too. It seemed the most complimentary, under the circumstances.
He directed her towards a table, set aside from the rest and laid out simply with rustic cloth, cutlery and candle. “I’ve appropriated a table, I wasn’t sure what time you would get here, so I’m already on my first pint. What can I get you?”
She looked out at the Land Rover, causing an obstruction outside. “Just a mineral water for me, I’ve got the car, I’m afraid.”
He propelled her towards the table he’d indicated and then cast a glance at the bar. Within seconds a waiter arrived to take their order. Nice, he’d planned ahead, she liked that in a man.
Once they’d ordered, he got straight down to business, professional and courteous. The Brad she’d met in her younger days would have been more obvious, less restrained, he’d grown up a lot from the guy she remembered. She found herself responding to his lazy manner and pertinent questions. Quite a heady combination. She was watching the light reflecting off of his single discreet St Christopher, worn lazily slung around his neck, when he touched on the serious stuff.
“So, Crystal, why are you back home and starting out again?” he wanted to know.
She felt as if he’d punched her in her solar plexus, she had no glib answer, ready to trot out at a moment’s notice. She decided, then and there, to ‘offload’, as her American friends would say.
Looking up into clear blue eyes, the colour of a summer’s day, she replied, “My boyfriend was a lying, cheating bastard, married with regulation show-biz wife, who worked the system and then when he got caught he laid me out to dry to save his own skin. Not only that, he did it publicly, in the full glare of the media spotlight, on prime-time American TV.”The second that the words were out of her mouth, she wished that she could retract them. Why she’d chosen to blurt that out now, she’d no idea.
“Ouch. That must have hurt. Do your brothers know?”
“No, and if you breathe a word, I’ll knee-cap you,” she promised, already regretting the outburst.
“Hah, now that sounds like the Crystal that I remember,” he quipped. Then, “So, down to business. What exactly do you want?”
By the time that Crystal had finished outlining her plans, it was time for Brad to go back to work. He’d only had a couple of hours to spare, in-between jobs, and he was very busy these days, business was good.
As they parted in the foyer of the pub, where the flower seller had set up her stall, he whipped a long stem red rose from the bucket at her feet, and stole a kiss. He was an expert kisser, and his embrace was warm and seductive, he soothed her demons rather than inflaming them. She liked him, she decided.
Crystal had closed her eyes as Brad’s lips descended upon her own, and now, she opened them to glimpse just a fleeting glance of Jazz’s glacier stare. He was right on the opposite side of the square, and seemed to have his gaze fixed on her own, but as she turned her head, to look full in his direction, he spun on his heel and stalked off.
She blinked a couple of times, wondering if she’d imagined the whole scenario, and came back to earth with a bump as Brad stroked her cheek.
“Penny for them?” he asked.
“I was just wondering what you are doing the weekend after next. The Friday evening,” she improvised. “Would you like to be my date?”
He’d swaggered out through the door, two feet taller, and she was sure that he punched a ‘high-five’ in the air, when he thought she was out of sight.
Either way, she now had a proper date for the party, now all she had to do was get the rest of the arrangements under-way.
The Land Rover was sporting a nice yellow and white ticket, flapping away happily in the stiff Northerly breeze, by the time she returned to it. Hardly surprising really, Crystal left it exactly where it was, and decided to make the most of the parking fee that Jez would unwittingly be expected to pay on her behalf.
The market was spectacular. Crystal took her time, the weather was cold and inclement, but she’d wrapped up in extra layers to counter-balance the Land Rover’s dodgy heating, so she was warm as toast in her new fur lined Ugg boots and drainpipe jeans. She had a large fitted j
acket, the colour of warm chocolate pulled down low over her thighs and she was at peace with the world.
Ten minutes later she’d revised her opinion. Seated in the bank, opposite an earnest ‘twenty-something’ loan advisor, she was losing her patience fast. All she wanted was a table of interest rates and some kind of indication of when her request for finances might be considered. She didn’t want a lecture on how to put together a proposal or what to include in a budget, she’d learned all that years ago. Unfortunately the bank clerk was either too thick-skinned or too stupid to pick up on her mood. Either way, it took her twice as long as she had wanted to conclude the appointment and she still didn’t know what it was they wanted to see in order to advance her the money.
Then she walked slap-bang out of the branch and into the path of Jazz and Verity. What on earth were they doing here together? Wasn’t he supposed to be in London?
She realised that they hadn’t seen her yet, they were walking along, heads together and engrossed in conversation. She slid in behind a poster on the bus shelter and waited until they had passed by. Was this some kind of clandestine affair, or had they just bumped into one another unexpectedly, she wondered. Jez would not be impressed. Did he know that Verity was out with the boss?
On the other side of the square, completely obscured by a display of bath towels and hiding behind a man with a large umbrella, Lolly surveyed the scene. She’d not missed a thing. Jazz, Verity, Crystal and Brad had all been shadowed and their movements recorded. A consummate worrier, she wondered what it all meant.
Several hours later, Crystal dropped the keys for the Land Rover into the fruit dish in the hallway and wondered if she should leave a note or not. Maisie ‘did’ for her brother and had been happy enough to let her in, but she was ready to go now and wanted to lock up. Crystal wondered guiltily if she should tell him about the parking ticket. She’d already purchased a bottle of her brother’s favourite tipple as a special ‘thank you’ for loaning her his car, and she’d had to change over the last of her American dollars at the bank to fund the purchase, so she guessed that the gesture would have to be enough. She didn’t think that a note saying ‘thanks for the car and sorry about the parking ticket’ would go down too well. She could put ‘thanks for the car and I didn’t crash it’, but then he’d only worry in case she had crashed it and hadn’t told him. It was a tricky one.
Maisie rattled the keys in the hall.
She was out of time, so she tipped over one of the envelopes that the postman had delivered today, and scrawled ‘thanks’ with six kisses on the back of it. That would do. He’d know where to look for the keys.
“Thanks, Maisie,” she called, as she attempted to sidle past her on her way out.
“Miss Crystal,” Maisie hailed her, “I need a word with you.”
Blast. That was the last thing she needed, right now. She waited.
“There’s something I need to know,” she started.
Uh-oh. “Mmm…?”Crystal replied.
“My Gordon says that you’re back in charge of the Hunt Ball. Is that true?”
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. Those kind of questions she could answer.“Yes, Maisie, it’s true. Gran and Lolly asked me to help. Gran has her hands full since the accident and Lolly ran into a few problems last year, so they thought I might be able to point them in the right direction.”
“Oh, thank goodness for that. There are several members of the hunt who’d left off buying a ticket, ’cos of the (problems),” she said the last bit from behind her hand.
Crystal smiled. “Well, rest assured that the ball is moving on at great pace now, and it will be the grandest ball yet. It’s going to be a wonderful affair, and I’ve booked a surprise too, something for everyone to enjoy, so ask your husband to pass the word around for me please. It will be a great night. Don’t forget, it’s fancy dress, as always, so they’ll need to get their costumes booked, and they can buy the tickets online this year, so there are no excuses. We need final numbers by this time next week, the Wednesday at the latest, so there’s just over a week left.”
“So, a week this Friday then, for the ball. Is everything booked now? I went past the farm the other day, on my way into Bath and that grass in the paddock looks a bit long for a marquee. Is everything OK?”
“It will be,” Crystal replied, fingers crossed behind her back.
“What about, him,” she jerked her head, “Up at the factory? What do you make of him then?” Maisie’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.
Ah, so this was the real reason for the conversation then. She should have seen it coming really, she supposed. “Jazz? Well, the board seem to be very pleased with his progress, so we shall have to wait and see.” She inched a couple more footsteps closer to the door.
“Surely you know more than that?” Maisie prompted, “What with you and he being so close and all,” she added, with a sideways glance. She was treading on thin ice here, and she knew it.
Crystal decided not to give her any more ammunition. “What gives you that impression then?” she asked.
Maisie backed off. “Well, I did see him kissing you in that posh car of his, and word is that you were up at the factory late, after work the other night.”She clapped a hand over her mouth, Bernard would kill her for letting that one out. He’d only told her down at the ‘Dog and Duck’ in strictest confidence. Eyes like saucers, she attempted to correct her mistake, “I don’t think he saw anything really, maybe it was just local hear-say.”
Crystal knew very well what the local grapevine was like. She wondered what else he’d told her. Then there was Jazz’s girlfriend, what would she say on the matter? Perhaps she was used to his infidelities, he really was no better than the rest of them, she should keep that thought in mind. She didn’t need to explain her actions to Maisie, or anyone else for that matter, she was over twenty-one and could do as she liked, but on the other hand she needed to stop these rumours fast. Given a couple of days and a bit more embroidery and she’d be barefoot and pregnant and a fallen woman. At least the photocopying incident had not made the rounds yet, or had it? Maisie looked awfully smug.
“Considering the problems you suffered yourself, when everyone thought you’d stolen the bingo money, I would have thought that you more than anyone would know the dangers of idle gossip,” she countered.
Maisie looked uncomfortable.
“So what, if I’ve had a kiss or two with Jazz, he’s mighty good-looking, don’t you think? And I’m a single woman. So there’s no story to tell.”She shrugged her shoulders, “The real problem is, I have a new boyfriend now, his name is Brad, and he’s taking me to the Hunt Ball. So I’d appreciate it if you could help me to stop these rumours fast, before any damage is done. I don’t want him thinking that I’m two-timing him, because I’m not. You can meet Brad at the dance if you like, I’ll introduce you myself.”There, that should give the nosey old bat something to think about.
Maisie was suitably chastised. Just like her mother, Crystal was. She’d torn her off a strip, many a time for gossiping had Crystal’s mum, there was no malice in it on her part though. As to herself, how else was she to find out what was going on around here, if she didn’t listen to a bit of gossip here and there? She looked at her watch, eager to rush off with the latest piece of information and spread it around. Crystal had told her about her boyfriend herself, so she couldn’t mind her passing that information on, now could she.
“Yes, Miss Crystal, and I’m sure I would love to meet this young man of yours. Now, I can’t stand here indulging in idle chit-chat, Gordon will be ready for his tea. If you want to step on through the front door, I’ll lock up behind you. No harm done, I’m sure.”
“Bye Maisie, and remember what I said?”Crystal called as a parting shot. She’d stopped that one dead in its tracks, or at least, she thought she had. Bernard should learn to keep his mouth shut.
Chapter 5
Planning and Parking
Crystal was surfing the internet;
she knew that she should be working whilst she had the chance, but she just couldn’t summon the enthusiasm.
Reluctantly, she dragged her attention away from the high street retailers and consulted her list again. Farmer Brown and his tractor had still not been replaced. Local knowledge would supply the answer to that one, she hoped, as would the provision of the marquee at such short notice. Menus and table decorations would come from one of her preferred suppliers and could easily be organised last minute online or by telephone. She had a raft of contacts who knew what she liked and could be relied upon to do the job properly. Even so, there was still an inordinate amount of work as yet untouched.
There was only one tick on the list so far, and that was the banking of the cash, she’d taken the contents of the shoe box into her local bank herself. She’d appropriated all of the ‘egg box’ money; if aunt Vera couldn’t be trusted to keep the money separately, then that was her look out. Considering the mess she and Lolly had made of things this far, it was a small price to pay for their inadequacies. She’d decided that the chickens wouldn’t mind donating their produce to such a worthwhile cause. Either way, looking at these figures, they were still thousands of pounds short. They needed a bit of glitzy glamour to draw in the last-minute crowds.
Take-up on the tickets had been slow this year, and they couldn’t rely on the regulars to bail them out of this one. She’d seen some of the letters written in complaint after last year’s ‘do’ and they had an uphill struggle on their hands with little time to make things happen.
One absolute ‘godsend’ was the band. They had not re-booked after Lolly had presumptuously dispensed with their services. When they realised that Crystal was back in the driving seat they’d been happy to re-instate the previous arrangement and had even offered to help spread the word that there were still tickets available.
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