Notes : I am British, the characters are British, set in England in fact the Cotswolds, I use English spelling and terms, none are unusual.
The people and places are all fictional but inspired by real life, this is the first part.
*
Mike Wood had just got back from a disastrous holiday, it was at the coast with friends and there was a major falling out, he returned home after two days away, the rest of his family were away on their holiday, so he had the house to himself.
Mike had finished upper sixth form school a few weeks ago and was now trying to enjoy his summer holidays before starting his art course.
After dropping off his belongings and checking over the house he decided to visit his friend Sarah Baker. Sarah was an old friend of his mothers and had known Mike all of his life. She was his best friend and probably the one person he could talk to about anything.
After a gentle walk through the village Mike arrived at Sarah's cottage. He knocked on her door but there was no answer, so Mike walked around to the back of the house and found Sarah in the garden dead-heading some flowers.
"Hi Sarah." he said.
"You are back already! What happened?" Replied Sarah as she hugged him.
"Fell out with Dave and Richard, but that doesn't matter."
"Your parents are not back for a week are they?"
"No, but I'll find things to do. Do you want any help?"
"Yes, there is a lot of deadheading to do, then weeding."
Mike then helped Sarah for the rest of the morning, Sarah was in her late 30s, she had very long straight natural blond hair tucked behind her ears, down to the small of her back, a fringe, quite thin, but not too thin, you could say small boned, a pleasant and friendly face, light blue eyes, B cup breasts and was 5'4" tall, Mike was 5'8". When he was young Sarah used to baby sit him and his siblings, and as he grew up he used to visit her to do small jobs around the house and garden for a small amount of pocket money, but the money didn't matter as Sarah was basically his best friend.
Sarah was a writer, she wrote quite a few types of books, but none of them were huge sellers. The books brought in enough to live comfortably. Children's books, historical fiction, magazine articles, she edited cookery books, and a couple of gardening books. Mike's favourite was a gardening book with a front cover photograph of Sarah in her garden, she was wearing a thin white skirt, a t shirt and a loose light weight top, like a very thin jacket or a shirt but no buttons, along with a wide brim hat, again in white, and a pair of wedge sandals.
Today she was wearing a floral skirt, a T shirt and a light top to cover her arms from the sun, and the same sandals, she also wore a few gold bangles on her right arm which Mike has never seen her without, a watch on the left, and rings on her right middle and ring fingers, and left middle fingers and left thumb. She also wore a thick smooth gold necklace of choker length.
Mike was wearing jeans, T Shirt, walking sandals and a green bushman style hat.
"Time for dinner," said Sarah, "what would you like in your sandwiches?"
"You know the things I like, so anything really."
Sarah started to make some sandwiches, then asked Mike about his holiday.
"What went wrong then Mike?"
"The first day was OK, but in the evening Rich & Dave pulled a couple of girls, and then made it clear I was not wanted."
"Oh." said sighed in sympathy.
"Anyway I hung around for day 2 then when it got uncomfortable, I grabbed my stuff and drove home, they can get the bus or train!"
"At least you are home."
"Yeah, and with a friend I can trust."
"That's a lovely thing to say."
"I mean it, I can trust you, I am happy just chilling out here."
"Here you are." Sarah passed some cheese sandwiches and a glass of lemonade to Mike.
"Thanks, just what I needed."
In the afternoon Sarah and Mike carried on gently working in the garden, until it was about 4 o'clock.
"What are you planning on doing for the rest of the week?" asked Sarah.
"No idea as of yet, I still want a seaside holiday but not with those two idiots. Anyway I will need to water the garden I suppose."
"I was doing it anyway, Can I join you for a walk over there?"
"I'd love that, I could do with the company."
"Do you want to have tea here?" she asked.
"I would love to Sarah, I do like your food and I am really hungry."
"We will go after tea then."
He watched her cooking and helped with preparation, it was a light tea, a stir fry with chicken, Sarah grabbed a bottle of wine, and asked Mike to open it.
They sat near each other at the kitchen table, Mike smiled at Sarah and she smiled back.
"I am having a great day today" he said, so relaxing and with good company."
"Stop crawling, you don't have to pay me for the food."
"I'm not crawling, I like it here, I feel at home."
"I do love this house, I loved it from when I first saw it."
"It looks like a chocolate box house, or a jigsaw puzzle one."
"So, why do you still come here so much, what about ex school friends?"
"I got on with most of them but just prefer coming here."
They continued eating, discussing the holiday disaster, and Sarah's upcoming break in the bank holiday week at the end of August. Then the chatting got more personal, as it can often among friends.
"How come you don't have a girlfriend yet?" Sarah enquired.
"Well it's a lot of things, firstly the girls at school didn't like me that way, they thought I was odd and a nerd. Away from school, not many around here, they are mostly at school."
"I don't understand that, you would make a girl a good boyfriend."
"Would I?"
"Helpful, friendly."
"Unfashionable, don't like the 'in music', prefer quiet places to busy places, like down by the river. Anyway Sarah you have never married, is there a story there?"
"Yes, not much really, when I was young the boys basically ignored me and as I got older I was being pursued by men I basically didn't like, or by married men. Later I realised all the nice men were married. Bit like your dad."
"That is so sad." said Mike as he moved up and cuddled Sarah. "I think you are lovely and that you deserve someone."
"Thanks Mike, but it is a bit late now, I'm 38."
