The sleek white Jaguar sedan cruised effortlessly along the highway south of London. I had bought the Jag just recently, and I had gone heavily into debt to purchase it, but it was my pride and joy. I just loved driving it, especially on the highways where it could really show its paces.
Sitting next to me was my current girlfriend, Miranda. It was a Thursday evening in the summer of 1959, and we were on our way to attend a wedding the next Saturday. The bride was an old friend of Miranda's, and she lived with her family in a little village to the west of Southampton. Miranda was chief bridesmaid, and so she wanted to spend the day before the wedding helping the bride with the final preparations. I had decided that a day in the country would be a nice relaxing break from work for me, so I didn't object to arriving early.
Miranda was an actress, or so she claimed, as she was presently 'between engagements'. We had met at a party in London a few weeks earlier, but as I got to know her better, I decided that 'drama queen' might be a better description of her. Everything in her life seemed to be a crisis. I had agreed to accompany her to this wedding, but I had already decided that I would break up with her after this weekend. I just hadn't thought of how I would break the news to her.
Miranda's directions to our destination were totally useless, of course, and it was quite late in the evening when finally we arrived. The bride-to-be and her family lived in a quaint little cottage called 'The Willows' in a small village.
We knocked at the door and it was answered by a girl who was about seventeen, I guessed. She greeted Miranda enthusiastically. "Hi Jill!" exclaimed Miranda in her usual exuberant way, throwing her arms around the girl's neck and kissing her cheek. "This is James," she said. "Hello James," said Jill, smiling at me.
We went inside, where I saw a middle-aged lady whom I assumed to be Jill's mother, and an elderly lady, who turned out to be a great-aunt. "Where's Katie?" asked Miranda. And at that moment, another girl came into the room.
I stared at her. Could it possibly be her, I thought? There was only one way to find out. "Katie? Katie Summers?" I asked. "Is that you?"
The girl looked at me for a few seconds. "Do I know you?" she asked, puzzled.
"It's James. James Owen, from high school," I said. "Remember me?"
"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed. "James Owen! It's been years!"
"Five years, actually," I said. "I was sixteen when you moved away."
The room erupted with questions. Katie calmed everybody down and told them what had happened. Katie and I had known each other at high school. But when we were sixteen, Katie's father had been transferred to another city by his employer. So they had all moved away, and I hadn't seen Katie since then. "We will have to spend some time catching up," said Katie. "But it's getting late. Maybe we can do it tomorrow."
It was getting late. Miranda was going to stay with Katie's family, but there was no room in the house for me, so they had booked a room for me at a local inn, the Red Lion. So I said goodnight and drove over to the Red Lion, which was only about a half mile away.
The inn was a pleasant enough place, and as I was rather tired I went straight to bed. But I did not get to sleep. My mind was occupied thinking about Katie.
At high school I had had a schoolboy crush on Katie. And then at the school dance at the end of the year I had summoned up all of my courage and danced with her. We sat together between the dances, and she didn't dance with anyone else. Then after the dance I walked her home. We held hands while we walked, and when we reached her front door and had said goodnight, she put her arms around my neck and kissed me.
As I walked to my house, all I could think about was that kiss. I wanted to ask Katie to go out with me, and to be my girlfriend. There were only a few days of school left until summer holidays. I knew that I would be going away with my family for four weeks on our annual trip to visit our distant relatives, and as soon as we came back I intended to ask Katie to go out with me. But disaster struck! When my family returned from our holidays Katie had gone! I found out from one of her friends that her father had unexpectedly been transferred by his company, and so they had moved to another city.
Eventually I got over Katie, of course. I finished high school, and moved to London as there were more job opportunities there. As I dated other girls, Katie became a distant memory. But tonight, all of those memories had come flooding back to me. Eventually I fell asleep and dreamed about what might have been.
I slept late the next morning. After I awoke and dressed, I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the terrace of the inn. Then I strolled over to The Willows.
Jill answered my knock at the door, and when I went inside, I was greeted by a scene of total pandemonium. Wedding preparations were in full swing. Of course it was Miranda who was causing most of the fuss, as she rushed around asking questions and giving instructions to everybody. Katie saw me and smiled hello. Miranda came over to me and gave me a quick kiss, and then she immediately found some jobs for me to do.
