I'm never sure which category many of my tales should fall into. I would say this is a romance, but there are many twists and turns and the main characters spend most of the time apart, so I've once again put it into Novels and Novellas. Ten parts all complete.
Sixes and Sevens:
Confusion, disarray, misunderstandings,
to be at odds with someone or events.
Chapter 01
Sunday 12th May 2002
"You've got to be joking, Aidan!" Julie was not happy.
Unfortunately Aidan was not joking and was as aggravated as she was.
It was coming up to their third anniversary. They were not married, but had been living together for that time after knowing each other for some years before. Aidan Redmond had bought the large first floor flat with a mortgage and she had moved in with him. He was twenty-nine and she was twenty-eight.
Aidan was healthy, slim with broad shoulders and narrow hips, and a handsome somewhat craggy face with a large nose and a strong chin. He had a habit of brushing back his sandy hair off his face. He smiled a lot. He was after all a happy man. Six feet tall, so not a giant by any means; average height, he thought.
They had long since known they liked the same things, did everything together and their life was good. Very good.
Julie Fellows was in fact Aidan's sister-in-law, since Kevin Redmond, his brother, who was four years older than he was, had married Julie's older sister Caroline seven years earlier. Aidan had introduced them to each other while he was at university, when Kevin came to collect him at the end of one of the terms. Caroline had come to collect Julie.
Both sisters were attractive women. Not devastating beauties, but Julie's face in particular did something for Aidan. He often said he could have gazed on that face for hours. She was slim and well proportioned with medium bust, a neat behind and long legs. Richly dark brown hair, and of course, there was that delicate, pretty face.
It is a well worn problem, a couple at sixes and sevens because of one of them is overworking. Aidan was overworking, Julie was not.
Julie was a temp. She was with an agency and did secretarial work when firms needed temporary help. She was very adaptable and efficient, having management skills as well as the usual secretarial knowhow. It meant she could decide whether or not to work on any specific assignment. Her life was tranquil, and thus she had a good deal more energy each evening than Aidan, who often had to work late.
Aidan had an accountancy practice in partnership with a girl he had known at university and at accountancy training. Victoria Gibbons (she preferred Vicky) was a genius. Aidan and she had gone out together a few times but had rapidly realised they could never survive living together. She was a pretty woman, a good few inches shorter than Aidan, with a shock of red hair, though she did not seem ot have the temper to go with such a mane. Neither of them were into casual sex, and so their relationship never got as far as the bedroom.
Vicky came from the London area, while Aidan was born and bred in Bury, Lancashire, and so their successful practice would never have come about had they not shared lectures and tutorials at the same university and had not each admired the other's talents and skills. The practice was successful and growing, and they were finding it difficult to keep up with demand for their services. It was based in Cheadle, a suburb of Manchester, where both Aidan and Vicky lived (separately of course).
It was mid-May when the argument was sparked.
Vicky had been on holiday for a fortnight and Aidan had had to take on her work as well as his own, necessitating long hours and two lost weekends. Julie had not been happy about that, but he pleaded that as soon as Vicky returned, he in turn would be eligible for a break and they would take a two week holiday of their own at Julie's parents' holiday home on the coast of Wales, and she had reluctantly accepted his prolonged absences in the evenings.
Then disaster struck. Vicky returned on a Sunday from her holiday in Mauritius with severe food poisoning. She was a borderline hospital case and it was on the cards that she would not be back at work for another two weeks at least. Aidan was stuck. The jobs their company had on hand had to be completed and their small staff needed oversight. Hence Julie's outburst.
She stormed out and he could hear her talking angrily on the phone. Then she came back.
"I've had enough of this," she snapped. "Caroline says she'll go with me to the house. Kevin is away for work next week. Our parents will look after Annie. We're going to have a holiday without you." Annie was Kevin and Caroline's baby daughter.
That worried Aidan. The four of them used to go clubbing together, and while they always had a good time, Julie and Caroline would dance with other men when Kevin and Aidan sat one out.
Julie was very careful not to allow any contact, but Caroline was wild. Aidan once asked Kevin about her grinding against these other men, but he shrugged and said she always came home with him, and he always kept an eye on her. Aidan thought he was too complacent, and was glad that Julie was more restrained.
As a result, Aidan was not happy that Caroline and Julie were going together without Kevin. It worried him, especially with Julie in a strop. He could not understand why she was so angry; Vicky's illness could not be helped.
"Julie," he begged, "it's only while Vicky's ill, and then we can go away anywhere you like for two weeks or even longer if you want. These two clients are huge and will set us up for years if we keep them happy and produce results on time. If Vicky weren't ill, you know I'd be more than ready to go! Be reasonable!"
She seemed to soften a little, but the words were not soft. "Sorry Aidan," she said with an air of resignation, "Caroline and I are going tomorrow. We're going to have a bloody good holiday without you. I'm sick of not seeing you from one week to another. You look after Vicky and I'll look after myself. You spend more time with her than me anyway."
He wondered where that remark came from, and it annoyed him, but he was in too much of a conciliatory mood to follow it up, and forgot it as he continued to argue..
"Julie," he said gently, "I don't trust Caroline, even if she is my sister-in-law. She loses control. If you insist on going with her, ok. Just remember who loves you."
She made an annoyed noise, "Kevin isn't bothered, why should you be?" she snapped.
She turned and went to pack. There was no loving that night; she was asleep by the time Aidan had done the chores and had shut the house up.
On Monday morning they ate a silent breakfast before Aidan left for work. Julie looked unhappy. Aidan went to her and kissed her. She kissed him back but it was half-hearted.
"Have a good holiday," he said, forcing himself to be genuine. She smiled.
"Bye, darling," he said, giving her another kiss, "be good!"
"What d'you mean by that?" she almost snarled.
"God, Julie," he bridled. "What's the matter with you? Joke! You remember Jokes?" and he turned his back on her and left without a backward glance. He could not work out what was the matter with her.
He heard her saying something, but did not catch it.
He found it hard to get into the swing of things at work after the previous twenty-four hours. After work he left early, went home and then went to see Vicky. He was glad she lived nearby, because Julie had taken the car without asking. That really did annoy him, since, though it was a short walk to work, he often needed the car for visiting clients, but he forgot all that when he saw how weak Vicky was.
