WARNING TO READERS - This is a long, rambling, multi-part story and VERY British. The individual chapters will make more sense if read in sequence.
Pt. 17 The Secret Desires of Schoolgirls
I was woken by the telephone ringing at eight o'clock on Sunday morning. It was Maggie calling to say that she was already at Calais and waiting to board the morning ferry to Dover, she had left Dijon and four o'clock in the morning to get to Calais by seven. The weather forecast had been reporting high winds and gales across France with lots of structural damage in the rural areas and there were quite severe storm warnings for the channel. She was a day early and should not have been returning until Monday but the cross channel ferry operators were already warning that sailings might be cancelled on Monday and Tuesday.
The weather was pretty foul throughout the Southern Counties of England as well, with high winds and driving rain and so I told Maggie that I would be spending the day at the garden centre just in case there were any problems with the greenhouses or temporary structures, and that she could telephone me there if she needed me. The logical part of my brain told me that I was being over protective. Maggie was one of the most sensible people I knew and Mum had often told us stories about when they were teenagers and were both mad keen sailors and into all sort of tough activities like mountain climbing and pot holing. But, I still felt a bit more comfortable knowing that if she did call from this side of the channel; I could turn out with the Land Rover and get to her within a couple of hours at most.
I pulled on a polo necked sweater and a pair of jeans under my yellow oil skin, then rode in on the Vespa; riding in that wind and rain was a pretty hairy experience, there were trees down and I had to take several diversions. It was a measure of everybody's loyalty and commitment that by the time I got to the garden centre half an hour later, Jack was already there checking for broken glass or leaks in the greenhouses and Steve turned up about ten minutes later to see if there was anything he could help with. As it happened several of the stays supporting the marquee had torn loose and it took both of us the best part of two hours to make the big tent secure again. We were both cold and wet despite the fact that we were wearing weather proof coats and were ready to go in when Jack came down to the edge of the back field and beckoned us up to the office building miming that hot drinks were ready. I was surprised to find that it was Emma who was in the staff room and had made teas and coffees and brought in enough ham rolls from home for everybody to have one. She had still been in bed when I left but had chosen to cycle in through the pouring rain to see if she could help. I was really impressed that she was taking her new found commitment to the business so seriously.
The telephone rang in the office and I pounded up the stairs like a maniac and grabbed the receiver. It was Maggie. To my relief she was safely across the channel and on her way home, she had stopped at a hotel near Tunbridge to get a coffee and call me. She said she would be home in about three hours. By mid-day the rain had stopped and the wind had abated a bit, we had covered those jobs that were necessary and so I thanked the guys and told them to go home and spend what was left of Sunday with their families. I intended staying at least until Maggie got back; Steve offered to drop Emma off at home and so after I locked the gates I went back to the office to catch-up with some studying.
I was about three thirty when I heard Maggie's Range Rover on the back lane and the side gate opening. I went down and she was standing in the yard. She looked cold and tired and it was starting to rain again.
"Lock up and come up to the house for a hot drink," she said, "I'll wait for you in the car!"
It took me no time to close up the office, grab my coat and lock the side gate. I climbed into the passenger seat and she drove up to the house. She left her keys in the ignition.
"I'll go in and make some coffee," she said, "Will you put the car in the garage for me?" She got out of the car and went up to the house door whilst I ran around the car, got in and drove to the garage. It was almost déjà vu, I had a vision of the last time she had asked me to put the car away, and how that had led to my getting shagged by Lucinda in the garage.
It was pouring with rain again by the time I had secured the garage and I ran up to the back door, which Maggie had unlocked and left standing open for me. I kicked off my muddy boots and hung my coat in the lobby. Through in the kitchen, coffee was starting to bubble in the percolator and I could hear the shower running upstairs. The coffee maker settled and I poured out two mugs, black and strong.
"Well, you can give me a welcome back hug, now!" I heard her say from behind me. I turned around and she was standing in the kitchen doorway wearing a blue velvet jogging suit and rubbing her damp hair with a fluffy white towel. I did not need telling twice; I stepped up and pulled her close lifting her feet up off the floor.
"God Maggie, I've bloody missed you!" I said, swinging her round in a circle. I stopped and she just hung there suspended against me her feet tucked up behind her. We stood like that for what seemed to be an eternity but was probably only a few seconds and then she lowered her feet to the ground and I released her from my bear hug. There was a wild tension starting in the pit of my stomach, if I did not step back there and then I knew that I would do or say something really stupid and ruin everything. "Come and sit down and have a cup of coffee." I said finally.
"Christ but you're strong Jamie; I think you have crushed every bone in my body!" she laughed, "But it is nice to think that somebody has missed me; I think the girls couldn't wait for me to leave so that they could start terrorising the French countryside without their mother watching!"
We sat at the kitchen table and talked, about how the twins were settling in at their aunt's farm, what they planned doing during their stay, then moved on to the situation in York with Aunt Susan. Maggie had telephoned her before leaving France and it seemed that the funeral was to be held next Friday and was to be a small private service for family only, Maggie and Mum would be attending and she suggested the Emma and I might wish go as well. I really did not want to go and with the uncertainty the bad weather was causing, I felt that one of us should be here anyway to liaise with the building contractors and Maggie agreed.
I poured some more coffee and we moved on to talking about what had been happening with the business over the past week, the unavoidable building delays, and the prospect that we would not be able to move forward until the present storms abated as conditions were too dangerous for the construction workers to be climbing about on ladders or scaffolding. In the end we decided that it would probably be sensible to close completely on Monday as the predictions were for even worse weather and we spent half an hour telephoning everybody and telling them not to come into work. I would come in naturally, just to keep and eye on things and do the usual checks on the greenhouses.
