Day Twelve Saturday
Thankfully there was no awkwardness between Becky & Me after we woke up. We had a little kiss and cuddle, though it sadly didn't develop beyond that due to time. However, we did shower together -- after all, two hands are better than one. We dried off and I packed up my things, including everything Becky had kindly washed for me overnight. After breakfast and once more fully dressed I gave her a goodbye kiss and we arranged to meet when Becky was next in London, which was in the next couple of weeks and have a proper chat then about everything including her 'side-job' which was a non-issue for me. I set off and with rather a lot of ground to cover, instead of walking through town and regaining the Thames by the Eton Walkway; I cut across Windsor Great Park and through Old Windsor...
I'd been walking for at least eight hours when I reached my destination for the evening, another Air B-n-B. It was late afternoon when I arrived at the address, a house on the south bank of the river at Walton-on-Thames. The back of the houses conveniently had house numbers on them so I didn't even have to get off the path and go around the front. The gate was a lichgate reached via some steps. Beyond was a gently slopping garden with a nice lawn and flower beds and a large white-washed bungalow with a thatched roof. An even more wonderful site was to be found in the garden itself. There before me was a plus-sized goddess in pale-blue denim dungarees worn over a plain t-shirt & white trainers, a garden rake in her hands. I guessed she was in her mid-twenties. Her height was about the same as mine and she had long, centre-parted 'dirty-blonde' hair, slightly curly. She bore an uncanny resemblance to a plus-sized porn star whose escapades I'd enjoyed on various porn sites named 'Tanya-Marie-Hall'. They could have been twins except from the all too little I'd seen of Miss Hall's filmography, she would probably be in her forties or at least late-thirties now. The girl had a round, cherubic face with rosy cheeks. I almost fell in love with her right there and then, helped along by the fact she was totally oblivious to my approach as she sported a pair of ear-buds and was clearly dancing away to something as she raked leaves off the lawn.
"Excuse me?" I called. The woman continued dancing and singing, her eyes almost closed. I walked up to her and repeated my hail. She opened her eyes and removed the buds. I briefly caught the sound of some eighties dance music before she reached into one of the pockets of her dungarees and silenced the source, presumably her smartphone.
"Can I help you?" She asked apologetically. I produced my own smartphone, called up the email containing my booking details, and read the address out to her and asked if this was the bungalow in question.
"Yes, yes it is." She confirmed.
"Great. I've booked a room here tonight with Air B-n-B." I explained. I added my name. I could see on her face that all this was news to her and my heart sank. Where was I going to stay now?
"Oh shit! Sorry, didn't mean to say that." A look of concern washed over her face replacing the look of apology prompted by her use of the expletive with a stranger. She pulled out her smartphone and started dialling a number.
"Please pick up, please pick up." I could hear her mutter over and over as she paced around the lawn. In my head I was already drawing up alternative plans to either catch a train back into London and stay the night at my own flat and then return to my current location tomorrow morning, or, if I could cross over to the other bank, there was the Holiday Inn Shepperton. I hoped it wouldn't come to that.
"Hello, Mum? It's me, Shelly. Listen is there something you forgot to tell me, maybe about Air B-n-B?" Shelly stopped pacing and had turned to face me as she spoke to her mother on the other end of the phone. She would periodically nod as she was brought up to speed. At one point she dashed inside the bungalow and emerged with a notepad and flipped through the pages as best she could one-handed.
"Okay. I can see it now. No problem." After saying her goodbyes Shelly hung up and looked at me. "Sorry about that. My Mum & Dad haven't been in this Air B-n-B lark for long and last minute they had a chance to spend a couple of days in Paris with some friends of theirs, so obviously off they went. I'm staying here for a couple of weeks whilst my own flat is being renovated by my landlord. I'm Shelly by the way." She reached out her hand and I shook it. She had a very nice, soft-spoken voice.
"Amy." I replied, "So if you hadn't been here now, I'd be standing outside, wondering what the hell had happened." I noted. Shelly's already red cheeks, reddened further.
"They apologise," She held up her smartphone, "And naturally you're welcome to stay as planned. You'll have to put up with my cooking breakfast tomorrow though I'm afraid." She added. She led me inside the bungalow directly into the kitchen, which also doubled as a dining room. It was a pleasant place with the bedrooms on the left-hand side of the building, the bathroom and a utility closet sandwiched between them. She led me through the central passage from which all rooms branched off.
"This will be your room for the night." Shelly led me into the bedroom at the rear. The bed was made, but there was a pile of clothes on there and I also caught a glimpse of a vibrator in a half-open drawer beside the bed. It was black with gold trim. Shelly walked around to that side of the bed and shut the drawer and set to work with the clothes. She was once more a little flustered though I'm not sure if that was due to her fearing I'd seen her sex toy or the situation in general. I decided to make it easier for her to retrieve the situation. I put my backpack onto the floor and said I was going to 'freshen up' in the bathroom. Upon my return to the bedroom a few minutes later, the duvet was clear of clothes and I guessed that the vibrator was now secreted in one of the pockets of Shelly's dungarees. I flopped onto the bed.
"This will do me nicely." I said. Shelly excused herself and for the next couple of hours or so kept out of my way whilst I considered my dinner plans for the evening. There were a number of choices nearby. After finishing the gardening Shelly offered to make us both a cup of tea which I gladly accepted. We sat at the dining table as we drank and dunked biscuits.
Shelly explained that she lived in West London and had been staying with her parents for a week and would hopefully get back to her place by the following weekend.
"What do you do for a living?" I asked having already told her a little about myself.
"I work in a diagnostic lab at a private hospital in the city. I enjoy it. I'm actually a doctor. Not an MD, but a PHD."
"Do you live alone, seeing anyone?" I asked. Well there was no harm in trying. I was quite taken with her.
"Not at the moment. I've been single about a year now."
"Best thing to be, allows you to play the field." I suggested, giving her the same advice I gave Natalie back in Oxford.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She finished her drink and excused herself, explaining that she was going out for a meal and a drink with some friends of hers she didn't see very often because of where she lived, and wanted to get ready. For my part I had to make my own dinner plans. It was Saturday after all and I was on the pull, I only had at most two more days on the road.