Introduction
Eff my old boots but haven't I had fun! That has to be the best holiday ever had anywhere by anyone, ever, ever, ever. My only lament is that I didn't book it with a travel agency that went bust while I was away. One did only last week, and quite a lot of holidaymakers got stranded here for a few extra days.
Stranded in paradise! I should be so lucky!!
Lucky, lucky, lucky!!
There again, I really have been lucky for once. I used to claim if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any at all. But this last fortnight has been nothing short of miraculous.
Talk about a major change in the roll of the dice.
As it is my plane boards in forty-five minutes and that's the one bit of bad news I have had since I got here. I left the UK under the darkest of storm clouds and I'm going home floating on air.
The fact that bitch Cayla, in a roundabout sort of way, caused my vacation only adds to the big sense of delicious self-satisfaction. Two years I was with her . . . two effing years. We first set eyes on each other at a party at a mutual girlfriend's, magically clicked . . . the black variety of magic, of course . . . agreed to have an immediate one-nighter . . .
And two years later we were still bonking like bunny rabbits.
Then, not yet a month and ago, Cayla got head-hunted. And get this; she accepted it straightaway without a passing thought for me. By the time I was filled in on the situation (it was over drinks that evening, in her local wine bar) she had already given her notice and applied for a US work visa.
'New York,' I echoed. 'That's three thousand miles away.'
Cayla laughed at my protest and told me the opportunity was once in a lifetime. She also assured me The Big Apple was the place to be; that once she got her feet under the table (or, rather, desk) there'd be no stopping her.
'Give me six months and I'll be indispensable,' she bragged. 'After that the sky's the limit.'
And then, as if as an afterthought, she said I could go with her, if I liked.
'My job's much too important to leave,' I declared adamantly.
She shrugged and said I could do my work anywhere, callously overlooking all of my treasured clients and the (sometimes hard-earned) bonds between us.
At this point I must admit panic came into play. I was already furious with her but I was also aware of how much I hated cities. I'd studied in Bristol and that was way too enormous for me. New York must be twenty times the size. Come to that, I'd briefly lived in the original York, back in God's Own County; quaint and smaller than Bristol as York was, it was still far too cosmopolitan.
Roman walls, baths, castles, Clifford's Tower and all, it was way too suffocating.
Now I'm not a physically violent person. I'm not even into sporty, physical contact games. But I have a relatively violent mouth on me. It started to let rip, accusing Cayla of being thoughtless, as insensitive as a brick and capable of expecting way too much from people who loved her.
She responded by saying she was about to become seriously wealthy; that if I liked I didn't need work ever again. She even said we could marry and I could be the homemaker.
Over-reacting, I exited stage right, pouring half a glass of Sauvignon blanc over her head as I went.
(I did that in a very non-violent way, naturally.)
She called after me but I ignored her. I ignored her phone messages, texts and e-mails as well. When she knocked on my apartment door I turned up the volume on the TV and waited for her to go away.
And, when she finally was gone . . .
Eff me! I write an "INTRODUCTION" and haven't yet introduced myself!! You're probably wondering who this crazy woman is, going on hell for leather, sharing her woes with the world.
Give me a moment to collect myself. Then I will rectify the glaring omission. And please excuse me for my rudeness. It looks like my brain is wired up to that stupid mouth of mine after all.
Chapter One
Hello everybody. It says "Charlotte" on my birth certificate but I've been "Charley" ever since I was six years old. Somehow I've now become a "thirty-something" but, I hasten to add, I'm one of the younger ones in that category.
That is to say I'm only just turned thirty-one, not a mere year shy of that terrifying benchmark of forty.
Physically I'm five foot seven with a body I can't complain about: nice firm tits, curvy hips, one slender waist and two very shapely legs. Although I'm by no means a training jock I regularly work out to keep in trim but, thanks to good old Mother Nature, I don't need to exercise too fiercely.
Looks-wise I'm reasonably happy. I've never lacked for attention, both male and female, and I've had my fair share of "experiences". Leastways I had until I hooked up with Cayla; having endless sex with her for two years stopped me from having adventures elsewhere.
Rats; I secretly vowed never to mention that bitch again. Forget her and move on.
Where was I? Oh yes, I was saying that if not a classic beauty, I've always done all right. Perhaps my ever-changing hair has something to do with it. Generally . . . but not always . . . I've kept it shoulder-length and layered, sometimes with bangs. Colour-wise, however . . .
Trust me; I've been every colour under the sun, jumping from blonde to red, auburn to green. At this moment I'm jet black with electric blue highlights, said highlights much more prominent on the lower left-hand side.
(Rather like that gorgeous BBC presenter. The one I'd as good as die to sleep with.)
What else can I tell you? That important job I mentioned! Yes, I'm a vet: a five year university degree, two years of "continuing professional development" as a veterinary assistant in York, then I moved on to a junior partnership in my home town of Keighley. Take it from me, I love my work.
Would I give everything up for New-effing-York?
Would I drop everything I valued to become a kept woman?
My ass I would.
Okay, there are downsides to being a vet, which I guess you can all figure out for yourselves. But for every single negative I can always see a thousand positives. And I really do treasure my clients, pets and owners alike. Yes, ideally I'd only see every case once, read all the symptoms, cure the problem and so on. But real life isn't like that. I see some clients quite regularly, particularly those with multiple and aging dependents.
Like I said a moment ago, I value the people and creatures I meet. And despite my varying hair tones, those people and creatures seem to value me. By all reports nearly everyone wants to see me ahead of my senior partner.
Perhaps they think I'm quirky but hey, their pet's welfare is at stake and they want me to be the carer.
Abandon those lovely clients to be with an insensitive, heartless bitch?
Not me; never, ever, ever.
*****
I suppose it's now time to talk sex, so here goes.
Somehow I made it through school with my virginity intact. That is to say when I left the Upper Sixth I hadn't gone beyond kissing and heavy petting. I'm flushing brightly as I write this, but I have to admit that I'd been penetrated by fingers numerous times, most often my own, but by several sets of other people's as well.
Initially I'd been brainwashed into believing I was straight . . . as if "straight" actually exists; as if the vast majority of my schoolmates were right. Back then I supposed that I'd meet some guy after road-testing a dozen or so. Yes, I would meet "The One" and it would be happy ever after in a cottage with roses around the door. In other words my earliest petting sessions involved my male classmates (but not all of them, I hasten to add, only a few).
And I hate to admit it but if I was not alone I didn't just lie back and take it. If a guy used his fingers on me I invariably returned the favour. I invariably made whoever I was with orgasm as well, usually quite quickly and very volcanically.
Yes, for a goodly while I was definitely on the pre-determined, mindless path.
Yet something odd began to happen during that last year before university. When attending all those birthday parties, discos and youth clubs, I started to get approaches from girls. To begin with the girls weren't schoolmates; they were always someone's friend or distant relative: girls who happened to be there on a one-off basis. And to begin with I reacted with a blend of shock and horror.
This girl fancies me! Argh!! What have I done to deserve it!!
