There is no sex in this story.
I thank my LadyCibelle and Techsan for their patience, proof reading, editing skills and of course encouragement they always give me. I also thank of my friends, who write to encourage and help me to continue writing and posting, these demented ravings of mine. Your emails are always greatly appreciated.
Later that night I ran over in my mind the events of that day and I wondered just what was going to happen the following weekend.
The following morning I called into work early and left a message with night security that I would be late in the office that day. I had decided to have breakfast with Clinton and Gina and I studied the couple carefully whilst we ate. Then I saw them off in their car to wherever they were going next.
I was in my room when the chambermaid came around. I was on first name terms with almost all the staff in the hotel by then. She volunteered to get me all the information I required.
++++++++++++++
Surprisingly, I got the expected call from Leanne early on the Friday morning, before I had even gone to work. You know, I would have thought Leanne would have left it a little bit longer.
Leanne asked me if I would meet her on the Saturday evening as she had something important she needed to discuss with me. At first I refused unless she told what she wanted to speak to me about, but she wouldn't say.
After playing silly buggers for a little while - I didn't want her to realise that I knew what was going on - I relented and suggested that we meet in one of the local pubs.
I chose the pub very carefully; it was a place that generally catered to the office lunch crowd and so it was usually very quiet on Saturday evenings. It was the sort of place courting couples went to for a quiet time; the jukebox normally played slow ballads all evening on Saturdays.
Saturday at lunchtime I met up with James and Ashley. They never said anything so I gathered their mother hadn't let them in on her little secret. They both told me that Leanne had appeared to be very happy all that week.
I was sitting in one of the booths at the back of the pub well before eight o'clock when Leanne was due to arrive. She didn't see me when she first came in, so she went to the bar and purchased a drink. As she turned around from the bar, she saw me sitting in my little corner.
With a big smile on her face she came over and sat beside me.
"Hi, Pete. Thanks for coming. Look I'll get straight to the point. I've met someone this week who I'd like you to meet as well."
Leanne got her mobile phone out of her handbag and I watched her push one of the buttons.
"Pete, I know you always thought it was me in that film that your friend George took. But this week I've met someone who I'm sure will convince you that it wasn't."
I hoped I was making a good job of looking confused.
"She'll be here in a minute. Honestly I think you are going to have trouble believing this."
'You're not kidding!' I thought to myself. I heard the noise from the street get louder as the door opened and Gina came walking through it, followed by Clinton.
I must say the girls had made a very good show of it; they were dressed, not exactly identically, but close enough. They even had similar hairstyles. Gina came straight over to the table and plonked herself down opposite me.
"Hi, you must be Pete. Leanne has told me so much about you and that silly mistake you made."
"Pete, this is Gina and her husband Clinton. They were looking around the stables the other day when I went for my RDA session. Gosh, I thought I was looking in a mirror for a minute. It was only after I spoke to her that I realised that it must have been her in the film that your friend George took. When I asked her, Gina told me she was in Bournemouth eleven years ago on her honeymoon with Clinton. Pete, it was Gina on the film, not me! You see you did make a mistake."
I looked at Gina and then at Leanne. Then I turned my attention to Clinton.
"Tell me, Clint, who's better in bed - Leanne or Gina? I'm assuming that Gina is her real name."
Clinton had a puzzled expression on his face, as did the two women.
"Oh, come on, Leanne, didn't you realise these two shared a bed last Sunday night. I doubt that was in your plan though, was it? Oh, yeah, Leanne, Clint and whoever she is here, booked into the two rooms that you reserved for them, but the bed was only used in one of them."
"You know, if only you hadn't bothered with this bleeding charade, you would have won. I must admit that up until last weekend I'd pretty well convinced myself that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. But then something happened that told me I was correct in my first assumption, and it was you who had spent an illicit weekend at that hotel in Bournemouth with Clinton here.
"If you're wondering, it was Gina here that gave the game away. I'm assuming Gina is her real name; she lies so easily that could be an untruth as well."
"What are you talking about?" Gina demanded.
"Look, come off it. What kind of an idiot do you three take me for? I knew that something wasn't kosher the moment you opened your mouth. Your accent, girl; you're English with an Aussie accent. That means you've been living out there for years. Who are you? A cousin of Leanne's or something? You do look very much like each other."
"But, but...." was all Gina got out before I attacked again.
"Come off it, girl. If you'd been back in England for the last eleven years as you tried to tell me you'd been last weekend, I'm damn sure your Aussie accent would have faded a little by now. When I thought back on it, I seemed to remember Leanne's mother showing me some photos the first time I went to her house. There were some pictures of Leanne when she was very young, with a cousin who'se parents immigrated to Australia. The two young girls were like twins; I can remember Leanne's mother remarking on the fact."
"And then there's those bloody hair-styles! Okay, you might have gotten away with the coincidence of you both having the same hairstyle eleven years ago, because that cut was all the fashion then. But, come on, you both just happen to have similar hairstyles now, eleven years later. That's pushing things just a little too far."
"Oh, I said nothing last week, because I just wanted to see how far you idiots were planning on taking it. But you talk too much, Gina. Rosy - oh, by the way that's Rosy as in Rose not Rosie as in Rosemary, as you kept saying last week. When Rosy and George gave me that bit of film, Rosy told me that she had never spoken to the woman Clinton was with at the hotel."
I turned to Leanne.
"You know you really didn't do a very good job of briefing her, did you, Leanne? I'm afraid your friend here elaborated just a little bit too much. Oh, and one other little thing: Rose and George adopted the twins about three years ago; they only had four children when they were in Bournemouth, Gina. Unfortunately one of their daughters takes after her mother and got herself in the family way. But the kids today haven't got the guts to stand by their mistakes like George did. So George and Rose adopted their daughter's twin girls."
"When you and the arsehole here showed up, Gina, you might have convinced me if you'd kept your bloody mouth shut. But you spilled out all sorts of information that could only have come from Leanne. So after the first shock of seeing you, it didn't take me long to figure it was a set-up. I'm really glad you did it though because I was about to make the second biggest mistake of my life and go for a reconciliation."
"The second biggest mistake of your life? What was the first?" Leanne asked.
"Marrying a lying cheating bitch like you. Did you really think you could con me with this farce"?
Leanne looked very sad, but she didn't cry. Looking back now I think it was a look of resignation on her face.
"Oh, Clint, me old mate, I really don't think it would be a good idea for you to hang around Exeter very much in the future. See those two guys over there?"
Clinton looked over at the two old friends of mine who were staring in our direction with venom in their eyes.
"Well, they don't like the idea of you banging other peoples' wives and I happen to know that they can get a bit physical sometimes."
"Are you threatening me?" he demanded.
"No, Clint, I wouldn't do something like that. Let's just say, I'm offering a little friendly advice."
"Right, I think this little meeting is just about over. So I'll be leaving, but before I go I have to thank the pair of you," I said, looking at Gina and Clinton. "You know, last week a very nice lady invited me to take her to bed. I turned her down because I was planning on trying to reconcile with Leanne here. But now I've been thinking that's one mistake I'm going to correct in the very near future."
"Now please let me out of this seat, Leanne, before I really begin to lose my temper and turn violent."
Leanne stood up in some kind of a daze. Once I'd extracted myself, Leanne collapsed back into her seat and I turned back to look at her.
"Good bye, Leanne. I hope our paths don't cross too often in the future," I said and then made my way towards the exit.
As I did so, one of the two guys the other side of the bar also stood so that the striking looking woman who'd been sitting, hidden in the back of their booth, could get out and join me. She took hold of my arm, and then kissed me on the lips. We both took a last look back at Leanne and her friends and then left the bar.
++++++++++++++
It was five years later, at my eldest daughter, Jeannette's, wedding before I spoke to Leanne again. I'd only seen her a few of times during those intervening years, at the children's graduation ceremonies and the like. I'd ignored her and we hadn't spoken. But at Jeannette's wedding, I doubted that I would get away with doing that again without a confrontation of some kind, especially with the reception afterward.
