The Beginning Of The End
Year after year passed by in a blink of an eye, now approaching my 40th birthday, I found myself alone. My parents and my older sister had passed away, Aunty June succumbed to the dreaded C, Angela retired and moved away, Emma now resides in a care home, her once sharp mind, ravished by dementia. Veronica sold her shop to me and now spends her time in sunny climes. Even though now very much older, Paula still has a role in the hotel.
As I predicted, the demands for my bedroom skills declined as I got older, I still got laid several times a week, but nothing like the bed hopping days, of days gone by. Not that I could complain, I owned 7 houses, 2 shops, a hotel and ran a thriving building company. As for money, I had loads, too much in fact, I would often go out buy myself whatever was the latest big thing, use it for a few weeks before tossing it aside.
I would give up everything to attain the one thing I desired in life, companionship, to spend my time with someone who was not interested in my wealth or lifestyle, a person who just wanted me.
I had almost given up on this, resigning myself to an old age spent alone, when fate dealt me a hand of cards, if I played them right, my life would be complete.
It was late one Friday afternoon, when a call came through to my office, a woman who had recently taken over he tenancy of one of my houses, needed help. She had come home from work to find the kitchen floor covered in water, she had a leak somewhere, I knew my boys would be in the pub right now and would not be able to attend the call out, till the morning. I told her where the stop cock was and to turn it off and someone would be with her shortly. The only person available was me, I donned a pair of overalls, grabbed the keys to a works van and headed off. The drive there brought back memories, good ones of how my life began, it felt really good.
I had never met the woman in question, all arrangements were made via the office, so I was pretty sure she was unaware that the man turning up to rescue her, was in fact her landlord and owner of the property in which she now resided.
I had hardly go out of the van before the front door opened, a short dark haired woman, standing between the frame. I introduced myself,
"I believe you said the problem was in the kitchen?"
She just about had time to answer before I marched through the corridor.
"I see you are familiar with the layout of the house then." She said in a very soft voice. I had to think fast, I didn't want her to know that all the renovations within, were done by own fair hand.
"Yeah, I've done a few jobs for the owner previously." I replied.
There were only two possible areas where the water could come from, the sink or the washing machine, a quick look in the sink unit, eliminated it as the problem so my attention was directed to the washing machine, once it was pulled out, the issue was obvious, whoever plumbed it in, hadn't tightened the fitting correctly,
"All finished, no harm done." I told her.
"Thank you so much, I thought, I would be packing and moving out before I had finished unpacking." She said in a shaky voice.
"Anything else I can do for you whilst I'm here." I asked.
"There is one thing, there are some boxes on the landing that need to go into the attic, I'm very nervous about ladders, could you possibly?"
I cut her off before she could finish her sentence,
"My pleasure and you can put the kettle on, whilst I do so. By the way what's your name."
"Kelly." She replied.
"Nice to meet you Kelly."
I soon had the boxes stored and sat enjoying a cup of tea with Kelly.
I found out that she was 41, unmarried, had moved here in order to take up the position of Head of Sales in a local company.
When I asked,
"Which one?"
"The Builders Yard." She answered.
On hearing this, I almost choked on my tea and began to cough and splutter.
"You know it then?" She asked.
KNOW IT.... KNOW IT... I FUCKING OWN IT!!!
Before becoming ill, Emma set up the company for me, as my building company took off, I needed a legal way of easing my tax burden, so we set up The Builders Yard, where I would buy straight from the manufacturers, sell it to myself at a profit and then pass it on to clients at an even bigger profit. Well that company became quite successful and I was supplying goods far and wide.
"Yes I know it quite well, they supply us." Was my answer to her question.
I don't know why, but as we chatted, I found myself deeply drawn to her, her soft dulcet voice had such a calming effect on me. Time flew by and my stomach began to rumble.
"Have you eaten today?" I asked.
"Only a snack at lunch, why?"
"I'm in the mood for a Chinese, would you care to join me?"
"Take away or eat out?" She replied.
Now I could have just picked up my phone and reserved a table at any restaurant I fancied, but at this moment in time, I wanted my identity to be kept secret.
"A take away would be great, thank you."
"Favourite wine?"
"I prefer beer."
I was starting to like her more.
After that evening, I spent a lot of time with Kelly, going for walks, sitting watching TV, generally enjoying each others company, a purely plutonic relationship, me still hiding behind the mask of normality.
One day Kelly asked me if I would like to go to the evening reception of her friend who was getting married, it meant a night away, separate rooms of course.
"I would be honoured to escort you."
The day of the event came and I picked her up in my Mercedes, she looked open eyed at it, but I told her it was rented for the weekend. Whilst we waited for our rooms, we enjoyed a few beers and played some pool, I had the most pleasant afternoon for many a year. We adjourned to get ready, our rooms next to each other with adjoining door. After showering, I heard Kelly sobbing next door, I tentatively knocked and asked,
"Are you okay?"
"GO AWAY YOU FUCKING LYING BASTARD" She shouted at me.
"Kelly!!! Kelly!!! What's wrong? I called back at her.
"WRONG...YOU NEED TO ASK WHA'TS WRONG? I'VE JUST FOUND OUT THE MAN I LOVE, HAS TRICKED AND DECIEVED ME FOR MANY MONTHS....THAT'S WHAT WRONG!!!!!!!"
"Please open the door Kelly we need to talk."
"FUCK OFF, CUNT!!!"
"Please Kelly open the door, I need to explain"
I heard the lock opening and the next moment I felt the pain, for such a small woman, she packed a punch, I tasted the saltiness of blood, as her fist collided with my nose and lips.