It all started very innocently, I was asked by one of the tutors, if I would act as a mentor to one of the final year students on the Business Studies degree course. Having ascertained that it would only mean one or two meetings I agreed to have my name put forward.
I didn't hear anything for ages and had forgotten all about it when Liz rang from the University to say they had a student who wanted to take up my offer of help. She told me that the student was in some difficulties with her business plan and as it was retail related thought that I may be the best person to help.
I agreed to the request and Liz said she would pass my number on and someone would contact me to arrange an initial meeting. At no time did I ask, nor did Liz indicate, that it was a young lady who had made the request.
The following day about lunchtime I got a call on my mobile from a young lady called Emma, who introduced herself as the student wanting some help and advice. We chatted for a little while about the problem and made an arrangement to meet in the Uni coffee bar later that week. I wasn't familiar with the location, so she said that once I got there to call her on her mobile and she would come out to the foyer to meet me.
I arrived at the Uni on the Thursday morning as arranged and called Emma to say that I was there. Within a few minutes a young lady arrived and asked if I was waiting for Emma – I said that I was. She explained that she was Emma and we shook hands and she took me through into the coffee bar to a small table in the corner where her stuff was already spread out.
The first thing I did was to go and get us both some drinks and then we started going through her business plan, identifying the areas where she was unsure of the exact statements to make. We also discussed some of her marketing ideas and it was soon after 1.00 p.m. Realising that neither of us had eaten I offered to buy lunch and she accepted, saying that she had no lectures that day so time was not critical. She decided we wouldn't eat in the Uni – too expensive and a poor choice – is what she said. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said she knew a nice little Bistro a few streets away.
Gathering up her papers we went out of the coffee bar and down the steps. It seemed a bit incongruous with her carrying all these papers so I offered to put them in my car so that she wouldn't have to carry them. She accepted my offer and I took them from her and walked across the street to the car park and deposited them in the car, while she waited for me at the bottom of the steps.
It was only when I was walking back towards her that I think I really saw her for the first time and noticed that she was a very attractive young woman. She was about 5'6" tall, with long blonde hair and a very nice figure with a nice firm bust. She was smiling as I approached and I have to admit I felt a little tingle of excitement pass up my spine.
We walked around to the Bistro and chatted about various different things. I found out that she was 23 and from Manchester and didn't have a boyfriend – why did I ask that question? She was planning on opening her own retail business on graduating and had already found the area she wanted to be operating from.
The conversation continued during lunch and she asked questions about me and my family and just general chit chat. After lunch I walked her back to my car to get her books and folders and then I suddenly wondered if she wanted a lift anywhere. She said she was going to meet some friends and declined the offer but after taking her books and thanking me for lunch, went off along the street. I followed her with my eyes until she was out of sight and then got in my car to drive back to my office. I was thinking her about her all the way back, and my thoughts weren't all about her business problems!
Things returned to normal and I forgot all about Emma, until about three weeks later when I got a text message from her to say she would like to meet again and chat through some ideas she had since visiting an exhibition in London. I texted back my availability and we arranged to meet again at the Uni coffee bar the next day about 11.30 a.m.
I was a bit late arriving and just as I was walking up from the car park I got a call on my mobile to make sure I was going. I apologised but said I was only a few minutes away. I walked into the coffee bar and it was empty except for Emma sitting at the same table where we had met originally. I walked up and we shook hands and I made the comment that with all the tables to choose from she had chosen one the farthest from the door. She laughed but reminded me that this was 'our table' – where we had our first meeting. I laughed now and said that I realised that only a woman would consider such detail important. She agreed and said that men were so insensitive to such sentiments but she wouldn't hold it against me! We both laughed again and I sat down.
She was so excited with all the stuff she had brought back from the exhibition, lots and lots of new product ideas and loads of contacts that could help her business. She talked and talked for ages before I got the chance to go through all her ideas with her. We discussed all the various options and put together a plan of action so that she could maximise all these thoughts and ideas before they went cold. This took quite a while and it was 1.30 p.m. before either of us realised what time it was. I was due at another meeting at 2.30 p.m. so had to make my excuses and dash away. She apologised for keeping me so late and said she would give me a call soon to bring me up to date on all the things we had discussed. Having shook hands again I dashed off back to the car to try and make my next meeting without being too late.
On the way to the next meeting I realised that we hadn't arranged another meeting and somehow I felt a little disappointed as I really enjoyed her company. She was so exuberant, so full of life and somehow even quite exciting.
Later that evening I received a text message on my mobile phone, from Emma, and she was also making the point that we hadn't arranged another meeting. I sent a message back asking if she wanted, I could meet her again the next week, same time same place. A few minutes later I received a message to say that was fine and she would see me on Tuesday at 11.30 a.m.
Over the next few days I kept receiving text messages from her, some about the things we had discussed at our last meeting but others just chatty! On one occasion she was on the train from Manchester and bored and chatted to me by text for the whole of her 1½ hour journey. I felt rather flattered to know that this young lady was actually interested enough to want to chat to me, not just about her project but all kinds of other stuff.
We met again the following week and after the meeting went again to the Bistro for lunch, after putting her stuff in my car. It was an interesting lunch as we chatted about all kinds of personal stuff, her life, her family, her likes and dislikes. I found out that there was only her and her Mum as her Dad had left when she was only 10 and they had completely lost contact with him. I wondered if all this familiarity was due to the fact that she didn't have an adult male in her life.
She asked me about my family and particularly about by social life, what type of friends I had, what hobbies and interests I had and other general stuff. After lunch I gave her the stuff back out of my car and we agreed to meet again on Thursday at 11.30 a.m. again.
This format continued for another three weeks, we would meet up first in the Uni and then have lunch in the Bistro afterwards. She actually started calling it our 'date'! Between the times that we met, she was constantly sending me text messages, some about work but mostly quite personal stuff asking me loads of questions and telling me some of her own troubles and problems.
She had recently dropped out of a fairly long term relationship and I think she was rather lonely and just needed someone to take an interest in her. Someone not connected with her own life who she could discuss personal issues with without any embarrassment or judgement. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced that she also saw me as a bit of a father figure.
The following week we were due to meet on the Thursday when I got a call from her on Monday afternoon to say that her project had been returned with some comments appended and she needed to talk to me fairly urgently to go through the points raised as it had to be returned by Friday and if we left it to Thursday she may not have time to complete it.
Having checked my diary I agreed I could arrange to meet her the following afternoon at 4.30 p.m. to go through the points they had raised. We agreed to meet at the same place although the coffee bar would be closed by then but we could still sit in there and chat.
When I got there she was quite despondent as the project had been returned with what appeared to be a lot of additional input required. However, after about an hour of ploughing through the issues they had raised we soon solved the problem and realised that all that was really needed was some additional financial information to support some of the development plans and projections she had submitted. She already had most of the information anyway and it didn't take long to complete the rest.
Her mood changed quite noticeably whilst we were going through the project as she had been quite moody and sulky at the outset but once we had sorted out all the issues she was her usually 'bouncy' self again. I told her that I couldn't stay as I had another meeting to go to and if I didn't dash away fairly quickly I would be late. For a split second I was sure she was quite disappointed but it passed so quickly I decided I had imagined it. Anyway, why would such a young lady be disappointed that I couldn't stay with her for longer?
We said our goodbyes and I went off to the car to go to my next meeting. I didn't have far to go as my next meeting was actually in Sheffield anyway. It was whilst I was on my mobile calling to say I may be a few minutes late when I noticed another call coming in.
When I had finished my call and hung up I saw that I had a missed call from Emma.
I rang her back and as soon as she answered she said "What time does your meeting finish tonight?" I told her that it would be after 10.00 p.m. before I got away, if it ran to its usual format. "Fancy a drink afterwards then," she asked me?
I didn't have an answer and just sort of stammered "Err yeah, sure, you got some more ideas? Where shall we meet?" She said she had one or two ideas and gave me the name of a pub and the street it was in and said she would be there from 10.15 p.m. and with that comment she rang off.
