I woke the next morning later than usual and alone which slightly surprised me but also made me feel pleasantly virtuous. I got out of bed and headed for the shower and after a good wash headed to my room to pack up. I found thinking in the shower allowed me to concentrate and decided to make sure everyone I'd been in contact with since the incident wasn't able to discuss me and several would actually forget their contact with me. Drying myself I walked naked into the bedroom and wasn't shocked to discover Jane sitting on my bed, however I was mildly surprised to note Jenny sitting alongside her. Unfortunately, both were fully dressed in hospital uniforms, Jane as a receptionist and Jenny as a radiographer. "Morning," I said, "judging by the uniforms this is a fleeting visit?"
Jenny took the lead with her reply, "Sadly yes," she indicated Jane and continued, "we lift share and before we head off, we thought we should pop in to say goodbye as you're moving out today." Both stood and walked over to me and cuddled me.
Jane looked up at me and gave me a swift kiss. "You better be in touch!" She winked at me and said to Jenny, "Come on, we'd better go or we'll both end up in bed again."
Jenny looked at her then me and sighed, "Bollocks, you're right." She smiled regretfully at me and kissed me quickly. "Come on then before I change my mind."
"Before you go," I interrupted their exit, "neither of you are to discuss ever meeting me with anyone. You'll have the memory of a fantastic time with a man who stayed here but you'll forget it was me after you've left the room." I turned to Jane, "When you get back tonight you need to do a deep clean of the flat and your house removing any signs I've been here. You'll both need to delete me from phones too." I'd regretfully realised I'd better remove any chance of my weekend plans being for nothing. "Jenny, I need you to give me your daughters and husbands phone numbers too." I gave her a piece of paper to write the numbers on which she did briefly and then they both left the room, a few seconds later I heard the front door close. Packing up my limited belongings took very little time, so I shortly had everything in a couple of boxes. Picking up my laptop I packed it in my rucksack and looking around I'd left nothing in the flat so walked to the house kitchen to see Phil to arrange the drop off of my stuff.
Whilst he sorted his breakfast, I sent a brief email to Melanie to get her to set up a company bank account for me and transfer sufficient funds to it for the boat purchase. She emailed back within 30 minutes having set it all up for me. So, I spent a few minutes contacting everyone in my address book baring Audrey, Emma and Melanie and removing their memories of me. That task completed I got Phil to run my belongings to the marina and I ran down on the bike. My belongings didn't amount to much but it's difficult to carry several boxes on a bike.
I parked the bike in an out of the way location and headed to my meet up point with Phil. We chatted briefly and I took possession of my boxes and he headed off to work leaving me with an open invite to return and enjoy the full hospitality of his wife. As he left, I gave him the same order to alter his memory, so he no longer remembered me as the man who had fucked his wife. He'd remember the events but not the person as he and Jane seemed far happier. After that I headed to the cafe to await James.
A bit later that morning I was sat in the cafe overlooking the marina whilst James and I sat signing papers transferring the ownership of his narrow boat to my company. This meant I should have a further degree of anonymity despite owning the boat. I transferred the payment over, and I was now ready to get started. After a final walkthrough of the boats systems James left me to it. I walked through my new kingdom that should allow me to get lost whilst I decided whether to chase after the people behind my incident or not. I still hadn't decided if it was a good idea to chase some very dangerous people or if it would be a better plan to disappear and enjoy the undoubted benefits of the accident. But I had time to decide.
I set the fire going in the wood burner and in a few minutes the back boiler had started heating the radiators. The boat rapidly warmed and became comfortable. I unpacked my boxes and put away the groceries I'd brought with me then stored my limited wardrobe in the cupboards of my bedroom. As I put the last shirt away my phone buzzed. Checking it I discovered a message from Audrey, "At marina, are you here?"
"I am, I'll meet you at the entrance to the marina." I replied and headed off to collect her. Heading up to the marina entrance I could see her standing behind the entrance gate that separated the marina so that only patrons with the code could enter. As part of my purchase, I had a month of marina use and could decide after that whether to move or pay to stay. I figured I'd move on but being so close to the city centre was useful too.
Audrey was smiling and waved at me as she saw me. She was wearing a large jacket and sensibly had trainers on too. I walked over quickly and opened the gate for her. She smiled broadly and said, "Come on then, let's see the magnificent vessel." She giggled as she said it. She shivered after and continued "At least let's get out of the cold."
"Of course, just follow me." I indicated the direction my boat was in and we walked together to the boat. It was only a few paces away, so it didn't take long. Stepping onto the stern I held out my hand to help her step aboard. We entered the lounge area which had been decorated neutrally and had a small two-seater sofa leading to a kitchen area. Beyond that I showed her the shower and bathroom and a few paces beyond the bed and the door leading to the prow.
"So, compact but liveable, I always wondered what they were like inside." She smiled at me and continued, "I always thought they'd be dark with lots of brass hanging around."
"Lots are honestly," I replied, "but I've never wanted to live in my grannies house, I've just bought this one and bits need changing. Fancy helping me with some shopping?"
Her smile became radiant and she replied "Shopping, that you're going to pay for?"
"Yep, some general stuff like towels, bedding, curtains and some other crap. Lunch on me, interested?"
She wasted no time but was heading back out of the boat in an instant shouting at me to follow. I did and spent a somewhat bewildering couple of hours in a variety of shops that I'd have never bothered with in the past. She spent an alarming amount of money on high quality items which I hoped wouldn't need replacing for quite some time. One further thing she was able to help with was purchasing some hair dye that could be rapidly washed in and out. By the time we'd finished it was too early for lunch but as we were hungry, she suggested a cafe near the marina. Audrey went in and I delivered the many bags to my boat and came back to join her.
