Two days after my sister Kim told me her husband was having an affair with his secretary and all that subsequently took place, she phoned me midmorning.
"It's me, Mum's out isn't she?"
"Yep, it's Wednesday, she's gone into town with Margot and Liz."
I was nervous. I'd been thinking of little else since Kim and I had fucked on our parents' sofa.
"You okay?" Kim asked cautiously.
"Yep, are you?" I answered, equally cautiously.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking since Monday." She continued.
"Me too!" I said in as steady a voice as I could manage.
She continued without a pause. "But I have no regrets! Do you?"
"No, not at all!" I answered also without hesitation.
I was, of course, relieved to hear that and felt a whole lot better now that the deed had been acknowledged and that there were no regrets.
"I want more, like we agreed. Do you, or was it just talk?" Kim asked.
"Are you kidding? I loved it and I meant it!"
There was a pause and then my sister told me she had an idea.
Let me give you a little background on the idea. My father ran a family business, an automotive engineering company that specialised in the maintenance, repair and refurbishment of high end British classic, prestige and sports cars. My brother Roy, my sister Kim and myself all had various degrees of involvement in the business since we were in our mid teens, helping out at weekends and in the holidays. We are a family who live and breath cars. Forgive me if I geek out on makes and models during this and other stories, but cars are so evocative of the period and provide part of the backdrop for what happened that summer.
By this time, Roy was my dad's business partner and Kim who worked for an accountancy firm, managed the company books for the family business in her spare time; audits and tax returns and the like. As for me, my dad always knew I wasn't going to be following in his footsteps and joining the family's automotive dynasty. I was much happier with arts and literature than science and engineering. My brain just does not work that way.
"You're just like your mum, away with the fairies!" He would joke, but I think he was proud that one of his kids was going to university.
So my involvement became minimal, until that is, I learned to drive and passed my driving test when I was seventeen. Then my dad suggested lending me a car, until I went to uni, in return for doing the odd motor parts collection and delivery run, for the destinations a little further afield. I readily agreed, even though it took up some time at the weekends and in school holidays, that was more than compensated for now I had my own wheels!
It was no surprise to find out that the loaned car was a Mini Cooper, a little bit tatty but serviced and perfectly functional and in orange, I didn't consider the colour ideal, but one doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
One of Roy's early ideas, when he stepped up to partner, was to create a little sideline that would generate a steady turnover and help with cash flow situations that sometimes occurred. The company would buy, refurbish and sell older Mini Coopers and Triumph and M.G. roadsters. It was a good opportunity for the apprentice mechanics to learn new skills on less complex cars and there was a good retail demand for them. Roy would go through the private ads in the local papers and trawl the trade magazines and auction catalogues for suitable vehicles and buy cars we could revamp and resell with a reasonable profit. Kim had a Mini Cooper too, hers was a lot nicer, having undergone a full refurb and respray (a lovely aubergine colour), it even had a radio cassette player!
The new venture, however, caused a bit of a headache in the workshop because space was tight and storing the newly bought cars was a problem. The solution was to lease a storage facility on an industrial estate on the outskirts of town. We called it 'the lock up', basically a garage to store about ten cars. The lock up came with an office suite. The suite ran along the back of the garage area and was comprised of an office, with an internal window looking into the garage space. The office led through to a small kitchen area and then through to a windowless stock room. At the end of the suite, but accessed from the garage area was a toilet and small shower room. When we moved in, the unit had just been vacated by a guy who ran a security patrol service and was there all hours. According to the leasing agent, he practically lived there. For reasons never explained to me, the office furniture had been left, making the space functional and comfortable. There was a desk and swivel chair, metal filing cabinet and cupboard and a few plastic and tube steel stacking chairs. The most substantial item in the room was a le Corbusier style rectangular sofa, six feet long, covered with black, leather look, vinyl with no armrests. It ran along the wall, underneath the internal window and I assumed was used to sleep on by the previous occupier. The sofa's back cushion panels could be turned over to make it into a single sized bed. Despite it's length and bulk, it did not look out of place as a relaxed seating area.
"Can you meet me at the lock up this evening, about 7.30?" Kim asked.
"Sure, but I don't have keys." I replied.
"Don't worry, I'll be waiting for you. I'll get you a set cut this afternoon. Don't tell dad or Roy!"
I promised I wouldn't and we said goodbye and I got on with the rest of the day.
Kim's idea seemed like a good one. She was the only one who used the office, Dad and Roy were based at the workshop and the only other comings and goings were when newly bought cars were dropped off or picked up to be worked on. For Kim it was a quiet place for her to work and think. During the period of her unhappy marriage to an emotionally abusive husband, she would go there just to get away from it all. When things were really bad for her, she would rather be there than in an unhappy home, even if he was out with his secretary. How awful is that? I hated her twat of a husband.
The lock up would be the perfect place for us to meet! I arrived just after 7.30 and Kim was waiting at the garage door, she waved me in and I parked behind her car as she operated the electric door close behind me. With the door down, no one would know we were there, there were no external windows. As I got out of the Mini, Kim came forward and presented me with a set of freshly cut keys. She looked nice, in a pink t shirt, white knee-length skirt and sandals. Her shoulder length blonde bob had a very pleasing movement to it. I liked the way it swished. But she looked tired. She was cowed and beaten. Her posture was almost stooped, like she wanted to be as small and unnoticeable as possible.
I had made up my mind on what had to be done!
"Hello!" I said with a smile, in a gently chiding way.
"Yeah, hi!" She said and smiled.
I pulled her towards me and kissed her lips, I didn't want there to be any awkwardness, she responded and our mouths opened. I was tasting her again and she tasted so good.
She took me by the hand and led me into the office.
"Home, sweet home!" She said, with a half smile, a sad smile. "I've spent a fair few evenings here lately." She added.
I hugged her and kissed her again. Of course I knew why she didn't want to be at home.
"What do you do here?" I asked. There was no T.V., just a portable stereo cassette player. As far as I could see there was nothing else to do.
"I listen to music," she said, "now and then I vacuum and dust."
Now that she said it, the place was always spotlessly tidy.
"But mostly I play with myself." Kim said, in a totally matter of fact manner. She was serious. "Have you ever noticed anything about this place?" She continued.
I shrugged. I had not really paid it much attention.
"Look at the sofa," she carried on, "it turns into a bed and it's wipe off vinyl! Come with me."
She took me by the hand again and walked me through the kitchenette to the stock room.