Well, I didn't think you'd get a 'Clive and Min' episode today, such is the current mood of her Ladyship the Grumpy Author, but, having done some vacuuming, made a sponge cake, made a loaf of bread and received notification that she has PASSED the second module of her C & G embroidery course (hurrah!), she cracked on with the business of writing et voila! Here we are, a Sunday episode delivered on time, with aplomb, and a large and heavy black cat called Bambino Bobble Wilson sitting on her lap.
Sergeant Kieran Phelps closed his front door behind him,
dropped his rucksack on the hallway floor, and expelled a sigh of relief. It
was the end of his last shift and the start of two weeks of annual leave and,
quite frankly, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Usually, he wasn’t much
of a one for taking his holiday entitlement, preferring to keep his weeks
focused on the rhythm of his shift pattern and then being paid in lieu for his
untaken holiday. Working as much of the year as possible meant he didn’t have
to think too much about the other elements of life, like visiting his mother and
tackling the small, but growing list of niggling D.I.Y jobs required by his
flat. But this holiday had been much anticipated because it coincided with the
final preparations for the opening of his girlfriend’s new theme pub, The
Wild and Woolly. Leah, for that was
her name, required as many helping hands as possible, his included, to assist
with the final push of decorating and stocking up before the launch party which
was scheduled for the end of October to make the most of the Halloween
celebrations. What better time, Leah had said, to open a pub called The Wild
and Woolly, than at Halloween? Kieran had suggested sheep shearing season,
and got a wallop across his arm for his witty trouble.
His flat seemed darker and smaller since the evenings had begun
to draw in. It was a perfectly serviceable flat, very bachelor pad, Kieran
thought, as he went to the kitchen and switched on the oven in preparation for
it receiving whichever ready meal would first meet his hand when he opened the
tiny freezer box in his fridge. Yet it wasn’t the most welcoming of places in
the shorter days of the year, with its small windows and cosy room sizes. The
pub, however, had very spacious accommodation above it, the kind you could
easily turn into B & B rooms if you wanted to. However, Leah had been dropping
very strong hints that maybe it was time they thought about moving in together.
And the idea was very tempting. From a living accommodation point of view,
anyway. Who wouldn’t want to be able to spread out into more than twice the
space currently at one’s disposal? Or live above a pub, come to that? But
living with another person? Kieran hadn’t done that for fifteen years.
The first ready meal to emerge from the freezer box was Thai
green curry. Kieran studied the packaging. Was he in a Thai green curry mood?
He threw it back and had another rummage around. Lamb hotpot? Beef lasagne? The
oven beeped, signalling it was hot and ready to receive an offering. Come on,
Kieran, he said to himself. Make a decision. Lamb hotpot it was, then. And a thought
process step closer towards selling his flat and moving into the pub with Leah.
As he leant against the sink, waiting for his dinner to be ready
and pondering the pros and cons of cohabitation, his mobile phone rang out.
Leah. It was as if she could feel he was thinking about her. She always joked
she had psychic tendencies.
‘Hello, Officer Hotpants!’ she said, as soon as he answered
the call. ‘How are you? What are you doing?’
Kieran smiled. Officer Hotpants! ‘I’m good, thank and just
heating up some food,’ he said. ‘You?’
‘Making a list for tomorrow,’ said Leah. ‘We’re starting at eight
a.m sharp. Can you make it for then? I’m cooking bacon sarnies for everyone…’ There
it was, that hint of teasing and pleasing encouragement in her voice.
‘How can I resist?’ said Kieran. ‘And I’ve been thinking…’
‘Oooh, steady on there,’ said Leah. ‘Sounds intriguing.
Continue on…’
‘Well, perhaps I should bring a couple of suitcases of stuff
with me,’ said Kieran. ‘You know, and stay over at the pub for the next two weeks.
It’ll save travelling back and forth every day. And,’ he took a faltering
breath, ‘it could be a trial run, you know, for us perhaps living together?’
Leah let out a robust laugh. ‘What? See if I can tolerate
your weird bachelor living habits, you mean?’ she said.
‘If you like,’ said Kieran.
‘Yes, why not?’ said Leah. ‘As long as those suitcases aren’t
full of computer games.’ Her voice softened. ‘It’ll be fun…’
Kieran nodded. Yes, he thought, it probably will. ‘I’ll see
you tomorrow, then,’ he said. ‘All bagged up and ready to go.’
‘Love you!’ said Leah. ‘I’m so excited about this new venture
of ours.’
‘Yes,’ said Kieran. ‘Me, too.’
The timer on the oven shrieked out.
‘Sounds like your dinner is ready,’ said Leah. ‘I’ll let you
go. But there will be none of that ready meal crap when we’re living together,
understand?’
Sounds like she’s already made up her mind without a trial
run, thought Kieran, blowing her a kiss down the line and finishing the call.
* *
*
Kieran had invested some of his own money in the pub venture,
as had an aunt of Leah’s whom he’d never met, but apparently was like a second
mother to her. If he sold his flat, he thought as he set off early the
following morning to make the journey to The Wild and Woolly, perhaps
the plan of starting a group of pubs could happen sooner than planned. Or perhaps
he could buy that motorbike he was hankering after first. When this venture had
started over a year ago, he had rather imagined himself as a sleeping partner in
the business, leaving the day to day running of everything to Leah, but she
seemed determined from the start that he would leave the police force and join
her as a full and active partner. Back then Kieran had no thoughts at all about
ever leaving the police force, but over the previous six months his dedication
to the service had begun to waiver. He felt like he was losing his touch. He
certainly felt like his career was going no further, especially since he had
failed to make any more progress with the Clive Thing case.
‘Don’t even start to think about THAT again,’ he muttered to
himself, turning down the road on which sat, possibly, the start of a new life
and career. ‘It’s done. All over. Case closed.’
He could see Leah already standing in the pub’s expansive car
park, marshalling some white trade vans into position. There she was, giving
directions, being efficient, organised, very much in charge, and everyone
around her obediently following her commands, because they didn’t dare do
otherwise. An unexpected shiver ran over his skin. Was that what she’d be like
with him, he wondered, once he’d moved in? Very much in charge of everything
they did, with him following along like a good boy?
He swung into the car park and tooted his horn. Leah smiled
and waved, then directed him towards the door whilst miming cooking in a frying
pan. Yup, he thought. She’s going to be in charge of me and there is nothing I
can do about it.
* * *
‘It’s looking good, isn’t it?’ said Leah. They were standing
in the bar area, just before lunchtime, watching as the final fixings of the
beer pumps were being made. ‘Just a bit of decorating to finish, and the
flooring, and we’re done.’
‘Did you take on that decorator you had in the other day?’
said Kieran. ‘The woman. She seemed very efficient. Just your kind of person.’
‘Willow Reginald? I did,’ said Leah. ‘She said she is just
finishing a job at some house in town and can start here by the end of this
week. She had some great ideas for final touches, too. Said she could get hold
of some interesting objet d’art that would fit in beautifully with the ‘wild
and woolly’ theme.’
‘Good,’ said Kieran. ‘Sounds like everything is running to your
very exacting timetable.’
‘It is,’ said Leah. ‘But I need you to take over for a couple
of days. I’ve got to go away. Meetings with suppliers, stuff like that…’
Kieran sighed. ‘Seriously?’ he said. ‘I thought the idea of
me moving here for the duration of my holiday was to see if we could bear
living together. And now you are clearing off…’
‘Oh, you won’t be returning to that poky flat of yours,’ said
Leah with the assuredness of a woman who had already made a co-habiting
decision, and had already arranged for an estate agent to value his flat and
put it on the market. ‘Not after you’ve enjoyed the space of living here.
Anyway,’ she continued, ‘last night I didn’t know about these meetings, and now
I do. I’ll be home as quickly as I can. And it’ll give you a chance to wear
your ‘I’m in charge’ pub landlord hat.’
Fait accompli, thought Kieran. But still, he couldn’t help
but love the woman.
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