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Jake and Gill

By: Spencerfiction



Chapter 1

"John," Gill started the conversation rolling. 

Everyone at the bank referred to John Jacob Nicholls as John. It was his given first name, although his family always called him by an abbreviation of his middle name, as both his father and grandfather had been Johns. His great grandfather had been a Jacob, so were a number of uncles and strangely enough even a couple of great-aunts shared it as a middle name. There was no way that Gill would have known that, of course.

"Everyone tells me that you are the person to ask," continued Gill, a little nervously. Usually so decisive, the department head was clearly out of her element here.

"Ask me what?" Jake looked up from filing his daily copy logs in his binder, and concentrated his warm brown eyes, smiling expectantly at her. 

'Oh my god,' the thought almost escaped her lips, 'he looks like a cute puppy!' She so wanted to kiss him and clutch his slim, hard body to her breast. She cleared her throat, 'concentrate, girl!'

John Jacob Nicholls, or Jake to his family, had a thing about Gillian Jarvis. He always had, ever since he first saw her. She started working at the Standhope Winter merchant bank, off Cornhill, deep in the heart of the City of London, twelve years ago. This was about two years after Jake started working there in the copy/fax room. 

When she first started at the bank, Gill Jarvis worked part-time, as she still had two young children in nursery, and, as office gopher, she had to go to the copy room several times a day. So Jake got to know her quite well, which only reinforced his initial positive feelings towards her. Okay, he noticed the wedding band on her finger almost immediately and soon found out that she had two young children. That didn't concern him, or affect his friendly relationship with her, as an actual design on her affections was quite the last thing on his mind. 

Even if Gillian Jarvis had been single he would have been reluctant to approach her with any romantic expectations, in fact, to approach any woman in that respect was at that time considered by him to be impossible. 

But that was when he first knew her, would Jake make a move now, so many years later, if they were both single?

In the January update of the company telephone list, that Jake had printed out and circulated a couple of months earlier, the entry 'Gillian Jarvis assistant manager enterprise asset management division' had disappeared and a new entry, 'Gillian Moorhouse manager enterprise asset management division' appeared instead, a page or two further down the alphabetical list. Jake noted that she was taking the opportunity of her latest promotion to revise her surname.

Gill was what you would call petite, about 5 foot 3 inches tall, and naturally of slim build. Her hair was dark brown, thick, wavy and shoulder length. Her face was open and generally cheerful, with deep brown eyes, an upward curling mouth and the faintest cleft in her chin. She was pretty by any standards but Jake thought she was singularly beautiful. She was an efficient worker, had performed well in banking and management examinations, and performed to exceed expectations in each of the positions she had undertaken. Jake thought she could go all the way to the top and he was aware that others were of the same opinion.

Jake was about six inches taller and also slim, perhaps a little too slim, most of his acquaintance might suggest. He too, had an open countenance and was noticeably bright and attentive. He always dressed smartly and was extremely cool under pressure, he never let anyone down. Most of the girls, and some of the guys too, thought Jake was handsome, but he always fended off amorous advances. The girls assumed therefore that he was gay, while the gays were under no illusions that he was anything other than straight.

When he first started working at the private merchant bank, the copy room managed to carry a busy staff of four, with the room populated by a complex assortment of telex machines, faxes of different resolutions and speeds as well as a range of the latest photocopiers. Now he was the only print room technician manning the department, the telexes and fax machines having long gone and the staff to operate them departed. There were slightly more multitasking copiers, which acted as scanners and computer printers of various sizes, and binding equipment than before, but the degree of automation meant they were a lot less labour-intensive. Jake also stocked general office stationery and he scanned archive copies of documentation for the bank. He had now been in the same basic but continually evolving job for fourteen years. 

Gill was aware of the fact that Jake was not actually employed directly by the bank any more, but worked for a separate facilities management company, which leased and maintained their own copying equipment. That policy had been put in place shortly after Gill started at the bank and the move was thought to have brought benefits in cost savings and efficiency. In theory, Gill thought, if Jake's little department was closed at the bank, his company could move him onto another managed facility; in practice, in the current economic and banking crisis, she thought he would probably be laid off. 

Gill had headed up a cross-department committee looking into cost-cutting and efficient reduction of overheads a couple of years previously and the print department was the leading favourite to be shut down entirely, with the bank staff forced to do their own copying and printing in addition to their normal duties. However, the top management at the bank had vetoed her committee's recommendations without supplying any supporting arguments for overriding their decision. 

There was nothing personal in Gill's assessment of the cost-cutting exercise, it was purely based on economics. She had liked the young John Nicholls from the moment when she first started working at the bank and was required to pop into the copy shop half a dozen times a day. The older staff in the room were generally always rude, negative and annoyingly vague about when her jobs would be ready. As the office junior she had no seniority and her jobs were often bumped down in order of priority, causing her to waste time making fruitless journeys and adding anxiety to her other pressures. 

Jake though, who Gill had always known as John, was the most approachable of the team. He gave precise promises when her request would be ready and would come up with helpful suggestions for her when schedules were too tight for him to meet in their entirety. He was always bright and cheerful, in fact with his potential, he was wasted in the copy shop, Gill thought early on, and she was still of that opinion, although her opportunities to see him became increasingly limited the higher up the promotion ladder she climbed. 

When the print room inevitably closed, as she was convinced in time it would, she would definitely seek to find a place for him in her department. As far as she was concerned, the bank really couldn't downsize any more than they had over the past two years.

In contrast to Jake's apparent immobility, tied as he was to the print room, as it was now labelled, Gill had made significant career progress in the bank and was now a firmly respected member of the senior management team. This in effect meant that Jake had seen less and less of her in the print room over the past few years and had long ago resigned himself to continue observing her from a distance. His feelings for her hadn't diminished one iota over the years.

So, he was quite pleasantly surprised to see Gill - indeed it was unusual to see anyone at all at that early hour - just three minutes past seven in the morning. 

As usual the print room office door was wide open to show that they were open for business, with a stack of the previous day's jobs ready for collection, piled up by custom on the table near the door. Jake had only been in for a few minutes and he was still in the process of getting the equipment switched on and warmed up, when he looked up and there she was, standing in the doorway, quietly watching him while he worked. 

It was still very early for the rest of the office workers. Jake usually arrived at least an hour or so earlier than the bank staff, in order to sort out any prints that had appeared in the delivery trays overnight, so they were ready to collect or deliver as appropriate first thing. 

Gill stood there empty-handed with her usual brilliant welcoming smile, while hesitating to declare what was on her mind. Jake swapped a ready smile with her and continued to bustle round the office, waiting for Gill to declare what she had come to say. She clearly wasn't carrying anything she wanted him to copy, and there was nothing in the overnight prints addressed to her nor anything urgent for her department.

While he busied himself around the office, he stole the occasional glance in her direction and realised how much slimmer she was since the last time he had seen her just a few weeks ago. She was 36 now, three years older than he was, and her weight had been creeping up ever so slightly over the years, he had noticed by his close observations. However, in quite a short space of time, since Christmas he thought, she appeared to have lost all that excess, without appearing gaunt. She looked good, very good in fact.

She was similarly noticing how slim and athletic he looked and even this early in the spring season his skin appeared to have a tanned and healthy glow. Jake had a good-looking boyish face, he could've passed for twenty, but she knew he must be late twenties at least, he had worked at the bank as long as she had, maybe even longer. He might even be as old as thirty, she mused, a gap between them of around six years. Would that be too big a gap? 'Yes,' she thought sadly, 'it probably would.' She had just lost her marriage, she wouldn't want to compound that shame by losing every scrap of her dignity as well.

He was much too young for her then, she thought, but instantly dismissed the thought as a silly idea, he had never showed the slightest bit of romantic interest in her. Nor had he appeared to show interest any of the other girls in the office. He was simply equally friendly with everyone, it seemed, without going over the top. 

Gill knew for a fact that over the years more than a couple of handfuls of the single girls, and she was certainly aware of one married woman, who had tried their luck tipping their hats in his direction, without him taking the slightest notice of the offer. They were all sure he was still single, as he never brought a date to any of the bank's social functions, although she wasn't sure about last Christmas, as that was the first one that she and her ex-husband Wayne had missed. Anyway, the rumour among the young single ladies in Gill's department, accompanied by deep meaningful sighs, was that John Nicholls was, unfortunately, almost certainly gay. 

His dark, almost black hair was cut short with a partly receding hairline at the front and a slight bald patch appearing on the crown of his head. He only really lacked a drooping moustache to tip him firmly into the gay category, Gill surmised. 

Interrupting her thoughts just then, Jake had to reach over one of the printers at the back wall of the print room to grab a binder from a shelf. Gill's eyes were instantly drawn to the smoothly rounded shape of his buns as he stretched his body to reach.

Gill tore her eyes away and tried to focus on the 'In Case of Fire' notice on the wall. 

'Christ!' she thought, 'I must be on fire! I'm so sexually frustrated that I'm actually checking out a gay boy's cute bum!' 

She remembered all too vividly that the last time she had sex was a furtive quickie that she felt extremely guilty about at Christmas, almost three and a half months ago. It was a rather unsatisfactory reconciliation-romp with Wayne, her ex-husband. That had been a total disaster, which meant the last meaningful sex she had had was the previous summer, although that session and maybe the dozen or so before that had been pretty awful. As that was some time before she was aware of Wayne's long-established affair, the gloss was taken right off most of the experiences of her marriage, other than the births of her two children. 

'Get real girl,' Gill forcefully said to herself, 'ask him what you came for and get out of this office and back onto safer ground.'

"John," she started. "everyone tells me that you are the person to ask," continued Gill, a little nervously.

"Ask me what?" Jake looked up from filing his daily copy logs in his binder, and concentrated his warm brown eyes, smiling expectantly at her. 

"Well, I have a couple of inactive teenagers at home and, since Christmas, I have been trying to lick them into shape." 

'Oh dear, maybe "lick" wasn't the best word to use here,' she thought, especially as she felt more and more like licking him all over. Gill was so wishing he was not gay and that he had an hitherto unrecognised fetish about older divorcees, especially about one older divorcee in particular who had been working her butt off in the gym for months. 

She pulled herself together and continued, "I have them eating better food while they are at home with me, but I just can't get them to do any exercise at all, I've even taken out a rather pricey family membership at my local gym but neither of them will get off their backsides and make use of it. Any suggestions, John?" 

While talking, her hands had moved expressively, pleadingly, but now she had finished what she wanted to say, she folded her arms across her chest, below her breasts, an unconsciously challenging stance for him to provide an answer.

Jake remembered both her children quite well and had taken a keen interest in them at the time when he used to see them often, although somewhat irregularly. When Gill first started as a part-timer in the bank, she sometimes had to bring them into work when she had been let down by school holiday childminders, or if school was closed for inset days. Once she was full-time and rapidly gaining promotion after promotion, they came in less frequently for a while, and then not at all. 

'The girl was Jenny,' he thought, 'a girl as pretty and petite as her mother, and would be about 15 or 16 now I guess; the boy was a couple of years younger and was big for his age, called Carl, no not Carl, but something similar.' 

When Gill brought them to the bank, which didn't have a crèche back then, the children would spend most of their time in the copy room, where there were benches, pens and markers and plenty of spare scrap paper to write or draw on and it didn't matter if they made a bit of a noise in there. Jenny was a nice kid, quiet and almost as shy as Jake, and the boy, whatever name he answered to, was clumsy, chatty, boisterous, loud and, back then, could be trouble with a capital T if his interest wasn't fully engaged.

"I think I remember them," Jake said, "Jenny and ...?" he hesitated for a moment. 

"Clay," filled in Gill, "short for Clayton."

"So, what do they do now and what things are they particularly interested in?" Jake asked.

Gill moved one of her hands to stroke her chin, leaving the other arm across her chest. 

"Jenny stays in her room most evenings, finishing her homework, watching her own television and texting her friends; at the weekends she normally hangs around with her pals at the town centre. Clay also goes to his room straight after dinner, to play on his games consoles, and he hardly goes out at all; if friends do come over, they just hang out in his room, playing games. I am worried that Jen doesn't quite eat enough and Clay eats far too much of the wrong things without taking any exercise. Neither of them are interested in sport or keeping fit and when they stay with their father, they tell me that they all just sit around and eat bought-in junk food ... Their step-mother doesn't cook much, if at all." 

Gill paused, just as the print room phone rang. 

"Excuse me," Jake apologised with a smile and picked up the handset before it rang a second time. 

Gill watched him as he listened to the caller, a smile playing on his lips all the while as he nodded silently. Gill had to think back to when she had ever seen John without a smile on his face and she realised she couldn't. It was as if he was an extremely slimmed down but serene Buddha. 

Jake nestled the phone between his chin and shoulder as he stood at a computer screen and rattled away at the keyboard, uttering the odd affirmative and then "no problem". 

Listening to his voice, Gill thought it was a pleasantly deep baritone, not at all gay sounding. He spoke with perfect diction too, which was unexpected for an unskilled worker. Well, that's what copy technicians were, weren't they? Some of the cleaners for example had distinctly London East End accents. And his telephone voice was exactly the same as his normal conversational voice. It was clear to Gill that he had received a good education and probably came from a good family. It occurred to Gill that she really didn't know anything about him at all. It was also curious to Gill why John Nicholls wasn't on the bank's management training circuit that she herself had worked through so successively, despite having taken time out from her career for her children. 

Jake finished his call saying, "I've changed your password to 'monday14' all lowercase Gerry, so you'll need to change it again immediately." Jake paused for a moment and finished with "Bye", replaced the receiver and grinned at Gill.

"Was that Gerald?" asked Gill, the chairman of the board of the bank being the only 'Gerry' that she could think of in the company, not that she would ever call him Gerry, ever.

"Yes, he's always forgetting his computer password. Now, what games does Clay play on his console?"

Gill was still absorbing the earlier conversation, "Why didn't Gerald..." she couldn't bring herself to call him 'Gerry' even in private, "call IT?"

"Because" replied Jake, looking at the big clock on the wall, "they don't start work for another 35 minutes and Gerry doesn't like using the out of hours service. To be honest, nobody does.... Now, I bet Clay is really into Max Payne 4?"

Gill still couldn't get Gerald Standhope out of her head, why would he ring Jake, the print room ex-copy boy, for help with getting into his computer? 

Jake waited patiently for Gill to ask the next question, but as the pause extended he jumped in by way of explanation, anyway. 

"I expect Gerry needs to download and translate the interim figures for Societé Transport de Paris SA, which will be announced on the Paris Stock Exchange an hour before they are released in London, due to the time difference. Now is Clay into Max Payne?"

"Oh, er, yes, I think he got that for his birthday last month, but I'm not sure. Whatever he got, his father bought for him." She continued, "I got him some trousers for school, it was then I noticed how much weight he had put on, as his waist had gone up another size."

"Hence the need to keep Clay active?"

"Yes, I hardly seem to see them these days, just a snatched meal before they disappear to their rooms, and then they are with their father every other weekend," she said wistfully. "We hardly function as a family any more," she realised. "What do you do to keep in such good shape?" 

She had said much more than she intended and looked at Jake to see if he was reading anything into what sounded to her like tacit admittance that she found him attractive. Jake smiled broadly at her with a sparkle in his eyes. She hoped he wasn't laughing at her. The way she felt about her self-image was at such a low ebb at the moment that she couldn't bear being treated as a joke, or even worse, as someone to be pitied for her marriage failure.


Jake and Gill



Jake saw her slight discomfort, interpreting this as worry about her offsprings' health, put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Looks like you need something that you can all do as a family together, what do you think about hiking and camping?"

Gill was startled, she wasn't expecting this as an answer to her request for suggestions. She had asked all the girls in her office and had various ideas like getting a family gym membership, which she had done without success, swimming, racket games, weekends at country club-like resorts. But camping? No-one had said anything about hiking and camping in the great outdoors. And the promise of a fine spring was virtually round the corner.

Jake continued, "Or if camping is out of the question you can hike between fantastic country pubs, hotels or even B&Bs."

Gill's mind was suddenly racing with the idea. She used to go on lots of hiking and camping holidays with her family when she was a girl and even did a little hiking and hosteling at college with a group of girls who were similarly inclined. However, she had packed all that delightful activity up when she started going out with Wayne. He was into ten-pin bowling on Friday nights and had a football season ticket at Stamford Bridge, which wiped out more than half of each weekend. One of the reasons that Wayne and Clay never really bonded as father and son was because Wayne was hardly ever there to encourage Clay to take up any kind of sporting activity.

"There are also plenty of opportunities to do short walks which can be fitted into a morning and or afternoon without bothering with all that camping paraphernalia," Jake continued, consulting his iPhone calendar. "There's a nice gentle one this coming Sunday for young families, which would be an ideal starter, if you are interested. It is only a ten mile drive or so out of London."

"Sorry, I was miles away just thinking about camping," Gill said, smiling. "This is a great idea," she enthused, "A chance to exercise, get plenty of fresh air, build up an appetite for good, wholesome food and indulge in some family bonding, too." 

'Well,' she thought to herself, 'everyone said John would have the answer and, damn it, they were right on the button!' 

Just then came a voice from the doorway, calling out, "Fourteen across 'queen exists, again', four letters, any ideas?" 

Gill turned and nodded in greeting to David Sullivan, one of the eurobond negotiators, poking his head round the doorway, addressing Jake.

Jake grinned, replying "Isis, which means 'she of the throne' and 'is'-'is' for 'exists, repeats'. You finished it now, Dave?"

"No, not quite John," admitted Dave, "but I'll see where this clue gets me, speak to you later. Oh, hi Gill," and with a wave he was off. 

Gill turned to look at Jake, with a quizzical look on her face. 

"Dave buys his Telegraph at the station and fills it in on the train, I have mine delivered at home early and do the crossword during breakfast," said Jake by way of explanation. "I'll email the location of Sunday's walk and a list of what I think you'll need. The circuit returns to the pub car park at lunchtime and again at the end of the afternoon so you won't have to lug the picnic around with you. Or you can lunch in the pub. Also, if the kids are too tired by the time you get to midday you can always give the afternoon walk a miss."

"Sounds great," said Gill. "I'm definitely up for it. I take it you don't bother to go on the beginners' walks?"

"My grandmother organises these particular rambles and there is a wide range of age groups present from toddlers up to pensioners, even the odd babe in arms, too. They are very gentle strolls rather than hikes, say up to three hours in the morning and two to two-and-a-half after lunch. I usually attend these sessions, as my grandmother hates to drive, so I take her. She has them about once a month between spring and autumn."

***

It was a glorious Sunday and, with the minimum of coercing, Gill had managed to drag along both Jenny and Clay. At home during the week Gill had printed out the map that Jake had already emailed to her computer by the time she had got back to her own desk on Monday. He followed it up with directions to the car park and approximate itinerary of this particular trip. The walk was designed for young families with quite young children, and consisted of mainly pavement or tarmac'd paths and wasn't too taxing. 

Gill had looked out her old hiking boots, polished off the layer of dust and had worn them round the house for a couple of evenings to soften them up ready for the walk. Jenny and Clay wore their everyday trainers. Gill thought that if they were going to take longer walks together and even camp out, she would have to kit them out properly. She might suggest that Wayne could contribute this element to the children's welfare, as he was the reason for Clay putting on weight and Jenny's depression. Jake had listed suggestions for lunch and that they bring plenty of drinking water, Gill had packed all this in a cool box in the car.





Chapter 2

There was quite a turn out at the starting point on Sunday morning, a large pub car park, where a very stately-looking and well-spoken older woman addressed the group in a commanding voice to ensure everyone was aware of safety first during the walk. Before they set off, Jake came over to Gill and renewed his acquaintance with her children. 

Jenny had been quite sullen during the car journey and scornful of the expected exercise, which she declared would be a 'boring waste of time'. She also felt gawky and uncomfortable standing around in the car park with all these strangers, but she brightened significantly once the handsome Jake came on the scene. Although her mother had said that 'John from the copy shop at work would be there', Jenny never really listened to her mother anymore, but then the girl instantly remembered she'd had a crush on him when she was about eleven years old. 

Clay had also been less than enthusiastic about the Sunday outing, until Jake showed him his iPhone and pointed out an application that mapped out the route. It would also track Clay's progress and count how many calories he'd burned; Jake loaned it to him for the duration of the walk and also pointed out the Max Payne game app which was loaded up and ready to use, provided Jake entered a password, which he would when they stopped for lunch.

So it was quite a merry band that Gill started out with on the walk. Clay actually forged onto the front of the strung out group, continually referring to the directions on the PDA, while Jenny hovered immediately behind Jake and her mother, who walked along companionably next to each other. Every now and then the group would stop and gather outside an ancient building or tree with some interesting history associated with it and one of the senior members of the party would give a brief talk on it. They were a lively group, comfortable in company with each other, and there were always questions, comments and banter, with plenty of laughs. 

Gill and her children soon relaxed, Clay gravitated to a couple of lads of similar age who were very interested in the PDA, while Jenny was engrossed with a young mum encumbered with a double buggy and two very young children.

Halfway through the morning walk, Jake left Gill's side to hurry ahead to help with various buggies and toddlers through styles and kissing gates leading off-road for a stretch, and told Gill to carry on and he would see her when they stopped for lunch. 

It was then the old woman who appeared to be the organiser fell in to walk beside her. The lady was surprisingly sprightly for her age and had no trouble keeping up a brisk pace on the grassy track next to a field of rapeseed, already brilliantly in flower, a golden haze flowing almost to the horizon.

"Hello," she started, "I'm Gertie, Jake's grandmother, you must be Gill. Are you and your children enjoying the walk so far?"

"Very much so," replied Gill, "You certainly have a mixed crowd taking part and all thoroughly enjoying themselves."

"We have a wide spectrum in the group, some of them come out with us every month and others progress onto more challenging treks after a short while and they are replaced by new members. Hopefully, you and your children will come along next month?"

"I think we probably will," laughed Gill, realising that she was really enjoying the fresh air, the gentle pace and somewhat relieved that her children appeared to be having a good time with very little effort on her part. "It's just beautiful being able to get out in the fresh country air, and the exercise is something I really need, the gym just doesn't cut it compared to this." 

The vista was lovely, a splash of yellow blossom, white and yellow flowers in the fresh green hedgerow, topped off by an azure sky dotted with fluffy cotton-wool. 

"I would like to be free to do this every weekend," Gill thought out loud.

"Tell me if I am being nosy but, while my grandson talks to me all the time, he never actually tells me anything about himself and nothing at all about his private life," Gertie said quietly, linking her arm into Gill's and leaning in so as not to be overheard. "I see you do not have any rings on your left hand, so, are you going out with Jake?"

"Well, John, er, Jake is just a friend from work," Gill answered, "we are old friends, I suppose. I've known him ever since I started at the bank a dozen years ago. He suggested today's walk as a good way of getting my kids outdoors and active for a change. As for my rings or lack of them? Well, according to my lawyer I should be officially single again in about six weeks' time, if everything runs to schedule. I've not even thought about dating anyone yet or even whether I want to, once bitten, they say." 

Gill smiled ruefully at the thought. One door closing, an important chapter coming to an end, with only two highlights, her children. It was a shame that their father had let her and them down so badly through his own selfishness.

"Sorry to hear about your marriage dear. I had three husbands myself, but I outlived them all. Jake is the only man in my life right now, but I think he is the best of them all, better even than his father and grandfather and they were great men," Gertie whispered. "So your children, Jennifer and ...?"

"Clay, short for Clayton."

"Yes, Clayton," continued Gertie, "They live with you or your soon-to-be-ex-husband?"

"Most of the time they're with me, they spend every other weekend with their father."

Gertie cackled at that, saying, "In that case you'd be free to go camping with Jake next weekend, he's tackling a handful of Derbyshire hills over the two days, nothing too strenuous, I assure you. I am sure he'd enjoy your company. I like your sturdy walking shoes, by the way, good ankle support. You have obviously hiked before."

"I used to hike a lot as a teenager and before I married Wayne. I'd forgotten just how much enjoyment I got out of it. As for Derbyshire, my grandmother used to live in Matlock so we often walked in the Dales when I was a child, without tackling anything major. The views were fantastic, the rock formations and the streams, I just loved those long summer holidays."

"Well, you will have to tell that to Jake, I'm sure he would welcome your enthusiasm."

"Oh, I couldn't do that, I am really out of condition, an hour or two each week in the gym wouldn't help much walking up and down the Dales all day carrying camping equipment. Besides it's been twenty years since I last camped out. I wouldn't want to hold him up. I don't even have any camping equipment anymore."

"Don't you worry about gear, dear, I have quite a number of single tents at home, even if he doesn't. As for holding Jake back, well, the hills will be there for him to conquer any other day, while the company of a pretty woman would beat hiking on his own hands down," Gertie chuckled. "Anyway, you give it some thought, my dear, I must check out the gate ahead to make sure we all go the right way on the other side!"

'Amazing!' Gill thought, as Gertie kicked down a gear and sped off up the incline, leaving Gill almost standing, and Gertie must be 80 if she was a day! "Regular exercise and fresh air must be good for you, there's no argument about that!'

Gill was beginning to feel warm, walking up that hill, with the early spring sunshine beating down. With her dark-brown hair tied in a sensible pony tail, she could feel the spring sun's warmth on her bare neck and even through her clothing on her shoulders. She took off her thick sweatshirt, it had been cool first thing in the morning and she had been glad of it then. She tied it around her waist. She was pleased she had opted for shorts rather than slacks, it felt good to let the air and sun get to her pale legs. Now with just a thin white short-sleeved vee-neck teeshirt and sports bra, khaki mid-thigh shorts, brown hiking boots and ankle socks, she thought she looked quite cool among these much younger mums and their toddlers. 

Gill looked around to check up on her children. Jenny was behind her, laughing and smiling with a bleached blonde girl not much older than Jenny. She was pushing a double buggy with a couple of very young children in it. 

Tsk! Gill thought, Jenny must be sweltering in her clothes, thick black sweatshirt and heavy jeans. Jenny was going through one of those self-conscious phases where she wanted to cover herself up all the time. Gill thought that her father leaving home must have affected her confidence, too. It had certainly affected Gill's confidence adversely; losing a husband over a younger woman can do that to you. 

She looked around for Clay but couldn't see him at first. She knew he had gone to the front of the group, so she started moving past some of the slower walkers, so she could get a better look. Gill saw Jake ahead, helping a mum get a pushchair over a kissing gate at the top of the hill they were walking up. Strangely, considering the lovely weather and his tanned face and hands, he seemed to be completely covered up just like her daughter, with long-sleeved polo-neck sweatshirt and slacks covering his long, slim legs and pert bum. 

'Damn,' she thought, thinking about John or Jake's bum. 'I'm acting like a frustrated old maid who had gone without sex for far too long. And that's the truth, unfortunately!' 

When she reached him, Jake was lifting another pushchair over the gate.

"Looks like you've got a job of work there, Jake," Gill said, noting that as everyone else called him Jake she supposed she should. "There's a double buggy coming up in a couple of minutes."

"I know," Jake grinned back at her in response, "it's Gemma's twins. If you can just hold on here for a couple of minutes you could help hold one of the twins with Gemma while I deal with passing over the buggy."

"Sure," agreed Gill with a smile, "by the way, have you seen Clay recently?"

"Yes, I can see him from up here, he's talking with Clive and Ally, they are using an iPhone app to identify trees and shrubs. He's pretty handy on the internet."

"Perhaps I better persuade his father to get him one for Christmas," laughed Gill.

"Is that so you can get him some school shoes?" teased Jake, looking at her out of the corner of his eye as he lifted over a lunch box and a change bag as a mother carried her toddler through the gate.

"Oh, dear," replied Gill remembering telling Jake that her last gift to her son was clothing, while her ex- had bought him a PC game. "You know me so well!" 

She laughed, while also thinking, 'am I so predictable? Is that why my marriage broke up and my kids are so reluctant to respond to me?' Her smile faded with these thoughts. 'Because their father was all flash here-and-now casual with no substance, I have had to be the practical one, which naturally ends up me covering all the boring things in life. This left their dad even freer to do all the frivolous things that the kids have fun with. It's so not fair!'

'Damn!' she thought, 'I want to be the Fun Mum, not the sensible boring Frump Mother that I seem to have become. Perhaps I should start dictating what role I play without waiting for everyone else to organise me, live for today and do what I want and bugger tomorrow! Well not all the time, I can't help being a bit anal, but perhaps I should loosen up a little,' she thought.

Soon the last of the straggler pushchairs had cleared the obstacle, leaving Gill and Jake at the end of the strung out caravan of family ramblers. The gate was at the top of a hill and they could see the rest of the troupe strung out along the path down into the wooded valley below. Jake waved Gill through the kissing gate and, as Jake pulled the swing gate towards him, Gill on impulse stepped up onto the bottom rail, leaned on the gate, pinning him in the corner, put an arm around his neck, pulled their heads together and kissed him quite firmly on the lips. 

One-two-three. She counted the seconds. It was a nice kiss, thought Gill, as she counted the number of seconds into the kiss, intending to give it eight, maybe ten seconds tops. Four-five-six. Now, Jake responded by touching tongue to tongue. Jake's lips were warm and soft, she noted, seven-eight-nine. Gill's other hand moved up from the top bar of the gate to cup Jake's cheek, his skin smooth as though he had shaved carefully and closely early that morning, unlike her ex-husband, who usually sported a rough two- or three-day growth at the weekend in an attempt to appear rugged and tough, not! 

Ten-eleven-twelve, Jake's hand gently supported Gill behind the small of her back, pulling her into him. Thirteen-fourteen-fifteen, he pulled her head deeper into his returning kiss with his other firm but gentle hand, his thumb wrapped around her pony tail caressing her head. Sixteen-seventeen-eighteen, Gill pulled her lips away reluctantly, but not before kissing Jake's upper lip, nineteen, and sucking his lower lip into her mouth before slowly releasing it, twenty. 

Twenty-one, twenty-two, Gill opened her eyes and looked at Jake, inches away from her face, their hands and arms still holding onto one another. Suddenly both reddened with embarrassment and Gill broke the silence with a smile and the hint of a laugh.

"Sorry," Gill began, "I wanted to thank you for inviting us along today. You were right, it was absolutely what we all needed. I was going to wait to thank you at the end of the walk but, you know, opportunity and all that ... and I was only going to give you a little thank you kiss but, well, it was just too nice to break off."

"Well, I must say that it was very nice," agreed the smiling Jake, "I will have to invite you out to places more often, if this is the level of thanks I get."

Neither of them had moved since the end of the kiss. Down the path, Gertie looked back to check on her flock and saw the couple at the kissing gates, and smiled happily before cheerfully chivvying on a couple of dawdling youngsters.

"I had intended giving you an eight-second kiss," Gill admitted bashfully, "but I haven't been kissed for such a long time, I suppose I lost count."

"I wasn't keeping count, but then I'm not the banker here," teased Jake. "I'd have to count on my fingers to keep track."

"I suppose I do count a lot," Gill agreed with a grin, "That's why when we are round the table negotiating, I kick off both my shoes!" 

They both laughed. Jake swung the gate with Gill still perched on the bottom rail and handed her down onto the path. Looking down the hill they saw that the rest of the group had moved on and left a sizeable gap. They continued holding hands as they moved towards catching them up.

While they were walking, Gill felt a nice warm glow and not just to her cheeks, the first time she had felt this kind of buzz for a long time. She didn't think for a second any more that Jake was gay but now that she was on a roll, she didn't want to be in that predictable groove any more. 'Well, here goes,' she thought.




Jake and Gill



"On the 'inviting me to other places' theme, Jake, are you doing anything next weekend?" she asked, looking out of the corner of her eyes at the man keeping pace with her, shortening the stride of his long legs to match her shorter ones. She could see him smile at her question, he really was quite cute when he smiled, she thought. 

"You've been talking to my grandmother, I assume?" he replied, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Possibly," she answered, smiling, knowing that Jake probably knew the truth anyway.

"OK, then, in for a penny, in for a pound. How would you like to go hiking and camping with me next weekend, Gill?" his tongue firmly in his cheek as he squeezed her hand slightly. "A bit of hill climbing, but nothing you couldn't cope with."

"I would love to, Jake," she said, squeezing his warm hand back, "I thought you'd never ask!"

Gill laughed, she couldn't keep the gushing joy out of her voice. She hadn't been as giddy about any man as this since she was at college. 

'Gosh, what's got into me?' she thought. 'Him, hopefully,' she added to her thoughts naughtily. 'Just one more thing I need to get out of the way. I don't want to rule out friendship, but I really want something a little more than a friend eventually and I need to get just one niggling little doubt out of my mind,' she continued her reasoning. 'I've only got a few seconds before we'll be up with the stragglers, so it has to be now or never.'

"I've never heard of you going out with anyone at work before, er ... do you er ... already have a significant other?" 

'Well, that has left the field pretty well open,' she thought and, looking at Jake he was still smiling easily, relaxed and happy looking. 'Jake, Jake Nicholls,' she thought, 'how quickly I have become accustomed to thinking of him by that name instead of John'; it was as if she was learning to know a different person entirely. OK, she already knew he was a nice guy, he always had been, all the time she had known him but he was also very bright and sociable; shy, perhaps, but familiar and comfortable around people he knew well. She wanted to know him better and wanted him to know her well too, isn't that what relationships were all about? No secrets, if he had feelings about someone else, or for a different sexual orientation, she would want to know about it, even if it was only as a friend. Gill certainly didn't want another man like Wayne in her life; one lying, cheating son-of-a-bitch was more than enough for one lifetime.

"There's no significant other," Jake responded with his gentle slow smile, "Or even insignificant other either, for that matter. Anyway, how long have you been talking to my grandmother?" he grinned.

"Long enough," she smiled.

They were just a few feet now from the last dawdlers, Emma and the twins, with Jenny pushing the double buggy and Emma taking the opportunity to have a crafty cigarette while they were walking along. 

'This is my last chance to get in the 64 thousand dollar question,' Gill thought, 'it's now or never. Deep breath.'

"Talk among some of the younger girls at work, one or two seem to have been shot down in flames by you after approaching you for a date, and there was a suggestion that you ... er ... didn't like girls. Well, these girls thinking that they were irresistible to men, they wondered if you were, well, ... gay?" 

'Damn,' she thought, 'I'm sure if I thought about it longer I could have been a bit more subtle. Will he shoot me down in flames like those silly girls, thinking I'm a heartless bitch without feelings? Shit! I should have waited, I could have still have had a great time with him next weekend even if he does bat for the other side. Just a few strides more and we'll be out of time, and perhaps out of any possible future relationship for us.'

Jake stopped and spun her around by her hand so they were facing one another again. This time Jake kissed Gill, pulling her head gently, inexorably towards him and their lips met, mashed together with a passion which quite took her breath away. 

Damn it! That kiss was so much better than nice, it was fantastic! No, even better than that, words just didn't cover it, judging by how fast her heart was racing. She didn't even think about counting, she let go of his hand and reached both arms around his neck and melted into his firm, lean hot body. She was sure his kiss had already lasted longer than her first effort, twenty-something seconds wasn't it? She was up on her tip-toes even though Jake was leaning down into her with bended knees. She was sure her toes were curling and her knees desperately close to giving out entirely. If he was gay, well, okay, she could live with that so long as he kissed her like this and she didn't have to share him with anyone.

"Thirty!" he said as he broke off his kiss with a broad grin on his very warm lips. Gill laughed at his exclamation and Jake joined her with a cheerful chuckle of his own.

"I wasn't actually counting," said the formerly anal banker.

"Neither was I, Gill. I just thought adding a high number would be funny."

"It was funny. A very nice way of answering an awkward question, though."

Jake bent and quickly kissed her again to a count of one-and-a-half, not that he was counting at all.

"Perhaps they are partly right, maybe I really don't like girls," a teasing smile played on those same lips, "What would they say if they knew I would actually prefer a woman to a girl ... and that preference would apply to one woman in particular?"

"They would probably gossip about who that woman was. You know what they are all like at the bank, more often than not the rumour mill gets more attention than the FTSE 100."

"We can always say nothing at all to anyone at the bank about our trip to Derbyshire next weekend and keep everyone guessing for longer," he mused, "I wonder how long we could keep it quiet?"

A wicked thought crossed her mind. Well, she wanted to get out of the predictable groove and so far being adventurous had brought its rewards, two snogs and a gentle kiss in the space of five minutes for the first time in about twenty weeks; and those kisses were among the most enjoyable kisses she had had for more than twelve months, and possibly ever. 

"We might find it difficult keeping anything quiet after we have our first baby shower ..." she almost stammered as the thought came out in words.

"Does that mean I need to get some precautions in as soon as possible, then, Gill?" he enquired, still smiling but with an eyebrow raised.

She gave him her version of the one-and-a-half second kiss by way of answer and they started walking again, realising they had fallen some way behind the rest of the group during their exchange, and were back holding hands again.

"I knew you were bright, Jake. You're wasted in that print room; you could work for me in my department, you know."

Jake smiled cherubically, reminiscent of that slim Buddha that Gill recognised from back in the print room. "If I worked for you, how would holding hands like this be interpreted, by your workmates or," he hesitated and smiled even more broadly, "your children?" 

They were fast closing in on Jenny, who was fortunately occupied in conversation with Emma, who had finished her cigarette and was presently chewing gum enthusiastically between sentences.

"Point taken." She looked at Jake's smiling face, they both squeezed hands and slowly released their grip, their fingers lingering to their very fingertips until they were walking separately, immediately behind Jenny. 



Chapter 3

Gill spent the week at home wearing a haversack full of cans of soup and beans weighing about 24lbs, to get her body used to carrying weights again. She had never been up and down the stairs as often during that week since she'd bought the narrow three storey town house three months ago. She took it easy on the Friday, though, to conserve her energy. 

Thus Gill was very relaxed, her face smothered in smiles, when Wayne came over to collect Jenny and Clay on Friday evening. It was the only time she had managed to face her ex- in that cheerful state since the full extent of his infidelity had first come to light. Yes, she felt good. She felt even better when Wayne seemed rather subdued instead of breezing in larger than life as he usually did. Added to that, Jenny and Clay were full of news about Gill's Derbyshire camping with a person they both described as this 'really cool dude', which appeared to piss off Wayne tremendously. This was a really good day for Gill.

Next morning, at just before the crack of dawn, Jake was full of matching smiles as he called to collect her, exactly as he said he would, and quickly stowed Gill's haversack and other gear in the boot of his car alongside his luggage. There was rain in the air in the South of England and the forecast for the Dales was mixed rain, wintery showers and sunshine, but they had all the equipment they needed for a perfect weekend, whatever the weather had in store for them.

They chatted on the journey north in much the same fashion as they had on the phone every evening, usually for about eighty or ninety minutes each time. They seemed to speak about everything and nothing, but each completion of their conversations always left her with a warm glow to go to bed with.

Gill had only risked visiting Jake in the print room once during the week. She popped in an hour early on Tuesday morning and even at that early hour they had soon been disturbed by several early droppers-by. They were all asking advice on a wide range of topics from sport and investments. She was surprised that even the head of foreign market trends had prattled on to Jake about eastern European currency exchange rates, before realising that Gill was also in the room.

"You were right about the extra-marital affair between Sampson and Sheila that I didn't have a clue about," Gill said when they were sitting in the car, the sky still dark around them as they motored northwards. "I called them into the office individually and told them to keep it out of the office, or else. Sampson has been coasting a bit work-wise recently, and he promises that he's going to pull his finger out. As for Sheila, she was mortified that she had been found out and swears she wants to put it behind her and concentrate on fixing her marriage. Apparently, she thinks her husband is having an affair and wanted to get back at him. She and Sampson was only a fling and she wanted to bring it to a close anyway."

"Thinking that two wrongs made a right, was she?"

"Something like that, I think. She's had it out with her husband since and tells me they are going to start counselling in a couple of weeks' time. Are you going to tell me how you knew and no-one else noticed, Mr Nicholls?"

"Trade secret, Ms Moorhouse, Chinese Walls and all that," replied Jake, "Any luck with RadAlloy Industries and Autobit Engineering?"

"Yes, much more interesting, that is," Gill looked at the driver to try to see his response but it was hard to see his reaction clearly in the feint green glow from the instrument panel and the lightening sky behind him in the east.

"I had Tom Stevenson contact RadAlloy, who admitted they were looking for more metal bending capacity in the UK preferably or Western Europe at a pinch. They were delighted to hear we had a potential source in the Midlands. Then Tom called Autobit, who have a lot of experience working with us in the past. Tom fired some loaded questions at his contact there and got him to admit they were preparing to close their Birmingham factory, due to lack of work, within twelve months. They were delighted to allow us to broker a deal for them which is going through now. It could mean a lot more business in the future with RadAlloy."

"Great news, Gill."

"OK, spill the beans. Where did that little tip come from?" Gill asked, laughing, seeing Jake's impassive face, only his lips parting to crack a slight smile, "and I won't take 'trade secrets' as an answer!"

"Tom's quarterly report in January last year stated that Autobit were increasing the number of pressed steel and die-stamped units from the Far East and, with the downturn in trade since, I thought it likely they would have to cut production in the UK rather than cut back on the contracts that they have only just negotiated, bearing in mind the penalty clauses. Then in the press on the Monday before last, RadAlloy announced a huge contract to supply parts for the aero industry and put out a few subtle feelers for any spare capacity, which Tom mentioned in passing in his weekly report I printed a week ago."

"Does that mean you read and remember all the reports you print?"

"Of course, don't you?" he grinned.

"I do, but putting those things together, takes a special talent. You really should be on the bank's management scheme."

"You forget, Gill, I don't actually work for the bank."

"I know, you're a contractor."

"Also, I am perfectly happy where I am," Jake said with his usual smile.

"What about if we start you on a 35k package, rising to 38k once you've covered the basic three-month training?" she offered, "you'd be on 45k within a twelve-month."

"No thanks, couldn't afford the drop in salary, I'd have to make some serious budgetary decisions!"

"You are joking! Aren't you?" she spluttered.

"I don't joke about money," Jake grinned, "Actually, I am not really sure how much I earn at the bank. I know it more than covers my outgoings and that is all that matters."

"If you change your mind, Jake, the offer's on the table," Gill smiled "But I don't want to get into an argument about it and spoil the weekend. So, where exactly are we going?"

"Thought we'd camp in the Peak District and try the foothills of Kinder Scout and see how far we get. The visibility is likely to be poor today with all this low cloud, so it's not worth climbing to the top, but the forecast tomorrow is better and we can try to get to the top of one of the smaller peaks then."

"Sounds like I'll be holding you back."

"Nonsense," he said, "We are going to have fun, it doesn't have to be a slog, we can relax, get comfortably tired and leave all our cares behind us."

"Thank you," Gill said, reaching out with her right hand and finding his left. "I have been looking forward to this all week," she continued, enjoying the comfortable gentle grip of his warm dry hand.

"Me too. Jen and Clay looked like they enjoyed last Sunday, do they want to come out again, perhaps camp out as well at some stage?"

"They did enjoy it, I think, and Clay is definitely up to come out again and soon. Jenny was, well Jenny is going through a phase where she doesn't want to do anything, and was non-committal about camping out. I think she would very much like to stroll out with the toddlers again next month, though."

"We could do that, certainly, in the meantime we could always try the New Forest for a weekend, would she be interested in pony trekking, I wonder?"

"She used to have horse riding lessons when she was younger, but gave it up when she became a terrible teenager about three years early. Clay never showed any interest before, but yes, I think they would both enjoy it."

"What about you?" Jake asked, "Is it something you'd like to try?"

'Gosh!' she thought, a man in her life considering what she wanted to do. This was practically a first. All those years with Wayne, all the time doing what he wanted. She was the one who had to give up enjoyable active weekends like the last one and this one that she had looked forward to all week. Just thinking of all those wasted years made her both sad and angry.

"I have been horse riding before," Gill said, reminiscing, "I enjoyed it when I was a girl. It was only schoolwork that got in the way, after a while, so I stopped. That's one reason why I introduced Jenny and then Clay to it when they were younger, knowing they'd get so much out of it. Clay refused to do it when he was old enough to have a say, thought it was 'cissy', he said. He would change his mind if you were also riding though. So, yes, pony trekking would be quite high on my check list of things to do with the kids."

"I'll look into it on Monday."

"I am surprised you haven't already got the information at your fingertips," Gill teased.

"It is all on my laptop, actually, available dates, costs, contacts, but I didn't bring it with me," Jake grinned.

"We'll sort it out on Monday, then." 

Gill smiled and settled back even more comfortably in her seat, closing her eyes, still holding Jake's hand as they bombed up the quiet motorway. Mmmm, barely into the weekend and they were settling on where to go for their third date, she thought. Could this weekend get any better?

***

Gill had to admit defeat soon, she was pretty well pooped. For the last twenty minutes she had simply placed one foot in front of the other like an automaton. She was thirsty but her water bottle was emptied a long time ago and she was sucking a small pebble to keep her saliva going, which made her mouth taste somewhat metallic. Their breakfast, taken three-quarters of the way through their car journey, seemed hours ago. No, it actually was hours ago. 

Jake had taken her haversack from her without receiving too much protest. He added it to his load of two tents plus most of the other necessary gear for an overnight camp in what to her looked pretty wild terrain. He was just ahead of her in a relentless march that seemed incongruous to her. How could someone so skinny have the muscles, lung capacity and stamina to carry all that gear and keep going without seeming to break into a sweat?

Although he was ahead of her for this little stretch of path, a narrow steep incline between weather- and water-smoothed rocks, most of the time they had walked companionably side by side. He had been extremely solicitous of the effects of the strenuous climb thus far and had a ready hand when she stumbled. He had noticed when she began to struggle under the weight of her pack and had insisted on taking it from her, saying they were within half an hour of their first stop and lunch. Five minutes ago they were only five minutes away but she had visibly slowed and there was no way they could stop here, there was simply no room. Gill gritted her teeth and gathered the rest of her strength. She could have been home hoovering and ironing but she had done all that Thursday and Friday evening. She would still much rather be here than not, really, honestly, she insisted to herself. 

Lungs bursting, they emerged from the narrow passageway between the rocks to a broad expanse of grass, heather and patches of gorse. The sun had been out for twenty minutes since the most recent of several heavy wintery showers and they seemed to have climbed out of the clouds as they appeared to be above the thick layer, while overhead rather more fluffy, less threatening puffballs of cottonwood scudded across the azure sky.

"Oh, Jake," Gill always called him Jake now, even at work, "this is lovely, no, it's absolutely glorious!"

"Worth the climb?" Jake grinned at her. 

"Oh, yes, worth every second."

"I'm sorry, Gill, it's my fault I put you through that. I had forgotten quite how challenging a climb this hill was."

"Well, we got here."

"We did."

OK, she thought, he has at last broken into a sweat, it was that warm, but he still had his long-sleeved sweatshirt covering his no-doubt glistening torso. 

'Listen to me, woman,' Gill scolded herself. 'Get a grip, Jake is just a friend. One friend kind enough to ask another friend to accompany him for a weekend adventure with no strings attached. No, he wasn't a proper boyfriend ... yet.' They did hold hands earlier but they hadn't kissed today other than a little cheek peck just before dawn when he collected her. 




Jake and Gill



They had not kissed for nearly a week as it happened, the thought went through her head, almost a whole week. And before that nearly three months of tortuous gym work to get into shape and no-one but Jake had so much as touched her. She'd been hit on a couple of times down the gym, but they were not worth consideration as she had worn her old wedding ring for protection and that still hadn't put the wolves off. No, she was definitely not going down the path of meaningless affairs.

Gill had been so hot climbing in the sunshine that she had taken off her sweatshirt and bottoms down to just a halter neck top and fairly short shorts, having tied her sweats around her middle. Now she was puffing like a steam train and probably looked red as a beetroot, while Jake was hardly breathing hard and still had his heavy thornless trousers and thick sweater on. 

'I must look a mess,' thought Gill, depressingly.

"Sorry about rushing you through that last climb," Jake said with a smile, resting a gentle hand on her bare shoulder, "We couldn't stop anywhere there, but a lot of people take the opportunity to stop here for a while until rested. I'll get the stove lit and we'll have a cup of tea ready in less than five minutes."

"Tea would be nice," Gill admitted, "So then it's downhill for a bit?"

"Yes, downhill for a while, then a more gradual climb to that hill over there." He pointed away to a peak shrouded in clouds. Jake unpacked a small gas heater and lit it, placing a pot on top which he filled with water from a large bottle. "Then we have a fairly short descent to a campsite, with toilets and showers. We should arrive with plenty of light left to pitch our tents and prepare our evening meal."

Gill nodded her approval and sat down on a convenient rock. It was warm in the sun and she was able to relax and get her breath back. Once she was breathing normally, she put on her sweatshirt again as the wind had picked up and still had some wicked winter cold in it. She looked over at Jake while he calmly busied himself brewing the tea. She noticed he had a two-litre bottle of water, part of which he had poured into his billy-can.

"That reminds me, I drank all my water on the way up, I should have brought more with me. This bottle is one that the kids used to take on school trips, it only holds about half a pint."

"I've plenty of water here, I'll top your bottle up after we've had our brew."

"Thanks. Have you been up here before, Jake?" she asked.

He looked up from the gas stove and smiled at her. "Yes, lots of times, the first time when I was only four."

"Wow! You climbed this hill when you were only four?"

"Yes. My father was ex-military, and a keen route marcher, more so than my mother," he laughed, "She preferred walking on the level. But when she did come up here, she told me at the time, she loved the view."

"So she came up here with you on your first time?"

"She did," he replied, "It was middle of the summer and much hotter than today. We stopped here to rest for a while, so she and I could catch our breath. It has always been a special place for me. I suppose that's why...." He left the rest unsaid.

"Have you come here often since?" Gill started, "Oh dear, that sounds like a bit of a line, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," he laughed, looking at her, his temporary reflective mood evaporating, "But, yes, I do come here regularly, a couple of times a year, sometimes three. It ... it's the last place I remember my parents laughing, full of the joys of spring."

"Oh, Jake, what happened?" Gill asked, concern at saying the wrong thing in her voice.

"They died shortly after," he stated grimly, "An accident, not coming home from here but about a week later."

"And you were only four?" Gill got up from her rock and stepped towards the crouching Jake, huddled over his tea-making utensils. This time she put her hands on his shoulders.

"You grow up pretty quickly when that happens," he smiled up at her wanly.

"Stand up, Jake," Gill insisted, in the voice she used to call bank meetings to order, "time for a cuddle and I won't take no for an answer."

"Yes, Ma'am!" he grinned and rose. As he turned she slipped her arms around his waist, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. She buried her face in his chest and he lightly kissed the hair on the top of her head. Gill lifted her face to his and their lips locked. Nobody was counting this kiss, Gill felt lightheaded, relaxed, all her aches and pains from the climb melting away from her muscles.

When the kiss broke and Gill opened her eyes, she felt like she could float on one of those fluffy clouds. 

"Jake," she breathed, "As much as I've enjoyed the early start, the fresh air, the exercise and the view, that kiss ... has made my day."

Jake smiled silently, nodding, caressing her back, before bending in to renew their kiss. Gill responded with her tongue, her hands tearing at his back, her whole body shivering. She could feel the effect she was having on him; he was rigid while she was melting. They broke off again, looking at each other eyeball to eyeball, slow smiles on each set of tingling lips.

"I think we better get moving," suggested Jake, croakily.

"Tea?"

"Yes, I had forgotten, or something made me forget ... everything. Now, one lump or two, Ma'am?"

"No lumps, do you have any milk?"

"Yes, I brought some up in a thermos flask for today. Tomorrow we'll have to fall back on UHT milk though, if that's all right?"

"That's fine, Jake."

They sat comfortably on a rock looking at the clouds, the ones on the horizon looking angry. The wind was picking up too. It was getting decidedly chilly after the warmth of the climb. Jake packed up his equipment and the mugs, and put on his haversack. Gill picked up hers.

"Are you all right with that?" he asked.

"Fine, it's pretty much downhill from here, isn't it?"

"Yes, one more gradual climb to go but it's not too bad on the way down from there. I'm not too happy about those clouds though, we might get a soaking before we get to the camp site."

The drizzle started not long after they resumed walking as they descended into the low cloud layer. They stopped briefly to unpack and put on their waterproof tops and Gill pulled on her sweatpants. Before long it was extremely dark overhead and the rain turned to hailstones, some of them large enough to be painful when struck.

"We'll stop here and get one of the tents up and sit it out," Jake yelled above the sound of wind and hail on rock.

Gill slipped off her haversack and shivered while Jake's practiced hands swiftly erected and pegged down one of the tents. He pushed her inside, following up with the haversacks and zipped up the entrance behind him.

"Get out of that wet top and take off your boots and trousers," Jake instructed, seeing how Gill was shivering, "I'll unroll a sleeping bag and you can get in."

Gill struggled with her jacket zips, her cold hands refusing to work properly. Jake helped her out and rolled up the jacket in a corner, then helped her get her sweatpants off. It was very dark in the tent and Gill didn't even think about how self-conscious she was having Jake help pull her trousers down. It was only when she had been zipped up in the bag and began to feel warmer that she realised that she was only wearing her skimpy top, bra, shorts and knickers. The hail was hammering down on the tent.

"Now you," Gill almost giggled as Jake stopped, mid-task refolding her jacket and trousers, "Strip off your wet things and get in here!" she commanded.

Jake hesitated for such a long time that Gill began to squirm with embarrassment, thinking of course he doesn't want to get in here with a fat old woman, does he? It was so dark, she couldn't see the expression on his face, so all her temporary bravado ebbed away. 

Jake seemed to have made his decision at last and quickly removed his wet jacket, down to his long-sleeved top, rolled the jacket up and placed it on top of hers. Then he lay back and wriggled out of his wet trousers, having first loosened the laces and kicked off his boots. Gill fumbled, found the zip and unzipped the sleeping bag to allow him entry. Jake slid inside and Gill put her arms around him. He felt so warm compared to her. Their lips soon found each other again, as if kissing was becoming second nature for them. A fierce wind shook the tent, followed by an intense fall of noisy hail, to interrupt their romancing.

They both laughed at the wind fiercely and fruitlessly shaking the tent, knowing they were safe within. The humour of the situation got to them and they relaxed, Jake rolling onto his back and pulled Gill onto him. She drew up one leg up over his thighs and rested her head on his chest. She could feel the ribs on his slender frame and idly wondered if his chest was hairy or not under that shirt. 

An unwanted image of Wayne's hairy chest and soft, plump middle-aged stomach popped into her head; she hadn't been able to feel Wayne's ribs for years. She wondered how Wayne could even have attracted a much younger woman to have an affair with him? Now he had a new family relationship with the girl and their new baby. Jake was so much more desirable than her ex-, yet he didn't seem to have anyone in his life, or anyone she was aware of. 

Not for a minute did Gill consider the likelihood of enjoying a long-lasting relationship with Jake. He was out of her league on a whole raft of objections. She ran her mind through the obvious ones. She was too old and too fat; even with her fitness regimen of the past few months, her rounded tummy refused every effort to flatten. She had too many time-consuming family obligations, with two teenagers at home. There were heavy financial commitments too, trying to buy a city house on a single income; Jake already admitted he had more money than he needed, to live the carefree lifestyle of a single man who was apparently not interested in dating. That was another thing, rumours were that he either never or hardly ever went on dates, so was this just a one-off? He had mentioned a future get together for pony-trekking, but that was a break that included the kids. Where did she stand with Jake, romantically?

She wondered if she should take a bold step, like when she kissed him at the footpath gates a week ago. That time the bold move brought dividends.

She moved her hand down towards his underpants and squeezed his right buttock. Jake almost jumped out of the sleeping bag, breaking off the kiss and grabbing her wrist. 'Oh, damn!' she thought, 'too much too soon, you've blown it now, girl!'

"Sorry, Jake," Gill apologised, "I was getting a little carried away."

"Not to worry," Jake said, keeping his voice tone neutral, unreadable, but releasing his limpet grip on her wrist, "It looks like it's brightened up out there. We'll pack up and get moving so we can get to the camp site before dark."

Gill observed Jake's methodical work as they emerged to clear blue skies and brilliant warm sunshine. They had to pull on their wet trousers straight away, Jake put his on while still in the tent. Jake spread out their coats in the sun to partially dry while dismantling the tent and packing it up in his haversack. By the time they set out again it was too warm for their coats, so they tied them to their haversacks and proceeded in their shirtsleeves. 

Gill held out a tentative hand. Would he still be upset with her? Jake smiled and took hold of her hand as they walked along.

They hadn't gone far when Jake suddenly released hands, dropped his haversack off his shoulders and started to run off to the side of the track and down a steep incline. Gill looked where he was heading and could see a man lying at the bottom of this deep gully, ahead of them and to their left. She slipped off and left her haversack too, but picked up her coat as she noticed that much of the gully was in shade as the sun dropped low in the sky this late in the afternoon.

When she had scrabbled her way down through the loose scree to the bottom of the gully, she saw that Jake had already reached the man, was talking to him and helping him to a drink from his flask. Gill gasped when she saw the man's leg, his open fracture of the right leg shockingly obvious.

Jake rose and stood between Gill and the injured man. "We can't get a phone connection down here, what about your mobile?"

Gill flipped her mobile open to see that there was no service on hers either. "I haven't had any signal since shortly after we started the walk," she added, "I have checked every now and again throughout the day."

"Take my phone Gill, and continue down the path until you get a signal and then call the mountain rescue. Tell them that we need an air ambulance. They are in the list of contacts on the phone under 'Mountain'. Then get back and let us know how long they will be."

"Not sure if I know my way or may get lost on the way back, and even less able to describe exactly where we are. Best if you go and I stay with him."

"Yes, but-"

"I've seen the wound, Jake," she said, pressing her hand on his, "What's his name? I'll talk to him until the air ambulance arrives."

"All right," Jake decided, "His name's Tim. He lost his bearings in the middle of the hailstorm and slipped on the ice on the edge of the path and fell down here. He says he can't feel a thing. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Gill approached Tim and spread her coat over the offending wound. She sat down next to him and held his hand, speaking to him all the time. She asked him about his family, surprised to hear he was a grandfather and a widower, who was more concerned wondering how he was going to get to work on Monday if he couldn't drive his car.

In no time at all, Gill could hear someone descending through the loose scree. It wasn't Jake returning, but a middle-aged man, more than a little overweight. He was puffed by the time he reached the two climbers sitting it out waiting for the emergency service.

"Hello," the new arrival puffed, "we saw your bags at the top of the gully, my wife is looking after them. Can't get any mobile reception, I'm afraid."

"That's OK," Gill smiled in reply, "we couldn't either. My er- boyfriend has gone down the hill to call help. He knows his way around these hills much better than I do."

"I'm Ken, by the way, my wife Dee is at the edge of the gully," he said, waving to his wife. Gill looked up, Ken's wife was waving back, so Gill couldn't help herself: she waved back automatically.

Gill heard the helicopter heading their way long before she saw it. Looking up, the clouds were lighter overhead than they had been. Up on the ridge Gill saw Dee take off her hi-vis anorak and wave it around over her head, the helicopter must have seen it and soon it hovered above them, picking out the best spot to land. The helicopter landed on the ridge and in no time at all the paramedics were on scene armed with stretcher and blankets to check on the injured man. It was only then that Jake appeared at the top of the ridge and waved at her. Gill picked up her soiled coat, which had been put to one side by the paramedics, and walked up to meet him as he came down.

"How are you?" he asked solicitously as they met with a hug, "holding up?"

"I'm fine," she said, chewing her lip, "I hope he's going to be all right."

Behind them, the helicopter took off, sending a cold wet downdraft. Jake squeezed her to him. Ken and Dee waved and took their leave, hurrying off the way that Jake and Gill had come in the gathering gloom. Jake took Gill's soiled waterproof jacket from her, taking off his own coat and putting it on Gill. Although Jake was slim, he had broad shoulders. The coat was too big for her but would at least keep her warm and dry.

"What about you, Jake?" she asked, concerned that his courteous gesture would cause excessive risk to his health, "You'll freeze in this rain. I don't mind a little blood."

"I'll be alright, Gill, we just need to get a move on if we are going to get to the camp site before it gets too dark."

He hoisted up both of the haversacks, folded Gill's coat over his arm and tucked her arm in his and they started to move down the long path towards their target camp site. Overhead, the clouds were turning black and it was already rapidly growing dark and the intermittent rain fell even heavier. Even the wind picked up, driving a cold easterly in their faces.

"How long will it take to get to the camp site, Jake?" 

"A couple of hours at most," he said, getting small LED torches for them both out of a side pocket in his rucksack.

Gill noticed he was shivering, his top already soaked through completely. They hadn't gone far when they were hit by another fierce hail storm, just as they were about to descend a narrow track, made slippery with ice crystals.

"We'll stop here," yelled Jake over the cacophony of falling hail, "I'll get one of the tents up."

Gill stopped by, watching as Jake unhurriedly and methodically unpacked and erected the tent. She held the rucksacks and the two torches for him while he worked. When the tent was up and partly pegged down, he took the torches off her and urged her to get inside and take the wet coat off, while he finished off the pegs.

Gill had unrolled her sleeping bag, removed her boots, stripped off to her underwear and was snuggled up inside it by the time Jake poked his head in moments later.

"I need the other rucksack, Gill, can you pass it to me?"

"What for?" Gill replied.

"I need to get the other tent up."

"No you are not! Get yourself in here, now, John Jacob Nicholls, strip off your wet clothes and get in here with me ... now!"

"Yes, Ma'am," Jake replied meekly, coming into the low tent on his knees.

He zipped up the flapping tent. It was a lot darker inside than out, and it had already got quite dark outside. With barely a hesitation, he stowed his mallet, kicked off his boots, and turned off the torches. He wriggled out of his clinging wet shirt. From a prone position he pulled off his trousers, down to the band of his underpants. They were wet too, the water having soaked through from his tee shirt. He hesitated for only a second before pulling them off, along with his socks.

Gill was well aware from the movements of his silhouette what his state of undress was, despite how dark it was in the tent. Without any hesitation on her part, she held open the flap of the sleeping bag, having wriggled over as far as she could to allow him room to get in. She mouthed a silent prayer as his cold body eased in next to her hot one. She put her arms around him and sensed a slight flinch before he relaxed into her warm embrace. Gill still had her bra and knickers on, and feeling a little overdressed.

Gill rubbed his back as he buried his cold face into the natural shelf between her shoulder and neck. Her first impression was that he was clearly cold and shivery, she could feel the goosebumps on his skin. She could also feel the growing tension and heat of his natural reaction on her thigh, which made her determined to press the opportunity up a notch. Gill started by kissing his cold cheek, he nuzzled her neck, they both started breathing more heavily, the hunger rising between them. Neither could find the words that would break this spell, neither wanted the spell to break. Their lips moved across skin towards one another's mouth, until lips met and they kissed deeply, passionately, their tongues urgently penetrating yielding lips. Gill gripped Jake's wet hair with both hands, pulling him as tightly to her lips as she could. Jake's erection was rampant now and Gill wanted it, needed it.

"I'm sorry, Gill," Jake panted as he broke off their kiss, "I never intended this to happen when I invited you -"

"I did," Gill interrupted, "I hoped and prayed this would happen. I need you Jake, I need you now!"




Jake and Gill



"Are you sure?-"

"Yes! Absolutely! I want you to suck my tits, now!" 

She released his head, reached behind her and slipped off her bra. She wasn't big in the bust. Her breasts had grown when she had the children and the half a stone she had put on over the course of her marriage but, since her disappointment over Christmas, her successful efforts to lose weight had paid off. Now, she was happy with her firmer, slimmer shape, other than her unsightly stretch marks and round tummy. In the dark, though, she felt beautiful, desirable and her excitement heightened.

Jake's mouth sought out and found Gill's stiffening left nipple and sucked gently, using his tongue to lick on its tip.

After a few minutes Gill urged him, "Harder, honey, please suck harder!" as she put her fingers into her vagina. Jake sucked harder, switching back and forth across her chest as she shuddered with her first orgasm. She pulled his head up to hers and kissed him long and slow as she cupped her hands around his head. She gradually came down from her high. They rubbed noses and kissed each other with light butterfly kisses.

"Jake you were ... lovely," she sighed.

"I, I didn't do anything, Gill."

She laughed, "You did plenty, Jake, honey. Believe me, what you did was wonderful."

"Can I, er can I ... lick your fingers?"

"What? Oh, yes, of course you can. You can suck these two, but they are a bit ... mucky, if you know what I mean." She wafted the index and middle fingers of her right hand in front of his face, his nose, resting them on his lips.

"I hope I know why," he said, running his tongue up them to the tip, then sucking them in, "Mmm."

She laughed and pulled Jake into her chest. They were both warm and cosy, though the tent flapped and cracked in the bitter wind as they dropped off to sleep, happily in each other's arms.







Chapter 4

When Gill woke up in the morning she was alone. She panicked for a moment, but then she could see a shadow on the tent and faintly hear Jake singing to himself. Clearly he was in a good mood and this energised Gill to rouse herself, her watch said it was only twenty-five minutes after six.

"Hi, honey," she said with a bright smile, as she unzipped the tent, seeing Jake cooking their breakfast on the Primus stove, "Have you made any coffee, yet?"

"Hello, sweetheart," Jake laughed, seeing her with her bed hair, "Yes, I've coffee ready, how do you take it?"

"Do you have any milk left?"

"UHT only."

"I'll take it black then, no sugar, Jake, but first, come here and give me a cuddle." She opened up her arms.

"With pleasure." Jake said, putting the bottle of water down next to the stove before approaching her, where he took her in his arms and shaped to kiss her.

"I haven't washed or cleaned my teeth yet, Jake."

"Don't worry, I have and I don't mind one little bit," he proceeded to give her a toe-curling kiss that almost made her faint.

Sunday was a much nicer Spring day, cold and breezy but bright and sunny. They managed to walk up one of the smaller hills before setting out for the car park and then the long drive home, both tired but happy.

***

They didn't fully make love that weekend but they both felt that they had crossed a line and that they were now within a couple relationship. Where that was going, only time would tell, but Gill felt a level of enthusiasm that she hoped would sustain them through any self-doubts.

During Sunday night, after her father dropped them off at Gill's house, Jenny heard that Jake was hopefully arranging pony trekking in the New Forest for them all that coming weekend. Gill told them that they had better get their homework and project work up to date by Thursday night. 

Jenny was upset when she found that her mother had gone away for the whole weekend with Jake, and even spent Saturday night in a tent with him. She didn't hear all the details, because Gill didn't expand once she realised she had said too much, but Jenny's mind filled in all that she imagined happened.

"What about you and Dad getting back together?" Jenny whined at her mother.

"We won't be getting back together, Jenny, your Dad left me and now we're not married anymore. The decree absolute which takes effect in a few weeks is all that is left of our marriage." 

"But they both argue all the time we're there, it's horrible; and the baby screams all night every night, Dad's really unhappy there and has asked us what you would think if he wanted to come home." 

"If you remember, we had to sell 'our home' when your father left us. This is 'my home' now, young lady, your father has no place here other than at pre-arranged times to collect or drop you off. He will not be staying back here now or at any time in the future."

"But -"

"No buts, Jenny. Your father was the one person in this marriage who had the extra-marital affair. He was the one who fell out of love with me and fell in love with his lover to the extent that they produced that baby, their baby. He never once had the grace to discuss any problems he thought he had about our marriage, or ask me if he wanted us to increase the size of our family, before going out and making a new one of his own. He will have to learn to live with his new life, and I am learning to live my new life how I want to." 

Clay appeared happy either way but he did add, "Dad buys me stuff, fine, but he just hands me the box and abandons me to get on with it, using their crappy home PC, which I think Cheryl used to use for college a couple of years ago. He doesn't want to play the games with me. Neither will he let me touch his much better office PC or his laptop, even though he can't use 'em both at the same time. I only met Jake again for five minutes before he'd given me his cool iPhone, properly showed me how to use a couple of great apps on it and trusted me with it all day. When we were kids and you left us in the copy shop at work, he used to be great. He always gave us loads of things to do and took an interest in us and what we were doing, set us puzzles or exercises and checked over what we produced. Dad doesn't even want us around, he dumps us with Cheryl and the baby most of the time."

"Yeah, Jake's a real cool guy," Jenny agreed, "but he's much too young for you, Mum. I mean, all the young mums on the ramble group only go along each month because he goes. He's seriously yummy. Let's face it Mum, getting back with Dad would be your best bet."

"Get used to it, kids, especially you Jenny, your Dad's completely out of the picture as far as I am concerned. The only point of contact I want with him is where it directly concerns you guys."

"So, are you in love with Jake, then Mum?" Clay grinned, winking at Jenny, who rolled her eyes skyward.

"No, of course not!" she snapped, then relaxed, "All right, maybe ... not yet really, but you can't help who you fall in love with, so who knows? Jake's a nice guy and as Jen says, he could have his pick of young girls. Anyway, be prepared to go away this weekend pony trekking. It may be short notice, but Jake has a way of making things happen."

Jake called her back late on Sunday night to confirm the booking and asked if she wanted to go out for dinner sometime in the week, "Not just you,Gill, all of you", he added. So he took Gill out for dinner dates a couple of evenings that week, once as a 'family group' in company with Jenny and Clay, to a small family-run and family-friendly restaurant that Jake used from time to time. 

On the second date, on Wednesday, when both kids were out doing other activities in the early evening, Gill drove over to Jake's place for a home-cooked meal. They imposed an early curfew on their dinner date at nine o'clock, so that Gill would be home in time to collect the kids from their activities. 

Jake cooked the meal at his small first-floor flat in a six-story block. The handsome building, built in the 1920s in Art Deco style, had a basement garage that Gill was given a clicker for while she was at work on Monday. The garage was half-filled with classic cars, including an old but immaculate Range Rover, parked next to Jake's comfortable old saloon that they had used at the weekend. Jake had told her to park in Bay 10, which was a gap between his saloon and a beautiful dark blue Jaguar, another old classic that shone like it was forever kept lovingly polished. 

Gill conceded that Jake was an accomplished cook, even though he shyly admitted that he rarely cooked for more than one, but enjoyed preparing honest fresh food.

On the pony trekking front, Jake had a little trouble booking somewhere at first, as all the stables in the New Forest were either booked up that weekend or were not yet open after the winter break. He was successful with Dartmoor, however, finding a new stable that had only just started advertising for business, taking bookings for the summer. They only had limited accommodation ready at such short notice but one room was made available for the girls to share, while Jake and Clay would have to use a tent on their campsite, but the owners were happy to welcome them as their first ever paying guests. 

They drove down on Friday night and came back on Sunday afternoon. Jake drove them an immaculate 27-year-old 4x4 Range Rover, that he told them had belonged to his father but confided to Gill that it had never been driven by him. Gill recalled seeing it parked next to his car. It had plenty of room inside and comfortable enough for the four of them, plus all their luggage and camping gear.

Gill and Jenny were put up in a small single-room cabin in a block of four that still smelt faintly of fresh paint. The other rooms were still unfinished, needing painting and the flat pack furniture being made up. There were separate facilities for washing and toilets and these were ready for use. 

Clay and Jake set up the tent, that Jake had brought with him, in the adjacent camping ground. Jake set all the bits out initially and got Clay to erect it under instruction and explanation of the sequence. Clay had the biggest grin on his face as he guided his Mum and sister around the completed tent. His smiling Mum was full of praise for his efforts and his sister grudgingly conceded it was "acceptable I s'pose".

The two sisters who owned the pony trekking set-up, prepared an evening meal for them on their arrival, and apologised for the paint smell. They had finished painting the day before and left the doors and windows open for as long as they could while they made up the flat pack furniture. 

Following breakfast, the sisters showed them around the facilities and the stables before setting out on their first gentle trek through the morning. They had a dozen ponies, but there were further outbuildings which were to be improved, for further stabling, more guest rooms to refurbish and decorate and a planned canteen area to develop in a disused barn that had glorious exposed ancient timbers.

Rawlyn Burroughs and Izote Perry were sisters, age 28 and 32 respectively. They were born on this farm and had worked with animals, horses and ponies all their lives. Izote was investing the proceeds from her recent divorce to update the family farm for organised pony trekking. They admitted to Jake and Gill that they had extended themselves with the local high street bank right up to their credit limit. The farm had been in their family for four generations, and had been too small to run as an arable farm for quite some years. Jake told the sisters that they worked for one of the City of London's oldest merchant banks and Gill offered to give her opinion of their plans.

Jake and Gill looked over their sensible five-year development plan, which depended on earnings as they had maxed out their loans but they were beginning to pick up bookings, enough they hoped to break even as they tried to do a lot of the building conversions themselves. Gill thought the plans were clear and reasonable, but with the lack of start-up investment, it would be a long slow build-up until the business was secure. The sisters nodded, they were prepared to work hard and were determined to secure the farm and the business for their children to continue.

Jenny was really taken with Rawlyn's two toddlers, and Isote's five-year son Robbie, so when they weren't out riding, she was happily playing with them. Rawlyn's husband was a Sea King helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton, only coming home for a few days every week or so; Izote was recently divorced. Their widowed mother Betty, had remarried and now lived in the village, but she popped in to help with catering and room cleaning, while the guests were out trekking.

Pony trekking was fun for them all on Dartmoor, in generally glorious early spring sunshine but Jake remained completely covered up, as did Jenny. Gill and Jake both sneaked out of the girls' accommodation on Saturday night as the kids collapsed asleep in the girls' room while watching TV together on the beds after their showers. They tucked the siblings into the twin beds and the adults slept in the tent. They made out in the dark of the tent, for the first time going as far as enjoying each other orally. Although Gill was ready, eager even, to go all the way, Jake wanted to wait until he was sure that they would not be interrupted, if Clay woke early and decided to make his way to the tent.

"OK, Jake. It's Wayne's turn to play the single parent this coming weekend," Gill said, holding her lover tightly to her as they recovered from their pleasurable but limited lovemaking, "so, are we on, this weekend? ... Your place or mine, I don't mind."

"My place it is then," he replied quietly in the dark, "I ... I would be more comfortable, more relaxed at home. What time do you want me to pick you up on Friday night?"

"Wayne'll collect the kids at seven on Friday night as usual, so I'll be more than ready by half past."

"Half past it is, then."

"It's a date," she agreed nervously, a little worried by his lack of enthusiasm, "I hope I'm not rushing you into this, as you seem, if not reluctant, at least nervous."

"And I don't want to push you into anything or dis -"

"Jake, I have been with the same man and only that one man for nearly twenty years and I thought it was for life. It had long felt like he was just going though the motions for the past couple of years, his responses tailed off and I assumed I didn't excite him as much as I did."

"I'm sure it wasn't you."

"Well, I know now that he evidently did get bored with me. I didn't know he was having an affair at the time, but maybe his lack of interest should have warned me. Now I am getting strong responses from you Jake and I have feelings too, feelings, urges, that I haven't had for a long time. I want to fulfil all those promises with you for both of us."

"Well, Gill, it looks like on Friday it'll be wine and flowers plus the best meal I can prepare for you." Jake smiled.

"Perfect ... Even better if you cook something like a casserole that can stay in the oven on a low light, for later in the night once we've ... built up an appetite, if you know what I mean."

"How about a spicy goulash?"

"Ooh I love spicy!"

When it was time to say goodbye on Sunday afternoon, the sisters were tearful at their departure and insisted their guests had to promise that, as the stables' first ever customers they were friends and must come back and visit any time. During the car journey home, Clay slept most of the way, but Jenny was still full of enthusiasm about her adventure and asked her Mum if she could go back to help Rawlyn and Izote out during the summer holidays. 

Gill happily agreed and squeezed Jake's hand, believing that the generation of all this activity and interest, with the kids getting involved and enthused in something pleasurable, was all down to him. And she felt enthused and happy too, admitting, to herself at least, that she was falling deeply in love with this wonderful man.

The pair continued to pussy foot with each at work though, trying their hardest to keep their relationship secret from their colleagues. Gill's secretary, Kelly, did notice Gill's upbeat cheerfulness and inner glow, and that she was making trips to the print room more often than she needed to. So, when they were in the privacy of her inner office, Kelly probed her for answers. Gill could contain her joy no longer and so Kelly found out that they were becoming an item but was sworn to secrecy, lest the exposure harmed the fledgling romance. Kelly did admit to Gill though, that she had always thought Jake was really quite cute.





Chapter 5

In mid-week Gertie arranged to meet with Gill for lunch, telling her it was to discuss her feelings for Jake and to fill in some of Jake's background. Gill was apprehensive about what way the conversation was going to go, but could see no choice but to agree to the meeting. She was intrigued about Jake's background, but was Gertie going to warn her off getting too close to her precious grandson?

They met at an old-established restaurant, filled with low light, dark mahogany and private booths. Gertie had insisted on sending a cab to collect her from the bank, the driver almost treated Gill like royalty.

The lunchtime meal that Gertie took charge of and chose for them both was light, delivered quickly and quietly and tasted delicious. They were left to talk after the dishes were cleared away and Gertie had poured them both a cup of tea in fine bone china cups.

"Jake was impressed with how you handled that injured hiker the other weekend, Gill. He said you were very calm and reassuring under pressure."

"Oh, it was nothing, I only held Tim's hand while Jake went to get help. We had no choice really, Jake knew the terrain and the exact location."

Gertie patted her hand, "Well, I was impressed, too. Tell me Gill, what do you think of my grandson and what are your plans for any future together?"

"Oh! Well, I sort of expected you'd ask me something along those lines but asking me so direct, you've still caught me at a little bit of a disadvantage. I'm not sure what to say as it is so early in our friendship."

"Well, getting directly to the point saves any misunderstandings. Now, I know you are highly thought of as an excellent manager and a brilliant negotiator at Standhope Winter. So I'd have thought you wouldn't have got caught out by us cutting to the quick." She patted Gill's hand and smiled. "Relax, my dear, I am not going to bite, I just want to understand where both of you are going. I'm not getting any younger, you know."

"I understand where you are coming from, but I have never had a boyfriend's family ask me what my intentions were before!" Gill laughed, although the situation was too strange to be funny. "I think my Dad did pin my ex-husband down pretty smartly when he first took me out," Gill smiled at the memory of her late father, "Wayne, my ex-, was, well is, nine years older than me and I met him when I did my internship at Winstone's Bank. I was still at college then, while he was a rising star in the organisation. I was flattered to catch his attention and my Dad was after assurances that I was not going to be ... taken advantage of, I suppose."

Gertie smiled back, "I realise it's a little unconventional for a grandmother to get involved, but Jake is very special to me and, well, he never tells me anything about his private life. That's why I tend to worry about him. And I worry about you too, my dear. I mean, how are you coping with a husband who cheated on you, with your family split between two homes, while taking on more responsibility at work?"

"I do keep my work and home life-"

"I know, Gill," Gertie soothed, "I asked around and you are a very attractive and successful business woman, who will eventually reach the top of your profession, I'm sure. You entertain and are entertained, while Jake is, well, you know Jake."