Bittersweet Summer

Chapter 17

She pulled into the drive and with a huge sense of relief she could see that Tommy's car was not around. Now all she had to do was make it look like she had been at home for ages! She rushed indoors, quickly poured a glass of wine and made sure that the stereo was on and turned up, opening the patio doors to let the last of the warmth in. She kicked off her shoes and sat in the garden. R and B was her favourite and she was enjoying the sounds of Usher when, after about 15 minutes she heard the Aston. Why was the bloody thing so loud?? She smiled and checked her phone. Nothing on dial chat from Charlie, but there were lots of messages from men that wanted to fuck her, however, sadly none from a man she would desperately like to hear from again. She smiled, he was just a mechanic, he probably didn't even know what dial chat was unless he was talking to a car that wouldn't start! She drained her glass and poured another, just as Tommy opened the door. She smiled sweetly "hello baby how was your day?" he grinned "let's just say it was very productive, pour me a drink" She was very pleased to see he was alone. At least she wouldn't have to suffer pretending to like Giles as well. "Have you eaten"? she asked "Yes, had a fabulous lunch" he said "do you want anything now?" she asked. "No no just the TV and a drink" she poured a rum with several cubes of ice and went into the living room where he was sitting just about to turn on the TV. He closed the door "I want to catch up on the cricket, '' he said as she smiled again. "OK. Are you OK if I still listen to some music?" "sure" he replied "just not too heavy on that R & B shit you listen to" she laughed "OK I will make sure it's not too loud and not too heavy for you" He thanked her "I know I don't have to listen too much to the cricket, but I like to hear some of the comments.'' Michelle left the bottle of rum on the small table. "don't spill it" she looked around the room at the immaculately pale furnishings. "I won't" he said and she left the room. She crossed the kitchen and went out into the garden, pouring another glass of wine as she went. She could never quite work out what mood Tommy would be in. Right now he was as normal as could be. Yet like a switch he could change. She had no idea if Charlie would ever contact her again, but she was praying he would.

He pulled into the small cottage drive and found himself smiling for no reason other than the day he had spent with a very attractive woman. His mind was totally confused. He fancied her very much, but he knew it was a mistake, she was involved, indeed married, to a club owner whose reputation, well, let's just say he didn't suffer fools gladly. He wasn't especially worried for himself, more that he was worried for her. Tommy had a reputation for dealing with things in an ugly way but he couldn't put his finger on quite why, he just knew he wanted to see her again. The small piece of paper with the scribbled writing giving him her dial chat contact details was still in his hand. He had no real idea what he was doing but as he opened the door to the cottage and looked around he smiled again to himself. It had been a good day. He slipped off his shoes and went to the kitchen. "I need a drink," he said out loud. As he did so a voice from the living room said "I will have a wine" At that moment he came crashing back to reality realising his ex-girlfriend was still there. If he thought that the situation with Tommy and Michelle was difficult, having his ex-girlfriend living with him since her house had been burned down was even more so! He sighed, grabbed the cider, poured a glass of pinot grigio and went to the living room. "How was your day?" Nikki said. "It was OK" he smiled "I didn't do much, I had a couple of things to catch up on" and he walked out into the garden. At the bottom of the garden was a large 4 car garage which he had built himself. It contained every mechanical and electrical device anyone could ever need. As he threw the door open, he turned on the TV. And muted the sound. He wanted to catch up with the cricket but he didn't really care for the commentary so decided that this evening was a rock and roll evening and shouted to the speaker "ALEXA play Elvis Presley" He took a large gulp from the can of cider, as the speakers began to play "Little Sister". Charlie sunk into the comfy armchair and allowed himself a smile. He turned to the right and saw his 3 favourite cars looking back at him. He was very aware that life had been kind to him, but he had worked bloody hard for what he had. He took out his phone and opened the apps store and searched for dial chat. Whatever the future held, he decided he wanted Michelle in it.