One day at a time. (Part 2 of the story of Joanne and Paul. Now complete!)

Chapter 3:- 10th December 2000.

Joanne arrived home from work and immediately headed into the kitchen to prepare the evening meal she would share with Paul. She glanced at the clock. Already it was 5.15pm she noticed in alarm! She'd better get a move on or she would never be ready! Her excitement made her all finger and thumbs! She took a deep calming breath then took the vegetarian cookery book a friend had lent her from the drawer, and found the right page. She scanned the details of the meal her friend had recommended She had already tried it out in preparation for Paul's visit. She checked the page again. It was only then she realised it was a Linda McCartney cookery book! How ironic she thought with a smile, especially  when she read the footnote on the page, which claimed her chosen dish was a particular favourite of Paul's! Undaunted, she followed the instructions and soon it was in the oven. She prepared all the accompanying vegetables, set a table then headed upstairs to shower and change.

After much deliberation, she decided to follow her own dress code of comfy and informal. Dressed in jeans which hugged her slim figure, a fitted blouse with a pretty floral design and a pair of flat court shoes, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had washed her hair but decided to wear it loose, and with the minimum amount of make up, she was ready.  She glanced at the clock and noticed it was quarter to seven! He'd soon be here! She skipped downstairs and headed into the kitchen. Everything looked ready. After checking the food, she turned down the oven, then as she went to shut the kitchen curtains. She couldn't help but smile as she noticed it had started to snow.  She loved the snow but hoped that the change in weather  wouldn't affect Paul's journey too much.

".....you have reached your destination!"

Paul pulled over on the left as the Satnav told him. He looked around again.

 "Bloody thing." he shouted at the Satnav in frustration! It seemed to be leading him on a wild goose chase that evening. Looking at his watch. he could feel his stress levels rising. He had so desparately wanted to be on time to see Joanne! He hated being lte for anything! "There's no houses here! How can it be the right place?"  he asked himself.

He tried looking around again but now the heavy snow flurries had covered his side windows too much to see anything. With no other option,  he go out of the car and looked around. The wind was strong and biting cold. There wasn't any sign of life anywhere! It was pitch black and completely desserted. He began to despair ever finding the house.

Suddenly he heard a dog barking, then he saw light. It looked as though a door had been opened somewhere. Closing his car door, he quickly walked towards the light. Suddenly he spotted a house, mostly hidden by a stand of mature trees. At last, to his relief, he saw a sign of life. Someone, wearing a thick coat with a hood up, was opening a pair of wrought iron gates. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female. The dog he had heard was a border collie he noticed. It was chasing snow flakes and barking, making the person laugh.

Paul was startled when, unexpectedly, the dog started barking and ran towards him, growling. It was clearly unimpressed that someone was so close to his territory. The person opening the gates looked towards where the dog had gone, then whistled. The dog stopped barking and looked back towards the source of the whistle. There was another whistle as it obediently returned to it's owner.

"Excuse me!" he called, "Could you help me please? I'm trying to find Haigh House?"

"PAUL!" Joanne yelled in delight, running towards him. She threw her arms around him, kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. "I knew you'd struggle to find the house in the dark so I came out to open the gates!" She noticed he was shivering. "Where's your coat? You must be frozen!"

Paul hugged her back! "My coats in the car. I had to get out after it appeared that my Satnav had left me stranded in the middle of nowhere! The cars just up there too."