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Mary Campbell looked through a list of names she had written down in her journal one afternoon. She finally decided to call George Svenson.
She picks up the smartphone and scrolls through her contacts.
"Hello, George. How are are you doing?"
"Am good, it's been a while." He answered over the line.
"Yes, it has," Mary managed a weak smile before putting her request forward.
"The Art of Wishes gala is this Saturday and I was wondering if you could be my date?"
"I cannot be your date."
Was his simple straight forward reply.
"Why?"
Mary demanded as she balanced the journal that was sitting on her lap.
"Goodbye, Mary."
The line went dead.
Mary stirs at the screen of her smartphone with indignation.
"How dare he!"72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bwQyowIbz
She screams before scratching his name off the list with a pencil.
She went through the list again before deciding on Allen Balding. Allen worked as a magazine editor.
"Hello, it's Mary Campbell. How are you?"
"Mary Campbell?"
"Yes, it's me Mary."
"I don't think I know any Mary Campbell. Have we met before?"
"Yes, we have. Remember Stephen and Eva O'Neil's wedding? You were one of groomsmen and I was one of the bridesmaids."
"Oh, that Mary Campbell," Allen gave a laugh, "now I remember."
"I was wondering if you would be my date this Saturday. The event is the Art of Wishes gala."
"I am sorry that's not possible. I am traveling to West Africa to do a report about an upcoming elections."
"Oh, I see. That's fine. Call me when you get back."
"Sure. We can go out for drinks and remember the good old days."
Mary drew a line through his name and then she closed the journal.
*******
Mary Campbell arrived at the Churchill Arm pub in Kensington the following evening. The exterior of the building was adorned with flower displays all year round.
Mary found a table and sat down just as the waiter came around.
"What would you like to have?"
"A glass of Chardonnay, thank you."
And off the waiter went.
Hill Welles was already the at the pub enjoying his ale when he saw Mary. He decided to join her.
"Mary Campbell?"
Mary looked up and saw it was Hill Welles.
"Hello."
"Can I join you?"
Mary nodded.
Hill was an Irish American and they were neighbors. Mary lived in the ground floor flat with direct access to the vast garden behind the house. Hill lived in the flat above hers.
He asked her.
"Do you come here often?"
"Not very often," she said in answer.
"What drink would you have?" Hill asked as he stood up.
Mary smiled. "I have already given the waiter my order."
Hill sat back down.
"Is it strange that we have been neighbors for two years and yet we have never been out for drinks before?"
"Well there is a first time for everything," Mary said without avidity as the waiter brought her Chardonnay.
"Is something the matter?"
Hill was slightly concerned.
Mary signed. "The usual things. People. Life.... Stuff."
Hill teased. "That sounds heavy."
"It is. And thanks for asking and listening while I spill my guts."
Mary teased back.
"Life is simple really, we humans insist on making it complicated."
"I agree. What are you doing this Saturday?"
"Let me see," Hill began as he looked at his wrist watch with a serious expression before he playful announced; "Nothing."
"Would you like to go to the Art of Wishes gala as my date?"
"Well I don't normally attend galas."
"That's fine," Mary sipped her Chardonnay.
"I would love to be your date."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Hill smiled as he raised his glass, Mary also raised hers and they clicked it together.
The waiter brought the tab.
Mary reached for her wallet.
Hill stopped her.
"The drinks are on me."
*******
After attending the gala together, Hill invited Mary to his flat to play cribbage. Which Hill was first to reach the target score ending the game.
"What? That's not fair."
Mary protested.
"You have never won against me when we play so why are you surprised now."
"Well I am never playing with you again."
Hill stood up and made his way towards the kitchen.
What do we do now?"
"Watch Netflix."
Mary suggested without a second thought.
He came back with two canned cider and gave one to Mary.
"What are we watching?"
"Treason."
"Treason? It is the MI6 spy thriller right?"
Mary nodded.
They sat together on the sofa watching Treason and sipping cider.
"Can we kiss?" Hill asked out of the blue.
Mary turned and looked at him as his eyes flashed with emotion.
"No."
Was her answer.
Hill focused his attention back on the TV screen.
"Do you want us to kiss?" Mary asked after a while.
"Don't you want us to kiss?"
He asked her back.
"I asked you first."
"We are single consenting adults. So why not?"
Now Mary could feel an insatiable desire building within her.
"Well do you want to or not?"
"If you want to kiss me I am not going to stop you," Mary said without looking at Hill.
Hill moved closer and lowered his head to hers until she felt the explosive touch of his lips.
Her heart thumped in her chest as their lips fitted perfectly together like a missing jigsaw puzzle piece.
******
One morning Mary head a sharp knock on her patio Window, for a minute she presumed it was Hill coming around for coffee like most mornings.
Mary went to the patio window she found Dee, Hill's white furred cat instead of him.
Dee had been visiting Mary for months. He came through the old cat flap. He always came for his dinner and then came back for a sleepover.
The main reason Dee kept coming to visit Mary was because he felt terrified of the Dalmatian Hill had recently given a home. The moment Dee heard the Dalmatian he would hide under Mary's bed.
Mary was stroking as he Dee sat on the island in the kitchen when Hill called to find out if Mary needed anything from the store.
When he came to drop off the items he saw Dee.
"Why is Dee here?"
He asked Mary.
"He likes coming here."
"Then why are you encouraging him to keep coming?"
"He comes on his own volition."
"Do you feed him when he comes here?"
"Yes, I do sometimes."
Mary admitted with guilt.
"It's the reason he keeps coming," Hill retorted before adding. "You have stolen him from me."
"Please don't accuse me of theft."
Hill scooped Dee on his way out the flat on the way he turned and looked at Mary.
"I am moving away and I will be taking Dee with me."
Mary felt sad and didn't know why she felt that way. She couldn't decide between Hill and Dee who was going to miss more.
"When are you moving?"
"I will be gone a week. " He said looking Mary in the eye to find out if she was devastated by his absence.
Mary only smiled.
After Hill had left Mary went to the bedroom to lay down. In all truthfulness she did not discourage Dee from his visits.
A week later Mary arrived home from a lunch date and saw the moving vans. An hour later Hill was gone with his boisterous barking Dalmatian and an adorable but unhappy Dee.
Mary knew she was going to miss Dee because his little visits had become part of her life.
*******
A miracle happened.
A week after Hill had moved, Mary played tennis with friends before picking up her dry cleaning on the way home.
She was in the bedroom steaming her sheets when she head the old cat flap opening. It could only mean one thing.
Her Dee was back.
He was a bit thinner and filthy. Hill had moved five miles away and the only route back to her involved crossing a motorway.
Mary bathed Dee and fed him norishment.
The next morning Hill arrived to get Dee.
"Is he here?"
"Who?"
Mary asked innocently as she stood at her opened front door.
"Is Dee is here?"
"Well....."
"Is he here, Yes or No?"
"Dee is here," Mary finally admitted her sin.
"Please bring him to me."
"Hill, why don't you let him stay with me."
"No. Dee is Happy with me and Gus.
Gus was the horrible Dalmatian.
Mary held back her tears as she watched Hill get into his white Land Rover Defender with Dee and drove off.
In the following weeks the same charade played out. Dee would run away to Mary. And in the morning Hill would come and collect him back with Mary holding back her tears each time.
*******
Around this time Mary Campbell closed the door to the ground floor flat for the very last time and moved into her dream home. A cottage in a rural Wiltshire village.
Mary knew she would never see Dee again.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5QQyXF4jw
Her new home had a stone brick facade and steeply pitched roof. There was a pink English rose garden in the back while white viburnums grew abundantly, spilling over into the walkways in the front.
A fortnight later Mary returned to London one more time, to her former abode driving her trusted blue VW Beetle vintage to collect some post.
Dee was waiting for her looking utterly forlorn.
This was when Mary snapped. She could take it no longer. She collected her post, scooped up Dee and once inside the VW Beetle vintage, they made a bid for freedom.
One fine afternoon, Mary was relaxing on a reclining garden chair amidst the pink roses. She was reading the newspaper with a glass of margarita while Dee slept on her lap.
Her smartphone rang.
"Hello."
It was Jacqueline McCorquodale her former neighborhood gossip who lived next door.
"Hello, Mary dear. How are you doing?"
"I am fine thank you."
"You would not believe it but Mr Welles has been to the neighborhood several times looking Dee."
"Really?"
"And he has begged me to tell him your new address but I will not spill one word to him," Jacqueline said with a girlish giggle.
"Thank you for not telling him where I am living now," Mary said this with relief.
The next evening Mary made honey roast duck for supper and as she poured herself a glass of red wine, Dee weaved in between her legs.
She heard the sound of a Land Rover Defender pulling to a stop. Followed the sounds of opening and closing car door. Followed by the sounds of footsteps approaching the front door.
The bell rang.
Dee quickly ran and hid as if he knew who the visitor was.
Before opening the door Mary knew it was Hill Welles.
"Good evening."
He greeted as he took off his leather gloves.
"What's the reason for this visit?"
"Please drop the pretense. You know why I am here."
"How did you find my new address?"
"Jacqueline told me."
Mary should have known Jacqueline was never good at keeping secrets for long.
"I am not giving you the cat," Mary stood her ground.
"Don't you know theft of an animal from a loving home is just wrong?"
"I didn't steal Dee. He came to me. And that's the difference."
"Whatever. I came here for Dee and I am not leaving without him."
"No, you will not have him. He is mine now."
Mary challenged.
"Just move." Hill ordered.
"No."
Hill attempted to enter the cottage and his cheek was met a sound slap.
For a moment Hill was astonished by the slap and quickly locked eyes with Mary. The longer their eyes linked together his astonishment soon changed to something else.
Mary saw desire stamped onto the lines of his face which her heart beat faster in response.
Hill moved closer as Mary desperately tried to fight the urge to succumb to the waves of need beating through her veins.
"You shouldn't have come," she murmured.
"I think we both know I am right where am supposed to be."
Mary felt her emotions rising to fever pitch.
"Do you want me?"
Hill asked Mary.
"No."
"You are lying. Your eyes are saying something else."
Time stood still. Everything stood still. Except their hearts beating to their own rhythm. The silence thickened between them.
"Why do you torment me so?"
Hill breathed out.
"Hill...." Mary moaned.
"You are the only one who makes me feel this way."
Hill then wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.
Then their lips were joined together in an illicit thrill that was familiar to them.
THE END
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