Share Your Toys, Timothy!

"Mmm, just business, uh?"

"Business pretty much covered our conversation as we played." He half-closed his eyes as he enjoyed the tasty fish.

"What kind of business?" she persisted, looking at Roger.

"Car business," Tim chipped in, making Jenny snap her head back in his direction.

Roger confirmed, nodding, "Car business, that's it, dear."

Jenny looked at her husband, then turned her attention back to Tim, "But you deal with Jags, Roger has always had Mercs and both our cars are supplied through the company anyway."

"Monroe's has a couple of Mercedes-Benz-trained mechanics on the books," Roger asserted, drawing Jenny's attention back to him.

"But the cars are always leased, not bought from used car dealers."

She turned and smiled at Tim to deflect the insult implied by reference to used car dealers.

"Tim leases out all kinds of brand-new cars, including Mercs, dear." said Roger, forcing Jenny to look back at him again.

"And Monroe's is licensed to service them from new in the same way as the main dealer," Tim threw in.

"Tim will be putting in a bid very shortly for all the partnership's leased cars," Roger stated, "and I am pretty sure it will be successful."

"Oh," Jenny said, "Does Cheryl Hazel crying her eyes out in the Ladies' loo five minutes ago have anything to do with this new development in car leasing?"

"I wasn't aware she was upset. But yes ... almost certainly," came Roger's reply.

Jenny looked at him and asked "In what way?"

Roger put his mouth next to his wife's ear and spoke very quietly so that Tim, sitting the other side of her, only just managed to hear him say, "Because I instructed Glynn Hazel to contact Tim at Monroe's at 9am Monday with the information Tim needed to produce a detailed quotation for each and every vehicle in our fleet. I added that I would also require an explanation from him why a reliable local supplier had been repeatedly rebuffed over a number of years. He was unable to supply an answer. He blustered for a moment and then had the gall to say he would resign rather than be forced to use Tim's services, so I called his bluff and asked him to do as ordered or I would have his resignation by first thing on Monday. Just car business, dear."

"Oh," Jenny said, which signalled the end of that particular conversation.

After they had refreshed themselves with the excellent repast put out by Roger and his partners, the band started up playing dance tunes again and even the most unwilling males present were dragged out to the dance floor by their womenfolk who seemed determined to sit out as few remaining dances as possible for the last live music set of the evening.

Tim lost count but he thought he must have danced at least twice each with Patty, Abbey, Jenny and Lesley but enjoyed many more dances with Michelle, who just seemed to become more and more beautiful every time he saw, held and was delightfully allowed to nuzzle her in his arms.

It was worth every single penny that Tim bribed the band to make that very last waltz of the night endure three times as long as any other dance, just so that he could hold that delightful creature close to him for as long as possible before the night ended and the lights came up again, making all the participants blink their eyes in adjustment.

Michelle had just melted into his grateful arms as if they were matching jigsaw pieces when the music slowed and lights dimmed until even their faces were shadows; both young people lost in a world of dreams and enticing possibilities. It didn't matter that he could hardly see her face; the image of her smile was already etched into Tim's retina forever.

As the band wound up to a flourishing finish, the singer announced that a disco would continue for another couple of hours or so, and before the lights were raised to a level that made the dancers blink, Tim and Michelle's lips found each other and they kissed with an urgency as desperate as if the world and not just the dance was about to end.

As they walked off, arm in arm, Tim wanted to ask Michelle if she would like to take a walk with him around the hotel, desperate that he was for any means to carry on talking with her, seeing her, being in orbit about her person.

"I would like to get to know you better, Michelle, and, as promised earlier, to tell you all the details of the Dairy Alley incident. Perhaps we could go for a walk?"

"I'd like that very much," she replied, "In fact, if you want, I would be happy to leave the party and go somewhere quieter where we can talk, rather than dance at the disco. Patty has danced and talked to Rod for quite a while this evening and has already expressed to me a desire to go on with Rod and some of the other younger partygoers to a nightclub, where the type of music played would have rather more appeal for them."

"If that is the case," Tim said, "I'll speak to Patty directly."

Chapter 6 - Tide and time together

Of course, Patty was keen to go with Rod for the rest of the night's entertainment, why wouldn't she? He seemed a nice lad, thought Tim. The boy himself was hovering in the background while Tim checked with Patty her plans for the rest of the evening and ensured she had enough cash on her for cab fare. He always kept a twenty folded up in the recesses of his wallet for emergencies and had it ready to press into her hand.

Then Tim took Rod off to one side and the pair came to a clear understanding that the parameters for the evening's entertainment were severely limited and if Tim heard anything to the contrary he would personally track him down and bury him alive where no one would ever find him. With round eyes and hushed tones Rod professed his good intentions towards Tim's precious niece and so they parted with clearly agreed terms of reference.

Michelle and Patty were standing by together locked arm in arm, both of them looking at Tim and Rod, smiling and laughing. The objects of their mirth walked over to them to collect their now-swapped partners.

"What are you finding so funny?" Tim enquired of the chuckling pair of women.

"You, my very dear uncle," declared Patty, reaching out to him and putting her hands around his neck before kissing him very tenderly on the cheek. "I bet you didn't know that Michelle is an expert lip-reader, did you?" she giggled.

"No, I didn't, but I appreciate the warning for any future conversations I might want to keep to myself."

"Planning on keeping secrets from me already then ... Honey?" enquired Michelle, tucking a slender arm in his, as Patty released him from her own clutches and left the party with Rod and a handful of other noisy, excited youngsters.

"Some secrets may lead to nice surprises ... Sweetheart," Tim replied smiling, delighted to have the woman he had only just met agreeing to spend more time with him, "You like nice surprises don't you?"

"Everybody likes nice surprises," she replied, brushing her lips lightly against his cheek, "As far as I am concerned you were the nicest one tonight, although Mum and Abbey were not at all surprised that I would find you ... attractive."

There wasn't much else Tim could do other than kiss her hand. Me? Attractive, he thought, this beautiful young woman can't possibly think that, surely? Thank goodness, he sent up a silent prayer, for her mother and sister. "It appears that your Mum and Abbey seem to be hell bent on pushing us together."

"Yes, I had noticed," she laughed, "But I am not adverse to their intentions on that score ... are you?"

"No, it would be churlish to disappoint them when they seem so determined."

Michelle laughed; this was music to Tim's ear. He wanted to know everything about this girl.

"How did you become so good at lip reading?"

"When I was a child and living with my grandmother I had trouble with my hearing. It might be hereditary, as my grandmother has worn a hearing aid for years, certainly for as long as I can remember. My hearing loss came on so gradually that I didn't really realise that everybody didn't have the same problem. It didn't become noticed by anyone else either for such a long while because I disguised it by reading lips and understanding what people were saying." She laughed at that point. "Once the problem was discovered a simple operation put it right, when I was about nine, I think, but I never lost the ability to lip read. It comes in really handy when kids are talking at the back of the class!"

Tim and Michelle said their goodbyes to the rest of the Jones' clan and Tim's new friend Finn. Jenny squeezed him tightly and with a whisper implored him once again not to hurt Michelle's feelings. She said she had been watching both of them when they were together and was sure that her daughter had immediately become infatuated with him. Tim assured Jenny once more that he would be a perfect gentleman and that he didn't think any infatuation she may have detected between them was simply one-sided.

"Come to us for our Christmas Day lunch," Jennie said, "it's for family and our other halves and Michelle will certainly be there."

"I had planned on having Christmas Day with my youngest sister, her fiancé, who's one of my best friends, and my lovely niece Tina. I will have to go there first thing for the opening of Tina's presents in any case," Tim told Jenny, "but I will give your invitation some serious thought and will talk it over with Michelle regarding timings."

Once they collected their coats and exited out into the chilly winter outdoors they saw that, while they had luxuriated in the warmth enjoying themselves, a severe hoar frost had descended on the neighbourhood, giving the trees surrounding the path leading up to the hotel a very festive pre-Christmas appearance. However attractive it may have appeared though, it was bitterly cold and the path underfoot crunched with the rock salt recently scattered by the hotel staff to prevent patrons slipping up.

"Sorry, Chelle," Tim said, "I hadn't realised how frosty it was, we are hardly suitably dressed for a walk in this." He regarded her long satin dress, fragile heels and thin wrap covering her bare arms and shoulders as he removed his dinner jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

"I was so looking forward to a long walk," she said, "I feel that I have been cooped up in school for weeks and only finished for the Christmas holidays very late this afternoon."

"School?" Tim queried, realising he had never asked and they had not discussed how each of them earned their respective livings. He recalled she said something earlier about lip-reading kids at the back of the class. "I thought you left school, oooh, probably two or three years ago, but I'm terrible estimating young girls' ages."

"I am a school teacher, silly," she smiled, "English Lit and Drama mainly to Years 7 and 8. It's been rather hectic this term, what with putting on the Christmas show and cramming everything else in. And Mum kept on pestering me for the last few days to come to this party, that I really didn't want to commit to going until I was completely finished at work." She laughed and added, "Even then I only agreed to come in a weak moment as late as lunchtime today. It really was an unintentional moment of weakness because all I really wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep as soon as I got home. Mum followed me home direct from school, waited while I showered, bought me this wonderful dress and dropped me off at the hairdressers' salon. Rod had to collect me from there and bring me to the ball. I'd never even met Rod before tonight!"

"Well, you'd never met me before tonight and here we are walking across to my car and about to whisk you off into God knows where!"

"I know, I must be in a state of shock. I never do anything as carelessly unplanned as this, I may be stir crazy. The autumn to Christmas term is a frantic one, especially after half-term in October."

"So, have you still got the energy for a long walk, after all you've been dancing all night?"

"I think I've got my second wind in, my adrenaline levels must be way off the chart. Besides I really don't want this night to end," she looked at him, "Sorry, I'm assuming too much, what about you? What do you want to do?"

Tim chuckled at the frown on her face and kissed her forehead. "I'm pretty hyper tonight too. I would walk with you to the end of the horizon, I just can't believe that someone as beautiful as you would even consider walking around at this time of night with an ugly old guy like me." He laughed and added, "Perhaps it helps that it's nice and dark out!"

"You're not an old guy and you look pretty good in whatever light I've see you so far," she said, as they approached the far edge of the car park, where Tim's Jaguar stood in splendid isolation, most of the cars in this area having long since departed, it was just after 1am by now. "What are you, 35? I'm 29."

"I'm 38 and will be 39 in April."

"Not April the first?" she giggled.

"No, I must've been born three weeks overdue, on the 22nd. What are you going to get me for my birthday, then?"

"Well, if you are very good I might cook and serve you a home-cooked meal. How strong is your stomach, anyway?" Michelle laughed.

"Cast iron."

"Good." she laughed, "You can cook me a meal on my birthday, it's in the middle of the barbecue season, 29th July, I think it's on a Friday next year."

"Great, we could make a long weekend of it!"

"In your dreams, Tim!" she giggled as she squeezed his arm.

"I think I am going to be blessed with some very pleasant dreams from now on. Ahh, here we are. Your chariot awaits, Ma'am."

They stopped next to his car and Tim released his hold on her arm while he felt for the lock in the dark with one hand and carefully inserted his key in the passenger side, opening the door for her. The inside curtesy light came on and he held her arm again as she stepped down low into the tan leather bucket seat. Tim made sure the hem of her lovely dress was tucked in safely before closing the door. Then he scooted round the other side and unlocked his door and climbed in. The leather seat felt cold to the touch through his thin shirt.

"This car is beautiful Tim, absolutely beautiful," she said, "What make is it? The smell of this leather is wonderfully evocative ... intoxicating."

"Well, I could say exactly the same thing about your scent," Tim countered, before moving swiftly on as he turned the key and the engine roared instantly into life with a throaty roar that always lifted Tim's spirits, tonight though he thought his spirits couldn't get any higher, "It's a Jaguar E-Type 4.2 litre sports coupe in British racing green and tan leather upholstery."

Once the engine was started and the heaters put on blowing full blast onto the windows, Tim got out again and removed the old blanket protecting the windscreen from the frost and put it into the boot, extracted his ice-scraper and started removing the thin layer of frost from all the side and rear windows.

While he cleared the car windows he could see Michelle sitting calmly in this car. As he moved around the car, revealing the interior, he could see her from every angle and aware that she looked so beautiful from every viewpoint. Don't bugger this up, Tim my boy, he thought, this woman is definitely the one you've been looking for all your life; if only you are what she wants.

He dropped the scraper back where it belonged and slammed the boot shut. He had reversed into the parking space in line with his usual habit and he drove out smoothly and slowly towards the exit, careful of any other drivers who may have been more cavalier than he had in his alcohol consumption.

"I have a soft top for this car too which I usually fit on from spring to autumn. If you are very nice to me I could take you on day trips to the coast or tour the moors once the weather turns nice."

"I'd love that."

"Where do you want to go for our walk tonight?"

"If you take me home first, I'll get changed into something warmer with better footwear, but as for where to go, I am happy to go anywhere you are prepared to drive to. Any suggestions?"

"Well, do you think you would be able to stay up for the rest of the night and see in the dawn with me?"

"I think so, School is out for me now, so I can sleep in come the morning. What do you have in mind?"

"It's gone 1am now, by the time first you and then I get changed into more appropriate clothing it'll be between 2 and 3. We could get to Scarborough by 5 or 5.30 and walk along the seafront for a couple of hours or so and watch the sun appear to rise up from the sea about 8. Then we could stop there for breakfast and still get back by mid-morning at the latest so we can catch up on our sleep until early evening. Now, I have a dinner engagement with a couple of very close friends on Saturday night and I wondered if you will agree to accompany me as my date?"

Michelle made her decision very quickly, "OK to everything," she breathed, "I am quite excited, it sounds like an adventure, a perfect way to round off a wonderful evening. I only hope I can keep going all night, I suspect I might fall asleep in the car either going or coming back, probably even both and not be good company for you." She laughed.

"Let me worry about whether you are good company or not, you've been nothing short of perfect so far," Tim grinned, "Now, guide me to your place, is it left or right at the gates?"

"Left."

"Left it is."

Michelle had a tiny one-bed flat in a rather square ugly block, it looked like it had been designed by an émigré from the Soviet bloc intimately familiar with the barely-rendered concrete architecture of the 1950s. Michelle said the depressing weather-worn block was built by the school in the 1970s to house teaching staff. The school rapidly expanded at the time and had a quick turn-over of newly-qualified staff.

She pointed to a frost-covered silver Nissan Micra, about ten years old. "That's my car."

Tim was surprised, wondering why was she driving an old wreck? OK, that was an exaggeration, it wasn't that bad, but her father was prepared to spend almost a six-figure sum on her youngest sister, which didn't seem quite right. Tim wasn't sure how to broach the subject, so he changed tack.

"Does it run alright?" he asked as they walked down her path to the entrance.

"It's fine, except it doesn't like starting on these cold frosty mornings," she replied as she entered the outer door code into the keypad and pulled open the door, adding with a laugh, "Or when it rains, either!"

Michelle lived on the second floor of the block and as they climbed up the steps he said to her,

"Bring the car to the shop on Monday morning and we'll give it a look over, I can let you have a replacement car for the day if you can't spare a couple of hours or so to wait for it."

"Well, it only had a service two or three months ago, actually just before the term started in September, and isn't due for another service for quite a while. I only budget to do it once or twice a year at the most, I don't do much motoring, except to and from school, the shops and the gym."

Michelle didn't ask where the "shop" was, so Tim guessed that Jenny or Abbey had already told her what he did and where he worked.

"It's worthwhile getting it looked at it, no charge. Brian, our Nissan mechanic, doesn't get many Micras of this vintage to work on so we'll chalk it up as a training exercise," Tim grinned.

"I don't want you to get into trouble with your boss."

"You won't, don't worry about that."

"OK," she smiled with those dimples again.

Tim once more thought he would do anything to make those dimples appear and could happily look at them all night. Michelle unlocked her door and he followed her into her flat.

"I'm sorry it is so messy in here," she said apologetically, "I wasn't expecting to bring anyone back and ... my cleaning day is tomorrow." She cleared a pile of text books and exercise books and papers from the sofa and indicated that Tim sit and wait for her, before she bolted into the bedroom.