Writers

So Maisie stayed and it seemed like fate really, because the same week that the cat walked into her life, Julia’s partner Geoff walked out. Not because of the cat of course. No! It transpired that he had been having an affair with a married woman and was going abroad to start a new life with her. To her own amazement, Julia kept her cool. Whether it was the shock, coming straight out of the blue because there had been no obvious signs that anything was amiss in their relationship which had lasted for two years; 18 months of which they had lived together in her flat.  She didn’t scream or shout, or even cry. Julia just went over to the door, very calmly opened it and waited till he walked quite quickly out of her flat and her life. Later on that day, reality would sink in and the tears would flow, but now she would be on automatic pilot, feeding and looking after her faithful little cat. Eventually she would reflect on wasting two years of her valuable time on someone who didn’t deserve her. Another thing was that she wasn’t exactly a spring chicken having reached the great age of thirty-five. Nice eligible men were few and far between, as her still single friends could vouch for.  Bringing herself back to the present, Julia realised she had better get a move on, to get to the shop before it closed. It wouldn’t do for Maisie to go without her supper!

            Pulling on a jacket and grabbing her purse, she headed for the door, when suddenly the doorbell rang, making her jump. On opening it she found a man standing there, holding out an envelope. “Good afternoon. I’m sorry if I startled you. I live a couple of streets away, and this was delivered to my house by mistake this morning. I’ve only just arrived home from work and thought I had better bring it round right away.” Julia thanked the man politely, took the envelope, and turned back into the house to put the envelope on the mantle piece out of Maisie’s way, before taking off once more out of the door. Walking smartly along the road, she regretted now that she had been so short with the poor man. It was really quite rude of her, and uncharacteristic. She usually got on well with all different kinds of people. No good crying over spilt milk. Anyway, looking on the bright side, she might just meet him again one day and be able to thank him properly. Idly, she wondered about what was in the envelope.

            Arriving home, she fed Maisie, who by this time was ravenous and wolfed the food down, as if there was no tomorrow. Julia made herself a welcome cup of tea and indulged in a cream cake to cheer herself up, and determined that tomorrow being Sunday, she would go for a run in the park which she used to do pre-Geoff. She could do with losing a few pounds of weight anyway, and the running, if she kept it up, would take care of that, hopefully.

            In the last few days she felt that at last she was beginning to get over the heartache of  the break-up with Geoff, and was getting back to her old self again, with the support of her two great friends, Eve and Georgie.  Those two ladies had been a tower of strength over the past few weeks, for which Julie was eternally grateful.  Picking up the phone, she called Eve to confirm that she would meet them at their favourite cafe tomorrow afternoon for high tea. This was a ritual of theirs every Sunday, when they could manage. The cafe was of the old fashioned variety with nice crisp white tablecloths, soft lighting and wholesome food at reasonable prices. Totally different to the brash new coffee bars which were springing up all over the place. Surely there was still the need for the old cafes to survive. Plenty of people still preferred them.

Going through to the kitchen, she suddenly remembered about the envelope. Where on earth had she put it? Good grief, thirty-five years old and losing her memory already. They would be coming to cart her away next! Picking up the morning’s newspaper from the table, the envelope was revealed. Of course, she remembered now that she had laid it there earlier. Sighing with relief, she opened it to find that it was an invite to the wedding of her niece Jane, who was Julia’s sister’s daughter. It was quite unexpected because it was supposed to be a small affair. But obviously that was not the case - anymore.

            Crestfallen, a troublesome thought struck Julia. Louise knew nothing about her split with Geoff as she had been putting off telling her until she could cope with it. So now she would have to go on her own, unless a Good Samaritan stepped in to save the day. Otherwise, how on earth was she going to face her family, her Mum and Dad and brother Matt? She was in a pickle.  Well it would all just have to wait till tomorrow, when she met with her friends, who might miraculously come up with a perfect solution. Hope springs eternal. With that thought in mind Julia ran a nice warm bath then went straight to bed.

In the morning she checked the date of the wedding and noted it on her calendar. It was to be in four weeks. Not a very long time to get everything done, what with her job as manager of a small flower shop taking up the bulk of her time. Julia was very hands on and made up a fair proportion of the arrangements for weddings and such like. Then there was the not inconsiderable pleasure, usually, of looking for an outfit to wear to the wedding for which she had bought an acceptance card yesterday, but which she hadn’t filled in yet. “How can I” she said to Maisie” when I don’t even know if I’ll have a partner?”

            In the afternoon Julia got herself showered and dressed for her date with the girls. As it was quite warm outside Julia decided to wear a smart but casual tiered white skirt and teamed it with a pretty pale green top. To complete the outfit she wore white wedged sandals and some funky jewellery. Her mirror told her that she didn’t look at all bad.

            Humming a catchy tune, she closed the door behind her, and set off for the cafe, which was about a mile away, and she would enjoy the walk in the pleasant spring sunshine. She hoped the weather would hold out, as it had been unseasonably cold, with frequent showers and a fair bit of snow and frost.  Julia was nearing the cafe when she literally collided with a man coming out of one of the shops, and she got such a fright that the man put out his hands to steady her up. Feeling a bit stupid and embarrassed, she began to apologise, then realised he was the person who had brought the misdirected mail to her. She stopped in mid-sentence, and saw that he recognised her at the same time.

"Please don't apologise.  It was as much my fault as yours.  Anyway, there's no damage done, I hope?"

"Well, I think I'll live," she replied, with a rueful smile, starting to walk away.

"Before you go," he said, "would you mind very much if I introduced myself?  Maybe I should have told you my name before.  Anyway, I think it's only fair since I know yours."

Julia hesitated, but not for long.  After all, she need not kid herself that she hadn't thought about him from time to time - well quite a lot of the time actually.

“Yes, that would be fair.” She agreed, nodding her head.

“My name is Steve Smith” Now we’ve got that sorted out, could I take the liberty of asking you out sometime, maybe this week if you’re not too busy? There’s a concert on Friday at the local pavilion, which gets a good review.

“Well, I’ll think about it” said Julia “but I’ll have to check my diary first. I’ll phone you.”

Friday duly arrived, and Julia treated herself to a new outfit. She hadn’t been on a shopping spree, since Geoff in fact, so she splashed out on a new dress and shoes. True to her word, she went for a run every morning, and felt she was reaping the benefit already. Her skin looked clearer, and she felt fitter. She vowed to keep it up. Steve had phoned on Monday to confirm that he would pick Julia up at her flat at six pm so that they could have a meal before the concert. And he arrived on the dot. Julia invited him in for a minute while she put on her jacket and Steve got a shock when in strolled his missing cat! Keeping his composure with difficulty, he asked Julia how long she’d had the cat, which had instantly wrapped herself round his legs and was purring away furiously.

“She followed me home one day and has been here ever since” Julia replied” I tried to trace her owners but drew a blank. Now, of course, I don’t want to part with her.” Smiling, she remarked “She seems to have taken to you very quickly.”

“That’s something we both have in common then” said Steve, “because I happen to be a cat lover too!”  Much later on, if the relationship continued, he would confess that Maisie was his cat, but he was more than happy to leave things as they were. He had a very good feeling that the cat was his lucky mascot.

            The icing on the cake, literally, was that Steve had accepted Julia’s invitation to partner her at her niece’s wedding.                 ____________________________________________________________________________                              

            Taking her leave of him, she hurried on to meet up with friends at the cafe - she was a little bit late, but she would have something to tell them. She felt quite uplifted, and although it might just be friendship between them, it was good for her ego. She was glad that she had made the effort to make the best of herself.  “Steve,” she said to herself, “his name is Steve. That’s a start!”

            Julia’s friends were thrilled when they heard the story, but tempered it with a word of caution not to read too much into it before she knew him better. Julia laughed at this and assured them that she wasn’t expecting a great love affair- it was, after all, only an invitation to a concert. For all she knew he could even be married!