The Photographer from the Estate Agency, a still wet behind the ears youngster named Neil Thomas, finished packing up his gear and then left Vivienne alone. A job that should have taken under an hour had taken three hours. For some unfathomable reason, he insisted on using a full studio flash rig even in the Bathroom where there really wasn’t the room to swing a cat let alone all the kit that he’d brought with him. From what little he’d said during the visit, he was clearly more used to taking pictures of the very large houses that only the mega rich of Hampstead could afford. Still, it was at their cost not hers. If she wasn’t happy with the promotion material she could take her business to another agency.

The ‘pet funeral’ people came and collected Betty later that day. It was hard for Vivienne to say goodbye to her lovable pet. As they prepared her body for transportation Vivienne realised that they’d not spent one night apart since she’d first came into her life almost nine years before. It really would be strange without the ‘Madness of Queen Betty’ to keep her entertained.

The people that came for her could well have been undertakers. They were dressed in black and spoke reverently in hushed tones about Betty and what Vivienne wanted done with her. After some discussion, Vivienne agreed to be there for Betty's final journey in two days’ time. She expressed that wish as it only felt fitting that Betty deserved a proper send off as thanks for the part she had played in her life these past years.

“That’s the last of the washing on Betty. Want to go for a walk?”

Her lovable companion wagged her tail and looked up at her mistress with doleful eyes.

Vivienne smiled back at her companion.

“Ok then. Go find your lead.”

Betty took off like a rocket only to completely miss the lead that was hanging over the bannister at the bottom of the stairs and thumped into the front door. She bounced off, turned around and grabbed the lead on her way back to her.

Forty-five minutes after they’d met at the services, Vivienne and Maxine said goodbye to each other. Even in that short time, they’d become friends.

“Are you sure that I won’t be a pain in the neck? I’m not exactly a country person.” asked Vivienne.

“Not at all. It will be nice to have some company for the week.”

“And you don’t mind about Betty?”

“Not at all. She seems to like me.”

All was quiet in the house. The Sun had risen well over an hour earlier. The hum of London grew as the city started a new day.

There were two occupants of the house. For one of them this was a day to celebrate. For the other, the prospect of walkies, rabbits to chase and food was normal.

In a bedroom at the front of the three-storey terraced house, Vivienne Carter was wide awake. Today was her sixtieth birthday, plus it was the first day of what she’d been calling her ‘afterlife’. She’d just retired from her job as very senior official at the HMRC in the ‘Collections Department’. The previous day which had been a rather sad occasion. Vivienne, could have carried on working for at least six more years until she qualified for a state pension but she’d had enough of work, commuting and putting up with the incompetence of other people for far too long so she'd decided several months before to call it a day when she turned sixty years of age.

[The day of the funeral]
“Ready darling?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be Mum,” replied Maxine.

“The car is waiting.”

Maxine pulled the heavy veil down over her head. She was dressed head to toe in black. Her dress was black silk and very full. Her whole outfit could have come from the late Victorian era. Long before Adrian had become bedridden, they discussed the funeral and everything in great detail especially what she was going to wear.

“Hello darling,” said Adrian softly.
He was sitting in Maxine’s room waiting for her to come around after her operation.

She didn’t answer straight away.

After a bit, she said,
“It hurts.”

Adrian smiled. Maxine could not see his reaction as her eyes were screwed shut.

He put a control device into her left hand.
“Nurse says to use this to help with the pain.”

Seeing my brother hiding down in the back of the Pickup phased me for a moment but it was only a moment. It would not do to show any favouritism with that almost ever present thorn in my thumb, my brother Walt.

I shook my head before saying,
“Out you get Walt. You know the drill!”

Walt slowly got out of the truck and sat on the floor. I didn’t need to tell him to keep his legs straight but crossed below the knee.

“Boss, shall I get some more cuffs from my vehicle?”

After leaving Maxine’s home in Reigate, Kim travelled by train back to Royston where her car was parked. When she changed trains at Blackfriars, she nearly left the package that Maxine had given her on the train. For a moment, the swore at herself for being so absent minded. Then she laughed at herself. Absentmindedness was a family trait that she’d worked hard to eliminate. Kim wondered if the emotional trials and tribulations of the recent few weeks was finally catching up with her.

[Kim and Garth have just arrived at the factory in Kings Lynn]

“Hi Brian,” said Garth as he walked into his office. Kim followed on behind him.

Brian was in deep thought looking at some schematics. The drawings more than covered his desk.

“Oh, hello Garth.”

Then he saw Kim.

His face brightened up considerably.
“Hello there Kim.”

Then he wiped the smile from his face.

Kim’s mother was speechless. Hearing that her one and only daughter was going to get married had knocked the stuffing out of her.
“But…?” she muttered.
“I’ve arranged for some people to come over for dinner tonight now that you are back from London.”
“Mum, you didn’t ask me if I wanted company and I made it clear that I was only staying for a few days at the most. As it happens, I have things I need to do but not here.”

“Well, we made it,” said Brian as they walked into Terminal 5 at Heathrow a few minutes after 6pm that Saturday Evening.

Kim didn’t say much. She hadn’t had much time alone with Brian since he’d picked her up at her home some three hours earlier. For one thing, her lack of sleep the previous night didn’t help. She wasn’t looking forward to delaying getting to bed for another eight or nine hours especially after being in a crowded aircraft and suffering the horrendously uncomfortable seats.

“Welcome to the company Kim,” said Brian as Kim walked into the building the following Friday Morning.

Kim was a little startled to see the Managing Director, Brian West sitting at the reception desk.

He saw her the look of bewilderment on her face.

26 months later, September – At a bar in a small coastal town in Northern California.
The place was fairly quiet as it was early on a Monday evening. It would get quite rowdy later as the ‘Dallas Cowboys’ were playing at home that night against the 49’ers and the game would be shown on the big screen. Naturally, this being California, most of the locals supported the 49’ers.

Two people were working behind the bar preparing for the night ahead when the door opened and in walked a tall Blonde woman wearing a white blouse, black tight leather trousers and black ankle boots.

“Hello Sean. I’ll have a G & T please but hold the T.”

The barman looked up from the ‘shot’ glass he was drying and saw Ingrid standing in front of him. His face dropped. To him, she looked the spitting image of Marylin Monroe in the ‘Seven Year Itch’. Another words, totally stunning and totally out of place for the clientele of ‘Big Jake’s Famous Bar & Grill’.

Adrian took hold of Maxine’s hands and said,

“It is time,” he said softly.

That was all he needed to say. Both Cliff and Maxine knew what he meant in an instant.

The revelation that Adrian’s life was about to change for the worse shocked Maxine right to her core.

Maxine fled to her room and cried her eyes out. It seemed that her world was crumbling around her. First her mother becoming a lesbian and now Adrian. What would be next.

Adrian was away in Scotland doing on what he called ‘a fact-finding mission’, which left just Cliff and Maxine in the Office when the phone rang.

Maxine saw the caller ID and answered it.
“Oh, hello Mum. What’s up?”

“Why am I asking? Didn’t we speak for nearly an hour at the weekend?”

“No. I don’t think I am busy tomorrow night. It could work out pretty well as I’m due at a meeting in Devon the following day.”

“No, he won’t mind. He’s busy with a different project in Scotland.”

“What time and where and why?”

Maxine was alone the Reigate House. Adrian and Cliff were away in Sheffield looking at a prospective deal. She was dealing with paperwork and the accounts. This was the one part of being in business that she hated but it needed to be done on a regular basis. All the businesses that Lorelei had invested in made regular financial reports. These needed to be collated and various profit and loss projections made. This, along with the expenditure of the business allowed them to see a picture of how things were doing with the business.

Adrian had been very patient with her when he introduced her to the intricacies of doing the books for the many different companies that she and Adrian controlled. What was hard for her at the start was getting to grips with the different requirements of other countries had for business accounting and reporting.

It didn’t take Phoebe long to make her way from her former Chambers to Red Lion Square in Holborn, for her next meeting. This was with her old tutor from University who was according to the email confirming the meeting, right in the middle of giving a lecture on ‘Torts’ to first year law students at the University of Westminster.

Phoebe waited in a Café close by the facility and remembered how she felt as a new student being away from home for the first time in her life and smack bang in the middle of London as well. It had been rather overwhelming for her at first but thanks to the help of the person she was meeting, she stuck at it.

Phoebe and Samantha met up again the following Friday.

“How was your week?” asked Phoebe.

“Wednesday was good. Well, waking up next to you made it a good start and the company liked what I’d done to their website.”

“I sense a but coming?”

“Are you sure that we haven’t been together for ten years?”

They both laughed.

“Shall we carry on?” asked Samantha after a particularly long kiss.
“Or do you want to sit here kissing all day?”

“Oh... that is a difficult choice, but upon reflection, please carry on. I want to see what more surprises you have for me,” replied a very happy Phoebe.

Once back on the road, a very determined Samantha took control of the car. She had a definite purpose in her attitude now that the weight of telling Phoebe about herself had been lifted.

Phoebe sat back and let Samantha drive. She clearly knew where she was going. Once they reached the small business park in Ford, she stopped outside one of the many identical units on the site. A sign on the wall said ‘Schwartz Brothers, Props and Theatrical Costumiers’.

[Phoebe was on the phone to Samantha Mason]

“Sorry for not calling you before this. Things have been a bit hectic since we met.”

“How? Well, I’m now unemployed for starters.”

“A bit of a long story but that isn’t why I called.”

Phoebe took a deep breath before she replied.

“To be honest Samantha, I could not get you out of my mind.”

[The three friends are meeting up once again in London]

The girls laughed themselves silly when Phoebe said that she was not going to go on any more blind dates but that she’d signed up to a speed dating evening.

“But Pheebs…?” exclaimed Lana.

“But what?”

“But… you are just putting yourself… out there.”

“Isn’t that the aim of the game? To go out with some men in the hope that I find someone for a long-term relationship?”

“She’s right Lana,” said the third member of the trio, Sky.