Kim finally left the hotel in what was for her, a rather odd mood. She wasn't sure what to do next. For someone who was generally so sure of herself this mood/feeling was becoming far too common to be good for her.

The weather wasn’t playing ball either. A brisk north easterly wind was bringing rain in off the North Sea. It was decidedly chilly and a far cry from the lovely sun of the previous day.

She was glad to get in her car and start the engine to warm up the interior. After a few minutes, she switched it off. Once again, she had no idea what to do next or where to go.

That morning was the lowest of the low for Kim. She’d never felt like this before.

To put it bluntly, she was lost. Lost for words, lost for something to do. Uppermost in her mind at that very moment was ‘could what she’d done the previous evening made it impossible to for her to stay in Norfolk’? She just didn’t know one way of the other. There were for her so many loose ends and the investigator in her just hated loose ends.

Kim sat in her car for almost twenty minutes before she started her little car again and turned west onto the A149, the coast road. This would eventually take her to Kings Lynn. This wasn’t the fastest or the most direct route but it didn’t require making decisions about which way to turn if she wasn’t going to end up in Norwich. She’d already learned that in this part of the country all roads seemed to lead to Norwich and that was one place that she didn’t want to go that day.

Where she wanted to actually go was only present somewhere in her subconscious and as yet, this was proving very elusive like so many things in her life at the moment.

As she approached the totally mad roundabout where the A47 meets the A10 which meets the A149 and several smaller roads. If you get into the wrong lane you could end up going in the wrong direction and have no choice but to travel some distance before being able to turn around and return. Kim had made that mistake once. The next time, she’d gotten into the wrong lane heading towards the Supermarket and had been on the wrong end of a number of rude gestures from local drivers. After that, she’d managed to navigate it slowly but correctly.

Without really thinking which was probably not the right thing to do given her first few encounters with the intersection, and before she realised it, Kim found herself driving south on the A10. When she saw the sign showing the distance to Cambridge and London, for the first time that day, she relaxed. It seemed that her subconscious was telling her to go back to London.

---

As Kim passed the turn off for Denver, for an instant she thought that she’d rather be in the American one at that moment but it did serve to bring her around to thinking about Garth.

She realised that she had not read all of the contract that Garth had left her and some of what Brian has said the previous evening was starting to filter through from her subconscious mind into reality.

A mile or so farther on Kim saw a place to stop that was well away from the numerous HGV’s that were rushing past every few seconds, she parked the car and fished the contract out of her handbag.

It was looking rather a bit worse for wear after being stuffed into her handbag a couple of times but it was all there so she started reading it again. This time her mind was working far more logically than she had done before.

Her body gave a little shudder when she remembered how emotional she’d been when she first read the contract. Her mind flashed back to a lecture at University that was on the state of mind and how it processes information at different levels depending upon your emotional state.

Kim resolved to look at the contract as if it was the first time she’d seen it.

Gradually, a lot more things started to make sense. But her naturally inquiring mind was already working at 200mph by the time she reached the end of the document.

Kim sat back and closed her eyes and counted to 1000. Then she read it again.

This time, an itch started nagging at her again. She thought to herself, ‘another of those loose ends that needs solving’.

With a newly determined look on her face, Kim pulled out her laptop and connected it to the Internet via her phone. Then started searching through the various documents she’d downloaded when she was putting the ‘bio’ of Garth together. After a few minutes, she found the two references she was interested in. She had to find out firstly if Garth was on the level and then how serious he was about changing from how he’d operated for most of his life.

The first reference led her to the contact details of an academic at Cambridge who had written a paper on benevolent capitalism which had cited Garth as an example of what not to do. The paper had been written some years before which meant that the reasoning presented in the paper was understandable for how he operated at that time. Kim wanted to know if the ‘Leopard’ that was Garth Samson could change his spots.

As she was heading for Cambridge and because the academic worked at the University, she took the chance and called the academic. The call was pure speculation and she might not want to speak to her or she might be out shopping.

To her relief, the call was answered on the second ring.

“Professor Jameson? My name is Kim Greene. I used to be and the operative word in used to be a reporter for the Sunday Herald.”

“That it perfectly correct. I am no longer working for them. They fired me last week. I’m actually calling about the paper you wrote almost five years ago about benevolent capitalism.”

“Yes, that’s the one. In it you cited Garth Samson and used him as an example of not the right way to do business. Have you by any chance been keeping tabs on him since. Your text alluded that you had been watching him and his business for a number of years?”

Kim listened to what the Professor had to say intently.

“Professor, I have a lot more information relating to what he is doing right now. Can we meet?”
Then as a carrot, she said,
“I was with Garth for most of the day yesterday.”

“Today if possible. I’m less than an hour from Cambridge. I’m north of the city at the moment. I’m near somewhere called Denver.”

“Yes, like most people, I didn’t know there were two of them until recently,” replied Kim with half a smile.

“Hold on, let me grab a pen. I’m sitting in my car just off the A10.”

Kim fished out a pen from her bag. After making sure that it worked she took down the details of where the professor lived.”

“Thank you very much Professor, I should be there in around an hour.”

Kim hung up the phone and briefly smiled.

“One down, one to go,” she muttered to herself.

Kim punched in another number and listened for it ringing.

“Ms Forsythe, my name is Kim Greene. I used to work as a reporter for the Sunday Herald.”

“No Ms Forsythe. I did say used to work. They fired me last week. I’m not writing any articles at the moment. I have a job offer that will involve me working for someone that you have had dealings with in the past.”

“Garth Samson.”

“He told me about you himself.”

“No Ms Forsythe, I was with him all day yesterday. As strange as it may seem, I helped him buy a house.”

“I wonder if we could meet. I have a number of questions about Garth that are still niggling me. I’d like to get them answered before I give him an answer to a job offer.”

“Later today if possible. Late afternoon perhaps? Say four thirty?”

“I’m in Norfolk at the moment and I’m meeting someone near Cambridge very soon then I’ll get the train down to your neck of the woods.”

“There is no need. I’m sure I can get a taxi if you would give me your address?”

Kim picked up her pen once more.
“Ok, go ahead.”

She wrote down the address.

“No, I have a flat in South East London. I’ll stay there tonight.”

“Ms Forsythe, thanks for agreeing to meet me. I’ll see you later this afternoon. If there is any change, I’ll let you know.”

Kim hung up and this time a proper smile broke out on her face.

A newly enthused Kim started her car and headed south on the A10 towards Ely and her first appointment.

---

The professor lived in a small house near the village of Soham which is south east of the ancient city of Ely with its magnificent Cathedral than can be seen for miles and miles as the surrounding countryside is as flat as a pancake.

Kim found the place just as the professor had described to her on the phone.

She parked her car and after sitting still for a few seconds in order to collect her thoughts, she got out and walked up to the front door.

As she was about to ring the bell, the door opened and a woman stood in front of her.

“Professor Jameson? I’m Kim Greene.”

“Ah yes. Please come in,” said the woman.

Kim went inside her home. There were books everywhere. Many had markers indicating some point of reference or interest.

“Come on through,” said the Professor.
“There is more room at the back of the house.”

“You certainly have a lot of books?”

“Far too many. Buying books is a little weakness of mine I’m afraid. One of these days, I’ll get around to having a clear out.”

Kim knew that this would probably never happen unless there was some extraordinary reason for her to move. The whole atmosphere of the house said to Kim, ‘I am very comfortable here’.

She had a chance to look at her host. The professor seemed to be in her late 60’s. Her hair was almost all grey and long enough to be plaited. She wore no makeup that she could see. She was also as thin as a rake. Not one ounce of extra flesh seemed to be the rule of the day for the professor.

“Please take a seat and tell me about Garth? How do you know him? He’s a pretty secretive man.”

Kim suddenly caught a bit of an American accent.

“As I said on the phone, Garth and I spent most of the day together yesterday. He has offered me a job here in the UK. He says that he’s moving here for a variety of reasons but one of them is your current president.”

The professor laughed.
“Ah him. He’s the subject of a paper that I’m writing at the moment. An interesting character but you do know that he’s mad, don’t you?”

“Well, I guess that a lot of people who don’t support his politics think that.”

“And a lot think that he is certifiable but that’s not the point of my paper. It is about the madness and total inconsistency of his economic policies. But you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble on about my former country. I have been here for almost forty years and I only finally cut the cord so to speak three years ago.”

“Cord?”

“I renounced my US Citizenship. I became a British Citizen more than ten years ago. As I’ve lived here far longer than I did in my country of birth it made sense to finally settle here.”

Kim nodded at her host and pulled out the contract of employment from her bag.

“I wonder if you could read this and tell me what you think,” said Kim handing her the contract.
“Sorry about the state of it. I only saw the numbers and nothing else. I sort of flipped my lid at the time.”

The professor chuckled.
“Numbers can do that to people especially large ones.”

Nothing was said for several minutes as the Professor read the contract from end to end twice.

She handed it back to Kim and smiled.

“The old fool is really going to do it then!”

“What do you mean,” asked Kim who was very surprised by her answer.

“Garth and I are… shall I say old… old acquaintances. We go back some fifty years. We grew up in the same small town in the middle of nowhere called ‘Hicksville, USA. We first locked horns when went to the same high school and were on the High School debating team.”

The professor smiled and seemed to gaze into space as she remembered those times.
“It was such a very long time ago.”

After a sigh she carried on.

“We had this one debate about giving to the less needy. His position was to support this and mine was the opposite. He knocked me out of the park with his arguments. He had all the facts at his fingertips. I was totally outgunned. That one event was 100% responsible for me becoming an Economist and being here today. Without him, I’d probably be some bored housewife in middle America. Instead… I’ve made something of my life.”

This surprised Kim.

“You don’t hate him then?”

“Hate is an emotive word. Not hate but I have certainly disagreed with a lot of what he’s done over the years. He has at times been downright brutal in business. But… if he had not been tough then a whole host of others would have walked over him and he was not going to let that happen. That is not how he was brought up.”

The professor thought for a moment.

“In this debate we had, he said that he’d make a fortune and give it all away. He’s made the fortune and it seems that he’s going to give it all away. What surprises me is why here?”

“Professor?”

“Margot please.”

“Margot, he’s buying a house in Norfolk. I was with him when we viewed it yesterday. His offer was accepted.”

“A mansion then?”

Kim chuckled.
“No, far from it. The first place went to see was a Georgian Grade 2 Listed place with twelve bedrooms and many acres of parkland and it was clear to me from within a minute of us arriving, that he hated the place. I could tell that from a mile off but the agent kept on trying to sell it to Garth. I’d taken a punt on the way there and found a place that was quite different. I mentioned this to Garth. He told me to sell it to him. He liked it so we went to visit it. This other place is a converted 18th Century Barn. He liked it and put in an offer on the spot.”

Margot smiled.

“It does seem that he is clearing the decks. How does he look? He’s not ill, is he?”

Kim chuckled.

“Far from it. He seems to be pretty fit.”

“But why Norfolk?”

“He has a business interest in a company that is based in Kings Lynn that is run by Brian West. He was an academic at Cambridge I understand? Then he says that he wants to go Birdwatching but somehow I can’t believe it.”

“Oh! So that’s where Brian ended up. Good for him. You know what, it all sort of starts to make sense.”

“This charitable trust he’s setting up and wanting me to run, is it kosher?”

“From the information I have it is. If you let me have the name and such, I’ll do some digging this afternoon if that’s all right. You have piqued my interest. Perhaps he really is following the Andrew Carnegie model as he promised all those years ago. I never believed he would. He pretty much dropped off the radar a bit after his late wife died. He surfaced for a while when he got one over on Frankie Mangan and then disappeared from view again.”

“This Frankie Mangan thing. This was to do with the hotels?”

“Yes, that’s it but it goes back a long, long time before that. Frankie Mangan was always a nasty bit of work. His family and Garth’s had land on different sides of the valley that led into town. They have been rivals for generations. Frankie tried to get me to go to the Prom with him and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Garth had already asked me and I’d accepted. I went to the prom with him but Frankie swore revenge. That night, they had it out on the middle of the dance floor. Garth whipped him them and has been doing that ever since.”

After a small sigh, she carried on.

“Frankie had long been of the opinion that he could have any girl in town and didn’t like it when I said no to him. As I said, I went to the Prom with Garth. Frankie arrived late and about the same time as Garth’s car went up in flames. Frankie came into the Prom and tried to take me away from Garth so Garth laid into him. He broke Frankie’s nose with his first blow. Like most bullies, that was all that was needed. Frankie ran out of the place where the prom was being held and got arrested for Arson. One of the Parents who was waiting for their child saw him do the evil deed. Frankie got two years of probation for that and the two have been mortal enemies ever since. The fight over me took their family rivalry to new heights. That was why when I got a scholarship to Brown University, I took it. I’ve only been back there twice since. The place has gone downhill since the Mines closed and the State severely restricted the Lumber Business.”

Kim smiled. Some very large chunks of what was missing from her bio of Garth suddenly fell into place.

“Thanks for that. It at explains a lot, it really does. I’m going to meet someone else this afternoon who met with Garth around that time. She and her husband Adrian, also got one over on Mangan’s Geo-Stay chain.”

It was Margot’s turn to smile.
“That wouldn’t be Maxine Forsythe by any chance?”

A visibly shocked Kim said, “Yes, it is! How do you know her?”

“I used the business that her late husband setup as an example of benevolent capitalism in the same paper where I named Garth. I didn’t name Adrian Forsythe or the company but about a week after I’d delivered the paper at a conference at Stanford University, I got a ‘thank you’ card from Garth. At the time, I didn’t know why he sent it but I later found out that he’d been in contact with Adrian at the time of the Geo-Stay UK Hotel liquidation.”

Margot shook her head and smiled.

“It all makes sense now. Please give my regards to Maxine and that if she’s ever up in this neck of the woods, she is always welcome. That woman is an absolute whizz with digging up financial information. In a bygone age she would have been an ace investigative reporter for something like the Financial Times.”

Then she looked over her half-moon glasses at Kim and said,
“You two are much alike in that ability.”

Kim looked surprised.

“Yes, I did look you up after your phone call. Your firing warranted two lines in last Wednesday’s Evening Standard. If it had not have tallied, I would not have answered the door to you. Back in the day, hacks would try everything to get a quote out of you. Now they just invent something.”

Kim laughed.
“I know what you mean. I was sent to do a hatchet job on Brian’s company and the editors didn’t like it that I would not make up some story about him. I didn’t know it then but I later found out that Mangan owns the paper or at least one of his shell companies does.”

“That is the world we live in today, sad as it may seem.”

Kim stood up.
“Thanks for seeing me today Margot. It has been most enlightening.”

“No. It should be me thanking you for updating me on Garth,” said Margot with a glint in her eyes.

Kim left the professors home in a far, far better frame of mind than she had been a few hours earlier.

---

Kim drove down to Cambridge and then on to the town of Royston. There was an air of determination about her that been totally missing from her just a few hours earlier.

Once she’d arrived in Royston, she found a place to park on a small industrial estate that was about half a mile from the station. She walked to the Railway Station and took the train down to London. Kim got off the train at Blackfriars where she changed onto another Thameslink train that was going to Brighton and got off at its Redhill stop.

A short taxi journey from Redhill Station took her to the address in Reigate that Maxine had given her over the phone.

Maxine’s home was totally different to the one of the Professor. The latter was probably two former farm workers cottages that had been knocked into one a few decades before. This place, was in her eyes, some Edwardian era monstrosity. That was probably Kim’s least favourite architectural style as her grandmother on her Father’s side had lived in one that was very similar in Bedford. She even remembered the address, Kimbolton Road, Bedford. For some reason, it had stuck in her mind all these years. She always hated going there as a child as the place always smelled of over-cooked Cabbage even on one of those rare days that allowed the windows to be opened and her grandmother was not paying attention. Just thinking about the place gave her goose bumps.

As she walked up the drive, she hoped that this place was different.

She rang the bell and waited.

A woman opened the door.

“I’m here to see Maxine Forsythe? I hope I have come to the right address?”

The woman opened the door to its full extent.

“That’s me. You must be Kim. Please come in.”

Kim was momentarily stunned. Maxine was wearing a dress that could have come straight from a period drama on TV. Her jet-black hair was pinned up and the all black floor length dress had a high collar. There was lots of lace frills again all in black and she heard the swish of petticoat’s as Maxine led her into a sitting room. A single cameo brooch with a white figure on a blue background was pinned onto the high neck of the dress. It was quite striking.

Kim wondered if Maxine had dressed like this just for her but the way she moved told Kim that it wasn’t the case.

Kim looked around the room It was quite a contrast from the way she was dressed as the room was furnished in a much more modern style.

“Please take a seat. Can I offer you a drink of some sort?”

“What do you have to offer?”

Maxine smiled and looked at the clock. It read two minutes past five.

“It is past five so I’ll have a small G&T. Yourself?”

Kim surprised herself by saying,
“Oh, why not, the same please.”

“Good. Make yourself comfortable for a minute, I’ll be back in a tick with the drinks.”

Maxine left the room making sure that her skirts didn’t get caught in the door. Kim saw that she was wearing high heels. They looked like boots and had at least a 4in heel yet Maxine wore them with ease. As the episodes at Brian’s and at Garth’s had demonstrated very clearly, heels and Kim had never really gotten on together. She’d lost more than one boyfriend who wanted her to dress up for special events and she almost always came in trainers or flat soled lace-up shoes. It was also true that Kim didn’t have a shoe fetish like many of her former school friends. Then she realised that the job that Garth had offered her would mean that she’d have to take a lot more care about her appearance. If the job itself was not daunting enough having to dress up was just as bad if not worse.

Maxine appearing with the drinks made her thoughts return to the here and now. She’d carried them into the room a silver tray. After putting the tray down on a side table and handed one to Kim.

Maxine then sat down once again making sure to sort her skirts out.

Maxine picked up her glass and said,
“Cheers.”

Kim responded.
“Cheers”.

Both women relaxed.

“I do like your dress,” said Kim.

“Thanks. I dress like this at weekends when I’m not going out. This was the last dress that my Adrian bought for me when we planned his funeral. I agreed to wear it at weekends. I’ve grown to like it now.”

“I could never wear anything like that especially those heels.”

Maxine laughed.

“If truth be told, Adrian had a bit if a fetish for high heels. I’d not worn anything of any height until I went on my first date with him. Believe me, I wobbled a lot at first. Now, they are second nature.”

“Rather you than me. I’d be afraid of falling off them.”

Maxine laughed. Not just a titter but a proper laugh.

“If it wasn’t for my sister doing exactly that, I’d most certainly not be sitting here today.”

Maxine took a sip from her glass.

“Now about Garth? What is it that you want to know? He speaks very highly of you, you know.”

Kim was momentarily startled.

“You spoke to him?”

Maxine smiled.

“Yes. About ten minutes after you called.”

“You were checking up on me then?”

“Not really checking up on you. I just asked him if he knew you. He said he did and that he looks forward to seeing you tomorrow so that you can sample his special BBQ sauce.”

Kim’s heart started to settle down.

“I also met with Margot Jameson earlier. She sends her best wishes.”

“Oh my, you have been doing the rounds. How is she? I must visit her sometime.”

“She looks fine and she told me to remind you that her door was always open to you.”

“Thanks.”

There were a few seconds of silence before Kim spoke.

“Garth has offered me a job. A very good job as it turns out.”

Maxine laughed.
“And you want to know if he is genuine?”

“More or less.”

“What does this job entail then?”

“Simply, I am to run a charitable trust that will give all his money away.”

Maxine really laughed this time.

“On the QT naturally? Well to begin with, I’d expect knowing Garth.”

Kim nodded.

“That sounds about right for Garth.”

Maxine took another sip from her glass.

“I get the feeling that you had some doubts about it?”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

Maxine nodded.

“Garth is not an easy person to read. He reads people as if they had their bio on a sign around their necks. Yes, he has people to research the people he’s going to meet but Garth can read you like a book when he gets you face to face. He knows how you are feeling, reacting inside. That’s is a great deal of what makes him a success.”

“Yeah. He likes people to give it to him straight.”

“He certainly does not suffer fools gladly that’s for sure.”

Maxine thought for a moment.

“Do you have anywhere to be tonight?”

After a moment of hesitation Kim replied.

“No, not really. I was going home to Catford when I leave here.”

“Then why not stay for dinner? I hate making it for one. I have more than one spare room. You are more than welcome to stay the night?”

“Are you sure that it won’t be too much trouble?”

“No trouble at all.”

Then Maxine grinned.

“There is one catch though?”

“I have to go and get the take-away?” suggested Kim.

Maxine chuckled.
“No. You won’t be getting off that easy. You do have to dress up. I get the sense that you don’t really take that much care in your appearance. Am I right?”

Kim sighed and nodded her head.

“That will have to change when you work for Garth. Oh, around the office it does not matter but when you are out representing him looks really matter. Especially around women. You know how critical we are of how other women dress? We give them the evil eye if we find the slightest thing wrong. Those poor men, just don’t have a clue do they?”

Kim’s shoulders sagged. She had sort of been expecting to dress up a bit but nowhere like to the level that Maxine was suggesting.

“Garth is paying you a decent wedge I hope?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I hope is includes a clothing allowance?”

“No. Well, not as far as I can see.”

With a grin on her face Maxine said,
“When you see him to accept his offer make sure to get at very good clothing allowance added to it. Adrian always baulked at my idea of a clothing allowance until I went and ordered a number of dresses and stuff for use on business. Once he saw them he gave in and from then on, I got what I wanted when it came to clothes, shoes and the like for use on business. Men have a hard time getting it into their thick heads that women need a far, far greater variety of clothes for business than they do. Adrian used to dress smartly but he only possessed five suits. Granted that they were made to measure but they were all various shades of grey. He had fifteen ties ten of which were identical. Boring, boring and boring but he would not change which was why I loved him so much.”

“I’d not thought of it that way so I’ll talk to Garth about getting an allowance. Thanks.”

“Good. That’s settled. Now drink up and we’ll go upstairs and get you something else to wear.”

---

An hour later, Kim came down the stairs very carefully. Not only was she wearing heels but she was also wearing a long dress with two petticoats. The Dress was a light blue silk with a black bird pattern embroidered on it. The scoop neck also showed a decent amount of cleavage which was something that Kim didn’t naturally possess. A couple of breast enhancers had solved that but it meant the Kim could not see where she was walking. That was a totally new experience for her.

She’d also done her makeup. She’d commented on Maxine’s eyelashes when they were choosing the outfit.

“All fake I’m sad to say. I get them done at a place in Horley called ‘BeaBeautiful’. Bea, the lady who runs it gave me the double works for Adrian’s funeral and I’ve kept them ever since. This many take a bit of getting used to but I love them. I never really had much in the way of length to my lashes in the first place so I used to wear falsies but these don’t need to be glued on every day.”

“They look fantastic.”

“Just give me a shout and I’ll get Bea to fit you in.”

“You’d do that for me?”

Maxine grinned.

“Well, seeing as I own a little over half of the business so yes.”

Kim looked a bit stunned.

“Bea was being kicked out of her old place. The landlord wanted to put a Turkish Barber in there instead. I’d been there a few times to get my hair done and liked what she did with it. To cut a long story short, I found some new premises and bought the freehold. Bea won’t get thrown out as long as I’m alive. Don’t get me wrong, this is business but Bea knows her clients and looks after them. I thought that it was a crying shame to see a good hard-working person put out of business over a few close shaves instead of a few perms and root jobs.”

Maxine went up a good number of notches in Kim’s estimation.

“Excuse me for a few minutes, I need to see to the meal,” said Maxine after briefly looking at the clock on the mantlepiece.

---

Kim sat back for a few minutes trying to understand Maxine. She failed miserably to pigeonhole her. There was just something that didn’t quite fit. She pushed it to the back of her mind and went in search of her host.

“Ah, just in time. Dinner is almost ready,” said Maxine as Kim walked into the kitchen.

Maxine was wearing a black and white checked apron over her dress. She was in the middle of dishing up something that smelt delightful.

“I hope you like Steak and Ale pie?”

“It smells lovely.”

Maxine finished dishing up and put the plates onto a small trolley.

“Shall we go through to the dining room?”

Kim wandered into the room next door. The table was set for two and a bottle of wine was open.

Maxine put the plates on the table and sat down.

“Please sit yourself down. Wine?”

Kim sat down while Maxine poured some wine.

“Cheers!” they said as the clinked their glasses.

“How’s the dress?”

“It feels strange.”

“But? Do you like it?”

Kim smiled.

“You know, I think I do. It is a real change for me.”

“How about the shoes?”

“They feel pretty good. I guess that I’ve not been wearing the right size.”

“Strange that I can’t see my feet though. That is a new experience,” replied Kim as she looked down at her cleavage.

Maxine chuckled.
“You can keep the enhancers. I don’t need them any longer.”

That told Kim that Maxine’s ones were permanent. They looked about right for her height and size.

They began to eat.
“This is great. Very tasty indeed,” said Kim after her first mouthful.

“It is very good to hear that. The beef comes from a farm less than twenty miles away. The Brewery is almost next door to the farm. It saves on the food miles. Before you ask, I do own a small stake in the Brewery and the Farm.”

“It’s a lot better than the Chinese Takeaway that I was probably going to have if I’d gone home,” remarked Kim.

Maxine served up some Cheese, Biscuits and some delicious Onion Pickle for desert.
“The Cheese is a bit strong. It is made on the farm where the milk comes from. They run a shop come café right next to the Brewery.”

“It is very sharp but I like it. Far better than what you get in the Supermarket,” commented Kim in between mouthfuls.

“If you do end up living in Norfolk, you will have some of the best food in the country right on your doorstep. I’d make the most of it if I were you.”

Kim remembered seeing the man with the wheelbarrow full of Mussels.

“I’ll be certain to start looking for good suppliers.”

As the end of the meal, Maxine said,
“I think Garth has chosen well with you… Provided you accept his offer that is.”

“I’m still trying to decide.”

Maxine smiled.
“I think that you now know in your heart that you will accept but are trying to prove it to your mind.”

Kim looked down at her empty plate. Maxine was right.

“I’ll get there in time.”

“I would expect that Garth might very well be looking for an answer tomorrow. He’s not a man to be kept waiting.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Then you know what to do then. Whatever your decision is be upfront about it. If you are, and even if it is no, he’ll respect you for it.”

“I know that. It is just…”

“Someone else?”

Kim nodded.

“He asked me to marry him last night and I totally dissed him. He does not deserve that.”

“Is he a sensitive person?”

“Yes… Yes he is. Why?”

“Then he’ll know.”

“Maxine! Please get to the point!”

Maxine laughed.

“Good. Some reaction from you at last.”

Kim glared at her host.

“He’ll know that you were thinking of something else. Just say yes to both of them and get on with enjoying the next phase of your life. Be daring. Be different!”

“It is easy for you to say.”

Maxine laughed.

“There I was out of work and with no visible prospects. Then my silly sister fell off her shoes and I went to a job interview in her place. I went in her place and here I am. A woman of independent means.”

“But you are a widow?”

“I am and I met and fell in love with a man that made me who I am today. Without him and some other extraordinary people I’d just be another person on the dole or earning minimum wage and with next to zero prospects. Don’t get me wrong, I miss Adrian every moment of every day. This is why I dress like this at weekends. Doing this means that I will never ever forget him and what he did for me. One day, I am sure I’ll find a new partner. They’ll have to accept my little foibles. Perhaps like you, they’ll embrace it and dress up like me.”

Kim didn’t say anything but looked at Maxine. Something clicked in her mind.

“Maxine, I hope you don’t get offended by this but are you Trans?”

If Kim was hoping for a negative reaction from Maxine, she was very much mistaken.

“Oh, dear it must be my Adams Apple giving me away again?”
Kim nodded.

“I must get that shaved. Adrian was always going on about it. But, yes you are right. I am Trans but I am fully a woman. The old me was a loser. Becoming Maxine in order to go to that interview made me realise who I really was thanks to the woman who interviewed me. She saw right through me in an instant but it didn’t matter to her. It was what was inside me just screaming to get out that intrigued her. It was she who introduced me to Adrian. Does all this make sense?”

“It actually does you know. You became Maxine and found your destiny. I became a reporter because I thought it was mine. But doing this job will give me a new purpose. I had not really thought of things that way before. Thanks Maxine.”

She smiled and raised her glass.

“To the future. Wherever it happens to lead for both of us!”

Kim could not answer where that might lead but wherever it was it was going to be interesting.

As they did the dishes, Kim said,
“That really is some dress you are wearing Maxine.”

“I love it. Adrian and I designed it and I had it made. Like the one you are wearing.”

“Oh! I didn’t know.”

“If I could get away going to some business meetings in it or something equally dramatic then I would but… Men rule don’t they so it is a business suit or something like that. That all changes if you are the boss though. You make the rules.”

“What do you mean?”

“Be bold. Make a statement. Don’t conform to their stereotypes. If this job entails people coming to you for money then make it clear that they need you more than you needing them so make them follow your rules. If they don’t like it then there is the door… Got it?”

Kim laughed.

“You know Maxine, I think I do. Thanks.”

---

Kim left Maxine’s after breakfast the following morning. She’d had a much better night’s sleep. Before she’d left, Maxine had asked.

“Are you going say Yes and Yes?”

Kim smiled.

“That tells me that you are. Good for you. You and Garth will make a formidable partnership. Just keep giving him the truth even if it is bad news. He loathes people who lie or are ‘yes’ men but he’s probably told you that at least once already. The old goat does tend to repeat himself a bit but you soon learn to roll with it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence and, yes I know about giving it to him straight. He and I are much the same that way.”

“Well, to help you on your way here is a little gift,” said Maxine as she handed Kim a package.

“What’s this?”

Maxine grinned.

“Oh, only what you were wearing last night plus a chiffon wrap. You said that you had some Jimmy Choo’s at home? Well girl? What are you waiting for eh? Take this gift from me then go to Kings Lynn and knock those men dead.”

Kim dithered before taking the bag.

“Don’t be ashamed to look your best. Instead, think of those poor men who are forced to wear the same dull crap every day. Then think about how lucky we are to have so much to choose from eh? Dress to please yourself rather than conform to the expectations of others. After a while, I’m sure you’ll get to enjoy deciding on your outfits for the day ahead.”

Kim had no answer to that so she gave Maxine a peck on her cheek before literally fleeing down the steps of the house and into the waiting Taxi.

[to be continued]