Danielle was reluctant to give much away when they met up the following Sunday. She'd turned up at his home driving her mother's car.

“Why won’t you let on? Not only about where we are going, but everything?"

After a brief hesitation, she answered.

“Because I’m winging it. You know I like things ‘just so’. You do as well. But there is an opportunity for us to change our lives, and also get one back at George along the way.”

“Why not start at the beginning. Where are we going?”

“Abingdon. We are going to Abingdon for lunch.”

“Why Abingdon, and who are we meeting there?”

“The who, is someone my mother makes clothes for.”

Josh knew that Danielle’s Mother had worked for a London Fashion House and had carried on making clothes when her children were reasonably grown up.

“But why?”

“Because she has a business… well several actually that are growing and according to my Mum, she has an opening for an assistant.”

It took Josh a second or so to understand what Danielle had said.

“Me? An assistant? Assistant what? I hope this isn’t a job interview. I’m certainly not dressed for one.”

Danielle smiled.
“I’m only the messenger here. Mum made all the arrangements and her message was informal. There is also another opening in another of her companies for a Marketing Director. I have no more information than that. Mum was keeping quiet. All she said was go and have lunch, enjoy yourselves and get to know Sandra.”

Josh was not happy that Danielle had told her mother about Josh’s predicament. He had more reasons than most to want to keep his business private. He shut up and let Danielle drive. Driving was one skill that he’d never had the money for. Nor had his parents been inclined to pay for him to have driving lessons. In their eyes, he’d been a failure right from the first day he went to school and returned with his brand new school uniform in tatters.

In the middle of his second year at university, his parents had paid a surprise visit to Josh. They’d found him wearing a dress. After a blazing row, they’d told him that he was no longer their son. They’d even changed the locks on the family home and their phone numbers. Josh had tried to meet them in the street but they had refused to even make eye contact with him.

When he graduated, he went to tell them but discovered that his parents had sold up and disappeared abroad. No one knew where they’d gone but the company that his father had worked for was interested in getting back a lot of money that had strangely gone missing just as his father left. Josh had moved in with an elderly great-aunt until he went off to university and since the aunt had died, he was effectively alone in the world. Thankfully, his aunt had left him just enough to cover his debts from university.

His thoughts were interrupted by Danielle slamming on the brakes.

“I thought you were navigating?” she demanded.

“Sorry. I…”

“You were miles away. Just try not to drift off into your own little world when we are with Sandra ok?”

Josh managed a weak smile.

“I’ll try.”

Danielle gave him a look that seemed to say, ‘drift off and you are walking home’.

Sandra's house was a typical 1930's suburban detached house. It was on a private road just off the old coaching road from Abingdon to Oxford. All the other houses in the road looked to be identical. Josh wondered if they’d been built for managers at the Morris Factory in nearby Cowley. The clue was in the name of the road, ‘Morris Drive’.

“Please pay attention and for once appear to be outgoing,” said Danielle as she parked the car. She’d parked behind a red Jaguar sports car.

She guessed that it belonged to their host from the numberplate, SYL 100.

The front door opened as they approached. A woman stepped out to greet them. Both of them were surprised at the way she was dressed. It was all very 1950’s retro. The thing was that she had the figure to make it look stunning.

“Welcome. You are just in time for Lunch. Come on in and relax after your trip,” said the woman.

“I’m Sandra Francis by the way. My friends call me Sandi.”

Without waiting for a reply, she led them into the house. Josh shut the very heavy and very wide front door behind them. The interior was part very modern and part Art Deco. It appealed to Josh in a strange sort of way.

Sandra led them through into a bright and very modern kitchen diner. It was obvious that this was an extension of the original house.

Something very nice was cooking. Josh had run out of both breakfast cereal and milk the previous day and hadn't gotten around to buying more. His stomach gave an appreciative rumble.

“It is almost ready. Another ten minutes or so and we can dish up.”

Josh noticed the use of the word ‘we’. It seemed to him that Sandra was not someone who stood on ceremony at home but would be very different in the office.

“Can I do anything to help,” asked Josh more out of not wanting to appear an idle freeloader than anything else.

“Not at the moment. Let’s take a seat and we can start talking?” suggested Sandra.

Danielle and Josh sat in the places indicated by Sandra.

“I didn’t open any wine as two of us will be driving later. I hope that’s all right?”

The question was directed at Josh.

“I’m fine with that.”

“Good. Now down to business.”

[three hours later]
“Thanks for coming today,” said Sandra.

“I hope that I’ve given both of you something to ponder over?”

“You certainly done that,” replied Danielle.

“What about you Josh?”

“The same,” he replied reluctantly.

Sandra looked at her watch.

“I need to get going. I’m meeting someone off a flight from Germany at Birmingham Airport in two hours and the M40 can get rather busy on a Sunday afternoon.”

She smiled at the two younger people.

“I really do hope that we can get to know each other better as time goes by. I think that we can be a good team.”

Sandra got in the Jag and followed them out onto the main road. Josh watched her Jag turn towards the A34 and disappear into the distance in the wing mirror.

Danielle laughed.

“She’s an interesting person all right. Mum was not wrong there.”

Josh didn’t reply.

“She made a big impression on you then?” joked Danielle.

“What do you mean?”

Danielle laughed even louder as she negotiated a roundabout on the outskirts of Oxford.

“You really didn’t clock her then?”

“Clock her?”

Danielle sighed.
“She’s trans.”

Those two words hit Josh right in the stomach.

“Eh?”

“She looks really good but there were a few hints that told me. She’s had a lot of work done. That sort of work does not come cheap or without a lot of pain. Then there are the clothes.”

“The ones that your Mum makes?”

“And the rest. That jacket she drove off in came from a top designer from Milan. I could see the label. The house, car and everything says to me that she has made a good deal of money in Architectural Salvage and Reproductions. Now she’s setting up another business and she wants me to run the marketing side of things.”

“But…” mumbled Josh.

“No Buts darling. Isn’t this the sort of opportunity that you have dreamed about?”

Josh didn’t answer. Instead, Danielle reached over and took his hand in hers.

Josh reacted by starting to move his hand away but stopped.

“Danielle?” muttered Josh.

“I’m here and yes, I was so stupid. I let George dictate my life for far too long. When you told me that you wanted to be me, I was shocked. I didn’t get much sleep that night. I found it strange that you would want to be me unless you wanted George. Then the absurdity of that made me realised that you wanted to be the real me not the thing that George wanted me to be. That’s when I decided that things were well and truly over between me and George. I was not going to let him turn me into a new version of his mother.”

Danielle stopped talking while she negotiated the turning off the M40 and headed towards Aylesbury.

“As I was saying, I realised that I owed you big time. That’s when I thought of Sandra. Mum had told me about Sandra and how well her business was doing and … Well after a bit of research, I called Sandra. The result was today but there is more to it than that.”

“But…” muttered Josh

“What if I turn out to be a total dick at working for her?”

Then he added,
“I still don’t get where George comes into this?”

Danielle giggled.
“Well Duh! Isn’t it obvious? You become the real you and then seduce George and then expose him for the obnoxious bastard that he is through and through.”

Josh thought through her words for nearly ten minutes before replying.

“Firstly, I’m sure that I’m going to look like a total pratt in Women’s clothes.”

Before he could continue Danielle interrupted.

“What? Are you saying that you have never dressed properly?”

“Not really. I… got caught wearing one of Mum’s skirts one day after school. I was so happy that I never heard Dad coming home. He beat the fuck out of me. I was off school for well over a week. I owned a couple of skirts at Uni. I’d put them on when I was studying in my room and that’s when I had the big bust up with my parents, but that’s about it. I sort of lost the few clothes I had when I was couch surfing after Uni. Since I’ve had my own place, I’ve not had any spare funds to get anything like clothes or make-up.”

“Oh, you poor thing. We’ll have to rectify that very soon.”

Danielle let Josh continue. After some minutes, he carried on.

“I could never look like Sandra even if I could afford it. She’s really high maintenance.”

Danielle smiled.
“She’s certainly a looker all right. Do you have an image what the real you should look like?”

“Not really. I just want to be able to live in the real world as a woman. Nothing flashy.”

Then he looked at Danielle.
“Sort of just like you really.”

Danielle didn’t know if what he’d said was a compliment or something else.

“That’s the sort of woman that George’s mother would approve of,” said Josh.

He’d just driven a stake right into her heart. It was also perfectly true.

“Not like those beauties he has on his arm when he supposedly goes to watch Chelsea.”

Danielle tried hard not to crash the car. She found a place to stop and burst into tears.

Josh immediately knew that he’d done wrong.

“Sorry Dani. It sort of just slipped out,” said Josh apologetically as he handed her a handkerchief.

After a bit, she'd recovered enough to reply.

“I didn’t know but I sort of expected it. How do you know about them?”

“One day, I was arriving for a late shift when I saw him sitting in his red beast outside the shop. Then, Bonnie, one of the other Barista’s came running out and got in the passenger seat of his Beemer. I didn’t think anything of it until you said that he went to all Chelsea’s home and away games. That day was my birthday and I bought myself a small cake. I ate it when I got home as I watched Chelsea lose to Man United and Chelsea were playing in Manchester. Unless he took Bonnie to the game, and she knows zilch about football, he must have been with her.”

Danielle didn’t say anything but gripped the steering wheel very tightly.

After a bit, she asked,
“This Bonnie? Is she a good looker?”

“If you mean, does she have big tits and a good figure? Then yes. The downside is that she’s about as thick as two short planks. The boss won’t let her use the till. Every time… well we all lose our tips because the till is short. Her saving grace is that she makes the best coffee in the place.”

Danielle took hold of Josh’s hand and squeezed it.
“Sorry for going off like that.”

She managed a small smile.

“It’s ok. You weren’t to know. The man is a dickhead. He didn’t know what a gem he had in his hand.”

Danielle managed a bigger smile.

“You say the sweetest things… from time to time.”
Then she kissed him. Not on the cheek but properly on the lips. Josh took his time but eventually, he responded.

“Sorry,” said Josh when they broke apart.

“No need to be sorry. I started it.”

After a couple of minutes of silence, Josh said,
“Where do we go from here?”

“Home. Then I’m going to give you a make-over. I want to see what Josie looks like.”

“And have a good laugh at my expense I suppose?”

“Not in the slightest. I want to see who I’m going to be working… and living with.”

“Living with?”

Danielle smiled before saying,
“I kinda thought that we could see how things go while we look for a place closer to Oxford?”

“But…” muttered Josh.

Danielle hugged Josh.

“I didn’t realise what was happening to me until our encounter at the Wedding. Then… well, you told me who you wanted to be and since then everything in my life has changed and it all involves you.”

Josh just sat there speechless.

“Say something? I’ve just more or less said that I’m falling in love with you, and you just sit there and saying and doing nothing…”

Josh still didn’t say a thing, instead he kissed Danielle passionately.
That wasn’t doing nothing but was about all he could think of at that moment.

[to be continued]