Mack's Progress Ch. 09

"If she can do the job all right, and she's pretty," I added with a smile, to lighten the air a little; Bev was sounding very serious. "Then I can't foresee any problems, Beverley."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think she's pretty," George commented.

Bev gave him a look that would have scared the pants off of any lesser man. But George just grinned back at her.

"Look, what's going on between you two?" I asked. They were behaving very strangely to my way of thinking.

"Nothing, Mack, we're just all very happy to have you back, that's all," Bev replied.

George by then had developed a stupid smile on his face, like he was feeling very smug about something and being silly at the same time. For some reason it reminded me of the expression that Stan Laurel was famous for making when things went wrong in their films.

After I'd finished eating, I returned to the bar area where several more old friends had arrived. One of them was Craig who now seemed to enjoy referring to me as Super Stud and revelled in telling all and sundry about the hot American chick that I'd picked up on the Tameron. It very soon became apparent that everyone in the village was already aware that the beautiful Codi and I had become an item, and eventually one of the guys asked what had become of her.

For some reason, possibly because my mind was still on the fact that I was about to become the manager of the Wherry and that was a big responsibility for a young man, I didn't immediately come back with an answer.

"Codi has gone back to college in America," Billie blurted out before I could get my act together.

This shocked me some because I couldn't figure out how Billie could possibly know that Codi had returned to the US. She could well have heard that Codi and I weren't together anymore from Julia, who - I suspected - had warned the Willow's that I was on my way up. But I'd said nothing at all to any of my family about Codi. Billie quickly realised that she'd said too much and very smartly disappeared amongst the crowd. And I began to wonder what the hell had been going on.

A little later I was still waiting for the chance to get Billie alone and ask her how she knew about Codi going back to the States, when two arms sneaked around my waist from behind and I felt the familiar sensation of those big knockers pressing into my lower back.

I spun around to say hello, only to have Millie pull my head down and clamp her mouth over mine, then she tried to suck my tonsils out. I wouldn't say that I was as over-enamoured about that as I could have been. Millie's husband, Phil, was standing at the bar, not six feet away.

"Welcome back, luvver! I've missed you," Millie said when she finally let me breathe again.

"Take it easy, Millie. Your old man's around here somewhere; he might get jealous and get that shotgun of his out," I said, trying to make light of the over-enthusiastic welcome Millie had just given me.

"I have his permission, Luvver, don't you worry!" Millie replied, still grinning and then she kissed me again.

Whilst she was trying to asphyxiate me this second time, I glanced in Phil's direction, intent on gauging his reaction to Millie's welcome. It was with some surprise that I saw the big grin on his face. Then I realised that all was not as kosher as it should be and I was being set-up for something. Phillip, although apparently watching his wife kiss me, was actually looking at something going on behind me. What's more a quick look at Millie's eyes told me that she was trying to watch the same thing.

When I tried to turn the pair of us so that I could see what they were watching -- there was no way I was going to be able to break free until she decided that I could - Millie took me by surprise and pre-empted my turning motion by turning us in the other direction.

"Okay, what's the score, Millie?" I demanded, when she finally released me from her clutches.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Mack. I've missed you that's all."

"Millie, that snog had nothing to do with you missing me or welcoming me back home. You were keeping me occupied whilst something happened behind me," I said, turning around to scrutinise the faces of everyone who had been stood behind us when Millie kissed me. "Frank... John, what the hell just happened that I wasn't supposed to see, fellas?" I demanded of the two girls' husbands who were stood there, trying to look innocent.

But they both just shrugged back at me. Feeling annoyed that I was being made a fool of, I scanned the bar looking for anything out of the ordinary, and noted that Beverley and Billie were both missing.

But then I spotted Beverley coming through the kitchen door; our eyes met and she gestured for me to go over to her.

"What's all this bloody pantomime about, Beverley?" I demanded when I got over to her.

"Take it easy and calm down, Mack. We didn't know how this was going to go and we didn't want any kind of a confrontation in the bar," Bev replied very quietly.

"Confrontation?" I asked.

"Mack, the new barmaid's in the kitchen. Why don't you go in there and have that chat with her now?"

"Sure thing, Bev. But when I figure out what you buggers were up to, sparks are going fly!" I smiled back at her, to let Bev know that I had my emotions under control.

Bev smiled back at me and gestured towards the kitchen door, which I opened. Then Bev gave me a shove inside, because the shock of what -- or should I say who - I'd seen sitting at the table had virtually rooted me to the spot.

"Hi, Mack," Lindsey said, with tears running down her face.

"Lynn... What... Why...?" was as much as I could manage to get out.

However Lindsey obviously had her well-rehearsed little speech prepared. Once she started I daren't stop her until she'd finished. I could see and hear that she was struggling.

"I came to the mountain once, Mack, and finished up chickening out, when I..." she faltered. I thought that Lindsey was going to crack, but she took a deep breath and continued. "Then Joan actually talked the mountain into coming to me, and that bloody idiot chose the wrong moment to make his ridiculous marriage proposal." She gave a sigh. "Honestly, Mack, I'd told him that we could never be anything but friends. Well then, after my disappointment at Billie's wedding, Julia told me that the mountain still wanted to talk, so I thought I'd better come up and see him." She stopped for another breath and a little sob. "But by the time I got here, you'd already gone."

"Beverley told me that they thought that you were coming back this year, so I decided to stay and wait until you got here. I've been working here at the Willow's ever since."

Whilst Lindsey had been talking, I'd sat myself in the seat opposite her at the table.

"Lindsey," I said reaching out to take her hand, "You do realise that..."

"I know all about Codi, Mack. Craig made sure everyone in bloody Norfolk knows all about Mack and his beautiful American girl."

"Shit, I'm sorry you heard about her, Lindsey. That guy's got a big mouth."

"I would have heard about Codi anyway, Mack! If not from Craig, then from Billie or the detective," she said.

"Detective?" I asked completely confused.

"Codi's father is a very important and I should imagine very rich judge in America, Mack," Billie, who I hadn't even realised was in the room, said. "He had your background investigated when he thought you two were going to get married. He even came over himself, to talk to Beverley and George."

"Bleeding hell!" I commented.

"And he called Beverley on Thursday morning to tell her what had happened in France. He's a nice man; he and his wife were quite worried about you, when you ran off from the chalet. Codi had no idea where you'd gone, you know?"

"Shit, Javier must not have told her."

"Javier?" Billie asked.

"A friend of mine over there. He's a cab driver. He drove me to Lyon. I assumed he would tell Codi that I'd left for England, but apparently he didn't. I wonder why the other two never told her."

"From what Codi's father told Beverley, we think Codi's persona-non-gratis among your friends down there."

"Oh, shit, poor Codi!"

"Why poor Codi? She did what Lindsey didn't do, didn't she? She's made her bed, she asked for everything she's got. But, Mack, Lindsey didn't!" Billie very pointedly, pointed out.

"Oh, god, yeah, I'm so sorry about all that, Lindsey. I kind-a got hold of the wrong end of the stick for a while there. I can only say that I'm sorry for being such a bloody arsehole," I said to Lindsey as apologetically as I knew how.

Lindsey, however, didn't reply. She just placed a large manila envelope on the table and pulled a file of papers from it.

"I thought that you might like to read this, Mack; that's if you can make any sense of it. The Doctor's handwriting is pretty abysmal," she said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"My medical records, right back from before I went on the pill. If you can understand it, it explains that my going on the birth control pill had nothing to do with my wanting to have sex with anyone. It was because of my irregular periods and the chronic pains they caused me."

"Christ, Lindsey, I don't need to see that."

"Maybe not but you do need to see this." She said pushing another piece of paper at me. "Although it's some months old now, I had the examination back in September just before I came up here; I'll have another done this week."

"What the hell is it?"

"Briefly I says that I'm still medically a virgin and that I have never had sexual intercourse with anyone."

"Shit, Lynn, what did you get that for?"

"To convince you that I have never given to any man anything that I hadn't offered to you. Mack, I told you that I intend to walk down the aisle a virgin and I still intend to do so. And when it comes to the time I was hoping that you might possibly be the one who took my virginity."

"Lindsey, I don't know what to say. Look, you must understand that I almost married Codi."

"I understand completely, Mack. And I don't want to catch you on the rebound from her either; I can assure you of that. Mack, I don't want you to get the idea that I haven't gone out with other guys since... Oh, you know. But I will tell you that none of them stood up to... Oh, bugger, you know what I mean. I couldn't get as close to any of them, as we had been."

"I'm sorry, Lindsey, I was a bloody fool."

"Christ, Mack, stop saying that you're sorry. The time to have been sorry was three years ago. You have to understand something, Mack, which might not make much sense to you. I'm not in love with you anymore - anymore than you're in love with me either. If you were, then you would never have been able to ask Codi to marry you."

Lindsey looked me straight in the eyes. I have no idea what she read into my expression because I really can't relate what I was feeling myself at the time; I was pretty overwhelmed by the occasion.

"However," Lindsey went on, "I do still love you and I haven't been able to find anyone else that I feel that I could fall in love with. I'm not sure but I think... or rather, I'm hoping that you will feel the same way; that we can fall in love with each other again, eventually. We've got plenty of time; maybe when you've got Codi out of your system, we might date or something."

"Lynn, at this moment I would marry you tomorrow. But you are right, I'm still all mixed up in my mind, what with all that has happened - you know, with Codi and all that. I'm very flattered that you are prepared to give me... well, us - a chance. Although dating could be a problem, since you'd have to get time off from your boss and as I understand it, he's a real arsehole."

Lindsey smiled, "So we'll see what the future brings then, shall we? I'm sure that I can talk my boss around. He's a pain in the arse sometimes; but when it comes down to it, he's my pain in the arse. Well, I hope he will be."

"Hey, girl, don't go turning all kinky on me."

"Oh, Mack, there's one thing that you'd better know up front. My friend, Millie, and I do a lot of reminiscing together behind the bar when the pub's quiet."

"Jesus, what's she been saying?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Let's just say we commiserate with each other and Millie's been teaching me more than just how to be a bar maid."

"Should I be worried?"

"Well, we'll see, shall we - eventually." Lindsey grinned.

Damn, the expression that appeared on Lindsey's face came straight out of my cousin Billie and Millie's repartee.

I had to wonder exactly how much about our relationship Millie had told Lindsey. Pretty much 'everything' I was to discover over the years. I was also to discover that Lindsey knew most of the intimate details of my relationships with Patricia and Michelle as well.

All four women have a kind of weird bond between them. Any of them can all but reduce me to an embarrassed wreck with one sly comment to any of the others. Sometimes I have to wonder how much they've told Billie as well, because she always appears to get the joke. I don't think that any of them have let on to Lindsey about Beverley and me, though. Well, there's never been any suggestive jokes in that direction.

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It was a month or so before we reopened the Wherry. The opening was done without any real ceremony. Oh, yeah, we had a little party for the locals but that was about all. The holiday season was rushing up on us and we were too busy getting everything ready. All the gardens had to be redone; Sammy had really let them go.

Back in those days what catering we did, besides the odd grilled steak, was limited to chicken and chips in a basket kind of stuff. But it still took time to prepare; Lindsey took charge of that side of things.

One of the things about the Wherry that I was really pleased about was that Sammy had expanded into small boat hire at one time in the past. He'd bought the tiny boat yard next-door to the pub and hired out small launches by the hour. Now all that remained of the launches were lying -- all but derelict - in an old corrugated iron boat shed on the land. The land itself - well, most of it - Bev hoped eventually to incorporate into the Wherry's gardens, but for the time being we just cleaned the place up a bit and had some local lads slap a coat of paint on the iron shed.

Craig and some of his mates were persuaded to look the old wooden launches over and, with Laurence's help, the best two we managed to get serviceable quite quickly. From then on we used the boats for transport between the two pubs, the village shop and - time permitting - the local town on shopping expeditions; sure made a change from getting the car out. We never had any plans of hiring them out to the general public.

Bev gave one of the other launches to Millie and Phil. Phil, with Laurence's help, got sorted out. Then eventually -- once Phil got the short length of canal that led up to the farm cleared - Millie used it like most folks use a car; Millie to my knowledge never has passed her driving test. Although, I have seen her driving tractors and cars around the farm.

For a long time Lindsey and I just worked together as friends. Millie had taught her well. Maybe a little better than I would have liked, because as soon as the warm weather came along; Lindsey began to appear in the bar with an almost indecently short pair of cut offs and with her blouse tied under her breasts, much in the manner that Pat and Michelle were in the habit of wearing behind the bar.

I was amazed at how much cash Lindsey raked in, in tips from the holidaymakers. I had never realised what kind of money those girls were raking in on the quiet. Lindsey was quite happy to count her tips out in front of me on the bar after closing time, though; the other girls never had. I commented on the fact one day in the late summer.

"Not much point in keeping it a secret from you. What's mine will be ours before very much longer," Lindsey replied, taking me by surprise.

"You think so?" I answered wondering if it was the desired reply.

"I know so!" Lindsey said as she swept the pile of cash into a bag, gave me one of those, 'I know what I'm talking about looks' then disappeared in the direction of her room.

God knows how long I stood there, trying to work out what move, if any, I was expected to make then. Eventually - after weighing up all the options - I chickened out of doing anything. I was too scared of fucking things up again with Lindsey by moving too early. Yeah, just being around Lindsey everyday had made me fall head over heels in love with her again.

I think it must have been the following Monday. I was alone in the pub because Lindsey had gone off early to do some shopping at the supermarket in town. Millie and Billie, who were both on shift that day, hadn't turned up after dropping their babies off at the crèche in the Village Hall yet.

Actually I was crouched down behind the bar, tidying and restocking the bottom shelf; the one where we kept the less popular and therefore rarely asked for drinks. It tended to get in a right state.

Anyway I suddenly heard the door open, and realised that Lindsey must have returned. Obviously she was carrying some shopping and I soon realised that Millie and Billie were with her. As the girls were always playing jokes on me, I thought I'd stay down behind the bar where they couldn't see me, and then jump up to make them jump when they passed close to the bar.

They must have put some of the shopping on a handy table and then gone back out to the car for the rest. When eventually they returned, they were all giggling about something, although I couldn't really hear that well what they were saying; however I did pick up the gist of it.

"This one?" I heard Lindsey ask.

"No, this one's more like it," Millie replied.

"Christ. Are you sure? That's damned big, isn't it? I keep reaching and choking with these little ones," Lindsey commented.

"Yeah, you'll get it eventually, Lynn; it's just a matter pf practice and mind control. We all got the retching reflex to start with; but with time and practice you'll find you will be able to overcome that, won't she, Billie?"

'What the hell are these women discussing?' I thought to myself, and sneaked my head up a little, hoping that I'd be able to see between the pump handles and that the girls would not see me.

"Look, it's easy once you get the hang of it. Watch?" Mille said.

And I watched wide-eyed as Millie pealed the skin from a fair sized banana and then, tilting her head back, took almost the whole thing into her mouth and down her throat. Then she pulled it out again and grinned at Lindsey.

"See, easy. The real trick to learn and the one that really will drive him crazy is to swallow while you've got it in there. God knows what sensation they get when you do that. But it drives them wild when your throat muscles grab hold of it," Millie said.

"Yeah, you should see how Francis jumps around when I do it to him. Watch this!" Billie said, and then proceeded to give Lindsey the same demonstration that Mille had done. Only I could clearly make out Billie's throat muscles working. Billie eventually pulled the banana out of her mouth and grinned at the other two.

Jesus, Millie and Billie were teaching Lindsey how to deep throat! I had to wonder how long this kind of thing had been going on. But knowing Millie and Billie like I did, I figured that it had probably been quite some time. Oh, this was, of course, well before I realised that Millie had told Lindsey the intimate details of our relationship.

I ducked down behind the bar again and very quietly and carefully crawled towards the hatch in the floor, which led down to the cellar. I had no intention that any of the girls were going to learn what I had just witnessed. But I was reassured that, when Lindsey and I eventually did get our relationship going again, it looked like I was going to be in for an interesting sex life. Something I had worried about, what with Lindsey's apparently repressed views on sex.