A Second Life

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A lonely young widower finds new love unexpectedly.
18k words
4.62
149.1k
89

Part 1 of the 9 part series

Updated 10/18/2022
Created 06/11/2010
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Mang0nel
Mang0nel
141 Followers

This is hopefully Part 1 of what will be a series of stories about the main characters.

The story is necessarily long and only has sex towards the end because I felt it was necessary to set the scene and introduce the backgrounds of each of the characters.

All the characters, places and events in the story are pure fiction and straight out of my active imagination. I do not accept any responsibility for any resemblance to real people, places or events that occur anywhere.

Key characters:

Zachary Kiddle (aka Zack)

Annie Kiddle nee Mears (Zach's wife who died)

Doug Mears (Annie's father)

Sam (Zach's devoted dog, originally belonged to Doug)

Julie Wellman (step-mother of Chelsea)

Chelsea Wellman (step-daughter of Julie)

*

The Past:

Zachary Kiddle had always thought that all he needed to be truly happy was one person at his side whom he could love, have a family with, and to live out his life with, but it only took five meetings with two beautiful women to totally change his thinking. As a bright, intelligent and fit thirty five year old widower, standing a shade over five foot ten with a touch of grey in his dark hair, he would be a great catch for any of the eligible young women in the small lakeside town of Stanley Bay. The trouble was there were few women Zach (as he liked to be called) considered worth being eligible for. Most of the Stanley Bay women in his age bracket were either already married, divorced, pregnant, or lacked anything more than a basic high school education. Zach wanted an intellectual equal as a life partner, and would not compromise on his standards in his search for one, especially after the tragic loss of his wife seven years earlier.

Zach Kiddle and Annie Mears married young -- both had just turned twenty four. They met at university, where Zach studied architecture and design, and Annie was in her last couple of years doing a master's degree in business management. Zach secured a great job with a successful medium-sized architectural and design company, and made enough to keep them living comfortably in their rented two bedroom flat halfway between the university and where he worked, so that Annie could easily bike the fifteen minutes to and from her studies. After graduating in the top five in her class, Annie got a job at a large investment brokerage firm near Zach's work, so it made it easy for them to ride their bikes to and from work together whenever their schedules fitted. For the most part, their car spent most of its time in the garage, except for weekends when they did their shopping, or went on long drives to explore the countryside. Their lives were total bliss as they made plans for their long happy future together, and did what Annie called 'practice making babies' in every room in the flat.

Then came the eventful day when Zach worked one of his usual late nights designing a new resort complex in some faraway holiday town. Annie had finished her work early and rode home alone. She had been to the doctor that morning and looked forward to telling Zach the wonderful news that she was pregnant. Things were going to change in the Kiddle household. They had saved enough for a deposit on a house, and could start looking for her dream home. The traffic was light, and she had the cycle lane all to herself. The court records would show that the drunk driver who hit and killed her was a wealthy out of town banker, visiting for a conference on developing overseas markets. Bored with the speeches, he had spent most of the afternoon drinking in the company of a buxom blonde behind the bar showing more cleavage than common sense. After arranging to meet in his hotel room across town when she finished her shift later that evening, he got into his hire car and weaved his way down the road. The banker's defence team tried to argue that he never saw Annie on her bike because of her dark clothing and her dark green bike, and as a relatively inexperienced cyclist she must have strayed out of the cycle lane onto his lane. But security camera footage from a shopping complex nearby showed he had been weaving across lanes, and even into the cycle lane when driving away from the bar. The key piece of damning evidence was a picture from a traffic camera which showed him looking down at his feet as his car was crossing into Annie's lane, just before it collected her bike, throwing bike and rider several yards sideways into a large tree. By the time he stopped his car and ran over it was too late -- Annie had taken her last breath.

With Annie's last breath, Zach's dreams of a happy family life seemed to disappear. The court awarded Zach a large compensation, for which the guilty banker had to sell off many of his assets, in addition to a prison sentence when it was discovered that this was not the first accident he had been involved in while under the influence (but the first to result in death). Zach also inherited Annie's substantial wealth, which neither he nor Annie had been aware of -- her doting widowed father Doug had put a large parcel of shares in numerous blue chip companies in his only daughter's name to give her as a surprise upon the birth of his first grandchild. Once it was confirmed that Annie was pregnant at the time of the accident, Doug quietly took Zach aside one weekend, and told him of the shares that were now his.

After the dust settled Zach threw himself into his work, secretly dedicating every design to Annie, the woman who had been the love of his life, and the mother of his dead unborn child. Along the way he found he enjoyed designing and remodelling houses more than large complexes or multi-storey office buildings. He also found city living no longer had the same appeal now he was alone. He needed to escape, to find somewhere away from the constant invitations from friends trying to hook him up with a divorcee living down the road, or an attractive friend they worked with. He needed to find a simpler life somewhere where nobody knew him or about the past. After a year of searching he discovered the lovely lakeside town of Stanley Bay, about three hours drive to the south, and not too far from the coast. It ticked all the boxes -- not too hot in summer, or too cold in winter; big enough so that it had all the amenities and potential work possibilities; small enough so he could enjoy the peace and quiet; far enough away so he could start afresh, but still near enough to still be able to visit Annie's grave; rural enough to make land cheap and affordable for him to design the dream house Annie would have loved. A brief meeting with his company's senior partners resulted in an ideal solution -- he would resign from the company, but they would keep his services as a specialist consultant on small building projects like house renovations, something they conceded was not a high priority in their growth plan, which tended to lean towards large shopping malls, holiday resort complexes, and large multi-storey structures. After a whirlwind couple of months, Zach bought a nice three bedroom cottage at the base of a small knoll-like hill overlooking the lake -- the last house on the last street, with the next house over fifty yards away. He sold off everything he no longer wanted or needed, got the packers in, and moved into his new home in the country.

Once settled into the cottage Zach got to work on his life plan for the short- to medium-term future. It did not take long before there was a steady stream of work both from his former employers and from the steadily growing local holiday home market within the region. During the quieter periods he was happy to help out some of the builder friends he had made for a day or two of hammering or putting up walls. Added to the dividends from the shares Doug gave him, he discovered he could live quite a comfortable life. Zach decided on working a four day week, leaving a three day weekend to get to know the locals, the surroundings, and to design and build what should have been Annie's dream house. Before long he bought the large parcel of land that the hill sat on directly behind the cottage. With the help of Doug and a couple of his local builder friends, Annie's dream house took shape over the space of a few months. Zach designed it and built it on the top of the hill, leaving his original cottage at the base of the hill intact for Doug to live in when he retired at the end of the year.

So it happened that twenty months after his arrival at Stanley Bay, Zach hung a sign reading 'Annie's Dream' at the bottom of the long sloping driveway that led past the cottage and up to the two storey octagonal timber house with two ground level adjoining wings on either side. As he started up his quad bike to head back up the driveway, Doug stepped out the front door and held up a cup of coffee. Zach rode the quad onto Doug's driveway and killed the engine, then followed his now closest friend into the familiar kitchen where he met the newest edition to the family -- a cute grey bundle of wrinkled skin, floppy ears and oversized paws asleep in a basket. Zach gladly accepted the coffee Doug passed to him.

"Meet Sam," Doug said quietly, "I picked him up yesterday, he's a Weimaraner. They are excellent companion dogs." Sam looked a hundred percent cute, but Zach noted a strange look in Doug's eye. Zach said he thought Sam would be perfect for Doug - he would keep him company, and guard against any unwelcome guests, not that anyone who went to Doug's cottage was ever made to feel unwelcome. The two friends quietly crept out onto the front porch and sat on the two large comfy chairs facing each other.

The strange look came back into Doug's eye. "Zach, we have to talk." Zach was all attention, and had a bad feeling about what was coming. "Son, since Annie is no longer with us, you are now the only family I have. I know you took the best care of my little Annie, and she was the happiest I had ever seen her during the short time she was with you." After a sip of his coffee and long gaze at the far side of the lake Doug continued, "I got Sam not for me, but for you. I'm dying son, probably be lucky to see out another year. The doc confirmed last month that I had cancer, and it seems to be pretty bad." Zach opened his mouth to say something to his best friend, but Doug held up his hand. "Son, you need to get on with your life, and I hope Sam will help you do that. I will use what time I have left to train him up to be a good companion and guard dog for you. I will also use the time to get all my affairs in order."

Zach was speechless. He could barely speak, but he asked if there was anything his old friend wanted him to do. Doug looked him in the eye, "All I want from you is that you live your life. Stop dwelling on Annie, move on, find someone to live out your life with -- not a replacement for my little girl, but a new person to grow old with and give your life new meaning. When I die, I will leave everything to you. I want to be cremated, and I want my ashes placed next to my little girl." Zach nodded quietly as he felt his friend laying a firm hand gently on his shoulder. Doug added, "The only other thing I want is that you stop in regularly so that Sam recognises you as part of his pack, and so that I can teach you his basic commands." With that, Doug stood up and suggested that Zach should get back on the quad and head back up the hill to start work for the day. They would get together again at that evening when Zach came for his weekly dinner at the cottage, and laugh over a few wines and a few tall stories.

Almost a year to the day after that conversation, Zach made the long trip back to the city to honour his promise to Doug. On the Volvo's front passenger seat beside him a tubular canister with Doug's ashes. He could hear Sam's quiet snoring coming from the open boot space of the wagon. Sam sat quietly at Zach's side at the cemetery during Doug's interment alongside their beloved Annie. A quiet moment of contemplation and a quiet promise to regularly visit his two closest friends, then man and dog returned to the car for the long drive back to Stanley Bay.

The Present:

First Meeting

Zach sat at his usual corner table by the windows at the lakeside café -- 'Mrs T's'. The cafe was reasonably busy on Saturdays, but his table was always reserved for him -- a small perk for the design work he had done for the café owner to remodel the outer facade and interior of the old building to turn it into an a bright airy fun place for locals and tourists to stop and enjoy a coffee and cake, with the added luxury of Wi-Fi connectivity. He always had the corner table so that he could easily reach outside to occasionally pat Sam or talk to him as he sat in the shade outside the cafe just under Zach's window guarding his quad bike nearby. He also liked that spot because there was enough room for him to work online with his netbook, and have his regular weekend coffee and cake with room to spare. Sudden movement next to his table caught his attention -- the new teenaged blonde waitress stood looking at him. As Zach looked up, she nervously blurted, "Ummm, Mrs T told me to come over to see if you needed another mocachino." With a smile and a wink to the attractive middle aged redhead at the counter, Zach said he would have another, then said her name -- Melanie -- as he read it from the nametag on the blonde's uniform. Melanie blushed, and added an embarrassed "I'll bring one right out to you Mr Kiddle," but Zach stopped her as she turned to go with a warm smile, "My friends call me Zach." This brought on another fresh wave of blushes as Melanie giggled her way back to the counter. At least Mrs T had stopped trying to match him up with her well meaning friends, and just left him to his own devices.

Before returning his attention to his netbook, Zach noticed the two slightly tanned and attractive women who had just entered the cafe, and were now headed over towards the tables along the wall near him. They sat two tables over, giving him the chance to observe them without being too obvious. They were both about five foot eight, with loose wavy hair flowing down past the shoulders, and dressed and acted like they could be sisters, but lacked the facial similarity to be sisters. He put the older one at early thirties, slim, athletic, and auburn haired, but with a fashionable wispy lock of blonde on her left side. The younger one he guessed at perhaps mid-twenties, built similarly, same hair colour, but this time the wispy lock of blonde on the right side. After Melanie had taken their order and brought him his coffee he managed to catch a few snatches of their conversation. Their talk suggested they were mother and daughter, but from their ages he figured that couldn't be.

A brief commotion from a loud group of people at the counter caused Zach to look up in time to see Melanie rushing over to the two auburn haired goddesses near him. He overheard Melanie mention moving tables accompanied by several apologies. Then Melanie came over to him, explaining that a vanload of tourists had just arrived and wanted a long table where they could all sit together. The only spare tables were next to the two auburn haired ladies along the wall, but would only work if Melanie could join Zach's table with the one next to him, and move the two ladies there. Melanie blushed again as she apologised, "Ummm Mr... I'm sorry, I mean Zach, I hope you don't mind the inconvenience." Zach just smiled, and told her to go ahead, and within a minute he had two beautiful ladies for company, and exchanged pleasantries over their coffee and cake (with the women doing the bulk of the talking), and brought about their life-changing first meeting.

Zach found out they were neither biological sisters nor biological mother and daughter, but were in fact step-mother and step-daughter, but the felt and behaved more like sisters. The older of the two, Julie Wellman, was indeed thirty, and had grown up not far from his and Annie's rented flat so long ago. Her late step-sister was the mother of the younger girl -- Chelsea, twenty one years old and looking forward to a lazy summer before continuing her university study. Julie became Chelsea's temporary legal guardian nine years ago after Chelsea's parents died tragically in a plane crash on an overseas holiday. It took about a year for both of them to adjust to the changes forced on them by their circumstances, after which Julie (then twenty two) decided to legally adopt her step-niece when Chelsea turned thirteen. That explained the nature of their close relationship with each other. Zach also discovered they intended moving to Stanley Bay, with Julie looking for somewhere quiet to pursue her online business, and Chelsea to have somewhere as a base to call home while she finished her pharmacology degree at the same university Zach and Annie had attended. Chelsea said she wanted to flat in the city during the week and come home for weekends when her timetable fitted. They were in town to see what the place and the people were like, and added that so far they liked what they saw. After an hour of talking Zach said he hoped to see them around. He thought of mentioning the cottage as somewhere they could rent, but his call from the realtor last week to say he thought he had found someone who was really keen to take it stopped him from saying anything. He excused himself, picked up his netbook, shoulder bag and helmet, and went to the counter where he quietly paid for his as well as Julie's and Chelsea's coffees and cakes. He wasn't aware of the two pairs of eyes at his corner table following his every move. Julie and Chelsea watched his square frame intently as he exited the café, and as he was greeted by an enthusiastic tail-wag and lick from Sam, and even as he climbed onto the quad bike, with Sam happily perched in his special box attached to the rear carry frame, and then rode off in the direction of Annie's Dream.

Second Meeting

Zach's first thoughts as he woke up that Friday a couple of weeks later were of the cottage. Fridays were his has day off, so he viewed it as part of his weekend. He needed to fix some of the sticking windows and a rattling door that the realtor had suggested needed attention. The bedside clock showed 6:35am, so he had plenty of time to jog down the hill to the lake with Sam for his weekly swim across the lake and back, a distance of just under a mile. After that, jog home for a quick shower, followed by breakfast, and he could be at the cottage by 9.00am. The still early morning air and the flat water on the lake made for an exhilarating swim. Zach's neck-to-knee racing swim suit afforded him some protection from the morning chill, but by the quarter way mark, he had warmed up sufficiently that he could only feel the rhythm of his arms and legs as his body glided steadily through the water. Sam loved the weekly swim and always joined in, but was slower and usually met Zach somewhere in the middle of the lake when Zach was on his way back. This was the signal for Zach to slow his pace and Sam to turn and follow, so that master and dog could finish their swim more or less together. Then it was a quick game where Sam would find and fetch Zach's running shoes from whichever rock or bush they were hidden behind, followed by a jog back to the driveway by the cottage, and finished with a sprint up the drive to the house -- a race which Sam always won easily.

The work at the cottage took less time than anticipated, and by mid-morning Zach was in his spacious upstairs office atop the main octagon checking his emails, while Sam slept as usual by his feet. One email caught his eye -- the realtor had finalised the contract to rent the cottage. The contract was signed the previous day, and the new tenant would move in on the weekend. Even after the realtor's commission and other costs, the rental price would provide a good steady income that Zach could channel back into ongoing improvements to the cottage's property. There were now a couple of fruit trees, a small but productive vegetable garden, and even a spacious brick patio area at the back with a gas barbecue. All this could also be found behind his larger house at the top of the hill, but on a larger scale. Apart from the fabulous views, the only other thing that Annie's Dream had over the cottage was the large spa pool enclosed in the large elongated octagonal shed-like structure just beyond the patio. A quick phone call to confirm the details with the realtor, followed by one with his bank manager, and the rest of the day was his.

Mang0nel
Mang0nel
141 Followers