From the Past a Present

*CHAPTER ONE A shock meeting*

It was an ordinary day, in an ordinary small English Market town. I had been to the Bank, to pay in a cheque. I was leaving and intending to cross the market square when not looking I bumped into this lady. I apologised and went to move on, when she caught my arm. Oh shit, I thought, she was going to make a fuss about this, when I realised that she had called me by my name.

"David! It is David, isn't it?" I looked at her, quite an attractive woman, I would put in her mid forties, very slim and about 5 foot 2 in height. There was something familiar about her, but for the life of me I couldn't place her.

"Yes. I am David but do I know you?"

"Well it's more than twenty years. It's Ann." The mists cleared and of course it was, how could I ever have not known who it was! This was my ex sister in law! She had been married to my brother, Rob until she was discovered to be cheating on him. Divorce followed quickly.

"Bloody hell!" Perhaps not the most intelligent of comments to make, but that was what came out of my mouth without thought.

"Oh! That sounds as if you aren't pleased to see me." I waffled then.

"No, no, I mean yes, I am pleased to see you, it was a bit of a shock that's all." She smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here. Have done for fifteen years. Very surprised to see you though. I could ask the same question. What are you doing here?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Well actually, I live here too. Not as long as you though. Just five years. How's Rob these days?"

Hell! Now that's a question with a very short answer.

"Didn't you know? He died about four years ago." I had never liked giving people bad news, and over the years had found the best way was to tell it, rather than meander around and try to and sweeten the pill. Her face changed to sadness. Not grief, just the sadness that anyone would exhibit upon hearing that someone had lost a relative.

"Oh. I am sorry to hear that. Your Mother must have been very upset. How did it happen?"

"He had an aneurism of the aorta. He died in his sleep." She shook her head.

"Sad end for such a vigorous man." I am certain that she used vigorous as an euphemism. Rob was a randy so and so, and if Ann had not been caught cheating first then a pound to a penny Rob would almost certainly have been caught himself.

"Sad end for a randy bugger," I said, "always thought he would go out with a woman underneath him." Ann laughed.

"Yes that could have been the case most certainly, but more than likely the woman wouldn't have been me." She looked at me with interest.

"So you knew about his playing around? That explains a lot."

"Explains what? Exactly." She didn't answer, but looked at her watch.

"Have you got time for a coffee?"

"No problem. Let's go into Witherspoons." I pointed in the direction of the Pub, just down a side street off the market square.

"That's fine."

Ann found a seat in a quiet corner whilst I ordered the coffee. I joined her. She started a different conversation.

"How's your wife, it's Janice isn't it?"

"Ah! We split fifteen years ago. Divorced I'm afraid." She nodded her head.

"I am not surprised." I laughed cynically at this.

"Neither were my parents, nor my friends. Why is it that everybody seems to have known from the outset, and not let me in on the secret."

"David! You were so terribly set on doing the decent thing, that nothing anyone could have said would have stopped you. She only got pregnant so that you would marry her. Obviously thinking that your Father would fund a luxurious life for her."

"She was wrong in that. Dad was not going to subsidise any of his kids. He thought they should work for it, the same as he did." I didn't want this conversation so went back to the cryptic comment earlier.

"Anyway, what explains what?"

"Sorry?"

"You said earlier that my knowing how Rob behaved explained a lot."

"Oh yes, I did, didn't I? Well, when it all happened your family were horrible to me, especially your mum. Understandable, I suppose. But you weren't. In fact you were very nice to me. Now, I think that you did that because you knew that Rob would have been playing away, and the guilt could not be fairly dumped on my shoulders."

"Close. Actually I didn't know for certain that Rob was messing about, but from his behaviour just before you married I realised that he would never have been faithful to you."

"So why didn't you say anything to me? I might have reconsidered marrying him."

"It would have seemed like jealousy. Most of the family knew I fancied you rotten." Now there was a statement that would stop any conversation, but Ann took it in her stride.

"Oh, I knew that." Now I blushed. She laughed delightedly at my hot face.

"David, of course I knew. Remember the dancing lessons I gave you?" How could I not remember. I was a callow youth of seventeen, still in education, unused to girls of my age, and certainly unused to the gorgeous older woman my brother seemed to have snared for himself. Ann was all of nineteen at that time. Doesn't seem much, but at that time there was an enormous difference between a seventeen year old and a nineteen year old woman. I was acutely embarrassed during those dancing lessons, as I carried a permanent erection caused by dancing so close to her. She knew and whilst not saying anything teased me mercilessly by taking every opportunity to move her body across the lump I carried, and smiling secretly all the time. She never said anything to my brother though, as he, being older and bigger than me would have thumped me without question.

"Yes I do recollect that you teased me."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but your face was a red as it is now."

"Yeh, Yeh. Everyone have a laugh on me." Ann's smile became more serious.

"But I liked you, David. Some would say that I married the wrong brother. If I had been mercenary you would have been a much better bet than Rob."

Now I am a Salesman, someone used to getting over every hurdle and carrying on with my sales pitch. But after that comment I couldn't say anything for a moment. Eventually my curdled brain sorted itself out and I found speech again.

"I don't think I would be a better bet, don't forget I am divorced and I cheated on my wife." Ann watched me for a moment sympathetically.

"Then we all cheated, didn't we David? What a sad commentary on life and marriage for these times." I sensed that she was going to say more. I waited and nothing came. I was just going to say something myself when Ann continued.

"I can't blame you anyway. Janice was a bitch!"

"Possibly, but you have to feel sympathy for her. She thought she was going to get the good life, and she didn't. It was bloody struggle in those early years. Money was tight, and even a night out was difficult when you had to balance the budget. She didn't want to wait nor work to make things better, and made my life difficult, in fact bloody impossible." I didn't like where this was going, as I am not one to speak ill of the dead, nor of those who had been part of your life for a while. So I changed the emphasis.

"So what about you. Did you marry that guy?"

"No. He decided to stay with his wife. I realised later that he was only interested in having a bit on the side. I did get married again though."

"And?"

"Another divorce. No cheating this time, by either of us. But we just ran out of steam. We had only been married for two years" I was nodding my head. I knew what that was about. "I know all about that. I had a number of long term relationships after the divorce, and when you have to ask the question, why are we together? You know it's the end of the line."

"Exactly."

"So what are you doing now?"

"I got a job with BGR, and work in the IT department. With the divorce settlement I bought a house here, so I work and go home to my little, comfortable house and my cat. Two marriages and two divorces mean you learn your lesson."

"So no man in your life?"

"No. And I don't want one either."

"Oh, so my asking if you would like to have dinner one evening would be a waste of time." She smiled.

"David, for you I will make an exception."

We had finished our coffee, and Ann started collecting her things to go. I wanted to go on chatting.

"Do you have a car, or can I give you a lift somewhere?"

"No. I came in on the bus. A lift would be great, I didn't realise I would end up with all these bags." We walked round to the car park. As I approached the car Ann was surprised.

"David. Is that yours?" Indicating the Jaguar XJ.

"Yes, well no. It's a company car."

"And they give you a Jag for a company car?" I unlocked and opened the passenger door for her.

"Well I do quite a lot of miles, all over the country, so they had to give me something that would do the job comfortably." Ann was sitting now so I went round and got in the driver's side.

"What do you do?"

"I am Sales Director for this textile company." There was silence for a moment, then Ann with a twinkle in her eye said.

"I definitely did marry the wrong brother." I did not know what to say to that until Ann continued.

"And Janice must be so pissed off by now." I had forgotten about Ann's dry sense of humour, and that reminded me. I burst out laughing.

Ann's house was modest, about twenty years old but well maintained. A neat front garden showed a lot of attention had been lavished on it. I helped with her packages to the door.

"Here we are, my little refuge from the world. I expect that you live in some great mansion."

"Well actually I don't. My place is about the same size as this." She looked at me strangely and I felt compelled to explain.

"I didn't see the point in buying a big house. I can only sleep in one bed at a time, I can't sit in more than one chair. All I needed was the basics, a spare bedroom and a room I could use for an office." My explanation sounded lame. Ann didn't think so.

"It's amazing how we come to understand the realities of life. That our wants and needs can be few, yet still create happiness." I grinned.

"If you are going to get all philosophical then I'm off." She stood in the doorway.

"Coffee?" She nodded to the side as she said that.

"I would love to, but better not. I have a stack of paperwork and phone calls to make." She went to a table just inside the door got a little message pad, and started writing on it. She tore off the top sheet.

"There's my number, call me!" I smiled and prepared to take my leave. She stepped out and grabbed my shoulders, reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she whispered.

"Now did that give you another hard-on?"

*Chapter Two Jousting and sparring*

I managed to get quite a lot of work done although it was difficult. Ann's teasing remarks kept coming back. She had always been a quick-witted girl, with a sense of fun, happier to laugh than be serious. Yet the new Ann showed signs that life had knocked some of the gaiety from her. I could not make my mind up if her teasing was just that, or contained a kernel of truth. I had a problem, probably I was fantasising, but the idea that Ann could possibly view me as a prospective man in her life kept running around in my head. I dismissed it every time the thought came to me, as nonsense, but it kept recurring. That last remark; no, not the one about a hard-on; but when she gave me her telephone number. "There's my number, call me!" There was an imperative in her voice when she said that, as if failure to call would be viewed as an indication of disinterest. With great difficulty I left it over the weekend, then phoned.

"Ann Selby." I noted that. Selby was her maiden name.

"Hi Ann, it's David."

"You left it for three days, David. My allure cannot be as irresistible as I thought."

"Oh it is, believe me. I have spent hours under a cold shower."

"Ugh. You must be all wrinkled like a prune."

"Oh I am, but at least it got rid of the hard-on." She was laughing.

"Well we shall have to see about that. Want some more dancing lessons?"

"Nice thought, but I have been going to ballroom dance classes every week for three years now."

"Have you? Well you must be good now. If I can't give you anymore lessons, then we shall at least have to have a dance sometime, see if my magic still works."

"How opportune, I was going to ask if you would like to have dinner one evening, perhaps there could be dancing as well."

"As well as what?"

"Ann, you do so enjoy winding people up, don't you?"

"Yes, David I do, but you were always perfect for me as you always reacted so well by blushing, I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, I gave you a hard time. And that was not intended as innuendo."

"Apology accepted, especially if you don't resist."

"Oh!" Ann giggled, quite a nice sound too. "You're not so bad either." I decided to change topic, else this could get a bit too intimate.

"I see you have gone back to your maiden name."

"I wasn't a maiden for long, your brother saw to that."

"Ann!"

"Sorry, sorry. Yes, after the second I couldn't make my mind up whether to be Cole, Adams or Selby. I wasn't Cole or Adams for long enough to grow into either of them, so I decided to be Selby again."

"That makes sense."

"So when do you want to take me to Dinner?"

"It will have to be next week sometime. I am off up north for the rest of this week. What about Sunday next, would that suit?"

"That will be fine, it gives me time to go out and buy a really glamorous dress, and some very naughty undies." The laugh was back in her voice.

"You don't have to go to that trouble, I was just going to wear my gardening Jeans and a sweatshirt."

"David, that I will not believe. You were never one for scruffy clothes. Rob used to make fun of you which I thought very hurtful and probably jealousy, because you were always in a suit and tie. So you can wind me up if you wish but I am certain that on the day you will dress to make me proud to be with you."

"Nice of you to say that, but I was actually asking about the undies." Ann burst out laughing, it was sometime before she got her voice back.

"Like it, David. We are going to have a really good evening, I can tell. And the thing about undies is that they make a girl feel good." I waited as I knew there would something more. "And sometime it makes the man feel good as well." She put the emphasis on the word 'feel'.

"I knew there would be a suggestive line there."

"Sorry David. I must stop doing that, being suggestive, but you know it's good to be able to do it with someone who understands my sense of humour. That hasn't happened for years. And David, it is just humour."

"I understand that. Was Rob really jealous of me?"

"I think he was. You were the brainy one, you got to dress smartly and work in a clean office. Although he was earning more than you, he realised that one day you would outstrip him. I suspect that he also knew that I was more than a little fond of you."

"That's interesting, but I think a topic for some other time."

"You are probably right. Can I say one thing, please David?"

"Go on."

"I did like you, perhaps more than a sister in law should. But it was possible that was because I was unhappy anyway. I am not unhappy now, so if anything happens between us, David, it will be because you are you and not a substitute for your brother."

"Thank you Ann. I'll call you when I get back from Newcastle."

"Yes please, David."

I had forgotten about Ann's sense of humour. When I first knew her she liberally filled any comment with innuendo and sometimes even ribald comment. It was not an indication of her morals though. She just loved to wind people up. With me she had an easy target and would render me dumb with embarrassment at times. She would always apologise afterwards, but the next time take up where she had left off. After she married Rob, I noticed that the cheeky side of her nature had gone. I suspect that he, not being quick-witted and not able to keep up had got angry with her thus putting an end to her witty, suggestive conversation.

I had a good trip. My agent in the north was able, but a bit lazy, but he brought in sufficient business for me to turn a blind eye to his failings. We made some good calls and wrote some very nice orders. The days went well and quickly, but the evenings, stuck in a dreary hotel, trying to watch a television stuck up on a wall six feet above my head were crap. If you ask any travelling man he will say the same. All the stories that you hear of travellers scoring every night with some bird, are just that. Stories! The upshot of this was that I thought about Ann quite a lot, pleasant but unwise, as my loins got very interested and heated. Ann would be very pleased if she knew that. I wouldn't tell though, well not unless the conversation got to that level.

I didn't get home until half past nine, the A1 and the M1 were like a car park. Still I decided to phone even though it was relatively late.

"Hello David."

"How did you know it was me?"

"I was a clever girl. After you phoned last time I saved your number, and it's now programmed into the phone as 'Sexybod'."

"Pardon?" She was laughing at me.

"Are you blushing David?"

"Yes I bloody well am!"

"Oh well in that case I better actually do that. No, my phone says 'David'. Did you have a good trip. Lots of orders, and luxurious hotels with hot and cold chambermaids?"

"One day when you have the time I shall describe to you what it's like."

"Oh no, David. I am not a girl to be turned on by lascivious tales of others. Particularly yours, I may get very jealous."

"No it will be a tale of boredom, uncomfortable beds and indescribably food."

"What? Not even a chambermaid to keep you company."

"The chambermaids these days are lumpy, east Europeans with no knowledge at all of the English language."

"Oh dear, you poor man. Tell you what I will come with you next time, that will liven your evening and you won't even notice the uncomfortable bed."

"Ann, I do have to work you know. I doubt that I would be in any state to work if you did that."

"Ummm, I know, but wouldn't the nights be fun." I knew she was teasing me, this was Ann all over, tease, sexual innuendo and bluff. I decided to bluff as well.

"Do you really want to spend a night in a Travel Lodge in Newcastle, or Preston for that matter?"

"Where?"

"There's other places, Wigan, Sheffield......"

"Stop. That's enough. You have quite turned me off. So no, David, doesn't matter how much you plead, I will not come with you on your business trips." I then played the trump card.

"Well I do have to go to Jersey and Guernsey. But if you are determined not to come with me on my business trips, I do understand."

"There is a nasty streak in you, David, That I never recognised before."

" I was only deferring to your wishes." I was laughing and I could hear Ann's giggles.

"David. It is so good to be able to chat with someone who understands my sense of humour, and what is more can repay in kind. If we ever went to bed together we would never get up to anything as we would be laughing so much." Now that introduced an aspect that although I had thought about; after all blokes meet a nice looking lady and immediately think of how she would be in bed; but I didn't think this possibility would arise at this point in time. My short silence obviously disconcerted Ann.

"Oh. I've gone over the top, haven't I?"

"Bit of a shock you saying that, but to be honest I thought of you whilst I was away, and shall we say parts of me got very interested."

I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"You have just paid me a lovely compliment, a very nice compliment. Thank you, David. That has made my day." I understood what she was saying. It hadn't been intended thus, but telling a lady that merely thinking of her could give you an erection was a compliment.