A Fair Exchange – part 3
AUTHOR; Pebbles
Saturday night arrived – eventually. To
Melissa it seamed the longest week ever. Every day as she worked
she wondered what she should wear. It was only the local pub
– anything too dressy would look ridiculous. She hadn’t
bought anything new for ages – in fact many of her clothes
were way too big, as she had lost a lot of weight since Hugh
died. So on the Friday afternoon she had found herself tearing
around the Plymouth shopping centre trying to find something new,
something to make her feel a little special, perhaps to please
Luka? ‘This is ridiculous’ she thought ‘you’re
acting like a teenager with raging hormones!’
On Saturday evening when she called for Luka
she looked a picture. She wore a new pair of stone-washed jeans,
which fitted her trim figure to perfection, with a black lace
edged camisole top under a matching skinny-rib cardigan which
accentuated her curves. “Good evening, my you look
really nice!” Luka looked as handsome as ever in a blue
denim shirt and black chinos. “Thank you Luka, I’m
driving tonight. We just need to collect the rest of the team
– there’s just about room in the Landrover for us all”
Luka strode round the car and opened Melissa’s door for her.
“Do you want me to ride in the back?” he asked. “Oh
no, you’d never fold your legs up enough for those little
seats!”
As they drove along Melissa filled him in on
the other couples in their team. “First we’ll be
picking up Mark and Kerry. They have a dairy farm in the next
valley. They’ve got three children who go to school with
Mikey – you’ve probably seen them riding their bikes
around in the lane. They’re a lovely family – they made
us really welcome when we first moved down here and Mikey treats
their farm as his second home.” Melissa paused to look
at Luka and discovered he was watching her intently. He smiled
and she found herself blushing!
Melissa struggled to regain her composure.
“Then we’ll be collecting Robert and Susan who farm
sheep – it’s their flock on our lower meadow. Their two
little girls are not at school yet - Annie starts next term
– and Susan does bed and breakfast like me. Here we are,
this is Higher Merrifield, Mark and Kerry’s farm.”
As they pulled up Mark was already standing waiting in the yard.
“Hi Mark, this is Luka” The two
men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Mark was a man of few
words but very down to earth and genuine. “Come on Kerry,
what are you doing in there woman?” he called back into the
farmhouse with mock severity. Kerry appeared almost immediately.
“We’ve got a new baby-sitter and I was trying to get
her to be firm with the children – they’re climbing all
over her!” Kerry explained pulling a face “Who’ve
you got looking after Mikey?” “Oh, he’s gone in to
stay the night with his Grandparents – so no doubt he’s
still up and running around too” Melissa answered.
The men had wandered off to look at Mark’s
new tractor so Kerry took the opportunity to tease Melissa.
“What’s this – new gear? And make-up too? Very
nice.” She gave Melissa a knowing wink. “I’ve
heard he’s really good looking. Julie Mackenzie has had her
little Billy down to the surgery three times this week and as far
as I can tell he’s only got a bit of a cold!” she
laughed. “So is he married? Is there someone waiting for him
back home? “ “I’ve no idea Kerry” Melissa
laughed “He’s only been here a short while – for
goodness sake!” The conversation was cut short by the
return of the men.
“This is Kerry, Luka”
Melissa was grateful to be able to cut short her friends
gossiping. “Pleased to meet you Kerry” Luka gave her
one of his lovely smiles. “Oh what a lovely accent! Melissa
told me you were from Croatia. How do you like Devon then?”
Melissa interrupted her friend’s questions. “Come on we
ought to get a move on – or they’ll start without us!”
“I like it very much – especially the people” Luka
answered, opening Melissa’s door for her. “They are
very, er…..friendly.”
Later when they were settled at their table
in the pub – the men fetching drinks from the bar –
Kerry continued her questioning of Melissa. “Come on girl,
you must have some idea about him. Does he wear a ring?”
Melissa frowned “I really haven’t noticed – I mean
I haven’t looked!” Susan was also curious “I
can’t believe he’s unattached. He must be, what about
32, 33? And he’s very handsome. And charming! No, he must
have a woman in his life” Melissa realised they must be
right. What had she been thinking of? He couldn’t be
interested in her – he was just being friendly.
When the men returned to the table there was
plenty of chat about tractors and farming generally. Luka joined
in the conversation, showing he had more than a passing
acquaintance with the subject. “I didn’t realise you
knew so much about tractors” Melissa interjected, having
been silent so far. “Yes, my first ever car was a tractor!
My grandparents used to have a farm.” Luka grinned “There’s
a lot you don’t know about me!” It was as if he had
been party to the girls earlier conversation and Melissa blushed
again.
Kerry seized the opportunity and launched
straight in with the burning question. “So, are you married
Luka, or got a girlfriend back home?” Her words seemed to
hang in the air. All eyes turned on Luka whose smile faded
quickly from his lips. “Yes, Kerry. I was married but my
wife and children were killed in the war in Croatia.” He
spoke quietly but his words were like a bombshell. They were all
speechless. Melissa was mortified. How could she have gone on and
on about her loss, her sadness when this terrible thing had
happened to destroy his life. She knew some of the pain Luka must
have suffered and she had let this happen – to be questioned
in public by relative strangers.
Her embarrassment and confusion was written
all over her face. Luka took her hand in his. “It’s
alright, Melissa I have learnt to accept it now. It is not so
painful for me” He squeezed her hand before letting it go.
“Please, let’s get on with this quiz. Who has got the
pen?” He smiled and the conversation gradually picked up
again. The subject of the first round was science and nature and
there was much debate about degrees Kelvin Vs Celsius and
Fahrenheit. Melissa found it hard to get involved in the
questions – finding herself sitting back and studying Luka.
Now she knew why he had seemed so empathic. And the sadness in
his eyes she had noticed once or twice before. Now she
understood.
The evening was turning out to be great fun.
The more the contestants drank the less able they were to answer
the questions. Debate at the separate tables was heated at times
– although good-natured. There was some cheating – with
spies from other tables trying to listen in or even trade
answers. The atmosphere was thick with cigarette smoke, very
noisy and very warm. Melissa took off her cardigan and still felt
hot. The smoke was beginning to sting her eyes and the last round
of drinks had run dry. “My round folks! What are you having?”
Luka began to get to his feet. “No, it’s my round,
Luka, I’ll get them” Melissa rested her hands on his
shoulders as he sat back down. “So is it the same again?
Yes? OK.” And she headed off to the bar.
As Melissa stood at the bar waiting for the
young barman to deal with her order she was dismayed to see an
old acquaintance approaching. She glanced over briefly to her
table to see if she could catch Kerry’s eye but she had her
back turned. Kerry knew that Martin Hunt, the local policeman had
been bothering Melissa at every opportunity but Melissa hadn’t
told anyone else for fear that it would cause upset to his wife.
She had enough to put up with as it was – with Martin’s
constant philandering. Melissa had done her best to discourage
him but he was very thick skinned. It was quite clear to Melissa
that on this occasion he was also half drunk.
“Melissa darling! You’re
looking absolutely delicious!” He leered at her. “Luscious
Lissa! What can I get for you then?” “Nothing
thank you Martin, I’m getting a round in for my friends”
She glanced over at the table again but no one was looking her
way. Damn, why was the barman taking so long? Martin continued to
breathe cigarette smoke into her face. “So, I hear the new
foreign doctor is shacked up with you, eh? Is he doctoring
you eh? Or would you like to play with ‘Doctor Martin’
heh! Heh!” Melissa felt sick. “Leave me alone
Martin. For God’s sake – I’m not interested!”
“Oh don’t be so stuck up Lissa, you know you’re
gagging for it.” He began stroking her bare arm his face
pressing in closer to hers.
“Melissa, can I help you carry the
drinks?” It was Luka, come to rescue her! He seemed to have
grasped the situation and was avoiding a direct confrontation
with the drunken policeman. “I thought you could do with
some help” He ignored Martin completely. “Oh, yes
please, thank you.” Her voice was very shaky but she kept
her eyes focused on Luka’s face and tried to block out the
memory of Martin’s disgusting comments. She did not look
back to see the sour expression on his face.
The evening drew to a close. Melissa dropped
off first Robert and Susan and then Kerry and Mark. Then it was
Luka’s turn. She turned off the engine and there was a brief
silence. Melissa was the first to speak. “I was planning to
take Baggins for a walk on the beach tomorrow afternoon. Mikey
will still be at his grandparents.” She paused and glanced
over at Luka’s profile silhouetted against the moonlight.
“I wondered if you would like to come?” She bit her
lip. Perhaps she was being too forward – but she needed to
talk to him, to find out more.
“I would like that very much” He
gave her one of his smiles that changed her insides to putty!
“Goodnight Melissa and thank you for a great evening”
With that he was gone.
to be continued...