Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (29) Family Ties

(Part 01)

Martha and Vikki were both “sweet sixteen and never been kissed” and the girls were the best of friends.
And to be perfectly honest they were not really interested in boys, their leisure time was spent sailing, mountain biking, orienteering, climbing, you name it and they did it.
Basically Martha and Vikki were the outdoorsy type.
They both lived in Dancingdean Hall, Martha in flat D with her widower father Andrew and Vikki in flat F with her divorced mother Alexandra and their primary aim in life was to get their respective parents interested in each other so they could become sisters.

Dancingdean Hall was once the residence of the Earls of Dancingdean but that line of aristocracy had long since died out and the hall was now divided into 6 spacious family apartments.

Alexandra Quarit was 38 years old and had raised Vikki on her own since she was 10 months old when her husband walked out on them.
He hadn’t contested the divorce and although he had not reneged on his financial obligations he had made no attempt over the years to see his daughter.
She was content however with her life, she loved Vikki and she had a successful business that she had built up from nothing.
And she now had a shop in Abbottsford’s Phoenix Centre called Crazy Chocolatiers and for the past seven years she and Vikki had lived on Teardrop Lake.

Alex was a no nonsense practical person, a “what you see, is what you get” type and she wasted no time on frills and fripperies.
Her normal apparel was a blue shirt, sleeves turned up, black skirt, blue wool tights and stout shoes.
And she wore her grey streaked dark hair short and low maintenance.
She was an attractive woman, clean and presentable but she didn’t tend toward the glamorous, she favoured the subdued look.
She wasn’t interested in attracting a partner because she didn’t think she could ever trust a man again.

Dancingdean House was situated on the highest point on the cliffs above the Lake and commanded a magnificent view.
Which was a great comfort to Andrew McShane as it was a much loved view of his wife Rachel which became all too familiar in the summer of her death.

Andrew was an accountant and had not long turned 40, an event he would have ignored entirely had it not been for his daughter who did her best to mark the milestone with party poppers, banners and helium filled balloons.
Although he humoured her and put on a brave face, for him it merely marked another year without the love of his life.
Martha knew her dad still missed her mum and she did too but she was determined to get him back into the world of the living if it was the last thing she did.
But Andrew thought he would be betraying Rachel’s memory if he found someone else, if he even entertained the thought it would be a betrayal of her memory.
Martha was 10 when the cancer finally took her mum, and it was her friend Vikki who got her through it.

The girls were gregarious, bubbly and outgoing and everybody liked them.
Victoria was the ring leader and was the complete opposite of her mother in almost every respect apart from the fact they both stood five foot two inches tall and Vikki wasn’t looking for a guy either.
She wore her unruly chestnut brown hair tied in a kind of loose arrangement on top of her head which gave the impression she was taller than she was.
And when it came to her mode of dress there was nothing that could be in any way considered to be subdued.
Vikki generally went for the Tomboy appearance and as summer began to give way to autumn
She wore a white top beneath a garishly bright multi-coloured striped shrug.
Red skinny trousers and orange converse shoes and she loved jewellery, lots and lots of jewellery.
She had lovely laughing hazel eyes which narrowed when she smiled, which was often, and her smile illuminated her face.

(Part 02)

Like Vikki, Martha was also a tomboy but she was a little more subtle in her choices and favoured blue jeans, a white top and blue plaid shirt and on her feet she wore either baseball boots or just plain black leather boots.
Her hair was mousy hair and there was less of it than Vikki’s but like her friend she stood five foot two inches tall.
And Martha never wore jewellery but then Vikki wore enough for the two of them.
Her complexion wasn’t as clear as her friends and she had a number of what some people would have called blemishes which far from detracting from her beauty, enhanced it rather.
With her stunning green eyes she was by far the prettier of the two girls.

They had made the decision to intervene in their parents love lives the previous Christmas.
Although “love lives” wasn’t really an accurate description as they had no love in their lives save for what they held for their children.
The incident occurred after Christmas lunch which that year the girls had suggested they do together,
It had always seemed silly to them that they should have separate Christmas lunches when they lived in the same building, when they lived next door in the same building.
It was met with some resistance from both parties initially but the girls were very persistent.
After all it was not unusual for them to do shared events, they were both big BBQ fans and their children were the best of friends so they often used to eat together in the communal gardens during the summer.
So Alex reluctantly agreed to host Christmas dinner and Andrew said he would do the next one, quietly hoping that there wouldn’t be a next one.
But despite their misgivings the occasion was less onerous than either of them had expected.
The girls helped clear away and as they were exiting the kitchen the grownups were coming the opposite way, they paused to let the girls past and Vikki and Martha both blurted out in unison.
“You’re under the mistletoe”
“You have to kiss” Martha added “it’s the law”
“What law?” her father said
“Christmas law” Vikki replied
“Nonsense” Andrew said
“Poppycock” Alex agreed
“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss” the girls chanted
Eventually Andrew and Alex agreed to kiss, just to shut them up, but they made such a palaver about that one simple peck that the girls resolved to help them loosen up which in turn led to them to the task of trying to fix them up.
But it was not an easy task, they had set their target for something meaningful to have occurred between then by Christmas day, one year on from the mistletoe debacle.

Alex and Andrew got on very well together they were both very hardworking and they were both devoted to their children.
And that wasn’t their only common ground they were also avid readers so literature was always a popular subject for them to converse in, as well having a love of classical music.
So they got on well, had shared interests and liked each other’s company,
But despite all of that neither of them had any designs on progressing to another level, they were quite comfortable with the way things were.

Between Lynn Cooper’s birthday bash in May and Rob and Sheryl Brown’s anniversary party in September they had had a dozen BBQs at least, and half a dozen day trips, cinema, bowling, tree walking you name it they had done it, including getting them both out on the lake sailing but by the end of September they hadn’t made an ounce of progress.

Alexandra wasn’t stupid and she knew exactly what the girls were up to, and although she hadn’t discussed it with him she assumed Andrew must have been aware of it as well.
She was happy enough to play along the shared meals and the days out were fun but she wasn’t interested in anything other than friendship and judging by his reluctance to kiss her the previous Christmas she was certain sure Andrew shared her disinterest in the romantic.

Andrew was also well aware of his daughters plot to hook him up with Alex, whom he liked very much, but only as a friend.
And regarding the Christmas kiss incident he remembered it slightly differently to her in as much as he thought she was the reluctant one.
But he had enjoyed her friendship and their combined social life, and he had actually begun to feel alive again.

(Part 03)

For Alex, October began her busy period at the shop, firstly because the novelty stock had to be displayed in preparation for Halloween and then at the beginning of November the Halloween stock had to be removed over the weekend and replaced with the Christmas stock.
The shop also had to be decorated and the window dressed for the season.
And because Crazy Chocolatier’s sold the best handmade chocolates in Downshire they were also beginning to take orders for Christmas.

Andrew was himself burning the midnight oil during that period preparing the year end accounts for his biggest client.
As a result of them both being exceptionally busy they hadn’t done anything as a foursome for a couple of months.
So when Vikki and Martha suggested going bowling one Saturday night in December, Alex and Andrew both jumped at the chance and furthermore surprised themselves by how much the idea appealed to them.
From the girl’s perspective as it was already December time was running out for them to hit their target of having their parents involved, in some way, by Christmas Day.
Bowling was, they would have to admit not the most original idea and even a little lame, but they were getting desperate.

In the week preceding the bowling Alex found herself looking forward to it considerably more than she had anticipated and even treated herself to a colourful new blouse and a pair of slacks.
On the day before the outing Andrew decided he needed a haircut.

It was a bitter cold day when the night of the bowling came around, and snow had been predicted so as Andrew had a 4x4 he drove them.
After queuing to get their shoes they made their way to lane 10 and took their coats off.

It was at that point that they lost Vikki and Martha who were totally distracted by the devastatingly good looking Addison twins on the next lane.
They weren’t identical twins but they were clearly brothers and the girls thought they were absolutely gorgeous.

As Alex slipped off her coat to reveal her new outfit Andrew was moved to comment
“Wow you look lovely”
“Thank you” she replied and blushed a little at the compliment and then began entering the names on the screen.

The girls struggled to focus on the game as they were totally smitten by the boys on the neighbouring lane.
Andrew was a good bowler but his game had gone to pieces which left Alex in the unfamiliar position of leading after nine frames.
She knocked down 7 with the first ball of frame 10 and she was waiting for her ball to return.
Andrew was manipulating the unwanted balls on the carrier and when Alex reached down to retrieve her ball their hands touched.
Neither of them moved and their hands remained in contact,
It was like electricity was passing between them, then after a moment they made eye contact and smiled
“Gosh” she said and took a proper hold of his hand.
“Indeed” he said and squeezed hers and then they kissed
“What will the girls think?” she said
“They’ve been throwing us together all year, so they’ll be delighted” he said and they kissed again

Which was when the Addison twin’s pointed out to the girls what was going on behind them
“It’s about time” Martha said after turning around
“Absolutely” Vikki agreed and they high fived
Neither Alex nor Andrew could pinpoint the moment their feelings changed from friendship to something more, they surmised it must have happened by osmosis.

Martha and Vikki had achieved their target for something meaningful to have occurred between their respective parents by Christmas day, one year on from the mistletoe debacle with over two weeks to spare.
And that Christmas beneath the mistletoe in Andrews’s apartment there was no hesitancy on eithers part, in fact it went on a little longer than the girls were really comfortable with.