The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park and it was in the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco, the locals had nicknamed Nob Hill where Illustrator, Kim Labuschagne, was attending a dinner party on St Andrew’s Day, at the home of local celebrity, children’s author, Alesha Khan.
In addition to the hostess Alesha, was St Lucy’s Church Warden, Henry Appleby, Russell Glavin, Curate of same, Alesha’s brother, artist Zach, Literary agents, Jayson and Kathryn Mercer, Actresses Kerry Freeborn and Sharon Blackburn and Tim Street who was a Local Historian, so it was an interesting bunch.
Kim had known Alesha since they were at school and apart from being best friends, Kim also illustrated her children’s books, and as a result she had become well known in her own right and her work had become well sort after, so life was good, but not quite perfect, yet.
Although the dinner guests were indeed interesting her interest was very much in one among them and that was Tim.
When the time came for them to take their seats Kim found that she was seated next to Zach Khan, but he was completely absorbed by Sharon who was opposite him, but Kim had no interest in him anyway because she saved all her attention for Tim Street who was sat opposite her.
Tim was a local historian who was the Curator of the Sharpington History Centre, and he was at the dinner party because Kim asked Alesha to invite him.
They met one rainy Friday afternoon in October, Kim entered the History and stood dripping on the doormat for several minutes before she ventured further.
“Can I help?” Tim asked the tall skinny girl as she dripped on his floor.
“I do hope so” she replied brightly
“I’m looking for information about my family name”
“Ok I’m sure we can help with that” She said, “What’s the name?”
“Labuschagne” she replied proudly
“Oh excellent” he replied as he brushed his sandy hair off his forehead “That’s a cracking good name”
“Thank you” she said with a laugh “I like it, and so far, as I know I’m the last one”
“Well come and take a seat and you can tell me what you know over a cup of tea” he suggested
“Oh yes a cup of tea would be lovely”
On that first meeting they spent more than an hour together while Kim related everything that she knew about the family, firstly the facts, names and dates and the anecdotal information which may or may not have been true.
Tim’s immediate interest in the skinny young woman was her name, he did a lot of research of the kind she was looking for, but unlike hers they were very common, such as Wilson, Brown, Andrews and Cooper of which there were very many in the county, so to be asked to undertake research on Labuschagne was refreshingly different.
But an interest in the name was soon surpassed by one in the young woman herself, and in particular her company, although she was unaware of the fact.
Kim had only gone to the History Centre in order to get some help and pointers, but the nice Sandy haired Historian was so helpful and friendly that when he offered to research her name with her she didn’t hesitate to accept.
So, over the following weeks she went to the LHC to meet with him almost every day and with each subsequent visit the importance of her original visit waned while her attraction to Tim grew exponentially.
However, she was not able to shake him from his primary interest in the research which was why she asked Alesha to include him on the party guest list.
But despite the fact that they were seated opposite each other during dinner and talked non-stop about a range of topics, and they both enjoyed the others company, they parted at the end of the evening without securing a date.
However, he did ask if she needed escorting home, but she had to say no as she had already told Alesha that she would help her clear away, she kicked herself for not foreseeing the possibility that he would ask, she was however encouraged that he had asked though.
With the arrival of December came more demands on her time so she wasn’t able to spend as much time with Tim at the LHC, but she looked forward to the times that she could spend with him and she enjoyed every minute she was there, but she made no progress on securing a date.
It was her birthday on the 21st so that was her target and failing that she wanted him on her arm by Christmas.
The problem was that as the days slipped, because Tim was as efficient as he was gorgeous he was likely to have completed his research before she had got her man.
And her worst fears were realised when he phoned her two days before her birthday and told her he was finished.
“Oh great” she said “And so soon”
“When can you pop in?” Tim asked, “Can you do tomorrow?”
“Oh yes I think so” she said unable to think of a reason not to
“Brilliant I’ll see you then” Tim said “Bye”
After she hung up she chastised herself for dithering, but in the end, she couldn’t make it as she was tied up all day with Alesha and her publisher discussing the illustrations for the new book, so she didn’t make it to the Local History Centre until the next day, which was her birthday.
“Hello” he said when he saw her, and she instantly smiled
“Hi Tim, sorry about yesterday” she said
“No problem let’s go and sit” he said “The kettle has just boiled”
“Lovely” she responded
They were sat down at the table with only the remnants of tea left in the mugs when Tim said
“I have a full record of The Downshire Labuschagne’s up to and including you, and as it’s your birthday I had it bound in Leather”
“Wow” Kim said, and as she studied it tears filled her eyes “It’s beautiful”
“I’m glad you like it”
“I love it” she said and stood up and hugged him “Thank you, in fact, let me buy you lunch as a proper thank you”
“Oh, I was going to take you to lunch for your birthday” he said
“Well how about this, I’ll take you for a thank you lunch and then you can take me for a birthday dinner tonight”
“Ok that’s a date” he said
“I do hope so” she said and took hold of his hand
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