Rainbow’s End Rainy day romance

Little by little, the clouds were clearing from Rachel’s world…

Red

Rachel paused for a moment and took a deep breath. The unfamiliar door key felt wrong in her hand as she walked down the pathway towards her new house. After five years living with the man she thought she knew and loved, Rachel knew life was going to be different now.

She was starting all over, newly single and in a new town. And yet a world of opportunity lay open before her – if only she knew.

For now, all she could see as she looked at her new home were peeling flecks of red paint on the old wooden front door. She made a note to add a tin of red paint to the top of her to-do list.

Orange

The removal van revved its engine as Rachel stood on the doorstep and waved goodbye. “Thanks!” she called out. “No problem!” the van driver shouted back. The younger removal man in the seat next to him stared blankly at his phone. The hour they’d spent shifting and humping boxes and furniture had kept him away from social media. Now, there were twenty-seven cats that looked like Donald Trump to comment on and like.

Rachel closed the front door. The hall was filled with boxes, small tables, an old orange chair – her grandfather’s that she would never part with. A few pictures in bubble-wrap protection stood against a wall. Rachel looked around, wondering where to start first.

Yellow

Do you need help with your packing?” the man on the checkout asked. Rachel glanced at the mountain of shopping inching forwards on the conveyor belt. How long had it been since she’d done the weekly shop alone?

“Haven’t seen you in here before.” The cashier smiled as he weighed a bag of apples. The checked yellow shirt he wore was as cheery as his smile.

“I’ve just moved here,” Rachel replied, packing a small bag of spuds.

“Oh, well, I’d be happy to show you the sights,” he said.

Rachel felt a slow burn rise up from her neck to her face. Was he flirting with her? It had been so long since she’d looked at another man that she was out of touch with dating rules.

“Well, if you need me, you know where I work,” the man said, handing over her receipt. “And my name’s printed on there, too.”

Rachel glanced at the stream of till paper she’d been handed. There at the bottom was the name of the assistant who had served her.

“Thank you – Paul.” She smiled. “I might just see you again very soon.”

Green

Rachel’s old but reliable car sat in the supermarket car park waiting for Paul to finish his shift. After that first visit when she’d caught his eye, it wasn’t long before he captured her heart. Her shopping trips had been frequent,

always waiting at Paul’s checkout even if it had the longest queue.

He finally plucked up the courage to ask her out as he scanned a bottle of red wine, two lamb chops and a frozen strawberry cheesecake from her basket. “Planning a dinner party?” he smiled. “Only if you’ll join me,” she replied. “Well, these chops won’t stay fresh much longer than Saturday,” he told her, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Their first Saturday night dinner had been the first of many together. Now, several weeks later, Rachel had fully settled into her new home.

“All ready?” she said to him as he slid into the passenger seat.

“Our suitcases are in the boot,” he replied. “And you’ve got the passports?”

Paul and Rachel leaned together and kissed. They were ready to go.

Blue

Together, poring over travel websites on Rachel’s laptop one evening, they’d chosen a hotel on a wide open beach in a remote part of Spain.

“Are you sure it won’t be too quiet?” Rachel asked.

“I like quiet,” Paul replied. “Quiet will give us the space to get to know each other properly.”

“Well… if you’re sure,” she said before pressing BookNow. And here they were, both of them off work for a fortnight in the sun.

Their holiday flight had been much like their relationship so far, smooth and turbulence-free with anticipation of fun ahead.

That is, until twenty minutes before landing. The pilot issued instructions for the cabin crew to take their seats for what he said might be a lively landing.

“Best buckle up.” Paul smiled, holding Rachel’s hand. “That’s pilotspeak for a very bumpy ride.”

They landed safely, in the middle of a thunderstorm which had threatened to break all day.

“It’ll probably clear up tomorrow,” Rachel said after they landed. Paul looked out of the plane window and saw a group of baggage handlers in heavy, hooded coats under a deep, grey sky.

But on the next day it rained again, and on the following day, too.

“It’s lucky we’ve got such a great hotel, seeing as how we’re spending so much time indoors,” Paul said on the third rainy day. He was sitting on the balcony under a candy-stripe canopy, reading a novel, with his long legs in shorts and his bare feet up on a chair. “It’s not that it’s cold…”

“Just wet.” Rachel sighed. “There’s a shop in the foyer. We could buy a couple of those blue anoraks they’re selling and go out to explore?”

Indigo

The anoraks weren’t cheap but Paul and Rachel paid up, desperate to escape cabin fever after their string of days holed up in the hotel.

“You can have too much of a good thing,” Rachel smiled, after Paul suggested they save their money and snuggle up indoors – yet again. “Besides, there’s a bodega I’d like to visit.”

“The one in the guidebook?” asked Paul “That serves all kinds of sherry from the barrel?” “The very one,” Rachel replied. They made it to the bodega, but no further, as the rain pounded the streets, soaking them through.

Their coats were taken by the friendly bar owner and hung up to dry. Tapas dishes were set out in front of them – fat olives and manchego cheese; ham croquettes and small bites of salted cod. And then came the glasses of sherry – from light-as-a-feather crisp white through to creamy, heavy and dark.

“Reminds me of Christmas,” said Rachel appreciatively.

“All we need is the snow,” laughed Paul. He glanced out at the rain through the bodega’s paned windows into the empty street. “And with this weather, I wouldn’t be surprised if a snowstorm put in an appearance.”

“The tormenta… she go!” the waiter said, appearing at Rachel’s elbow with another type of sherry for them to try. “Tormenta?” Paul asked. The waiter waved an arm towards the window. “Tormenta, si. The storm. The rain, it stops. Mañana.”

Rachel and Paul shared a look. “Tomorrow?”

Rachel lifted her glass. “Then, a toast!” she declared. “To the tormenta!”

Rachel and Paul watched as a woman with an umbrella walking past the bodega slowed to a stop. She pulled the umbrella to her, lifted one hand to the sky and being satisfied the rain was coming to an end, walked on with her umbrella down.

After finishing their third and final sherry, they walked hand in hand down the hill to the sleepy fishing village. The sky that had been heavy and grey since their holiday began was slowly turning indigo as the sun did its best to infuse the blackness with light.

“Paul, look!” Rachel cried and pointed out to the sea. He gasped as he saw the arc of a rainbow way out across the ocean.

Emboldened from their visit to the bodega and entranced by the rainbow’s beauty and Rachel’s presence, Paul pulled her towards him and kissed her.

“I have found my maceta de oro,” he whispered in her ear.

“Your what?” she replied, smiling but mystified.

“My pot of gold. I’ve been reading the Spanish phrase book while we were stuck in the hotel. Rachel, you’re everything I’ve been looking for and you’re here at the end of the rainbow.”

He glanced out at the RAIN through the PANED WINDOWS of the BODEGA

Violet

She was born with blue eyes, just like Rachel’s. Then they turned brown, just like Paul’s. However, what baby Violet Davis would think of her middle name of Tormenta – when she was old enough to understand – would remain to be seen.