Across A Crowded Room by Em Barnard

Something happened when Jon met Diane’s gaze that first time . . .

SITTING in the garden of the Sailor’s Return, Jon gazed over the river, with its many craft bobbing gently in the evening sunshine.

“Here we are, Jon.” His brother set two lagers on the table and sat down. “Cheers.”

Jon raised his glass to him.

“As I was saying, Nat, I popped into the church hall for a savoury and cake from the WI for lunch, and through the noise and chatter I heard this gorgeous laughter.

“I spotted her further down the stall: she had golden hair and a blue silky scarf bunched round her neck.

“And then, Nat, as she left the stall she gazed straight at me for all of three seconds, that gorgeous smile still on her lips. She even tipped me a nod before turning away.” He sighed.

“Then I had to turn away to pay, and when I looked back she had gone.”

“A sad story, Jon,” Nat replied.

Jon grinned and leaned into the table.

“But I did see her again. I was waiting to cross the road to the river when she drove past, that blue scarf fluttering out of the window like she was waving to me.”

“And did you wave back?” Nat raised his eyebrows.

Jon ignored his mockery. “Still OK for our sail tomorrow afternoon?” he asked.

“Ah. Sorry, but Gran’s had a sudden urge to visit,” Nat replied. “Janie wants me to meet her at the station as she has to collect the girls from ballet class.”

Jon looked into his lager. He understood. Nat had a family now while Jon was still a bachelor.

Nat set down his glass on the coaster.

“Look, I’m booking a table here for all of us tomorrow evening. You could join us after your sail. It won’t be till six o’clock.”

“I can’t guarantee times when I’m sailing. But if I’m back I’ll pop in and say hello,” Jon promised.

“Great.” With that Nat downed his beer and left to make the reservation, then return home to his beautiful wife and daughters.

Jon envied him his family. Jon lived in the flat above his estate agency in Market Hill. But at thirty-one he was still waiting for the right girl to look his way.

He downed his beer and strolled home with that sunny cider-haired beauty beside him, if only in his mind’s eye.

****

Diane was washing her blue scarf in a bowl of warm soapy water when her sister’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“So has the mark come out of your scarf, Di?” she asked, wedging goodies in the picnic hamper on the table.

“Yes. Serves me right for trying to take it off while I was driving. I nearly lost it out the window.”

“So what’s had you smiling all over your face since you got home yesterday afternoon, then?”

“Oh, just a guy I saw.” Di squeezed the scarf gently.

“Tell me more.” Teri grinned and opened the cutlery drawer.

“He was nice, that’s all.” Teri placed a corkscrew in the hamper.

“Where was this?” she asked.

“At the WI when I popped in to buy those cheese straws that Mum likes for our picnic. Just staring at me, he was. And I sort of stared back, kind of mesmerised.”

“Tall, dark and handsome, was he?”

Di caressed the scarf with her thumbs.

“Thick hair, keen eyes, wine silk tie over a blue shirt, pin-striped suit. Great physique, too.” Teri raised her eyebrows. “You noticed all that while mesmerised?” She laughed. “So then what happened?”

“I just smiled and left.” A jar in each hand, Teri turned to look her sister in the eye.

“You walked away

from a gorgeous guy?”

“My parking ticket was almost up!” Di exclaimed. “I had to run as it was.”

“You get a great chance to find the guy of your dreams and you blow it due to a parking ticket?” her sister continued.

“But what was the use anyway?” Di rinsed the scarf. “I didn’t know till this morning I’d got that receptionist’s post at the White Horse Hotel. I could have been heading back to London next weekend for all I knew.”

Diane had been eager to work in London 10 years ago. It was more exciting than this quiet market town, but now she yearned to come home. This third interview had brought success.

“Right.” Teri lifted the hamper. “I’ll put this in my car then I’m ready, so hurry up. I’ll phone Mum and tell her we’re on our way.”

****

Di set down the hamper, slipped her shoulder bag off and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun over the sparkling river with its dinghies and shiny-hulled boats.

This was the quiet end of Barton Wold, a sandy shore where kids could play safely in the shallows while folk picnicked on the grassy levels.

On Saturdays her father played golf with his pals, so they were meeting up later, down river at the Sailor’s Return for a drink.

She helped Teri yank open some canvas chairs as well as a table, and set out the nibbles.

“I’m so pleased that you got that job, Di. It will be so nice having you home again,” her mum said, pinching three cheese straws before settling in a chair.

“But I shall need a flat of my own soon,” Diane reminded her. “I can’t stay with Teri and Ian for ever.”

“And maybe you’ll find a nice young man now and settle down, like Teri.”

Di glared at Teri, forbidding her to mention the guy she’d seen, and reached for the binoculars to make a getaway to the shoreline.

She liked to check the current and what was going on before she swam.

She scanned the boats – those sailing and those moored – swinging on a rising tide. She focused on a guy on a yacht, the

Sunbeam, mid-river.

He was wearing a wine T-shirt and denim jeans, and he reminded her of the suited guy in the WI.

She watched him as he skilfully hefted sails and a dozen other actions before casting free of the buoy and heading down the river.

She traipsed back to the picnic.

“Going in for a swim?” Mum asked.

“Yes, then I can have something to eat.” She untied her wraparound dress to reveal her swimsuit under it, then pulled on a swimming hat.

“Just be careful, Diane. You know you’re prone to cramp,” her mum warned her.

It was chilly, but gloriously refreshing in the water. Much more enjoyable than the swimming baths back in London.

A half hour later Diane was eating the last cheese straw.

They enjoyed the afternoon, chattering and relaxing. It had passed five and they had begun to pack up when Di spotted the Sunbeam returning to the buoy. She grabbed her swimming hat. She had to check him out.

“Be careful!” Mum called against Teri’s groan of protest.

Once waist-high in the water, Di dived in and powered along with her strong breaststroke.

She was a dozen strokes from the yacht when her mum’s warning became apt. Cramp seized her calf. She stopped swimming and the next moment she was swallowing water.

“Give me your hand!” She heard the call when she bobbed up for air.

She waved a hand blindly. It was clasped in a strong grip and she was hauled aboard a dinghy like a wet fish.

Di spluttered water out and air in. She scrambled to sit on the thwart, regaining her breath and swiping her eyes to clear her vision.

“Cramp. But I’m OK,” she breathlessly assured the old sea dog as she rubbed her calf. He was wearing thick turned-top wellies, baggy jeans, a navy checked shirt and a denim hat with a grease-worn peak.

“You’re lucky I was rowing by. Where can I take you, miss?”

Di scanned the shoreline, disorientated, then pointed.

“My sister and my mum – that’s them waving.”

Once near the shore, Diane stepped out in the shallows, thanked the old guy and waved him off. “Di! Are you all right?” “Yes, Mum, I’m fine.” “So what was all that about?” Teri asked.

Di tugged off her hat, shook out her hair and turned to look for the

Sunbeam. It wasn’t on the buoy. She couldn’t see it anywhere.

“Come on, Dad will be waiting,” Teri said impatiently, hefting the hamper.

As usual the pub was packed. It always was on sunny days, with folk enjoying the riverside and the great food the pub offered.

Inside they were searching for Dad when Di was struck by a face she knew. She grabbed Teri’s arm.

“It’s him! The guy from the WI. In the wine T-shirt at the bar.”

Teri followed her gaze and made admiring noises.

“Well, you’d best go get him. But let me know how you’re getting home.

“I’ll tell Mum and Dad you’ve met a friend.” She grinned. “Hey, he’s spotted you, too.”

Di smiled, gave a nod of acknowledgement to the guy as she put her bag on her shoulder, then weaved through the crowd and out into the sunshine.

She wanted their first meeting to be alone and special. If he followed . . .

****

“Nat, I’ve found her.” Standing behind his brother at the bar, Jon nudged him.

“Found who?” Nat turned.

Di wanted their first meeting to be alone and special

“The girl from the WI. Look, she’s just leaving.”

“Ah, the one with the cider-gold hair. I see why you’re taken with her.”

“Make excuses to the family for me, Nat,” Jon said with a grin.

Again the crowd seemed to crush him, to hinder his attempt to follow her, but eventually he stumbled outside. He was relieved to see her strolling along the shoreline.

She was unmissable, her hair glowing in the sunshine like a beacon leading him home. He jogged up to her.

“Hi. Didn’t I see you in the WI yesterday?”

She gave him that smile that made his heart leap.

“Yes. And didn’t I see you this afternoon on a yacht called Sunbeam?”

“Why, yes. Where were you?”

She brushed some cider strands from her face.

“Picnicking on the grass at Barton Wold, opposite your buoy.” “Really?”

“I saw you return, but you didn’t moor up to the buoy.”

“No, I sailed her here. She’s at the jetty. Would you like a closer look? I’ve a bottle of wine in the cabin fridge. We could sit on deck and get to know each other.”

Her smile left Jon in no doubt that he’d never have to wait for the right girl to come along again. And she knew it, too. n