The Arran Sweater

Boy meets girl

The Arran Sweater

 “Is this all there is?  Is that it!”  Vivian was now shouting through her tears.  “After all the worry of the business.  The fights with Tom over his affairs �"�" his temper.  I’ve suffered all that, only to freeze to death in a damned car �"�" that isn’t even mine”. 

 After skidding off the road, the car had come to rest at a crazy angle in a ditch. Heavy snow was slowly merging it into the white landscape.  Vivian had a combative sprit, but the wet intense cold, was too much for her this time.

 So far, Lawton Garner had been enjoying his snowy drive through Worcestershire, but as the weather worsened, his apprehensions grew.  His headlights were reflecting back off the snow, and he  was now down to a crawl. Peering through the white-out, he saw an amber light flashing beneath the snow.  It was the indicator of Vivian’s car.

    The 4 x 4 crunched to a halt. Struggling with his coat as he got out, he fought his way towards the stricken car.  Losing his footing, he tumbled down the bank in a flurry of snow and expletives. At last he reached the driver’s door, wrenching it open, he found Vivian, slumped over the wheel.

“Are you all-right?”  He called. Without waiting for a reply, he pulled her out

 Slipping, sliding, dragging and pushing, Lawton Garner got Vivian Hadley back to his car where he collapsed, exhausted beside her.  As he got her warm, Vivian soon revived enough to be aware of what was happening.  She felt the  warmth of the car, and the cosiness of Lawton’s Arran sweater that she was now wearing.   She would normally have taken control; but made a conscious effort not to, while enjoying the attention. 

Lawton kept up a banter of small talk in a  way that she found reassuring.

 “Are you sure you are all right?” He said with genuine concern.

“I think so, I cannot feel any pain anywhere, just cold”.

“You’ll soon warm up, my old sweater works every time”.

“This weather!  It's taken nearly all day to get here from Cumbria”  Lawton stuttered crossly.  “I �"�" I mean we, have a cottage there, just outside Coniston”.  He explained that he had left his wife there that morning.  It occurred to Vivian, that her spouse was also away.

“I live about five miles away, perhaps we should try to get there”.  She felt

herself giving orders, and resisted the temptation.

“The conditions are so bad, do you think we can make it?” She said.

“ We can certainly try”, Lawton answered confidently.

   The journey was long, and difficult, with moments when they thought they would be stranded. With each shared hazard the couple felt drawn together.              Finally reaching  Vivian’s home, they snowploughed their way on to her drive.  Security lights revealed a charming period cottage pictured against deep snow. 

Once inside, Vivian organised warm clothes and food, with her usual efficiency.  For reasons that she could not understand, she was acting out of character.  The women who was now cosseting her rescuer, would have been a stranger to anyone who knew her �"�"  including her husband!

“You can’t  go any further tonight, you must stay here”.  Vivian insisted. While she made the coffee, she realised that  she was attracted to him.  She dismissed the thought; and tried to convince herself the accident had scrambled her emotions.

“I realise there’s not much left of the night”,  she laughed, “...but if you follow me, I’ll shall show you where you can sleep”. Exhausted, they went their separate ways. In the privacy of different bedrooms, foolish thoughts exercised their minds as they relaxed into sleep. 

   The following morning Lawton awoke to the smell of frying bacon. He found Vivian in the kitchen. She had tried to look her best, and he noticed. They went though the charade of polite conversation.   They agreed the snow was even deeper than before, and they would have to sit it out.

“And what do you do for a living in Cumbria?”  Vivian enquired. 

“Oh I don’t live in Cumbria, we just have a cottage there.  I live and work here, in the Midlands”.  So did she, and this information caused a tingle of excitement.

“I have an engineering company in the Black Country; Hope and Younger �"�"ever heard of them?”

“No, where’re in graphic design, but we do a lot with local firms”.

They continued to cloak guilty thoughts with light conversation. If this meeting developed into infidelity, it would be the first time for both of them.

The weather broke on the third day.  The chance meeting of two strangers, had become a passionate attachment.  They were mature adults with responsibilities, they wanted it to continue meeting, but the question was: how?    They agreed to meet for lunch at a specific place in six weeks.  Neither would contact the other meanwhile.  As they parted, she asked if she could keep his Arran sweater.

  Vivian followed her business and social life, but secretly counted the days until the meeting.  Lawton tried to be normal in front of his family, but doubted that he was convincing.

They had arranged to meet at a restaurant in the centre of town.  As they met in the bar, each thought the other dazzling.  Without giving way to glaring affection; they held hands.

   After the meal, that neither of them noticed, they went to the room that Vivian had booked..  The next few hours cemented their affection.  They accepted that they were having an affair, and pondered on how it could continue.

“I have an idea”, said Vivian after a long silence.

“How about you becoming a non-executive director of our company?  We’ve been talking about it for years”.  She glowed at the originality of the idea.

The company would advertise the ‘vacancy’ in the Gazette on a day she would make him aware of, he  would take it from there.

   The advertisement appeared, and Lawton applied.  At the interview he put on a bravura performance in front of Vivian’s husband. Vivian was there with another director.  It only remained to receive a letter of confirmation.

   When the letter arrived, he only scanned it, after all, he knew what it would say.  The second paragraph jumped off the page ....

... in these circumstances therefore we regret that we cannot offer you ... etc.

How could this be?  Surely he could not be so wrong about someone?  He glimpsed at the bottom of the page to see who had signed it. Vivian had.

   He stood gazing at the letter in disbelief, reliving every word and action that had past between them.  In his trance, he heard the doorbell faintly.  As he turned, his wife was at his elbow.  She was holding his Arran  sweater. 

As time passed, he never forgot her.  He regularly drove passed her house hoping that he might see her.  He could not hide his feelings, so it came as no surprise when  his wife told him she was leaving.

It was when he was returning from an American trip that events took a strange turn.  A fire at Heathrow had grounded all flights to Birmingham, and there was difficulty in renting a car.  The best the hire firm could do was to arrange a share with another traveller to Birmingham.

Lawton was gobsmacked when he saw the share was Tom Hadley; Vivian’s husband.

Tom took the wheel of the hire car without noticing Lawton whom he immediately recognised.  They sped north and were passed Northolt before either spoke. 

“You thought you had everybody fooled, didn’t you?” Tom said viciously.

“Sorry?”, Lawton muttered in fake ignorance.

“You and Vivian �"�" you thought you could fool me �"�" but it didn’t work, did it?”

Tom knew something about those precious days. How much did he know, and  what difference did it make now anyway? 

“Perhaps I should explain �"�"”, Lawton muttered feebly.

Tom interrupted him in midsentence.  “There’s nothing to explain, I know everything.  Vivian was so keen to get you into bed, she’d forgotten about next-doors mania for security.   My security lights lit you up beautifully for his closed-circuit TV.”  A vision of the cottage in the snow, bathed in bright light, filled Lawton’s mind as if it were yesterday.

Once the enraged husband started, there was a compulsion to let it all out. He must have kept it bottled up for years, just waiting for this moment.

“I didn’t let on to start with...”, he ranted, “...but when she had this ridiculous plan for a non-exec �"�" and you turned up �" well!”

“And as for that sweater �"�"”

Lawton had heard enough, and he realised the situation could only worsen. 

“Stop the car.”  He demanded.  The car screeched to a stop, and Lawton escaped.

    The following day, Lawton decided to contact Vivian directly.  He phoned her office, only to learn that she had left the company long ago.  He went to her house, but she didn’t live there any more.  He contacted neighbours, without success.  He remembered that she had been in graphic design, and assumed that she still would be.  The idea of contacting her through the design journals rumbled through his brain.

   Finally, he stumbled on an idea for an advertisement. Recalling that she read the Gazette, he placed the following display advertisement:

Arran Sweater looking for a home �" warm in snowy weather.  Please ring ...

There was only one reply.

�"�"- ENDS �"�"-