Dr Caroline Elliot took her glasses off and placed them thoughtfully on her desk. She slumped back in her chair and stretched her legs out in front of her, crossing her ankles and flexing her feet in her stilettos. She spun her office chair around so that she was looking out of the window onto the courtyard. Straightening her navy blue jacket, she flicked her blonde hair out of her eyes and sighed.
Caroline loved this time of day at Sulgrave Heath, the Independent School where she was head teacher. All the pupils had gone home and most of the staff would either have left or would be finishing up their marking and assessments. The silence throughout the building was blissful and the only noise she could hear was the humming of the floor polishers. She absentmindedly picked up her mobile phone to check if she had any messages and noticed that it was almost 6.30pm.
Pushing herself back from her desk, Caroline picked up her tan coloured Mulberry bag and started to fill it with one of the many piles of paperwork that were in front of her. She still had some preparation to finish for the forthcoming school inspection and she had a timetable to finalise for her Year 11 parents evening at the beginning of October. But she could finish this at home in the comfort of her own office with a glass of red wine to keep her company.
As she walked through her outer office, she was surprised to see Beverley still sat at her computer. She was one of the best secretaries Caroline had ever had. Beverley really was in tune with her every need which is why they worked well together.
"Haven't you got a home to go to?"
She looked up at Caroline, the respect and admiration for her evident in her eyes.
"I'm just going to finish off entering the student profiles for those who didn't send them in before the start of term and then I am heading home. How about you? You look exhausted."
Caroline raised her eyebrows.
"I am and I still have a mountain of things to go through. If I concentrate, I should be finished by midnight."
Beverley stood up and walked over to Caroline.
"You work too hard, has anyone ever told you that? All work and no play and all that malarkey."
Now it was Caroline's turn to smile.
"I can't remember the last time I had any play Beverley. Not since John, well, not since we, not for a while anyway. Well good night then. I'll see you tomorrow."
Her footsteps resounded along the corridor as she walked towards the front door where her black jeep Cherokee was parked in her reserved spot. As she approached the entrance hall and the main staircase, Caroline stopped and listened. She could hear someone speaking French in one of the classrooms. She poked her head around the door and saw one of her language teachers writing on the board, reading aloud her lesson plan for the next day.
"Good night Miss McKenzie".
The soft voice startled Kate McKenzie and she spun round. Dr Elliot had such an air of power about her that she always left Kate feeling very inadequate and awkward. She became a nervous wreck when she was around her and she struggled to string a sentence together.
"Yes goodnight Dr Elliot."
Caroline turned to leave and then something stopped her and she had a change of mind. She placed her bag on the desk inside the door and started to walk towards Kate, her hands in the pockets of her long camel coat, her head slightly to one side. Kate could feel the heat rising from her chest to her cheeks and she started to feel slightly queasy. Since Kate had started working at Sulgrave, she had probably only spoken to Caroline 3 or 4 times, always in a professional capacity and never on a personal level. This encounter was making her more nervous than she usually felt and she licked her bottom lip and swallowed hard.
When Caroline got to the front of the classroom, she reached out and took the wipe board marker from Kate's hand. As she did so, their fingers touched and Kate pulled back as a shock of electricity ran through her. She gasped and looked directly into Caroline's face, speechless at the depth of the blue eyes that looked back at her. They stared at each other for a moment and then Caroline walked towards the board and corrected what Kate had written.
"You missed the accent from the word bonjour Miss McKenzie."
Kate stared at her, open mouthed.
"I think you will find that bonjour does not have an accent and is written exactly as you see it on the board. Thank you Dr Elliot but in this instance, you may have mis-remembered your school girl French."
Caroline folded her arms in front of her and walked back to Kate, her hips sashaying from side to side.
"Je parle très bien le français et je ne ai pas besoin de correction."
Kate raised her eyebrows, impressed at what she had just heard. So, Dr Elliot spoke French and in a very sexy voice too. God, this woman was amazing.
"Je suis très impressionné , mais vous êtes encore trompé." Kate wondered if she had gone too far by telling Caroline that she was wrong.
"I am not mistaken Miss McKenzie. Bonjour has an accent. But I am not going to stand and argue with you about this."
As Caroline put the pen back on the table, it started to roll back and both women shot out their hand to grab it before it fell onto the floor. Their hands touched and Kate's fingers curled around Caroline's. For an instant, they held hands, their eyes looking down at the desk. Kate could almost hear her heart beating and her breathing was loud and shallow.
Quickly, Caroline pulled her hand away and coughed gently. She walked back down the classroom and picked up her bag. Kate's eyes followed her towards the door, marvelling at the way she walked, the way she strutted.
"Good evening Miss McKenzie."
Kate tried to answer her but her throat was dry and her mind was racing. She was still taken aback by the electricity that had shot through her body, the feel of Caroline's hand in hers and the sapphire eyes that bored into her very being. Her cheeks were burning and her legs were shaking. What had just happened?
Caroline sat in the drivers' seat of her car and closed her eyes briefly. She saw Kate with her dark skin as smooth as velvet and her large brown eyes with their long lashes. She was very pretty and Caroline was surprised that she had never noticed this before. She was normally more attentive.
Caroline knew all of her staff – she had hired most of them – but she was always careful to keep her distance from them. She didn't enter into school gossip and she certainly didn't have time for idle chit chat during her brief visits to the staffroom. Her contact with the teachers was purely professional although she did pride herself on being able to speak to each and every one of them about some aspect of their life, be it their children, their partners or their hobbies. She hated to admit however that she knew very little about Kate other than the name of the school she last taught at. She had most definitely not heard the rumours that were flying around the school about Kate's marriage breakup.
When Kate was growing up, she had always preferred playing with the boys who lived in her street rather than the girls. She liked climbing trees, riding her bike and building dens in the woods. She vividly remembered bursting into tears one Christmas when she got a Tiny Tears doll instead of the toy gun she had asked for.
Her adolescent years weren't easy either. Kate didn't cope very well with the changes to her body and the unwelcome advances of the boys at school. She hated having to wear a skirt for and a shirt and tie because it showed off her curvaceous figure.
When she was in sixth form, she met a girl who was from out of town and was new to the school. They were in most of their lessons together and spent a lot of their time in the common room chatting and drinking coffee. Kate was drawn to her and her first sexual experiences were with her. They sadly lost touch when they went off to University but Kate cherished their relationship and often thought about Charlotte and what she was doing now.
Kate met Richard through a mutual friend and although she wasn't sexually attracted to him, there was something about him that held her captivated and she was certain that he was the one. She wanted to be with him more than anything. He made her laugh but more importantly, he made her feel safe and secure and when he asked her to marry him, Kate had no hesitation and she accepted. She had been with him for 12 years, married for almost 10 of them.
A short time after their engagement, Kate was asked to mentor a new English teacher at school. Lucy was everything Kate wasn't and there was an instant attraction. One evening after a staff social, Kate and Lucy ended in bed together and for the second time in her life, she embarked on a relationship with another woman.
The relationship lasted for just over 8 months, in which time Richard and her drifted apart. They became more like housemates, sharing the bills and keeping each other company. But they stayed together and in Kate's mind, she had the best of both worlds. However, one of her worlds fell apart when another staff member told her that Lucy had left to take up a new post in Liverpool. Kate was devastated and she found solace in the arms of Richard. Of course, she never told him why she was so heartbroken and before long, their relationship was back on an even keel and they married just 2 months later.
Shortly after their wedding, Kate became pregnant and everyone was delighted for them. Richard and Kate were the perfect couple and everyone loved them. Tragically, towards the end of the first trimester, she miscarried. This happened 3 more times, each miscarriage destroying a part of Kate's heart and leaving her more withdrawn and depressed.
After the fourth miscarriage, Richard encouraged her to take a break and he booked her into a spa in Hertfordshire to recuperate. One morning whilst she was in the pool, a chance in a million encounter brought her face to face with Lucy. Both of them stopped in their tracks and stared at each other. Time stood still and the air around them was electric.
"Hello Lucy. How are you?"
Lucy tried to walk away but Kate put her hand on her shoulder and spun her around.
"Listen Kate, I am sorry about the way that things ended. About the way I left. I couldn't do it anymore, couldn't see you ruining a happy marriage with the perfect man just so you could be with me."
Kate looked intently at Lucy.
"But things didn't end did they? I never even got a chance to say goodbye. And my marriage was hardly happy if I was willing to spend most of it in your arms."
The 2 women were silent and then some invisible force pulled them together and they were kissing each other passionately, both oblivious to their surroundings. This only served as a reminder to Kate that she was in denial about her sexuality and she made a promise that on her return home, she would come clean with Richard.
And that is exactly what she did. She confessed everything – her feelings about other women, how sad she felt that she lied to Richard, her regret that they had not had children, and how she and Lucy had spent most of the week together at the spa. Richard reluctantly agreed to a divorce. He was understandably upset and confused but resigned himself to the fact that Kate could never be truly happy, especially if he forced her to stay with him.
As Kate walked down the school drive, she smiled to herself at how lucky she was to be working at Sulgrave. When she had applied for the job 4 years ago, she was the strongest and most suitable candidate on paper and the fact that her interview was flawless left Caroline with no choice but to offer her the post there and then. Kate had the feeling that they could be friends outside of work – there was something about the way that they maintained eye contact throughout the interview – but so far this hadn't happened and they were almost strangers. Kate was hoping that this brief encounter would change that.