Cult Following
Disclaimer – I don't own Midsomer.
Chapter Three
The Carpenter's Arms was a traditional pub not far from John and Sarah's house. It was doubled fronted, a couple of tables scattered at the front carrying customers huddled around pints.
"Hold on a minute," Sarah caught John's jacket and tugged him to one of the windows.
"What are you doing?" John asked.
"Just looking… ah! There he is!" Sarah pointed triumphantly through the glass at a figure by the bar.
"Winter?" John squeezed next to his wife so that he could get a better view. "His date hasn't arrived yet then."
"I wonder how he met her…" Sarah mused.
"Probably one of those app things… Panda or something."
Sarah whacked him on his stomach. "Are you sure you weren't actually born old? It's Tinder, not Panda. Come on, let's go and see what he's up to."
"I thought we were hiding out here?" John complained as Sarah now tugged him back towards the door.
"I just wanted to see if she was here yet." Sarah explained. "I didn't want to barge through the door if they were already talking, but it looks safe. Come on!"
With that, she nudged John into opening the front door. The pub inside was cheery and warm, despite the sunshine it was still cool enough to merit a small fire cracking away in a grate inside the first room he stepped in to.
Jamie had looked up as the door opened; upon seeing his boss he rolled his eyes and turned back to his drink. John sauntered up to the bar next to Jamie.
"One pint of Badger's Best and a large glass of Rioja, please."
He leaned on the bar while his order was being prepared and turned to Jamie. Sarah was standing just behind him, a smirk on her face.
"Imagine seeing you here," John commented as his beer was delivered.
"Imagine." Jamie replied dryly. "Just why exactly are you here, sir?"
"Can't a man sample his local pub?"
"Not when he is supposed to be hosting a barbecue a couple of streets away."
"Ah, touché." John sipped the beer while he passed Sarah her wine. With a nod at Jamie, she took it and retreated to a table with a good view of the bar. Jamie watched her leave before turning to his boss with his eyebrow raised.
"Well, you see, we were very curious about who it was you were meeting and thought we'd just come and have a look."
Jamie sighed and turned back to his drink. "Is nothing sacred for you?"
"Do you want me to answer that honestly?"
"Never mind. Look, I'm expecting her here any minute." Jamie indicated with his head the table Sarah had retreated to.
"Ah, so it is a date then!" John exclaimed gleefully. "Ok, ok, I'm going. All the way over there, look." He took his pint and sat down next to Sarah, both of them facing Jamie at the bar. Jamie stubbornly turned his back on them and pulled out his phone.
"Anyone would think that he's glued to that thing." John grumbled.
"Oh hush you, he's just checking there isn't a reason that his date has been caught up. If I had to guess, I'd say they were meant to meet at three and it's already five past." John looked up at the clock and conceded her point. "Honestly," Sarah huffed. "You are the one who's always banging on about your psychology degree."
The door opened to their left and a woman stepped through. She caught John's attention as she hovered in the entrance way nervously for a moment. She was wearing jeans and a light jumper of some kind, on top of that she was wearing a sleeveless coat… a gilet, he thought they were called. Her hair was loose and wavy and she wore large hooped earrings that stuck out from behind the curls. John nudged Sarah. "What do you think?" He whispered quietly, making sure that he couldn't be heard above the general chatter.
Sarah turned her attention to Jamie. "Look," she hissed in return. John turned his attention to his sergeant, who had lifted his head to see who had arrived and who now sat with a ridiculous expression on his face. After a second or two he seemed to shake himself, standing with a smile.
"Clara," he greeted the woman. "You came."
She moved forwards confidently now, joining him at the bar. John couldn't hear what she said next, so instead he turned to Sarah. "What do you think?"
"Oh, she's keen." Sarah said with a smile and a nod. "If he doesn't mess this up, this looks promising."
"You think?" John asked, looking at the woman again. "She looks pretty dressed down to me."
"Oh John," Sarah tutted. "You have so much still to learn. That is the look of a woman who wants to impress without making it too obvious that she wants to impress. Look, she is wearing large heels on those boots and if I had to guess the top underneath that coat will be figure hugging. Also, she's wearing just enough make up to really accentuate her features without going overboard. That's not even beginning to mention those earrings."
"Er… right, then." He looked back over to where the woman – Clara – was now standing next to Winter, smiling at him. "I might have to take your word on that."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Jamie stewed into his pint. He couldn't believe that Barnaby and his wife had followed him here! How did they even know he was on a date? It must have been Fleur's fault, nothing got past her.
The door to the pub opened again and Jamie looked up hopefully, his breath catching when he recognised the figure stood in the opening. She hadn't seen him yet, her eyes were darting around the pub as she tried to get her bearings. The afternoon sunlight streamed in behind her, framing her wavy brown hair that fell loose around her shoulders like a halo. As she twisted her head something caught the light and sparkled. Jamie could only gape, before he realised she still hadn't seen him. He got to his feet.
"Clara! You came!"
Her face snapped to his and a tentative smile broke out. Jamie returned it with a grin as she made her way over to the bar he was sitting at.
"Hey," she murmured, nervously tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. He stood and greeted her warmly with a peck on the cheek, trying to ignore the way she stiffened and gazed at him with an expression that resembled a startled rabbit. He made a mental note to back off a bit, before giving her some space and gesturing to the bar.
"What can I get you?"
"Oh you don't have to." She rushed to say, a hint of nervousness in his voice. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"It's a pretty poor apology drink if I don't. What will you have?"
Clara huffed out a laugh. "True, yes. Well then, a soda and lime please."
Jamie tried not to let his surprise show at the order, placing it plus one for a top up pint for himself. Once the barman had delivered the drinks he gestured at the inside of the pub. "Would you like to choose somewhere to sit?"
She looked around, thinking. "How about by the window over there?" It was the table right next to the one Sarah and John were sitting at. Jamie winced.
"Or that one over there?" He pointed into a different room, one without a direct line of sight to the Barnabys.
"Sure," Clara replied. Jamie led her over to the table, also situated by a window but this one looking out onto the rear courtyard of the pub.
"Sorry about that," Jamie began to explain. "But my boss happened to be at the next table." He pulled a face at Clara, who nodded in understanding. She fiddled with her sleeve, clearly unsure of how to start the conversation. The light coming through the window reflected off the curls in her hair and her skin seemed to glow. She was, without doubt, one of the most alive looking people Jamie had seen. Even last night, her passion had shone in the fire in her eyes and that more than anything had rendered him speechless.
"So…" he fished around for something to say, realising that he'd been sat in silence gazing at her for a few moments. "Is a soda and lime your drink of choice?" He could have kicked himself for the inanity of what he'd come up with. Luckily she seemed a bit amused, instead of totally put off because he couldn't help asking stupid questions.
"Not really," Clara replied with a smile. "I'd usually go for a nice glass of Prosecco, but I have a race tomorrow and I'm meant to be hydrating." She then looked guiltily at him. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch yesterday, by the way. I'm not normally so rude to someone I've just met, but I was worried I was injured and with the race tomorrow I didn't have much time to fix anything."
"Don't worry about it," Jamie told her with a smile. "It was totally deserved, if I hadn't run straight into you then you wouldn't have been hurt."
"It was an accident." Clara insisted. "And I was fine – a bit sore, perhaps, but I managed to walk it off. I went for a short run this morning and it was fine."
"If you are sure," Jamie replied doubtfully. "Still, cheers." He held up his pint, with a smile Clara clinked her drink against it.
"To nothing worse than a graze."
"Hm, how about to making new friends?" Jamie asked with a lopsided smile. Clara shook her head at him but a return smile played at the edge of her lips.
"I can go with that, provided said friend doesn't make a habit of knocking me off my feet."
"No more knocking you off your feet. Got it." Jamie paused for a second, before looking up contemplatively. "But how about sweeping?"
Clara rolled her eyes but didn't react, instead asking him about his day. Soon they entered into a friendly discussion about their lives and careers. Jamie found out that she worked part time as a fitness coach and part time in the Causton library – "Not that I help people with books much, nowadays. Generally I just help people work out how to access the internet."
The light was fading by the time Jamie reluctantly decided he should go home. An empty sharer platter of Greek mezze lay between them, long since polished off, along with a couple of empty glasses that the serving staff hadn't quite got to yet. Clara stood to pull on her gilet, Jamie leaping to his feet to help her despite her reassurances that she was perfectly capable.
They stood awkwardly, both starting to speak at the same time before blushing. "You go on." Clara told him softly, smiling. It was a beautiful smile, one that Jamie wouldn't mind helping to keep on her face as much as possible.
"I was just going to say that I've had a great afternoon, thanks for coming along." He eventually said, impulsively reaching for her hand that was resting on the back of her chair. She looked surprised, but didn't pull away – something that was counted as a win in Jamie's book.
"I have too," she admitted shyly. It struck Jamie then that she was as nervous around him as he was around her, and the thought bolstered his confidence.
"Where is your race tomorrow?" He asked, inspiration striking him.
"Oh, um Winterbourne Compton." She replied, clearly thrown by the question. When Jamie frowned, trying to think about where exactly that was, she elaborated further. "It's along the A341 from Hamptonstead, towards Badger's Drift but not quite that far."
Jamie nodded, he recognised where it was now – or at least, roughly. "What time is it?" He already knew that it was a ten kilometre run and that she was hoping to secure her position in the local Causton Running Club's road race championship – they had discussed it at length during the afternoon.
"Start is at nine thirty, instructions at nine. Why?" She looked at him, a challenge in her gaze. "Are you thinking of entering? They'll have some spaces on the day."
"Maybe," Jamie teased. "You'll have to watch your back."
"Or my front, if previous form is anything to go by."
"You have me there." Jamie smiled at her. "Well, if I'm in the area I might swing by, but if I don't see you then good luck."
"Thanks," she smiled at him again and he reluctantly squeezed her hand one last time before letting go. She turned away before pausing for a moment, taking Jamie by surprise when she returned to him and kissed him on the cheek. "I really did enjoy myself." She told him with a smile. "Call me." With that she did leave, Jamie standing and watching her go with a goofy smile on his face.
Pulling himself back together, although not able to keep the grin from his face completely, Jamie gathered up the glasses and took them back to the bar. This earned him a pleased nod from the barman, who was much busier as the pub had filled up in the evening.
"Well, that seemed to go well." A voice startled Jamie from by his left ear and he spun around with a curse on his tongue to see his boss standing there, Sarah hovering just outside the door of the pub but clearly trying to listen in. "You were certainly talking for long enough." Barnaby commented, indicating the time with a nod of his head.
"Not that it's any of your business, sir, but yes it did." Again, the goofy smile was threatening to come back, Jamie stamped down hard on it. "Have you been here all this time?"
"Oh, no," John shook his head. "But we thought we'd walk Paddy this way this evening and saw your friend coming out of the pub. For you to still be talking for this long it had to go well."
Jamie shook his head at his boss, leading the way out of the pub. "I would say that I can't believe you have come to check up on me, but somehow I'm not surprised."
"Hello Jamie," Betty grinned up at him from her position next to Sarah, Paddy's lead grasped firmly in her hand. "Did you have a good afternoon? I did, Fleur taught me poker."
"Did she now?" Jamie asked, eyebrows raised.
"Hm, I possibly need to have words with Fleur about age appropriate card games." John muttered.
"So," Sarah pounced on Jamie as they started to walk along the road, loosely towards Jamie's home. "What was her name?"
Jamie stopped still. "Is this the inquisition or something?"
"Don't mind us," Sarah beamed. "We're reliving our youth vicariously through you."
"I see." He shook his head and continued walking. "It's Clara, and before you ask we only met yesterday. But I like her, and judging by today hopefully she likes me too. At least enough for another date."
"She was pretty." Betty declared, looking up at Jamie earnestly. "Like an angel."
"Thank you Betty, I thought so too."
"Any plans to meet up with her again?" Sarah asked.
"Maybe." Jamie smirked at her. "But if I did, I'm not saying. And no, I'm not saying any more!"
He left them behind at the turning back to their house, waving merrily at Sarah's expression. "See you on Monday, sir!"
As soon as he had left, Sarah rounded on her husband.
"You'd better get the full details out of him next week!"
"Yes dear," John responded with a put-upon sigh, sharing a wink with Betty while Sarah glared after Winter again.
