Caroline's life has gone through difficult changes since the love of her life, Kate her wife, died six years ago leaving her to raise Kate's young daughter, Flora, by herself.
Caroline is now Headmistress in a difficult public school and she and Flora are living in a 200-year-old farmhouse out in the country that none of her family approves of. She is, however, content!
Unfortunately, her contentment will not last. She had invited her Head of English, Ruth, to her house to discuss topics that Ruth could pursue when she interviewed a popular author who was coming to the school for a Q&A with the students. Caroline honestly believed that Ruth knew that she (Caroline) was gay. When Caroline inadvertently revealed that fact to Ruth she was stunned. She accused Caroline of "luring" her to her house under false pretenses so she (Caroline) could "hit on her". Caroline tried to deny these allegations, but Ruth was having none of it. Caroline decided at once that she would be much more guarded if and/or when she ever told another sole that she was gay. In her usual way Caroline put this incident behind her - lesson learned - and focused on her major responsibilities, Flora, and her job. Regrettably, though, Caroline's self-confidence and sense of herself has been badly shaken
Today Caroline received a resignation letter from her Financial Director, Jim Bowles. He leaves in six weeks and Caroline will need to find a good replacement. Jim, who has been in the position for twenty odd years is well liked by the staff and the administration. However, Caroline has been frustrated with him for his lack of ability to brings the finances of the school into the modern era and to develop plans to insure the school's future financial success. Hopefully, her new Financial Director will be able to do just that.
Resumes began arriving at once after the position was posted. Only two of the lot met the qualifications Caroline was looking for. One of the two from Megan Clarke practically jumped off her desk when she read it. "This is the person I want" she thought. "I'll check out Megan's information and references myself."
Caroline was impressed when Megan arrived for her first interview. She, Caroline, noted, was extremely attractive, around fifty years old and had a professional but "easy" manner about her.
As the interview went ahead and Megan explained several of the successes she had had in previous jobs, Caroline was even more convinced that this was who she wanted for her new Finance Director.
A week later after more interviews, Caroline called Meg to offer her the job. Megan graciously accepted. She will come to the school to sign her contract and she and Caroline can settle on a start date. Caroline smiles. Finally, something positive to look forward to.
Meg is thrilled with her new job and the very real prospect of having a new boss who is a real grownup professional, unlike the petulant man/boy she has had to put up with for the past year. She feels a little sad at leaving her colleagues and a job she had not only grown into but one that had given her a great deal of confidence in herself. Meg thought to herself that nothing in life stays the same. Everything changes so she would best look forward to the next chapter in her life with lots of excitement and a tiny bit of trepidation.
On her second day on the job as Megan was reviewing the school's financial statements, she asked Caroline where on the document was the Endowment income. As Caroline leaned over Megan's shoulder to point to the item, she gently but inadvertently breathed on Megan's neck sending a warm and wonderful feeling all through Megan's body. "Holy shit" Megan thinks to herself, "It's happening again." She knows that she is going to develop an obsessive but futile crush on Caroline that will cause her to be thoroughly frustrated. She believes that Caroline is married with a bunch of kids. Nothing to do now that she is accepted the position but to hope for the best and get on with the job.
Megan spends the next few weeks meeting with the staff and Board members and reviewing the available financial data. It is obvious to her that it is going to take a lot of work to change the way things are currently being done to achieve the financial standards that meet
Caroline's expectations.
Later that month, Caroline schedules a meeting in Halifax for them both to meet with the Boards treasurer to discuss a variety of financial issues related to the school. Most notably the need to increase revenue to fund one of Caroline's pet projects, setting up a scholarship fund for underprivileged but gifted students who want to attend college but cannot afford it.
On the way back to the school they stopped for lunch. As their conversation drifted into semi personal areas, Caroline asks Meg if she has any children. Meg replies "Yes, I have two teenagers who live with their dad in London. We've been divorced for ten years." Meg then asks Caroline the same question to which she replies, "I'm the single parent of a six-year-old girl named Flora." That seems to be as far as Caroline wanted to go with talking about her private life.
Over the next few months, they spend a lot of time together both professionally and personally. They freely express ideas, opinions, and frustrations with one another. Their friendship is beginning to develop.
During their times together they begin to tell each other about their personal lives, as friends often do. Caroline tells Meg about a relationship that ended tragically when her significant other died suddenly. Meg tells Caroline about finding out that her husband was having an affair and divorcing him. It seems to them both that their friendship is beginning to blossom. Although each of these women has had their respective hearts broken in one way or another, they were both hopeful that a new love would come along someday.
One Friday afternoon at school as Caroline and Megan were reviewing the budget proposal that was to be presented to the Board on Monday, Caroline's phone rang. When she answered and listened for a few seconds, she audibly gasped. Her mother, Celia had been rushed to the hospital having fallen for no obvious reason and was in considerable pain. Caroline had a problem. She was to pick up Flora from school in half an hour and all her family who could help her were already at the hospital.
Megan then offered to pick Flora up from school and stay with her until Caroline got home. Caroline protested a little but soon realized she was out of options. She thanked Megan for her help, gave her the key to her house and hurried off to the hospital. Megan and Flora stopped on the way home to get some take-out for their dinner (Chinese of course). After they ate and the kitchen was cleaned up Megan sent Flora to brush her teeth and to put on her pajamas. About that time, 7 o'clock, Caroline called to see how Megan was getting on and to tell her that her mom was stable, but they were still waiting for the CAT scan and MRI results. Caroline apologized for taking advantage of Meg, but it was going to be several more hours before they knew anything definitive. Meg reassured Caroline that she was fine staying with Flora until Caroline got home no matter what time that was.
Just as she got off the phone with Caroline, Flora came bounding into the room with a book in one hand and her stuffed bunny rabbit under her arm. "Will you read me a story"? "Of course," Meg replied. Flora cuddled up next to Meg on the couch. After about twenty minutes of reading, Flora's eyes began to close, and her breathing became shallow. She was falling asleep. The two of them stayed that way until Megan was sure that Flora was soundly sleeping then carried her to the bedroom and put her into bed, carefully covering her up and tucking her bunny rabbit under her arm.
Megan then retrieved her briefcase from her car and began reviewing the budget information she and Caroline had worked on earlier that day. It was getting late, and Megan was getting sleepy. She closed her eyes and dozed off. The phone ringing startled her awake. It was Caroline and it was 12:30. Caroline's Mom was stable and asleep for the night. The doctors would not know anything more until tomorrow so she was heading home and would be there within 45 minutes.
When Caroline walked through the door at home, she looked like she had been through a war. Megan was careful not to comment, though, and instead offered her a cup of tea. Caroline told Meg that her mother would be okay even though she had a large bruise on her hip and a bump on her head but thankfully no broken bones. The doctors were going to keep Celia for another day to make sure there were no other medical issues. She would be going home on Sunday morning.
Meg asked Caroline how SHE was coping, and Caroline said she was stressed out and very tired. As they sat together on the couch drinking their tea, Caroline told her that seeing her mother in the hospital with wires and tubes all over her had shocked her. The sight had brought back bad memories and had frightened her. Caroline became a bit teary, so Meg reached behind her and gently rubbed her back while trying to reassure her that her mother was going to be fine. She asked Caroline if it would help to talk about these bad memories. Caroline said, "Not tonight, I think I just need a good night's sleep."
At that point Meg gathered up her paperwork, put it in her briefcase and got ready to go home. Caroline walked her to the door and thanked her again for staying with Flora all night and for being such a good friend. Meg said she was happy to help and if Caroline needed anything at all to ring her. She would be home all weekend finishing the budget proposal.
The next morning at breakfast Flora told Caroline how much she liked Megan and that they had fun last night. Caroline smiled. Later that morning they both went to the hospital to be with Celia. As the day went on, Caroline's mind kept drifting back to the night before with Megan. She felt like she was missing something but could not figure out what it was.
Later that night after Flora was in bed, Caroline called Megan to tell her about Celia's progress, she was to be discharged tomorrow. Megan's phone kept ringing and finally went to voice mail, so Caroline left a message, "call me back when you have a minute." Strangely, Caroline felt the sting of disappointment when Megan did not answer.
Thirty minutes later Megan called back. Caroline felt relieved. She had been out for a walk. Caroline said her mother was going home on Sunday morning and would Meg like to come over for dinner Sunday night? "It's my way of saying thank you for your help on Friday and If there's time, we can review the budget proposal for Monday's Board meeting," Caroline said.
Later Sunday night when they had finished their review and Flora had gone to bed Meg and Caroline sat on the couch sipping wine. There was a palpable tension between them which they both recognized, but neither was sure how to address. Caroline broke the tension by saying that there was something important she wanted to tell Megan.
Caroline continued, "When my ex-husband left to go live with his new girlfriend, I was absolutely devastated. As time went on and I began to get over the trauma, there was one person at school who was particularly supportive and kind to me. Kate. We eventually became romantically involved. Kate wanted to have a baby. I thought she was daft but after much discussion I realized it was her body and she could do whatever she wanted. So, Kate became pregnant with a donor and when she was about eight and a half months along, she was struck and killed by a drunk driver. The doctors were able to save Flora but not Kate. The irony was that just the day before we had been married which made me Flora's only legal guardian. "The next few years were difficult but with the help and support from family and friends, I managed to get through them. As time went on, I took on a new Headship in a troubled school and bought this old house." "I'm telling you this because I want you to know who I really am behind my sometime façade of self-confidence." Megan was quiet; she did not know how to respond. Finally, after a few seconds, she said, "You know Caroline, I'm very fond of you but I think our friendship has evolved into much more." "I have feelings for you that I don't quite know what to do about." "What do you think"?
Megan then stood up, took both of Caroline's hands and slowly guided her off the couch. She then put her arms around Caroline and kissed her ever so gently. Caroline pulled away slightly, looked Megan in the eyes and said, "I think you're right." "I didn't know to tell you how I feel either." She then kissed Megan back with a passion she did not know she was capable of. The two of them stayed in each other's arms and alternately kissed and talked about how they felt about one another. Megan told Caroline about the day that Caroline "breathed on her neck" and how she was "hooked' even though she thought it was hopeless. Caroline told her that she could not stop thinking about Megan over the past few days. She said, when Megan had rubbed her back while trying to console her on Friday night, she felt safe and secure. The feeling was wonderful, and she knew then for certain that their relationship had evolved into something incredibly special.