THE BOAT TRIP: Stampy And Squid

Ardtole

--SQUIDS POV--
We arrived at the port at night time. I took the task of driving the boat with Nicole as Joe and Beth were fast asleep in the cabin.
My fiancé and I shared the driving seat. She changed into one of my shirts, which was far too big for her but looked pretty cute.
I was about to go into mooring, but it's significantly difficult to park a boat on your own.
"Do you want me to help?" Nicole asked, "I may be a lady but I can help."
"Well.. if I jump off could you throw me the rope? It's easiest if you throw it in loops."
"Sure." She said, I jumped off onto the port, she threw me down the loops of rope and I tied them around the bung.

I hopped back on board with the help of Nicole, I put my hands in her waist and gave her a kiss on the neck before I walked back onto the roof.
I looked down through the window where Joe and Beth lay in bed.
I knocked on the window and Joe's eyes opened,
"Hey." I said, his eyes squinted open.
"Hello you!" He laughed, barely awake.
"We're back in Auckland, " I said, "I'm gonna drive up to Nicole's place for a bit."
Joe just laughed, "sure you are."
"Oh stop it you." I chuckled, "I'll be back tomorrow morning."
"Roger that." He said,
"You get better." I told him, smiling,
"I will, have a good night, mate." He said.
I saluted him, closing the window and tapping it. I adored our friendship, absolutely everything about it was great.

It was still dark, I helped Nicole down onto dry land where there were two cars.
"Which one is yours?" I asked, looking at the Kia and the BMW.
Please be the BMW please be the BMW!
To my delight it was the BMW. I loved driving those! Could this day get any better?!
I opened the passenger door for her then hopped in the driver's seat, revving the engine before setting off.
"So when should we get married?" I asked Nicole.
"When you get back from the trip, in a year or so." Nicole said,
"But I want to get married now!" I giggled, putting my hand on Nicole's knee.
"But I want you to be in a slim suit and I want you to choose a big white dress for me." She argued, making me laugh.
"You want a big elegant traditional wedding then?" I said,
"You got a problem with that?" She asked.
"Not at all." I said, smiling, I kissed her, keeping my eyes open to try and focus on driving.
"You might wanna pull over right about now." She whispered, kissing my neck. I pulled over onto the grass, keeping the headlights on.
After I turned off the ignition I sighed, then unbuckled my seatbelt.
We crawled back into the back seats, our legs and lips intwined, We unbuttoned everything, I ran my fingers down her back, every time we weren't kissing we were smiling, I'd have never thought that three days ago I'd be this happy..

***

--STAMPYS POV--
I woke up with Beth beside me, she ran her hands up my legs, kissing me on the lips.
"Ooh that was a good one wasn't it!" I said, probably a bit to excitedly.
"Yeh, one of your best, do it again." She whispered.
And so we did.. a couple times actually.. before we walked upstairs onto the deck, David had managed to get back onboard, I checked the time, it was 11am.
"Didn't think you'd be back so early." I admired, sitting down beside him, Nicole wasn't with him,
"So what was the hotel like?" I asked him,
"We..... didn't get that far." He smiled,
"What?! You did it in the car?!"
"No need to let the whole world know!" David laughed, trying to calm me down.
"So where is Nicole now?" I asked sitting beside him.
"I dropped her back at her hotel then got a taxi back here." He answered, I couldn't stop smiling.
"What?" He asked, smiling himself.
"Nah, nothing, just you." I laughed. He had just gotten over his daughter dying and now he had gotten engaged and spent a night of passion in a car (I should also probably tell him about the lipstick stains on his chest) he was such a strange guy.
"So, I take it we have to see Harry Ardtole." David said, fiddling with his engagement ring.
"Yeh I got a message from him with his address." I said, we'll take a taxi there.
"Nah you can use my car and I'll drive on back afterwards." Beth intruded,
"Are you sure?" David asked,
"Yeh sure." She said.
So we all got into Beth's car. David took the wheel, Beth sat in the passenger seat and I took the back.

--SQUIDS POV--
"Ooh! Automatic!" I complimented, looking around. Typing in Harry's address into the satnav.
"It's got a great turning circle, but the indicators are on the other side for some reason." Beth told me, I checked everything. "Okay.." I said, turning the key and setting off.

When we eventually arrived at a huge, stone brick house, we were pretty sure this was right.
Beth drove back to her hotel, leaving Stampy and I to knock on the door.
We had changed into a shirt and tie and were wearing blazers in the heat of the day.
The door was answered by someone who looked at least fourty years older than me, how did he get the job?? Unless he's secretly a genius at IT or something?
"Come in." He said in his very posh accent.
His house was beautiful, I must say, his taste in architecture and interior design was classy and antique, which I adored.
We sat down in the 'drawing room' of course he had a drawing room.. he's Harry Ardtole.. 
"So.. what happened?" He asked us both. Stampy in a sling.. my daughter dead.. me with an engagement ring.. I wasn't surprised he asked. He filled him in on most of what happened, I didn't want to tell him absolutely everything but most of it just spilled out anyway.
"What about you Harry- I saw you at the hospital the other day.." stampy began,
"Ah.. just seeing my wife."
"What's her name?" I asked,
"Vivianne, Vivianne McKenzie."
"She kept her maiden name?"
"No.. no that was my surname.. I changed it after she left. I changed my name from McKenzie to Ardtole because that's where we met.. we met when I was in placement in Northern Ireland, a place called Ardglass, I went for a walk to Ardtole where there is a beautiful, old, abandoned church.. and that's where we met, it was so beautiful there. I must go back one day. She was Vivianne Mulhern- we got married and moved to Cheshire.. and then I went away to work and the next day she was gone."
I wasn't so sure what to say to that.
"I spent the rest of my life searching for her.. and I found her here, the whole world away."
I was touched by that. I felt that I respected Harry a lot more now than I used to.
Joe and I looked at each other, we both agreed that it was time to go.
We were just about to leave when Harry shook our hands,
"You'll be getting a new boss next week.. I.. I'm staying here."
We said our thanks to him then left.. what a strange strange man.