Shadows of an aching past...Pt 1

I’m taking a break here to set the record straight about a friendship I had with someone in the summer of last year. There have been rumours going round of late that I think I must refute.
I mentioned right at the beginning of writing my blog earlier this year that I had recently been flattered by the attentions of a much younger woman. It was when I was feeling at a low ebb as it was coming up to the 25th anniversary of the death of Iris. This woman came out of the blue and asked me for a date! I had never met her before in my life and we had only chatted over the internet a few times. She was originally from Liverpool and was staying with someone I knew in the city who lived about three miles away from me. We had chatted before when she was in her home town and she was now using her friend’s PC to chat to me now. She said she had been told conflicting stories about me and wanted to see for herself what I was like. I told her I was much older than she was but she still wanted to meet me.
Anyway, I arranged to meet her for what it was worth. I thought it would take my mind off my current problems. What I intended to do was to take her to a local pub, buy her a bar snack and a quick drink and that would have been it. Instead, she came out to me on a beautiful summer’s day looking absolutely stunning. She was wearing a summer outfit consisting of a top and long white flowing skirt and I knew that a local pub was way out of the question. Instead, I took her to one of my favourite haunts in Derbyshire. It was an up-market place noted for its fine cuisine. She had obviously gone to some trouble to look so attractive.
It was only natural that I reciprocated by ordering a first-class meal and a bottle of decent wine and we enjoyed every minute of it. Later, when we went out again, I repeated the performance knowing it gave her so much pleasure. As I said, this was at a time when I was feeling so very low. I began to talk to her about Iris and she seemed to understand my feelings. I said that I was thinking of writing about her and she agreed that it might help to ease the memories a little. I started to write and each time we met, I told her how far I’d got with the tribute I was writing. There I was, in the company of a beautiful girl, feeling sad about someone else and she never once complained! She cheered me up immensely on these occasions and I began to look forward to these meetings.
It was at this stage that I was warned about her by several friends, including her own sister. They urged me to end the association as she always left a trail of disaster in her wake! Of course, I knew better, didn’t I? I carried on meeting the woman to its inevitable conclusion.

(to be continued)