Prude & Prejudice (5 page)

William
Darling
i
s a director of a compan
y called Organic
Feasts
. I worked with him as
his assistant
for three months before we started an affair
. He was engaged
at the time but that did not stop him trying to hit on me every day until I gave in. His fiancé’ eventually found out about us and called off the engagement. It was obvious he was a cheater
and a liar
, but unfortunately for me I fell in love with him. He told me he loved me too and we began dating properly but it did not take long for him to lose interest in me. A new girl started who
caught his eye, and then
I was
the one
playing second fiddle. I don’t think she was the only one
either
,
she was just the only one I found out about.
I lost my job when he dumped me and have not worked since
because he wouldn’t even give me a reference
.
This man has
no integrity
whatsoever
. Stay away from him if you know what’s good for you.

So not only w
as he an arrogant
racist
,
he
was a cheater
too. Prue did not know exactly what use she would make of this information but it was very handy to have. It was an excellent indication of his character and gave
her a weapon
against him if his grassroots movement took off.
She wondered if the woman knew that his actio
ns were illeg
al in sacking her over an
af
fair?
He could be taken to court and sued for a lot of money if her allegations stood up in court. Her mood was much lighter as she turned off the computer and got ready for bed.

Prue slept
surprisingly
well that night
after the argument with her mother,
and she
was up at the crack of dawn the
next day to work on the farm. After collecting the eggs and milking the cow, she fed the other animals and
did some weeding
.
She had hired
a few
retired men from the village to help he
r out
with
chores
around the place
, and they did much of the
planting
,
ploughing
and
crop rotation. The
farm was still quite small
, but
demand was growing and s
he was
looking at expanding
in the near future
.
She could not afford to pay
the men
mu
ch
,
but she let them take as
much
produce home
as they wanted
,
and they
were happy to hav
e something productive to do with their spare time
.

Bob
Ship
pley
was a former farmer and
an
endless
so
urce of
advice and help for
her. Over the last year h
e had also become a good friend. He
turned up
early
to do some weeding
that morning, even though she had
told him to take the day off. Prue s
tood up as he approached and wiped
the sweat from
her brow.

How are you today?”
he asked.

“A bit tired
, we had a big function to ca
ter yesterday
.”

“Was it for th
ose new folks in town, in the old bank building?”

“Yes, it was their official opening party
.”

“Organic products
distributors
aren’t they? You must have a lot in common with them.”

“Not as much as you might think.”

“I ran into one of them the other day at the markets actually. I think he said he w
as a director, the name was William something or other.
We got talking and he had some really interesting ideas.”

The last thing Prue wanted w
as to hear about
was
anymore of William
Darling
’s i
d
eas. It was bad enough that
her
own
mother agreed wi
th them. H
ere
,
in the sanctity of her own home s
he
should not have to be exposed
to
his poisonous beliefs.

“Sorry
,
Bob, but
I don’t have any interest whatsoever in that man’s ideas, and if you don’t mind
,
can you ple
ase not mention him to me again?
”

“Done something to get on your bad side has he?”

“T
here are
some
things about him that I can’t tell you, but let’s just say he’s not a trustworthy person.” Prue knew it was wrong to
spread rumours based on online gossip, but you had to fight fire with fire.

“I see. Well he seemed like a nice enough fellow to me, but if you say he’s not trustworthy then I believe you. I know you wouldn’t say that for
no
reason.”

“That’s right. It’s not my way to spread rumours
about people
I hardly know
,
but I don’t mind if you warn other people to be wary of him. We
need to look out for each other
in this town, especially when
outs
iders like him tur
n up and begin trying to change things
.”

Prue spent the rest of the day working around the farm
, planting herbs and prepping
some beds
for the next day
. B
y the time she finished up it was getting dark and she was covered in dirt. She had planned to have a quiet evening on her own, but just as she was about to step in the shower the phone rang. It was Cate.

“Hey, a bunch
of us are going to the pub tonight if you want to come. It will only be for a few hours
,
I promise
.”

“
I was planning on having an early night
.
I worked hard
today.
”

“Y
ou
could use a night out.
You know what they say, a
ll work and no play
makes
Prudence
Higginbottom
a very dull girl.
”

“
Okay, you talked me into it
, but I won’t be able to stay out too late
and you have to promise you’ll never call
me Prudence
ever
again
.
You’re as bad as M
um
”

“
Okay
,
I promise.
See you soon
,
Prude
.”

****

A
s Prue
, Cate,
Alice
and a few
of thei
r girlfriends hurried towards the pub
, their heels clicking in time on the pavement
, Prue could see how crowded it was through the window
. It was a chilly night and as they opened the d
oor
they were greeted with a blast of warm air, accompanied by
music
from the
jukebox
and a cacop
hony
of
voices all talking over each other
. It was ano
ther ty
pical Saturday night at the Heart and Humble
.

Pr
ue ha
d been c
oming to this pub
since
before she was le
gally allowed to drink, and
though many of her friends had moved away to far more exotic places,
it
always
reminded
her
of how glad she
was to be back in her home town
.
S
he would never admit it to another living soul,
but
the theme song from
Cheers
played in her hea
d when
ever
she walked in the door
because
this was one of the few
place
s
in the world
where
nearly
everybody did know
her name
.

As they took off their coats the girls scanned the room f
or spare seats. On nights like this they
usually managed to
find some friends and
squeeze in
at a table with them, but
Prue was surprised when she could not spot a single familiar face
in the crowd
.

“Do you see anyone we know?” asked Cate
, looking puzzled
.

“No. Who are all these people? Is there something going
on in town this weekend that we
don’t know about?”

“It’s the new staff from
Organic
Feasts
,”
said their friend Charlotte, who worked at the local real estate agency
.
“
They
’ve
taken over all the pubs
in
Merryton
over the last couple of weeks
.”

“But surel
y there are
not that many of them?
”
said Prue.

“I
t’s not just them
. Their friends and family have started converging here en masse on weekends, and it’s probably going to get worse
. This population boom is
great for the town in some ways, but there are no rentals left in any towns or villages around here, and the landlords have started increasing r
ents. House prices are
already
skyrocketing too, meaning a lot of local people are being shut out of the market.”

At that moment someone jostled past them and knocked into Prue. He did not even bother to apologize
but just kept walking
.

“How rude!
I wish these city people would bring their manners with them.” Her mood did
not improve when Cate spotted Charles
Bradley across the room and he waved and beckoned for them to come over. She was even less
impressed when she saw that William
Darling
was sitting at his table. She grabbed Cate’s sleeve.

“I’m not going over there.”

“Come on, it’s only for a minute. We’ll just say hello. He’s seen us now so it would be rude not to.”
Relu
ctantly she followed her sister
through the crowd.

“Hi
there,
girls.
I never got
to thank you properly for the
great job you did the other day. Why don’t you join us?”

“We’d love to,” said Cate, p
romptly plonking
herself on the
stool and ignoring the death look Prue gave her. Prue looked around for an escape, but the other g
irls had all melted away
.

“Sit down
,
Prudence,” said
Charles
Bradley.

“It’s Prue,” she said. “
And
I’m fine
thanks
.”

“You remember William
from the other day
?
” he
said
,
forcing h
er to turn back
and face the two of them
. William
Darling
had
been talking on his phone but he closed it and put it in his pocket.
She gave a t
ight smile and tried to turn away again, but t
o her surprise he held out his hand.

“Hello
,
nice to meet you. Have a seat.
Sorry
,
I missed your name.
”
She reluctantly
took his hand and
p
erched on the edge of the stool.