Girl Meets Boy

By Catherine Carson

When new best friends Lotty Loche and Jake Carleson discover they are both from single parent families it seems logical their parents should meet.
Unfortunately in real life things are not as black and white as seen through their eyes and they soon have to face the reality of their parents colourful past…..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326468071

Book preview

Girl Meets Boy

Girl Meets Boy

By Catherine Carson

Standard Copyright © Catherine Carson 2015

ISBN 978-1-326-46803-3 paperback

ISBN 978-1-326-46807-1 eBook

About the author

Born in Scotland I now live with my husband in the North West of England.  We have three children who, between them have given us six wonderful grandchildren.

I studied commercial subjects at school and college and spent most of my working life in the offices of various companies, starting as a junior in a local garage typing invoices for car repairs.   I left Scotland and crossed the border to England to marry the man I met whilst on a holiday with my extended family and eventually became a secretary with a beer bottling company leaving six years later when the first of our three children came on the scene. 

Returning to the workforce when our children were young adults I finally untied the apron strings to join the offices of a large wholesale book supplier and embraced the advancement in technology since I had first learned to type on a manual typewriter and take notes in shorthand.

During the years I became something of a letter writer as friends and family lived in many parts of the country and indeed the world.  Often friends and family would tell me…..‘You could write a book’ to which I always replied…..‘But would anyone read it’. 

When my granddaughter asked if I would write a book especially for her I confided in my good friend Lisa Schmidt and she told me to go for it.  That book became the first of many stories which had been lurking in my imagination for a good number of years.

Once started I found the stories simply kept coming and often an overheard conversation or a glimpse from the passenger seat of the car would trigger a likely scenario which my imagination would then elaborate and weave into a story.

My hope is that my writing brings a little pleasure into the life of my readers and allows them to leave the mundane world behind for a few hours as they meet the characters I adore creating.

www.facebook.com/catherinecarsonbooks.uk

www.catherinerenacarson.jimdo.com

Dedication     

A very supportive friend is particularly fond of stories which include children and so I wrote this with you in mind Lisa and trust it meets all the criteria you expect to find within the pages.

The characters in this book are completely fictional, a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any living person.

Other Books by this Author

Stand AloneSeries

The Mouse in the LibraryTapestry of Love-Bk 1

Family TiesTwins Exchanged-Bk 2

Overall ConstructionHighland Feud-Bk 3

Wounded Wolf

Coffee and CakesSoil, Seed & Betrayal-Bk 1

Memories RekindledDesert Prince, Exiled Princess-Bk 2

Wholesale LoveBody Language-Bk 3

Hope’s Conflict

Sibling RivalryAn Open Book-Bk 1

Fighting for CustodyAfraid to Love-Bk 2

White Knight Black Knight

Through the Garden Gate…A Second Chance-Bk 1

Love Lost and FoundTaming the Playboy-Bk 2

Alphabet Bachelors

A Dreamer’ TaleEstranged Husband & Father-Bk 1

A Precious JewelIdentical Mistake-Bk 2

Footbridge of Solace       

Sigh of the Claymore-Bk 1

Beyond Claymore-Bk 2

Chapter 1

Like all the other eight year old children in her class Lotty Loche was drawn to the new boy in the class but unlike the others she did not want to ask the usual questions, such as where he had come from, or was he good at football, Lotty’s interest lay in whether or not he had a full set of parents. 

The bell rang to indicate it was time to start the daily lessons.  Lotty lined up with the other boys and girls waiting her turn to enter the double doors leading to the cloakroom and classrooms beyond.

Jake Carleson knew he would be bombarded with questions, he always was when starting at a new school. 

In his three short years of school life this was the third school he had been enrolled in.  His dad worked as an Architect on large projects and insisted it had been necessary for him to live close to whichever construction he was working on, but now he had settled in Longwell and would be co-ordinating any future projects from his new office.  He promised Jake this was positively the last time he would have to move schools, at least until he was eleven when he would move to High School.

Miss Smith introduced the new member of the class and looking directly at Lotty asked if she would mind if Jake sat next to her.

Lotty could feel the eyes of the class on her but for once she was not going to let them intimidate her.  ‘Of course Jake can sit with me, Miss Smith.’

Looking at the girl he would be spending the next few months sitting beside, Jake thought she might be quite nice to get to know and at least she had not been one of the kids trying to find out all about him in the school yard.

Outside the school gate Elen Loche waited for her daughter to come and join her and was rather surprised to find she was walking towards her with a young boy by her side.  ‘Mum this is Jake Carleson and he only started today.  Miss Smith asked him to sit by me.’ 

Elen pressed her lips together to prevent a smile escaping.  It was obvious her little girl was thrilled to have been chosen by her teacher and she in turn was pleased Miss Smith had taken note of her concerns regarding the other children.

‘I am pleased to meet you Jake, would you like us to wait with you until one of your parents comes to collect you?’ 

Elen saw the boy look surprised by her offer before he smiled and told her it was okay as his dad would be waiting for him.  ‘His office is only just round the corner and I don’t have to cross any roads, so I told dad not to bother coming.’

‘Oh you are lucky, mum won’t let me walk home on my own she says I am too young.’  Lotty’s voice was full of awe and a certain amount of resentment but Elen chose to ignore her for the time being.

‘Well good afternoon young man and I trust you reach your father’s office intact.’ 

‘He’s not my father, he’s my dad.’  Jake said adamantly and walked off leaving Elen looking a little bewildered.

‘Come on let’s go home.’ 

Elen was a website designer and worked from home.  She had left university without completing her first year but had eventually taken an Open University degree in computer graphics and design and through internet advertising had built up a business in creating and developing websites for people wishing to make themselves known within the world internet system.

Each evening she would spend quality time with her daughter.  There was always a light snack ready for Lotty coming home from school and Elen encouraged her to tell her about her school day before helping her with any homework. 

It was during one of their discussions about the events at school Elen discovered her daughter was having some difficulty with name calling by her fellow students.  She knew Lotty was sensitive of the fact she did not have a father, at least not one she was aware of, but when she realised the children were actually ostracising her because of this, she telephoned the school and made a lunchtime appointment to meet with Miss Smith.

‘I simply cannot understand why they are doing this.  Approximately one third of the children in my class have parents who are divorced or separated so why are they picking on Lotty in particular?’

‘It appears Lotty is the only child in your class who does not know who her father is and so she has been singled out as something of a freak in their eyes.  Even the children whose parents are divorced or separated, see their fathers or at least know who they are.’  Elen saw her statement had totally shocked Miss Smith.

‘Well I have never in all my years of teaching known children make such a distinction.  When I first came into teaching there was always a bit of a stigma on the issue of divorced couples but not in this present day and age.  I can assure you I shall be keeping a very close eye on the situation and will keep you informed.’  Miss Smith shook Elen’s hand and took her to the front entrance of the school in order to avoid the children sitting in the hall eating their lunch.

Going back to the staff room Miss Smith related the conversation to her colleagues and they too were astounded to learn about the attitude being adopted by the children and promised to look out for similar situations in their classrooms.  ‘I have an idea the girl behind the bullying, for bullying is what it is, may have been coached by her parent.’  The class teacher had a good idea who was responsible but until she had proof she kept the information to herself.

Chapter 2 

Lotty woke early and threw the covers back and jumped out of bed eager to start the new school day.

‘Mum do you think we could leave early today.  I would like to talk to Jake before it is time to go into school.’

‘Darling he may not be early and you could well be standing all alone for some time.’  Elen was unsure about leaving her little girl knowing she could well be exposed to more taunting in the unsupervised school yard.

‘It’s okay Mum he will be there because his dad takes him to the office and he will probably walk round to school and play football with the other boys