This is the first part of the only other contemporary novel I have written. It is really a rather strange love story although it was never meant that way.

CHAPTER ONE

As Dr. Colin Mattins drove into Bradford, he noticed it had changed. It seemed much bigger than he remembered. They straightened the highway coming into town. He saw several nice looking restaurants, he didn’t remember. There were new businesses and more industry than he remembered. New houses had sprung up where there had been farm fields and woods.

He was returning to his hometown. His first time back, after an absence of many years. Although he had thought of coming back, this was a real spur of the moment decision. It was meant as a kind of vacation, a peaceful interlude in his busy life. It would change his life in ways he did not anticipate.

It had taken two years to make up his mind to finally come back. Now he was here. He decided to see if the downtown hotel he remembered was still there. It had been a very good hotel back then. One at which all the important people had stayed. He heard it was still operating.

He found the downtown different, although there were some things the same. The hotel was still there. It had been renamed and refurbished. It looked like it was still a very nice hotel. He found a parking space nearby. He took a bag from the trunk of his car and walked into the lobby. It was in the middle of the week and before vacation season. He was sure he could get a room.

“I’d like a room for a week or so,” he told the hotel clerk, a fairly young, relatively attractive woman.

“Do you have a reservation, sir?” she asked, looking him over.

“No I did not make a reservation,” he answered pleasantly with a smile at the young woman. She smiled back at him. It was just a pleasant smile to a prospective customer.

“I’ll check to see what we have available,” she said. She checked then looked up at him and said pleasantly, “We have a deluxe room, on the second floor in front, that we could let you have for that period.” She assumed he was a businessman in town on business and would like one of their best rooms. He looked well dressed and prosperous to her. It was obvious she didn’t recognize him. Colin had not expected her to do so.

Colin smiled, “I’ll take it. Can I possibly have that room for an indefinite period after the week is up, if I promise to give you at least two days notice when I am going to leave?” Colin looked expectantly at her.

The woman looked at him strangely. That was an unusual request, even for a businessman, she thought. Then after a small hesitation, replied, “I would have to check with the manager on that. I would think that would be possible.”

“Fine,” Colin said matter-of-factly. Then he took out his credit card and handed it to her, and began to write out the reservation form. The young woman’s eyes widened when she saw the name on the credit card.

“We have a parking lot behind the hotel, Dr. Mattins,” she told him, giving Colin a more extensive looking over. She recognized the name as the author who wrote best sellers she had read and enjoyed. Her pleasant manner almost caused Colin to ask her if she would be available to have dinner with him. He didn’t even know why that thought crossed his mind. It wasn’t something he would ordinarily do. He decided that would be a little too forward. For some reason, the young woman seemed to intrigue Colin. He knew she recognized his name. She was probably in the group at which his novels were aimed.

Instead he asked, “Could you recommend a very good place to have dinner tonight?” She quickly gave him three suggestions, gave him very clear directions to each, and then gave him her ranking for the restaurants.

“Do I need reservations?” Colin asked her.

She smiled, “No, you probably won’t tonight.” Then she added as a kind of afterthought, “but in your case I would suggest it, because you will get special treatment that way.”

Colin laughed, because she said it semi-seriously, “You mean, you recognized the name after you saw my card, and they would if I made a reservation,” he said with a friendly smile.

The young woman thought for a moment. “Why don’t you let me make the reservation. If I call and make it, they will be absolutely sure it really is you.” Then with a hard-to-classify smile added, “I would love to see their faces when you walk in. I assume that no one knows you are in town.”

That was the opening that Colin was looking for, and he quickly took it. “Why don’t you make it for two and join me for dinner, then you could see their faces for yourself, or have you just come on duty?” Colin asked, looking at her rather intently to gauge her reaction. He had noticed there were no rings on that finger on her left hand.

The young woman looked at him rather startled, “Don’t tease me, Dr. Mattins,” she said looking at him questioningly.

Colin raised both of his hands. “I am not teasing you. I am absolutely serious in asking you that. I promise to be an absolute gentleman and take you right home after dinner.”

The young woman cocked her head, looked at Colin then smiled, “I wasn’t questioning your motives, at the moment, only your seriousness,” she said with what was beginning to be a delighted although still questioning look on her face. She wasn’t completely sure how she should be taking this invitation. Then she quickly made her decision and added, “In that case, I would be delighted to have dinner with you. When shall I make the reservations for?”

They agreed on seven, because she was getting off at four. Colin learned her name was Sadie Turin. The young woman gave him directions as to where he was to pick her up. It was in the general direction in the town where Colin grew up. He had a hunch it was a small house. It was obvious she was not planning to make like she was anything but what she was. In other words, it looked like she was being bluntly honest. He applauded her for that. He decided against telling her he grew up in this town. That could come later, if he saw more of her after tonight. He intended to be just exactly what he said he would be. A perfect gentleman. He knew she was reading him that way. She would never have agreed to have dinner with him otherwise. Colin had already sized her up as intelligent and definitely not naive.

Dr. Colin Mattins left Bradford when he went off to college. Just an ordinary kid, just out of high school. He never returned. He never felt any reason to do so. He left some friends and few enemies, when he went to college. He had been a good student and a reasonably good athlete, but somewhat shy. He never really stood out.

He had planned to come back and marry the girl everyone expected him to marry. He wanted to get his degree and a job and then come back and marry her. In the third year of college, Colin received a letter informing him she was going to get married. She told him, in his letters, he really never indicated a place for her in his plans. It was, according to Colin, a case of bad communications. He did not tell her that, he did the honorable thing. He wrote her and congratulated her. That is the last he heard from her.

That was one of the reasons he never came home after college. The other had to do with his parents. They got divorced the year after he went to college. They both moved away and remarried. He never seemed to have a place in either of his parent’s lives after that. They made no attempt to keep in touch with him. He wrote letters home the first year, but he only received two replies. He never wrote again after the first year. He decided that was a useless waste of energy. He had better concentrate on a life of his own.

Colin moved his bag up to his room, and then pulled his car into the hotel parking area. He brought in a second bag and a laptop computer. He was prepared to stay for awhile. He decided to wander around the downtown area, after a light lunch at one of the downtown cafes. Sadie suggested one he might try. He had a hunch he could trust her judgement. He was right as far as the lunch was concerned. The food was good and the service efficient.

Even though his face had appeared in magazines, newspapers and occasionally television, he did not expect anyone to recognize him in town. Sadie had only recognized him from his credit card. He was sure she trained herself to recognize important people. They would not expect to see him here. He had come to Bradford on what was basically a whim. No one knew he was coming here.

In his wanderings that afternoon, in one of the shops, he ran across a person that had been a grade ahead of him in school. This person was the daughter of the family, who had owned the shop, when he was there. She was now the owner of the shop. She was busy, so Colin did not actually meet her. He had learned her name and who she was from one of the clerks. He decided not to wait around. Colin decided it was too early to announce his presence in the town. Besides, rumors that he was here might start surfacing after his appearance at the restaurant tonight. It really wasn’t important.

Over the years, no one in the town stumbled on the fact, the Colin Mattins who spent his childhood here, was the author, Dr. Colin Mattins. That type of success had not been predicted for him. He had not been born here, but moved here with his family when he was four. Therefore, the blurbs on him gave his birthplace as somewhere else. The town of Bradford was never mentioned, as the place in which he spent his early life until college. Colin had just never said anything about that. It had never seemed important to him. For some reason, no one had questioned him on that fact.

For the ten years after he left Bradford, he became a perpetual college student. He became a successful writer and a very lucky as well as a highly successful investor. Even after he became successful, he never received a letter from either of his parents. They must have seen some of the publicity on him.

After he received his Ph.D., he began to travel. He had the feeling he had lost his roots. He felt he belonged nowhere. He had no home to come back to. He married several times, all very unsuccessfully, and of short duration. Luckily there were no children and the partings were very amicable. His wives had been successful in their own right. This seemed to add to his feeling of rootlessness. That is why he had been thinking of coming back to Bradford for about two years.

He did spend an interesting afternoon looking over the downtown area. He was trying to remember the downtown as it looked when he was here as a young man. As he had a habit of doing, he engaged people in conversation whenever he could. From this he was able to get a little better idea how things had changed in the town. He never mentioned he grew up in town, nor did he ever give his name. He had become very good at turning aside questions he didn’t want to answer.

He wondered, if the woods he wandered, was still there or if they had been cut down and houses built. He wished he had bought those woods and made it into a park. He could have. He had the money. But he didn’t. He had been too busy living his life and making money. He had not thought much about Bradford until now. He was between books and money was no longer a worry. He had the time.

That evening he picked Sadie up at a small house in one of the older sections of town. She appeared at the door as soon as he drove up. He realized she was more attractive than he originally thought. He got the feeling she was older than he at first judged her to be. That still made her a number of years younger than he was. But it did somewhat narrow the gap. He wouldn’t be looked on with suspicion, when he walked into the restaurant with her. They wouldn’t be looked on as a Spring/Winter couple.

They arrived at the restaurant and Colin dropped Sadie at the door and then parked his car. He walked in, slipped his arm through Sadie’s and told the host he had made reservations.

When he gave the name, the host did a double take, glanced from Colin to Sadie and back, and quickly said,

“Right this way Dr. Mattins, we have your table ready for you.”

A couple people, close by, heard the name and threw an interested glance at them. Sadie then got a second look. After they were seated and had looked at the menu, Sadie gave Colin a run-down on the entries. Sadie frankly admitted, on the rare occasion she came here, she did not buy the more expensive entrees. In fact, she admitted with a laugh, it was probably the least expensive one.

Colin laughed at her blunt honesty, “You are delightfully honest. Then if you had your choice of those most expensive ones, which one would you select,” asked Colin.

“And that is the one you are going to order for me,” Sadie said with a delighted smile.

“Is that bad?” asked Colin with a smile.

“Oh, no. That’s actually wonderful,” replied Sadie.

“Good. Then pick the one you really always wanted to try,”

The waiter came and they ordered. Sadie’s choice was one of the most expensive on the menu. She had been hesitant to mention it to Colin. He talked her into telling him. Then he ordered an expensive bottle of wine and some hors d’oeuvres.

After the waiter left, Sadie leaned over toward Colin, “You are determined to make this a dinner I am going to long remember. You’re spoiling me and I don’t know why,” she said with a questioning look. She couldn’t quite figure Colin Mattins out yet.

“I hope you will remember this dinner as a very pleasant experience. I really hate to dine alone. I appreciate your agreeing to dine with me. I thought it behooved me to make it as pleasant an experience for you as possible,” Colin replied with a smile that was pleasant but non-committal.

She looked at Colin intently for a brief moment, “Several people who know me, or think they recognize me, have given us a real close scrutiny as we came in, and since that time.”

“You said ‘who know you’ not ‘who are friends of yours’,” Colin observed somewhat as a question.

Sadie laughed, Colin noticed it was a low pleasant, musical laugh, “My friends don’t go here. At least not usually,” she admitted frankly.

Sadie, Colin noticed, was very truthful. She was frank and honest, without the slightest bit of coyness. It was not an attempt to impress him. Colin found he admired her for it.

“You seem to fit in here wonderfully well,” Colin remarked.

“I did for a while, fit into this scene. But then that bubble burst,” was Sadie’s serious comment.

“Sounds like there was a Cad involved,” Colin ventured, hoping to lead this discussion on further in hopes of learning more about Sadie.

Sadie went on as if she hadn’t heard Colin’s comment. “It was shortly after college. I had gotten a very good job in another city. He had offices in two cities. He spent part of the week in one and part of the week in the other. He was nice, and attentive, and had money. After about two years, I started hearing rumors he had a wife and family in the other city. I didn’t want to believe it for almost a year. Actually, looking back, I should have suspected much earlier. Then I confronted him. At first he denied it, then he got real defensive. I was hurt, angry and devastated. I quit my job, packed up and fled home. That was a mistake. No one here was very sympathetic, or supportive. It took me three years to work through it by myself. I’ve been back here five years. In that time, I made new friends. My father is dead. My mother remarried and moved away. I have not talked to her for years.” Sadie turned and looked at Colin. “Now you have my life story. Much more than you wanted to know. I have no idea why I felt compelled to tell you all this.”

Colin looked at her seriously, but said nothing for a moment. Then with a smile, he said, “No, I am not married.” Sadie laughed then shook her head.

Colin continued, “I have been married, but they never took. It wasn’t because I was unfaithful. I’m not sure if the partners I chose were wrong, if I got married for the wrong reasons, or if I’m just an unsuitable marriage partner. The divorces were all amicable, without the slightest rancor on anyone’s part.” After a brief pause he added, “Now you have the story of my life.”

“But you didn’t mislead any of them,” Sadie said, both as a statement and a question. Then she added with a smile, “You didn’t promise them diamonds and then deliver Zircons?”

“No, I don’t think I did. None of them ever accused me of that. Everything between us was open and above board,” Colin said. “That I can say for myself,” he added with a smile.

Sadie cocked her head at Colin questioningly, “Why are you here?’ she asked very frankly.

Colin laughed. “I wondered when you would get around to that question,” he said. “Actually, I’m not really sure. This is the first time I have returned. I lived here up until the time I went to college. When I left for college, my parents got a divorce, remarried and moved away. I have been rather rootless since then. I guess maybe I came back to see if I could find some roots.”

Sadie looked at him in surprise. “I never knew you grew up here. No one in town ever mentioned that. Has Bradford ever been mentioned in the stories about you?”

“No, because I never said I grew up here,” Colin admitted. “My parents were gone, and I really had no real close friends I kept in touch with.”

Sadie looked at Colin with a quizzical smile. “You are a strange one.” Sadie said it so matter-of-factly, Colin laughed.

“That’s what my agent and my publisher keep telling me,” Colin said. “I never thought about it,” he added with a shrug of his shoulders.