Chapter 1 - allie meets meredith

It was two weeks before school was out for the summer and Allie had yet to find a place to live. She had been looking but was being understandably choosy about where she would live. For being only 19, Allie was known for being very mature for her age. She was almost done with her first year at an IV league university and she was working as a waitress at one of the local pubs where she made a decent living on the weekends. After the miserable experience of living in the dorms, Allie realized she would need to live with someone who valued quiet and privacy as much as she did and would not intrude upon her space just to chat about some inane and immature topic, like her dorm roommates would do. Allie was also hoping she would have a quiet space so she could study in peace and get rest at a reasonable time in the evening. A couple of the places came close but were not quite what she was looking for. Last night, she received an email from a Meredith Jones who said she had 1 bedroom and bathroom available in her 2 bedroom/2 bathroom house not far from her job and that she was a quiet individual who was just looking to rent the extra room and bath out. The price was right and now Allie was on her way to meet her.

Allie already had a comfortable and cozy feeling about this place as she rang the doorbell. A very beautiful woman who looked to be in her mid-40s answered the door. She had black hair just like Allie and while not overweight had curves just like Allie.
"You must be Allie," the woman said in a husky but kind voice.
"Yes and you must Meredith," Allie said.
"I am. Come on in and let me show you your room."
Meredith showed Allie around her home. It was pretty large for being a cottage. She showed Allie her bedroom and bathroom and explained that the kitchen would be shared but as Allie was a student and working, Meredith had no qualms cooking for Allie and for a small extra charge was even willing to do housekeeping for Allie. To Allie, this was too good to be true this was exactly what she was looking for. She really liked Meredith as she found her to be a very lovely and very matronly type of woman. The two of them had very similar appearances. Both women had black hair, although Meredith's hair was graying at the temples and roots and both women while very curvy were not overweight (although Allie's penchant for eating out was starting to catch with her). They could have easily passed as mother and daughter. Allie imagined that this may have been what her own mother would have looked like if she were still alive.
"Here Allie, have a cookie. I baked them to give them to the prospective renters when they come by. I think you would be the perfect roommate for me. It sounds like you work very hard and need a quiet place to live but aren't you going home for the summer?"
"No, I decided not to," Allie said in between bites of her cookie, "I don't get along with my stepmother and I would rather just stay here and work. My dad works all the time so it's not like I would ever see him. There's no point in going home anymore."
"What about your mother? Don't you want to see her?"
"My mother died when I was young. Car accident."
"Oh you poor thing! I know what it's like to feel rejected. You are more than welcome to live here with me."
"I accept," Allie said feeling more at home than she ever had in her life.