62 Days (11 page)

We come back Saturday evening and sit together on the sofa for a while. Thankfully Mark doesn’t appear to be a TV addict. Watching dreadful Saturday night TV would definitely have spoiled the romantic mood. He gets up, puts on some perfect music, pours us a drink and closes the blinds. Then we have a heated session of close togetherness on his sofa. As we are lazing around a little later I decide to ask him some more about Charlotte. I can’t help it, I am dying to know some more about his ex fiancée.

“W
hat’s the full story with Charlotte. You said it was complicated…?”

“
It’s not that complicated really. We met at Uni. She started seeing my friend Daniel in the second year. They were together for five years altogether. After Uni he got a job working in stocks dealing for a Japanese bank and then he was sent to Japan for two years on secondment. They broke up just before he went. I ended up being there for her, we got together, it became serious and we got engaged. Then Daniel came back from Japan and wanted her back again. She had problems deciding who she wanted to be with. I don’t blame her completely Ray. I shouldn’t have become involved with my friend’s ex.”

“
So it was a love triangle, was it?”

“
I suppose it was. She’s not a bad person Rachel. You’ll get to meet them soon… Dan and Charlotte… They’re going to be at a dinner party I’m taking you to on Tuesday.”

I wasn’t so sure I fancied having a dinner table chat with Charlotte, his ex fiancée…

“
Oh really? That sounds like fun.” I answered without humour.

“
I’m over her, really I am. I’ve moved on to much better things. You know that very well.” I get a short and sweet love filled kiss. My heart flies so high when he says things like that.

***

Sunday passes very quickly. Maybe that’s because we didn’t get up until lunchtime… As soon as we are up Mark disappears out to the supermarket for a while. He is showing me his special cooking skills today. That’s just as well as I don’t have a lot of special cooking skills to show him.

I am most impressed with his fast chopping and preparing and I deliberately keep getting in the way as I squash myself up behind him and put my chin on his shoulder to watch. Apparently I am getting a scrumptious chicken chasseur and other bits and pieces that go with it. The whole Mark cooking thing is a rather sexy and sensual experience. There’s nothing quite like seeing a man doing exciting things with food. I am seriously turned on.

We sit down to eat and I am more than impressed by Mark’s delicious cooking. I tell him he would make a sensational celebrity chef and that he is far better looking than Gordon Ramsay and much more charismatic than Jamie Oliver. That goes down very well, I can tell by the smile. The fact that he can cook like a dream means I now love him to death even more.

On Sunday evening I tell Mark I need to go home. He tries to persuade me not to. But I really do need to get some things done at home and get ready for work. So I have to insist. I’m going to my parents for dinner on Monday so the next time I see him will be before the dinner party. He says he’ll pick me up at 7pm. I’m really not looking forward to meeting his love triangle at all, even if he is very over it.

***

I’m sitting at home missing him at 9pm on Monday night, after my dinner with my parents, when I get a text from him.

“
Can I come over?”

“
How fast can you get here?”

“
15 minutes.”

“
I’m waiting.”

I lead him into my very small and modest apartment. We have a quick tour around my two small bedrooms, my living room and my kitchen. He says it’s lovely… and very Rachelish, whatever that means. I introduce him to my ‘very much smaller than his’ bed. He seems quite happy once he is in it though. Close togetherness is impossible to avoid in my very small double bed. We make the most of it…

We wake up very early so we can get the full bed and shower session in before work.

Tuesday evening arrives much too soon for my liking and here we are standing at the front door waiting to be let in. I’m very nervous and uptight but trying not to show it. The party is being hosted by Jennifer and Anthony. We are welcomed inside and given a drink in the kitchen and taken through to the living room. There are another four people in there. I am introduced to everyone.

Charlotte is a stunning redhead. She has green eyes and a very curvy figure. I can see why she has captured the attention of these two men. She is also rather sweet and amusing I discover. I actually quite like her. She asks me about my job and tells me she works as an underwriter in insurance for Lloyds in the city. We all chat for a while and then have dinner. I notice Mark and Daniel seem to get on okay. There doesn’t appear to be any animosity between them over the Charlotte affair. Not on the surface anyway. Daniel is of course another exceptionally good looking man. He is fair haired and blue eyed and obviously highly into personal fitness based on the amount of muscle I can see. I still prefer Mark’s looks but then I am somewhat biased by love. One thing I do notice is that Daniel is a touch arrogant, loudly spoken and a little too self assured for my liking.

I start out feeling rather out of my league amongst these well educated and much better spoken people. I know my self esteem is low but there is an obvious class difference between us. I am fairly positive that none of the present company except myself went to school at the local comprehensive. I try hard to fit in a little. Mark is probably the least well spoken amongst them. That makes me feel a little better anyway.

Throughout the evening I watch for signs of Mark and Charlotte left over attraction. He does look at her quite a lot, she also looks at him. But then he looks at me a lot too. They have a couple of smiley private conversations. I try not to be concerned but I am feeling uneasy and very jealous about what they had together. He was going to marry her and they would most likely be together right now if it wasn’t for Daniel.

Despite the Mark and Charlotte business churning around in my mind, I do end up enjoying myself at the dinner party. They are all very nice and welcoming. I won’t feel quite so nervous meeting Mark’s friends in the future. I can cope with a little posh socialising with no trouble. My self esteem happily takes a small step forward.

We drive back to my apartment and Mark asks me to get some things and come back with him again. I am aware that we are entering into the very intense stage. I don’t want to make the same mistakes I did with Jon. I suggest that it might be a good idea to have a few nights apart now and then. So we appreciate each other more. Mark doesn’t see eye to eye with my theory. To be honest I’m not sure my theory is a good one or not. Mark is not going to control me, he just wants to be with me.

“
But I need you. I don’t want a night apart. Anyway, I have to go to Manchester again on Thursday. You can have your night apart then.”

“
I don’t want us to overdose on each other, that’s all.”

“
Do you honestly think that’s going to happen?”

“
I don’t know. Probably not”

“
I love you, you love me, it’s natural for us to be together a lot.”

“
I know that. It’s just my past experience, it’s bugging me… in the back of my mind”

“
What d’you mean Ray?”

“
He was very intense. He stopped me seeing anyone but him. It was even a struggle to see my parents at times.”

“
I won’t do that, ever.” He pulled me to him for a very long kiss.

“
I don’t really want to spend a night apart from you.” Never again in fact… but it seems I will be this week.

“
I know you don’t. I can understand you wanting to see your friends now and then, but to not see each other for no real reason seems to be a pointless form of self denial.”

I’m completely persuaded. “I’ll go and fetch my things then.” He gets out of the car and follows me up the stairs. I actually love this Mark and I close togetherness. What I really want to do is wrap myself around him and never let go for the rest of my life.

I am amazed how fast I have recovered from the AB phase. I hardly ever think of Jon anymore. Tonight’s flashback was unusual. Apart from my lowered self confidence, which I think will take some time to improve, I really am feeling on top of the world lately. I hope with every ounce of my being that it will last.

The next day I call Suze to see what she has been up to. It seems she is in a similar intense phase to me. She is staying at his or he is staying at hers. I suggest we could meet up on Thursday evening, if she could fit me in with big boy Sam. I wish she had never told me that about him as it popped into my head whenever she mentioned his name. We make a firm date for a girls night out at a club in Oxford with Icca and her other friends. I am actually looking forward to it. How things have changed so much for the better. I have Mark and Suze to thank for all of this.

***

“You can stay here if you like, while I’m away… it’s up to you.” Mark suggests on Wednesday night. He presses a door key in my hand.

“Ahhh, that’s so sweet of you, but I’ll go back to mine I think. I’ll see you Friday evening as soon as I can.” I squeeze the key tightly in my hand. Getting the key to his front door is a big step forward in my mind.

We part Thursday morning after a long and very intense goodbye. For God’s sake! I tell myself. He’s only away for one night!

***

I am a very lucky girl and I get two phone calls and two texts from Mark on Thursday. I am feeling extremely glowy and warm with his hot love you’s going on. I am more than a little enthusiastic back.

***

Suze and I are in a cab on the way to Oxford and our night out. She is looking her usual unique and wild self and I am actually looking a little more daring than normal, in some of my new expensive clothes.

We have a little heart to heart about things as we are driven along.

“Suze, I can’t thank you enough for taking me to Mark’s party…”

“So it’s going well is it?”

“I am so in love with him I can hardly believe it!”

“I’m really, really happy for you, you’re a completely different person now.

“I know, I am so over Jon. He doesnt even exist in my mind anymore.”

“Well I’d better be chief bridesmaid at the wedding.”

“Oh ha ha….”

“I mean it. I can see it coming up. He’s the marrying type…”

“Don’t be daft… the marrying type? What on earth are you talking about? Really!” He might have been the marrying type once. I’m not sure he is anymore, considering.

“Look, I’ve never told you this before, because I didn’t want to influence anything, but when you were laying out cold on his bed, that night at his party, I had a blinding vision of you two together. Have you ever wondered why I left you there? I could have insisted he helped me put you in my car, but I didn’t. I felt there was something starting that night.”

“You did, why was that?”

“I think he had a thing for you from the very beginning. There was something about the way he looked at you and he really didn’t want me take you home when I suggested it. He said he’d keep an eye on you, make sure you were all right, bring you home in the morning when you had sobered up. Honestly hon, I get the feeling it’s going to go the whole way with him. You just see if your old friend Suze isn’t dead right on this.”

“My God, what a lot of drama goes on in your head, that’s an active imagination you’ve got there…” My heart was pounding. How could she foresee things like this? “… and what about you and Sam. How far down the aisle are you?” I try to joke but my head was spinning madly with Suze’s theory and revelation…

“We’re good. I’m so happy with him, he makes me feel hot all over, all the time.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

We arrived at the city centre and met up with the others then headed o
ff to a club for the evening. I have a lively but fairly sober night out, as unfortunately I have to go to work the next day. I tell Mark about it on Friday morning. It’s very uplifting to know that Mark is actually pleased I had a good time out and I don’t have to pretend that I didn’t like I did with Jon. I was never allowed to have a good time unless I was with him and he’d had a good time as well.

I am sitting at work alone in the office on Friday afternoon. Mr Watkins left the office at lunchtime today. I decide to be rather cheeky and leave the office a couple of hours early. I want to get to Mark’s house before he gets back from Manchester. A little welcome home surprise. I go back to my place and get some things for the weekend and then make my way over to Mark’s. I leave the car in the public car parking area so he doesn’t know I’m there and then grab my bag and make my way down the quayside. As soon as I approach the house I am disappointed to see his car is already there. Still, at least the weekend can start a few hours early.