Things change ~ Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Peter rolled down the sleeve of his shirt and waited for the doctor to ‘tsk,tsk’ him as he always did.

Dr Guadagno nodded his head “I’m impressed Peter your blood pressure is down.” He folded the armband and checked the computer “We can downgrade your medication, but I want you to come back in a month, I want to check it again, of course you know the drill if things change I want you to come and see me straight away, jump up on the scales for me.”

Peter and his doctor never knew his weight it registered off the scales and it always puzzled him why the doctor asked every time he came in for his check-up.
The doctor pointed to the scales “You’ve lost weight Peter, you’re registering on the scales now, what have you been doing with yourself.”

Peter was in shock, lost weight but… he’d hardly done anything “I…I..”

Peter began telling the doctor about his daily regime and his change of food with his latest changing from white bread to wholemeal, the doctor said it was a wonderful start and recommended him to see a dietician who could help him with better choices for eating.

Peter’s doctor printed out a prescription “Start taking these ones, they are a lower dosage than the others three times a day with meals. I still want to see you in a month, keep up the good work, you’re doing well.”

“Thanks Doc.”

For the first time since never, Peter smiled as he walked out of the doctor’s room, he thought about his walking and thought perhaps if he did it twice a day like he did with the floor exercises that he had continued to do that he may have more result, and he surprised himself when he found himself looking forward to the next time he would be exercising.

Every day he found it easier to do the exercises and he was getting quicker at his walking he had even increased his walking time to ten minutes with an iPod playing the band’s music in his ear he was inspired by the thought of sitting in the booth at the café with Cindy and finally fitting back into a pair of jeans in almost twenty years.

He was looking forward to tonight it had been four months since he had begun his new outlook on life, he had recently included weights to his new exercise regime it was a treat to himself along with more new clothes as the others no longer fitted him, but tonight for the first time he was going to wear a pair of dress pants and a nice casual shirt, he smiled to himself as he looked in the mirror, he was beginning to feel like his old self before the accident, before his whole world changed.

Splashing on some after shave another treat he had bought for himself he thought about Cindy and wondered if he could coax her into coming in at the end of the evening for a coffee, she had always declined, always ever so politely and he always accepted her refusal, but tonight…. he hoped.

Cindy pulled up in his driveway but tonight he didn’t come out like he usually did, she wondered if something was wrong, her heart sunk at the thought that he may be hurt, or worse. She killed the engine and got out of the car walked up to his door and knocked, she listened for any noise or movement inside, she knocked a little louder.

Peter pulled the earphone from his ear and looked at the time, Cindy would be here soon and he heard a knock at the door, maybe it was her already.

He opened the door and she took a gasp “Oh, oh Peter I..I..”

“Sorry I had my earphones in and didn’t hear you pull up, hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“No I…” She looked at Peter and while she had seen photo’s of him when he was younger and knew he was good looking but to see him all dressed up now, he was looking, she didn’t know how to describe what she saw, she felt.. she felt drawn to him, she knew she always liked him, he was a sweet and gentle man but now there was something else, she smiled at his blue eyes, he looked good, really good. She was attracted to him.

She felt the blush rising in her cheeks and she took a breath to calm her heart that was beginning to race and she caught a scent of his musky aftershave causing her heart to beat a little bit faster.

“You look good.” she finally managed to say in barely a breath

“Thank you. I can’t wait I am so excited about tonight, I bought these yesterday and I feel really good.”

“Well let’s get the night happening then” she said as she walked back to the car
Arriving at the café they sat in their usual seat and ordered their meal after eating they would sit on one of the stools by the café’s bar to listen to the band during a break Cindy excused herself to the ladies.

“I’ll buy you another wine”

“Make it a coffee, I’m driving remember.”

“Sure”

After ordering Cindy’s coffee and himself another diet coke he waited for Cindy to return and he turned around to watch the people in the café, as he turned he bumped into a woman spilling her drink.

“Oh I am so sorry”

“It’s ok, Its just an accident” she said as she brushed away at the liquid

“Here please, let me buy you another drink”

“It’s not necessary…”

“I would feel better if you let me buy you another

The woman smiled at Peter “Sure, I’m Romany.” She held out her hand
Peter took her hand “Romany, I’m Peter” he smiled at her “What are you drinking?”

“White wine, thank you.”
Peter caught the bar attendants attention and ordered a drink for Romany.

“I’ve never heard that name before, where’s it from?”

“Not quite sure where it is from, but my mum was nicknamed Gypsy because she was always travelling from one town to the next and she named me Romany which means Gypsy.”

“Oh wow how unusual have you met anyone with the same name?”

She laughed “No I haven’t, not yet.”

The bartender bought Romany her drink and Peter paid for the glass, it was then that he realised that he didn’t feel awkward talking to Romany of course he had spoken to Cindy on many occasions but she was different, Romany was a stranger and he felt on top of the world.

“So do you travel around too? Like your Mum?”
She half smiled and took a sip of her wine “I do, I think it was because of my mum it was just her and me for a long time and just because I came along she didn’t stop moving, I don’t know what it’s like to live in the one place for anymore than six months”

As Cindy came out from the ladies she spotted Peter talking to another woman, she stopped, her heart lurched and tore, she felt the tears prickle behind her eyes. She felt stupid and quickly blinked back the tears and readjusted herself before heading toward Peter and the other woman.

“So what are you doing here, for a job I mean?”

“Oh I’m working here actually, during the week in the kitchen out the back. You should come by tomorrow sometime and say hi.”

“Yeah I…”

Peter stopped as he felt the hand on his arm and he turned to see Cindy smiling “Oh hello, Cindy this is Romany, I accidentally spilt her drink so I offered to buy her another.”

Cindy smiled it would be just like Peter she thought and she tried to convince herself it was innocent.

Romany eyed Cindy and smiled “I better keep going, nice to meet you and thank you for the drink.”

Peter bowed slightly and smiled “It was my pleasure.”

Cindy wasn’t sure what to say, whether to ignore it or say something, she had no claim on Peter, he was after all just her client, but he was more than that to her.

The band finished to a round of applause and Cindy drove Peter home.

She sat while the car idled and he turned in his seat to face her and he smiled “Would you like to come in for a coffee.” He waited for her rejection

“You know what. I don’t have an early start in the morning so, I might just take you up on that offer.”

Peter thought that the moon had fallen out of the sky and hit him on the head because he was seeing stars, he beamed a huge smile, finally he thought, perseverance pays off.

Inside he immediately went to the stereo and put on a cd with the volume low and switched on the television with it on mute, he went into the kitchen to boil the kettle and prepared two cups.

Cindy had been in his house many times over the past couple of years and she had never felt as nervous as she felt right now.

Peter came into the lounge area and handed Cindy her coffee, he wasn’t sure where to go from here and he felt as nervous as a person on a first date, he didn’t want to get it wrong, he liked Cindy a lot and he wanted more from their current friendship, he would prefer it a relationship and while they had a client relationship as far as a personal relationship he thought he had better stick with friendship, it was better than nothing.

Cindy realised that while she knew the man she didn’t know him entirely, she knew his taste in music was similar to hers and they watched similar television shows, but as for anything else she really didn’t know a lot and she put it down to her professional attitude where you know the client on a semi personal level what she called the outer crust anything deeper and you got involved too much making it hard to separate when it was time, she thought about Peter and his progress, if he continued it would not be long and he would no longer need her services, she felt the pain in her chest and the threatening of tears again, she choked them back and took a sip of her coffee, where did she start? Surely she wasn’t that out of the loop that she didn’t know how to start a conversation.

The silence was awkward, Peter didn’t know what to say he sat and drank his coffee, he thought it would be different that they would talk like they do when she came to perform her sadistic ritual on him or at the café each week but right now felt repressed.

An add came on the tv for a show that she knew they both watched, perfect she thought and she bought up the subject.

It had been the ice breaker and the tension dissolved, Peter made them another coffee and Cindy was enjoying herself and felt comfortable with Peter again, they discussed art and books, the fact that she was into art and he wasn’t, he read science fiction and she read crime and romance.

She drank the last of the coffee and placed the cup on the coffee table. “I really should get going although I don’t have an early start, I still have clients.” she got up from the couch and walked towards the door.

Peter got up and followed her “Well thank you for another enjoyable Wednesday, I look forward to it each week.”

She turned to face him “Thank you for the company, I enjoy it too.” She noticed that he was close to her and she could still smell the aftershave he wore, she wanted to bury her head in it and breathe it in and have his arms hold her. Was it the aftershave, that sent her head spinning and her heart racing, or was she feeling things for Peter as a client she shouldn’t, as a person she wanted it.

As she turned he could smell her perfume that she always wore, he always liked it but tonight it smelt sweeter, more seductive, more alluring and her eyes tonight were more mysterious, more tempting to get lost in. Her lips so round and full and enticing, he licked his own.

“I ...um.. thank.. you …for….” His words trailed off as he bent his head closer to hers.

Her lips parted and met his, she closed her eyes and lost herself in his warm and tender kiss that wasn’t demanding but tender and seducing, his arms wound around her and pulled her close to him.

He wanted her, he wanted to pick her up and carry her to bed but that nagging doubt, that nagging self-pity kicked in and he pulled back.

“I better let you get home.” He said

She smiled slightly not wanting to let the disappointment to the abrupt ending of their kiss show through. “Yes, I suppose. Good night Peter.” she thought about giving him a peck on the cheek but thought better of it.

“Good night Cindy.”

As she drove away she wondered about her feelings for Peter, the kiss, the woman he met tonight and her relationship with him. Why did he abruptly stop their kiss and where did they go from here?