Chapter 22

About mid afternoon we had a visitor, Wishes’ friend Carrie called around to see her. I spent a few minutes making small talk with her but it was very clear that she wanted to talk to Wishes alone so after a few minutes I made my excuses and went out to the kitchen where I had left my laptop.

I sat at the table for a while and tried to make some sense of the work I had done last night until I heard what sounded like a slap.

Hurrying into the living room I saw Wishes standing facing Carrie. I don’t think I’ve seen Wishes look so angry as she glared at her friend. Carrie stood with a shocked look on her face, one hand held to her cheek where an angry red mark was forming.

“I think It’s probably best if you left now Carrie.” I said quietly and gently took her elbow to guide her towards the door.

Carrie shook off my hand and turned back to Wishes.

“You’re gonna regret that you bitch!” She snarled. “You wait and see how many friends you’ve got left when I get through with you.”

“Just go Carrie,” Wishes said softly, “just go.”

I tried to show her out but she shot out of the door so fast I was just left to close the door behind her.

When I got back to the living room Wishes was still standing there trembling. I gently took her in my arms, I suddenly found myself supporting her as she sagged against me. I held her as she started crying softly.

A little later she pulled back and gave me a soft kiss.

“Thanks love,” she sighed and rested her forehead against mine. “I can’t believe I slapped her, I’ve never hit anyone before.”

“What not even in the playground at school?” I asked smiling at her.

Wishes chuckled softly.

“Well maybe when I was at primary school but I don’t remember it.”

Leaning back I brushed her hair back from her face then wiped at the tear tracks with a finger.

“So what caused that?”

Wishes sighed.

“Carrie said that now that I was into girls it was her turn, like I was some kind of toy! I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t that I was suddenly into girls but that I had fallen in love with you.”

Wishes grimaced,

“Then she said that she didn’t give a shit why, that she had waited years to get between my legs and now she was going to show me what I had been passing up all these years.”

“She kissed me Linda!” Wishes looked sadly at me. “It was nothing like when you kiss me, your kisses are so gentle and tender, loving.”

Wishes kissed me and for a long time I tried my hardest to prove her right.

“When Carrie kissed me it was harsh, almost vicious, even Mark kissed me better than she did.”

Wishes’ cheeks coloured a delicate pink.

“So I pulled away and slapped her face, Oh Linda I can’t believe I did that.”

Smiling I led Wishes to the kitchen and made a pot of tea.

“I think she deserved it love, she should have just accepted that it wasn’t what you wanted.”

That evening as we cuddled in front of the fire listening to some soft jazz music I thought of something I would like to do with my time while Wishes was working.

“I think I am going to pop up to the community college tomorrow love.” I told Wishes, she smiled and kissed the tip of my nose.

“What do you want to study?”

“I was thinking about really learning to cook. I can just about muddle by in the kitchen and I know you don’t like to cook, and of course you aren’t going to have the time anyway.”

Wishes giggled.

“You mean I can’t cook don’t you?”

“Can’t cook, don’t like to cook, I think it probably amounts to the same thing. If you enjoyed cooking you would have picked up more than a takeaway menu.” I said laughing, I got hit with a cushion for my troubles.

On Friday I signed up for a two day a week cookery class that would run for ten weeks. After I had passed the course there were several other ten week courses covering different cuisines available.

While I was busy Wishes took a trip up to the university, partially to work out how much time she had to allow for the trip but also to set up her gear in the little corner of her professor’s office where her desk was.

With Wishes at the university on Monday I dove into the housework to ease the boredom, and I guess loneliness. I had gotten very used to having Wishes with me all day long and it was a bit of a shock to the system to be alone again.

By lunchtime I was finished and at a loss with what to do so I popped around to see Alhana for a couple of hours.

Over coffee I told her about my worries about loosing my personality as Linda’s memories gradually took over.

“It’s nature trying to heal itself,” She told me, “At the moment you appeared in your new body the world deviated slightly from it’s original path but with a slightly hiccup as you had no history. So the world has to create the rest of Linda’s life to bring things back on course.”