Chapter 6

GILL left work early on Friday, to get herself ready for her date with Jake, while the kids packed what they needed for their regular alternate weekend away with their father. When Wayne arrived to pick them up, no one answered the insistent ringing, Gill had just completed her preparations, so she opened the door for him.

Wayne was visibly gobsmacked by how beautiful and desirable his former wife looked tonight. He realised he hadn’t really looked her at all since he manipulated her into sleeping with him for a short but vaguely satisfying session of meaningless sex at Christmas, coinciding with Cheryl’s indisposition through labour. Gill had been dumpy and depressed then and hardly got into the spirit of the occasion. Since then, though, he thought she must have lost all the surplus weight she had put on during the latter years of their marriage. Now, she looked sensational, with perfect hair and make-up and wearing a killer evening dress. He was sure it was one he’d never seen before or ever visualised her being able to wear. She was lightly made up to look glamorous and positively glowed, both with confidence and anticipation. Damn it! Cheryl, who he once lusted after, was tired all the time and sore from baby feeding, and now here was his old lady looking damned foxy!

“You’re running really late, Wayne, and I really don’t know where the time’s gone this evening, either.”

“Gill, I hardly recognised you,” Wayne gushed.

She ushered him into the hallway of her little town house. He looked at her as though he could eat her, probably remembering how easily he’d seduced her last time.

“Well, I have a hot date tonight,” she grinned, feeling positive and confident, checking the clock, “He’s going to be here in a minute. Not sure if Jenny and Clay are ready, I’ll give them another shout ... Jenny! Clay! Your father’s here!”

“Who are you going out with?” he asked.

“Oh, just someone from work.”

“Who? I think I know most of the top or promising bankers in the city. I get speculative CVs from bankers all the time.”

“He’s not a banker, he’s a technician.”

“Oh, is that the young kid who took you and the kids pony riding last weekend?” Wayne asked, continuing after Gill nodded, “Jenny sent me a selfie of you guys around a farm kitchen table. I thought he looked like he was well in with those two fit girls in the riding gear.”

“He’s no kid, Wayne. He may be a couple of years younger than me, but not twenty like your current squeeze. Jake’s a fit young man and a perfect gentleman. Only tonight I’m going tell him to be a little less gentlemanly.”

Gill turned and shouted up the stairs again, “Jennifer, Clayton, your father’s here to collect you, I hope you’re both ready!”

The doorbell dinged at that moment.

“Jake’s here!” Gill yelled, just as Jenny came down the stairs and Clay came through from the kitchen, as if on cue.

“Wow, Mum! You look fantastic! High five!” Clay held his palm high and Gill cheerfully slapped it with a resounding clap.

Jenny was equally complimentary, “Oh, Mum, you look absolutely lovely, Jake’s gonna be bug-eyed when he sees you.”

“Why, thanks Jen, honey, such a sweet thing to say,” Gill said as she embraced her daughter.

Clay squeezed by them to open the front door and welcome in Jake, high-five-ing him as soon as he stepped into the hall.

“Hey, Jake, dude,” Clay exclaimed, “Wow! You look like James Bond! Smart tux!”

Jenny skipped over, ignored Jake’s offered high-five palm and instead gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she stepped back and admired his evening wear.

“I thought Mum looked more beautiful than I have ever seen her,” Jenny announced as she hugged him again, “but you look absolutely gorgeous!”

Jake squeezed her back and whispered in her ear, “Thanks, Jen, for everything.”

She whispered back, “Seeing you looking as hot as this, well, Mum is going to be one lucky lady tonight!”

They broke off their hug to turn and regard Gill, standing in the hallway next to Wayne.

“Wow, Gill,” Jake said, slightly croakily, seeing her for the first time this evening, “you are stunning, absolutely mesmerising.”

“And you are perfect, Jake, you brush up better than I have any right to expect.”

“You deserve nothing less than the maximum effort on my part,” he smiled as he stepped towards his date.

They each moved towards one another and Jake held his hands out, palms upward. Gill slipped her smaller hands easily into his. He gripped them, pulling them up to his lips, kissing them both in turn, once, twice, three times, without taking his hungry eyes off her shining ones. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure, while his were in complete awe of her beauty. Jake released her hands and she fell into his arms, their lips met and they enjoyed a long kiss, oblivious to anyone around them.

When Jake opened his eyes, shortly after their lips had reluctantly parted, he noticed Wayne standing open-mouthed behind her. He whirled Gill round to his left, his arm around her waist holding her close to his hip, before stretching out his right hand towards her ex-husband.

“Hi, I’m John Nicholls, but everybody calls me Jake. I’m Gill’s date for the weekend. You must be Wayne, I’m pleased to meet you.”

Wayne automatically put his hand out and Jake firmly gripped his soft podgy hand with his slim firm one and gave it a couple of shakes.

“Right, Jenny,” Gill said, “we’re off now, so you’ll have to lock up for me when you go. Make sure everything’s switched off, including your computer Clay, as I won’t be back until Sunday night.”

They turned, still with Jake holding her waist and walked to the front door, where Clay held it open for them. She pointed to her overnight bag under a side table in the hall, which Jake bent down to pick up, while she collected up a tiny clutch bag, which matched her outfit, from the table.

“Have fun you two,” Jenny called out to them as they closed the door behind them, laughing. Clay and Jenny high-fived each other and then they saw their Dad standing there, with slumped shoulders and mouth wide open, and that started the pair off laughing again.

Outside, on the path, the couple heard Jenny and Clay laughing behind the closed doors. Gill stopped and put her arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry about that bit of showing off, I had honestly expected them to have left for Wayne’s house long before now.”

They kissed again, Gill imagined herself turned to jelly as she felt Jake responding hard as steel.

“Let’s get you in the car and home,” Jake said, breathlessly. Jake led Gill on his arm to a gleaming blue Jaguar saloon and held the passenger door open for her.

“Oh, you borrowed that beautiful car from your neighbour, just to pick me up,” she cooed, “you are too good to me, sweetheart.”

“You, my angel, are worth going the extra mile for,” he said as he closed the door behind her with a soft click. She fastened her seat belt and absorbed the luxurious smell of polished leather upholstery as he scooted round the front of the car, got in the driver’s side and turned the key. The motor started with a deep throaty roar from the twelve-cylinder engine, and pulled smoothly away from the kerb.

“I have a confession to make, Gill. Well, several really.”

“That’s all right, I have a couple to make myself. I think I’ll get to your place first though, before I spill mine, I could probably do with a drink before I do one of them. Anything on ice?”

“Yes, I’ve Champagne on ice, and chilled whites, a selection; plus a robust red to go with the goulash, for later.”

“Mmm, sounds nice. Well, mine can wait, so what’s your first confession?”

“Mmm, I conspired with your children to make sure Wayne saw you looking so beautiful for me tonight.”

“Ahh! That’s what they did, getting Wayne to arrive late?”

“Not exactly, look at the clock on the dash.”

“Seven o’clock? It should be well past that, I was aiming to get ready for about half past and I know I wasn’t that early. Who changed the clocks at home?”

“Jenny changed all the clocks by winding them forward by three-quarters of an hour and Clay kept watch at the end of the drive for Wayne to come around the bend and drive up to your door. He called Jenny while he nipped down the path to the back door into the kitchen. Meanwhile, I was waiting just round the corner for Jenny’s call so I could turn up just after Wayne did.”

“Sneaky, the lot of you!” she laughed, “I have never seen Wayne look so gobsmacked before. I think I will treasure that look forever. And this was all your idea?”

“Ah, let’s just say it was an idea that I was quite prepared to go along with.”

Gill laughed.

“You know, when I came along to your print room to get help about what to do with the kids, they were a mess. I was a mess. Clay wouldn’t move off his butt and Jenny was trying her hardest to disappear up hers. I think the kids were blaming me more than Wayne for our break-up, as if I should have just put up with his wanting more freedom from his family responsibilities. Since you came into our lives, though, you’ve turned us all around. Ha! I still can’t get over Wayne’s face just now. It was a picture! Thank you, darling, thank you for everything.”

At the apartment block, Jake pulled into the basement car park and reversed into bay 11.

“Sit there, I’ll open the door for you.”

“You are such a gentleman,” she smiled.

He opened her door, one hand holding her overnight bag.

“I really just want to see you climb out of this car in that lovely dress. Gill, you really are a feast on the eye.”

She got out quite demurely, a smile of pure pleasure on her face.

“I hope you still think so when I’m out of this dress, I’m all stretch marks, middle-age spread and sag under this gorgeous satin and silk creation.”

He pulled her into his arms and they kissed again.

“You will always be beautiful to me, Gill, always. Whatever happens between us, nothing will ever take away my feeling that you are the most wonderful woman I know.”

He released her, but she held on to him, so he lightly held her in his arms again.

“I have my first confession to make,” she said, looking up into his eyes. Even in the dimly lit basement she could see him clearly. “I had lunch with Gertie, your grandmother, on Wednesday -”

“Yes, you said -”

“But I didn’t give you any details. She wanted to, and she did, tell me everything Jake, everything about your parents’ accident ... about your burns, your operations ... and you telling the surgeons enough was enough, and that you didn’t want any more treatment.”

He tried to speak, but she laid a finger lightly on his lips, his eyes soft and moist, she continued.

“I know that you think, that I will be shocked when I see you. I know that you cover yourself up in fear that everyone who sees you will run away in horror. Honey, I’m prepared, and in your bedroom I will stand in front of you naked, with all my warts and all that I am ashamed of. I long to see you naked too. I need my lover to see me and I need to see my lover. That doesn’t have to be here and now or the next few minutes, or some time on Saturday or Sunday, but when we are comfortable with each other, and ideally I want that to be this weekend. Then I want you to kiss every inch of my body and I desire to be allowed to do the same to every single inch of you. I want us to share our bodies, so I become yours, and you are all mine. I need you to know that I am in love with you, Jake. I need you to know that I want you to be a part of my life, the rest of my life, and be a part of my children’s lives.”

“I want that too, Gill,” he mumbled through her finger, the vibrations of his lips tingling on her fingertip.

“Jake, I think that through and through, you are the most beautiful person I have ever known, that I desire you and want you more than anything.” She released her finger.

He kissed her hard and passionately, so that she was giddy with desire.

“I, I love you Gill, I think I have always loved you, although I never said before, because then you were someone else’s.”

“I’m yours now, Jake, yours for the taking and the keeping if you want me. Take me upstairs and make me yours.”

He swept her up in his arms as if she was a feather and carried her in the direction of the lift.

“Another confession, Gill, the flat I took you to last time was not actually where I live but the Janitor’s flat. I apologise for ‘borrowing’ that unoccupied flat for our first meal. My only excuse is that I was nervous about bringing anyone back to my own place.”

“Is it really that messy?” she laughed.

“No! OK, maybe a little, the kitchen certainly. I believe I’ve lost that initial nervousness and our meal awaits us in my home. Press the ‘up’ button for me, please?”

The lift door slid open and he carried her inside. There was a bank of buttons on the wall, with ‘B’ at the bottom, through G, 1,2,3,4, up to 5, then a panel above that. Next to the pad was an illuminated red button, which he pressed with his thumb, the action causing a cover to slide across revealing a number pad.

“Key in 3,9,1,7, Gill.” he asked. “Over the weekend I’ll scan in your thumbprint which will allow you to open the keypad.”

She keyed in the code number, and the cover slid back in place as she felt the lift move. “Where are we going, exactly?”

“Originally, the apartment was my parents’ home, where I lived until the accident and where I moved back to about fourteen years ago when I left Gran’s house. Since then I’ve lived here and modernised it. I’ve never brought anyone back here ... before now. Only my Gran pops in from time to time, she’s great friends with Grace, an old lady who lives on the second floor.”

“Oh, it’s not Grace’s lovely old Jag, is it?”