Chapter 7: When You’re Shy About Sex

Saturday morning, Lewis arrived in the road at the back of town police station just after seven am. Brian was parked in a police van just inside the gate to the station yard. He saw Lewis coming and let him in. Lewis parked his bike against a wall. Then he jumped in the cab with Brian.’

They sat patiently and waited. A few minutes after seven thirty, they saw Tyrones car pull up at the barrier. He typed in the code and drove in. Then he parked in the spot he usually used, right next to the other van.

They watched him go into the station and waited one minute. Brian drove the van up the yard and pulled up with his front bumper level with the middle of the back doors of the parked van.

The moment he stopped, Lewis was out, down on the floor and reaching under the four by four. Getting back in the van, as he shut the door Brian said, ‘You took nineteen seconds, amazing.’ He backed down the yard and returned it to its parking space.

Lewis recovered his bike and Brian let him out. He cycled over to the shop, arriving just before Mike. When Mike arrived, they went through to the back and had time for a long hug and kiss before having to open up.

After a busy morning, Lewis went to the chippy and got three meals. Returning to the shop Valerie had arrived as arranged to have lunch with them. Catherine was fast asleep in her pram. Lewis gave Valerie a hug and a kiss then they were able to share the food out and eat in peace.

Over lunch Valarie told Lewis, ‘I go to a mother and baby’s group once a week. We just chat and share baby experiences. It’s handy because we can ask other mums about anything we might be unsure of.’

‘I like them all, it’s a great group. ‘But there are a couple of them I’m particularly friendly with. I was walking home with one of them during the week, Sophie. She’s about nineteen I think, and this is her first baby. She was talking to me about her older brother Ian as we walked.’

‘He’s twenty-one and has had three girlfriends in the last three years. He’s met one, they’ve gone out together for a while, the family have liked them, then they split up. He won’t say why, but she thinks they dumped him.’

‘He is down for months afterwards, then he comes back to life when he meets the next one. She’s noticed that the length of time he is down seems to get longer after each one.’

‘I’ve asked him if has any idea what went wrong,’ she told me, ‘But he won’t tell me anything. Although I suspect he probably doesn’t know anyway. I’m so worried what affect it might have on him if it keeps happening.’

‘Well, whatever the problem is,’ I told her, ‘Lewis will sort it out if he goes to see him. When she asked who Lewis was, I told her you were only young and worked with my husband on a Saturday. If he hadn’t sorted out a very serious problem I had, Mike and I would never have got together.’

‘Not only that,’ I told her, ‘When Catherine was about to arrive the ambulance was delayed. We called Lewis, who rushed round and delivered her. She thought that was wonderful. ‘Put his number in your phone,’ I told her, ‘Tell Ian to contact him. Tell him if it’s something very personal not to worry because Lewis never reveals anything he’s told.’

‘I hope you don’t mind.’ she said. ‘Not at all,’ Lewis said, ‘Anyone you want to help is fine with me.’ Just as they finished eating Catherine woke up. Valerie took her out of the pram and announced, ‘She needs changing.’

‘Here you are,’ she said handing her to Mike. ‘Show Lewis how proficient you are at nappy changing.’ Catherine lay there gurgling happily at him as he took her dirty nappy off. After washing and drying her, he deftly put a clean one on. Then he handed her to Lewis to hold whilst he cleared everything away.’

Lewis smiled at her and got a happy smile back. He gave her a kiss and chatted to her. She just stared up at him happily. ‘I can see we have a babysitter lined up,’ Valerie said, ‘It’ll give you and Ella some practice.’

When Valerie was ready to go, Catherine was very reluctant to be taken out of Lewis’s arms. They stood at the shop door and watched them walk away, then the first afternoon customer arrived.

As their busy afternoon drew near to a close a young man came in and stood at the door looking round. He was about six feet tall and very thin. As Lewis finished serving and looked at him, he seemed not to want to approach the counter.

Lewis went over to him and shook his hand, ‘Hi,’ he said, ‘I’m Lewis, can I help you?’ ‘Oh, er, I don’t think so,’ he said, ‘My sister told me to come, she said there was a Lewis working here that I should go and see, but I think I’ve misunderstood her.’

‘Don’t be put off by my age,’ Lewis told him, ‘You must be Ian.’ ‘Yes,’ he said going red. ‘Whatever your problem is,’ Lewis said, ‘You’ve just made the first two steps in solving it. So, follow it through, you’ve nothing to lose. You can walk out anytime you want.’

As they were speaking Mike was showing the last customer out. ‘Come through and have a coffee with me,’ Lewis told him. ‘Let me tell you what I do and then you can stay or leave as you wish.’

Ian was feeling very embarrassed at being there, he was a naturally shy person at the best of times. He couldn’t tell anyone what his problem was because he didn’t really know himself. But as it involved his girlfriends and seeing how young Lewis was, he felt sure he couldn’t tell him anything anyway.’

‘But he did seem nice and there clearly wasn’t any pressure. Plus, his sister had really sung his praises. Also, having just parted from his third girlfriend, he knew he really should try and do something. ‘Yes, I’d like to, thank you.’ he said.

They went through to the back room. Lewis introduced him to Mike who was putting his coat on. ‘I’m off home to the wife and baby I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this young man.’ He told Ian as he smiled at Lewis. ‘Don’t worry what you tell him,’ Mike said, ‘He’s heard it all before and he’s like a clam. He never repeats a word, not even to me.’

‘Can you put the kettle on please?’ Lewis asked Ian, ‘I’ll just see Mike out.’ They had a hug and a kiss in the shop then as Mike set off home, Lewis locked the door and returned to the back room. He made two coffees and they sat at the table.

‘The shop door is locked,’ Lewis told him. ‘My key is in the lock so not even Mike can get back in. But you can open it and leave anytime you want to. If you feel you need to leave, you don’t have to tell me why you are going, just get up and go.’

‘No one’s done it yet, but if you do leave, you will always be welcome to return in future anytime you want. If you stay, I won’t ask you to tell me about your problem right away. First of all, I’ll get you feeling more relaxed with me. At the same time, I’ll ask you all about you and your life. Only when and if you decide that you can, will you tell me about your problem.’

‘Now, because I don’t know what your problem is, if I ask you something connected with it, or something you don’t want to answer for any reason, all you need to do is say ‘Pass’ and we’ll skip it for now.’

‘My impression is that you are a very shy person.’ As Ian nodded Lewis said, ‘Well we move along at your speed not mine. It doesn’t matter how long it takes as long as we succeed. Nothing in here will hurt you or surprise you. Anything I want to do, I’ll tell you in advance what it is, why we are doing it and what I hope to achieve by it. Even then, nothing happens until you agree, ok?’ ‘Ok.’ Ian replied thinking that sounded good.

‘In a moment I’ll ask you to decide.’ Lewis told him. ‘If you don’t want to stay just let yourself out and go. If you want to at least give it a try, go to the settee, take your shoes off and lie down. Then I’ll come over and tell you what we do next.’

‘Do you have any questions first?’ ‘Yes,’ Ian said sounding puzzled, ‘You mentioned I’d made the first two steps already?’ ‘That’s right,’ Lewis told him, ‘There are only five and you’ve already taken two. The first one is to admit to yourself that you do have a problem. You must have done that, or you wouldn’t have taken the second step. To do something about it. You did that by coming here and staying to talk to me.’