Chapter 13

I woke up early and was out of bed in seconds, I went and used the toilet before getting into my walking gear within minutes.

I did ten minutes of the exercises that the hospital physio had given me, using a bag of sugar as a weight I did curls and lifts. Then I took a bottle of water from the fridge and headed out for my morning walk. It felt good to be able to swing both arms again, it had felt awkward with one arm in plaster.

It is amazing how lite your arm feels after being in plaster for so long.

There was a mist over the bay and a chill in the air. I walked down to the harbour and then out across the cliffs, before heading into the woods and out across some moorland before heading back into the park before heading home.

It was still chilly as I unlocked the door, I put the kettle on and made a coffee. I had just sat down when my mobile phone pinged to tell me I had a text message.

It was from Amy...

“Sorry Zak, something has come up and I can’t make it today”

I noticed there were no Xs and I wondered if she had gone cold on me, oh well I thought to myself, it will be what it will be. Was I hurt? of course I was, no one wants to be dumped, plus I was horny...

‘Hey that’s cool, these things happen X’ I lied in my reply.

I did not get a reply...

I drank my coffee and pondered life, I thought about getting back to work and moving on with my life, and I decided to call my boss tomorrow to see if I could head back into the office. I also needed to try driving. I could not get back to work if I could not drive, so I decided to give driving a go before I called the office.

I finished my coffee and headed off for a shave and shower. I had a look out of the window as I dressed, the mist was beginning to burn off as the sun came out.

I decided to have to go and try driving ... I had to at some time and a Sunday would be less busy on the roads than a Monday, I guess.

My car was sluggish but started on the third attempt. The fuel tank was almost empty. There was no fuel garage in the town, I would have to go out onto the main roads and find one, it would do the car good to have a run anyway.

I pulled out onto the lane and headed up toward the centre of town. Then out onto the main road. My arm felt okay but I knew it would ache the next morning. I could feel the loss of muscle as I swung the car into the stream of traffic.

It was another five miles before I got to the garage. I filled the tank, then drove on.

I drove with the windows open and the radio on and wondered if I would ever see Amy again. I had to wait and see if I got a reply, if she did not want to see me again that was cool, but I did wonder why.

I called in at a local farm shop and got a stack of veggies and fruit, then I called into a supermarket and got some stuff to make a stir fry with the veggies. I do love stir fry and it is a great way of getting plenty of veggies into my diet.

As I walked around the supermarket, I felt my arms aching and throbbing at the same time. I would call the physio tomorrow and see if it was a normal reaction. Perhaps I had overdone the exercises...

I still did not feel that I could carry big bags of shopping, so I would do little shops for fresh stuff and online shopping for the rest, at least for the next couple of weeks.

Then I drove home and knocked up the stir fry. After eating I walked down into the town and had a coffee before walking back through the early evening gloom. I watched some quiz shows on TV, before heading up to bed with a cup of tea and my e-reader.

Monday came around all too fast, I woke up and had a shower, and as I washed, I wondered if I would see Emily today, or if would it be another stand-in.

I put some bacon under the grill and made a cup of tea, and then the doorbell rang. It was Emily. She stood on the step and smiled at me.

“So, am I allowed back in?” she asked. I could tell from her face she was ashamed of herself. Her voice was shaky, and I could hear the nerves in her words.

“Yes, why would you not be?” I replied with a smile.

I was old enough and wise enough to know that it was not right to make a song and dance about her attitude before she had gone off ill. There was obviously something wrong and it was up to her if she told me about it or not.

“I know I was rude to you, I was angry and upset and rude, and I aimed my anger at you, and I should not have,” she said and there were tears in her eyes.

“Look please come in,” I said and at the same time, I heard the smoke alarm pinging. I ran back into the kitchen and grabbed the grill tray; the bacon was fucked.

“Oh, fuck it!” I said under my breath.

“Let me cook you some more,” Emily said, she had followed me into the kitchen. “If I had not kept you talking at the door...”

“It is okay I have more in the fridge” I replied.

I tipped the burnt bacon into the rubbish bin and took more bacon out of the fridge, I put on enough under the grill for two.

“You make the tea, and I will make us both a bacon sandwich” I smiled, and she smiled back at me and touched my arm.

So, I cooked the bacon, and she made us both a cup of tea.

Then we sat at the kitchen table. I took a bite out of my butty and so did Emily.

There was a pregnant pause, a silence that seem to lie heavily in the room.

It was Emily that broke the silence.

“I am sorry Zak, I am so so sorry, you were so nice to me, and I took the piss and treated you badly,” she said and sipped her tea.

“Look it’s cool, we are cool, everything is cool,” I said with a cheeky wink. “let’s just get back to how we were and forget all about it”

The silence descended over the room as we finished our sandwiches and drank our tea.

“I see the plaster has come off then,” she said and nodded toward my arm

“Yes, thank god, I never thought I would have missed my right hand so much” I replied and as I said it, I knew it would be taken the wrong way.

“Hahaha” she laughed and at the same time she blushed, “you blokes are all the same”

She was smiling and there was a glint in her eyes, and I had a faint idea she might be up for some fun.

“I did not mean it like that, “I said but laughed with her all the same

“You should have asked, that’s what us home helps are for, no job too dirty and no job too small” she giggled, and then she blushed.

“Yes, and less of the small young lady” I giggled but at the same time, the idea of a nice hand job from such a sexy young lady was appealing, to say the least. If she offered, I would not say no!!

“Well, I know that Adam would have loved to give you a helping hand, he loves an older man,” she said and gave me that trademark dirty wink. I wondered if she was winding me up or perhaps was she actually being serious.

She got up and cleared the table at the same time giving me another cheeky wink.

“Right, what am I going to do for your today,” she asked as she loaded the dishwasher

“Now there is a loaded question,” I said with a smile, and she smiled back at me.

she was a good-looking girl. Younger than me by a few years, with a nice rack and cute smile. She bent over to put the cups into the dishwasher and her bum looked amazing in her faded jeans.

“But seriously, “she said as she turned to look at me, her eyes moved up and down my body and I wondered what was going on in her head.

“Well upstairs needs dusting and vacuuming, “I said.

She did not need a written invitation; she got the cleaning gear out and headed upstairs.

I went into the living room and made a phone call to my boss. I ended up being put through to our great HR lady, she told me that I should take my time and that they were all thinking about me, she told me that the guys had a card and a present for me. That was touching, she told me to pop in for a chat and coffee. when I asked her about coming back, she told me we could talk about it when I was in the office. We arranged to meet on Wednesday afternoon.

Then I rang one of my old mates back at the company’s head office, we chatted for about half an hour. He told asked me how things had been, he had heard about the fight in the park, but he still wanted the full story. I asked him about his family and how things were at the old place.

After that I rang the hospital to speak to the physio team about the throbbing in my arm, they told me it was all normal but if it was still the same on Friday I should go and see them. After that call, I did some more arm curls and lifts with a can of beans acting as a weight.

Then I put the kettle on, my timing was perfect for Emily came downstairs as I was pouring milk into our drinks.

She put the cleaning kit away and walked into the kitchen.

“Oh, that looks like a perfect coffee,” she said with a smile and sat down, I put her brew in front of her and then took a packet of Jammie dodgers out of the cupboard. I opened them and shook them onto a plate.