A Short Story - Moving On

My colleagues made me give my number to a man called Ben when we were at the pub last Friday. I'm usually the only one of my colleagues that doesn't go to these social events but I made an exception this time. Ben rang me the following Monday

"Hi Julia, I'm Ben, Do you remember me from the pub last Thursday?"

"Hi Ben" I said which caught the attention of everyone in the office "Yes I do remember you!"

"Would you still be interested in arranging a date sometime?"

By this time Ruth was standing next to me. She whispered in my ear

"Don't you dare say no!"

"I..."

"I'm serious!" she said "You have a tendency to refuse to get involved with life, give him a chance"

When I didn't respond she added "Do you remember how many questions he asked about you, he focused all his attention on you whenever he spoke, and I'm pretty sure he bought you at least two drinks!"

"He did"

I turned back to the phone and quickly said "Yes"

"Great" he said and he sounded relieved as if he had expected me to say no! How about Friday? Are you free then?"

"Um..." I started.

Just then Ruth pinched a tiny bit of my skin with her long fingernails

"Ouch"

"Are you okay?" said Ben into the phone.

"Sorry, my colleague just pinched my arm"

"Ha ha, does a lot of pinching go on in your workplace?" he asked and I could feel that he was smiling.

"Generally not" I said laughing with a big grin on my face.

Ruth whispered in my ear again

"He's making you laugh, you have to say yes to him. Just one date and see how well you get on with him"

"But Fridays_"

"One single Friday, you can make an exception surely?"

"I guess so"

"Or see if he's free on Saturday"

"Um are you free on Saturday instead?" I asked into the mouthpiece.

"I'm not unfortunately, is Friday no good?"

"It will be okay, see you on Friday then, bye"

I hung up the phone.

It rang again immediately

"Hello"

"Hello this is Ben, shall we arrange where to meet?" he said laughing.

"Oh yes, whoops!!! Where shall we meet?"

"I'm sure your pinching colleague distracted your attention, I can pick you up from your place?"

"Okay" I said and gave him my address "See you on Friday"

"Bye Julia"

"Bye"

Ruth turned to me saying

"Sorry I pushed you honey, are you okay about it?"

"I'm not but I suppose I would have to stop at some point. Can you help me find something to wear?"

"Of course, shall we go shopping after work on Friday, keep Thursday free for you?"

"Thank you" said "You're a great friend Ruth"

"Ahh thank you darling, so are you" she said hugging me "Back to work then"

Ruth and I rushed out of work on Friday and headed straight to Debenhams.

"Just grab some dresses you like" she said "and I'll pick some for you to try on too"

"Okay" I said heading for the racks of black clothes while she grabbed some bright dresses.

When she saw my arms were full of black dresses she shook her head, and told me "Not black, you wear it too often" and to demonstrate her point she looked down at my outfit.

"I like this, the trousers are comfortable"

"Hmm" 

We rushed over to the fitting rooms and she handed me a few dresses to try on.

"Lime green?"

"Yes! It will suit your colouring"

"I doubt it"

"Just get it on!" she told me.

"Oi bossy boots" I said.

"I might be bossy but it's for your own good" she said.

Once the first dress was on I headed out to see what her reaction was.

"What do you think?"

"Not good, let's see the next one"

After trying on the next one I asked again "What do you think?"

"I like it, we might find a better one though, keep trying them on" she said passing me a few more dresses. I tried on a few more and she decided on the third lime green dress that I had tried on and we rushed off to find some shoes in the same colour. Next stop was jewellery where she quickly chose a few items. After paying we walked back to my flat.

When we arrived she asked me

"Are you okay?"

I struggled for the words to respond "I'm just not finding it easy to let the past go. I don't think I even want to let it go"

"He would_"

"Don't!" I stopped her.

"Sorry" she whispered "Go have a shower"

After my shower which gave me time to compose myself Ruth started to apply some make up. I almost fell asleep because the gentle way she applied the makeup was so soothing.

"Wake up Cinderella" she said when finished.

I opened my eyes and straightened my shiny auburn hair before getting changed. Ruth came in and put the necklace on me before saying

"You're done, have a look in the mirror"

I walked over to the mirror and saw someone I didn't recognize at all. 

"Can you do this for me every day?" I joked staring at the beautiful women in the mirror.

"Cheeky!!" she said hitting me playfully on my arm "You look beautiful, you should wear colour more often, I can help you if you like"

"Thanks" I whispered choked up. I was aware that I didn't look after myself as well as I should.

The doorbell rang just then, my date had arrived.

"Go on then, answer the door"

So I walked to the door and opened it saying

"Hi Ben"

"Hi Julia, you look.... so beautiful" he said.

"Thank you, so do you" I said blushing and suddenly flustered "I mean, handsome, not beautiful"

"Thanks Julia" he said with a smile.

Ruth passed me my jacket and told me she would lock up when she had packed all her makeup away.

"Thank you so much Ruth" I said kissing her cheek.

"Thank you for agreeing to come tonight" said Ben as I closed the front door "How has your week been?"

"Good thanks" I said "And yours?"

"Better once you agreed to meet me" he said smiling. He had lots of lines around his bright blue eyes so I could see that smiling a lot was natural for him.

We arrived then at the Chinese restaurant and Ben opened the door for me. The waiter took us to our table and gave us menus.

"There's so much to choose from" said Ben.

"Too much, it all looks delicious"

"How about us ordering a few dishes to share?"

"Sounds good to me"

So when the waiter returned Ben ordered quite a few dishes that we had agreed we both liked. It arrived quickly and the portions looked very generous.

"It looks delicious" I said.

"It certainly does, dig in" he said starting to fill his plate

"I love food, and cooking" I said.

"What's your signature dish?"

"Steak and chips"

"Wow" he said "That sounds wonderful, I love to cook too, and I work as a baker"

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes, I love my job, what do you do?"

"I work in admin, sorry that's not very interesting.

"Not at all, do you enjoy it?"

"It wasn't my dream but yes I do"

"What was your dream?"

"To open a restaurant" I said then quickly changed the subject "Favourite cake?"

"Cakes" he said laughing "My favourite subject. I love them all. How about you?"

"I love all cakes too" I said laughing.

We were both getting very messy eating the pork ribs which were sweet and sour flavoured but for some reason it didn't matter. Afterwards they gave us hot towels so we could clean our hands and faces.

"Would you like any dessert?" Ben asked.

"I'm too full unfortunately" I said holding my stomach.

"Me too but I enjoyed it"

He quickly gave his card to the waiter.

"Can I_"

"No" he responded quickly.

Ben told me he would walk me home and he gave me his elbow so I could put my arm through his.

"Do you mind me asking about your dream restaurant? Why didn't you follow your dream?"

"I don't know if I can tell you"

"You don't have to, I'm a good listener though"

We came across a bench and sat down.

"My....husband....died" I said starting to sob "I couldn't carry on without him"

"Oh that's awful, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss sweetheart, was it recent?"

"Ten years. I always go to the cemetery on Friday nights to see him"

"And let me guess, you didn't go tonight because you agreed to meet me?"

I just nodded in reply.

"We'll go now" Ben said and we stood up and started walking. The cemetery wasn't far from where I lived so we got there quickly. I lead Ben to the grave and knelt down in front of it. Ben walked away giving me some space.

"I love you John" I spoke hoping in some way he might here "I miss you so much"

The tears dripped onto the ground where his body lay. Ben came over then and started stroking my back.

"John! Do you mind if I date your lovely lady?"

As he said it the full moon shone came out of the clouds and shone on us and the grave.

"I think that's a sign" said Ben.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and smiled looking at Ben, his bright blue eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Shall we go out next week?" I boldly asked him. Such a lovely man.

He walked closer and pushed a strand of hair out of my eye and tucked it behind my ear.

"You ready to move on, I don't mean to forget him but to start living again?"

"Yes, suddenly I realise I am ready"

"Next week then" he said leading me out of the cemetery and back home "And we can chat more about your restaurant"

"I can't wait"

"Goodnight then Julia, see you next week" he said quickly kissing my cheek and walking away.

A Short Story

Bella has just been made redundant after working for the same company for 20 years. She worked there for the whole of her adult life and felt secure and pretty happy there so she was extremely shocked and saddened to be given the news. Two other girls, Jill and Mary in her department were given the same news. So they all packed up their desks and headed to the pub to take in the news. Bella felt terrified at the thought of getting another job, especially the thought of being interviewed by a man...

**********************************

When she went to bed in the eveiing she left the lights on in every room as usual. before succoming to sleep she prepared herself for the daily nightmares that had hounded her since she was 15 years old. She always relives the worst time of her life at night and wakes up exhausted thinking she will never get over the things that happened to her.

**********************************

When Bella was 8 years old her Dad left her Mum after many years of constant arguing. Bella's Mum then went through a series of men who quickly moved in making Bella feel like there was no stability in her life. They weren't too bad compared to Nathan who had  tattoos all over his arms and moved in almost straight away. Nathan liked to drink and would come back from the pub late swearing and and angry. Her Mum got most of his anger and Bella would hide in her room with her hands over her ears while he punched and hurt her Mum. During that time her Mum had constant cuts and bruises. Bella begged her to chuck him out but one day Nathan walked in drunk to hearing this. He launched himself at Bella throwing her to the floor before hitting her again and again until she was covered with cuts and bruises. She was very lucky that no bones were broken. While this happened her Mum had just stood by helplessly, crying and and letting him hurt her daughter. Afterwards Nathan headed back to the pub and Bella's Mum quickly packed a couple of bags and they drove to her sister's house. Bella's Aunty was shocked at the state of both of them and quickly brought them inside. Fortunately they never saw Nathan again but Bella changed, becoming more timid and frightened easily and nothing her Aunty did to try and help her changed anything. Every since then Bella has been afraid of men, and generally avoided them. Her Mum and Aunty worry terribly about her.

**************************

The next day Bella used the whole day job hunting but didn't find anything. She avoided any applications mentioning a male line manager which rather limits the opportunities. She arranged to meet her friend Emma for a drink that evening. They meet at the Open House pub and order drinks.

"So what do you plan to do about finding a job now?" said Emma.
"I have no idea" said Bella blankly. "How was your day?"
"Good thanks" replied Emma and just then a guy came up to their table.
"Hi" he said to both of them before turning to Bella and saying "I would love to buy you a drink, would that be okay?"
Bella froze, as usual in this situation with a frightened look on her face. She was just about to say no thanks when he interrupted saying "You don't have to be scared, I'm a nice guy"

Emma thought he looked nice too, a sweet guy and answered for Bella saying "Please join us" and ignoring Bella's annoyed look.
"What's your name?" asked Emma.
"I'm Jon, what are your names?" he replied.
"I'm Emma and this is Bella" said Emma.
"Your name is beautiful Bella" said Jon.
"Thank you" Bella replied coolly feeling very uncomfortable.
"What do you do for a living?" he asked.
"I just got made redundant" Bella replied adding "What do you do?"
"I'm a manager, we might have a place in the company I work in if you're looking for a job?" he asked.
"That's great news" said Emma.
"Thanks" said Bella.
"If you give me your number I'll let you know" said Jon.

Bella gave him her number, reluctantly. But she needed a job and he did seem nice. He headed off then, happy he had her number saying he would ring her soon. Emma wondered if this time Bella would let a man into her life.

**********************************

Bella settled into life, looking at the papers each morning and responding to the job adverts she was interested in during the afternoon. After a week of this she received a phone call which she hoped would be a response to one of her applications but it was actually Jon calling.

"Hi, is that Bella?" he asked.
"Yes it is" she responded carefully.
"It's Jon here, we met in the pub, I hope you remember"
"Yes I do remember"
"Well I'm calling about the job I mentioned, would you like to come for an interview on Thursday?"
"Thank you" she said, and despite nervousness she responded "Yes".
"The address is 131 Regency Square, I'll see you there at 2pm"
"Okay thank you" she replied.

She felt terrified and was tempted to skip it but Emma persuaded her to go. She had her interview suit dry-cleaned the day before and after an early lunch on Thursday she got changed and walked to Regency Square. She arrived in plenty of time and rang the bell. The door opened and she saw Jon smiling.

"Come in" he said.
"Thanks" she replied following him through the door.
"Don't look so nervous, we're a friendly bunch" he said, his blue eyes sparkling. Emma couldn't help smiling, he was such a nice guy. He lead her upstairs, through a room full of people and into a small room.
"Have a seat" he said.
"Thanks" she replied and asked "Are you interviewing me?"
"Yes!" he responded and asked "Do you have your CV on you?"
"Yes, here it is" she said handing it to him.

After looking at it he said, "Well you have lots of experience, and you seem like you would fit in well, would you like the job?"
"Yes" Bella said shocked.
"How would you feel about starting now" he asked.
"That would be great"
"Come on then" he said smiling "Let's introduce you to the team".
He lead the way into another part of the building she hadn't seen before and into another open plan room full of desks.
Bella looked around and was relieved to see that most people in the room were woman. Jon lead her to a desk and introduced her to Dawn.
"This is Dawn, she'll be your line manager" he said.
"Hi Bella" Dawn said.
"Hi"
"Let's get you settled in, thanks Jon"

Dawn lead her to a free desk and introduced her to the girls sitting near to her who's names were Rachel and Alex. She asked Bella to sit with Alex so she could get started. To Bella's relief Alex was lovely, really chatty and easy to get on with so she relaxed very quickly. The day went so fast, she enjoyed lunch with Rachel, Alex and some other girls who's names she couldn't remember. At 5pm everyone packed up to go home. As she headed out the door she saw Jon who smiled and winked at her. She felt shocked at the feeling of butterflies and nervousness in her stomach, She smiled back, before heading outside and walking home. The next day she headed to work feeling excited to see Jon again but she didn't see him around the building all day. She couldn't understand why she felt so disappointed about that. Despite that disappointment she had a great day and lots of fun. She couldn't remember having so much fun in her previous job. It seemed in this company people were encouraged to enjoy themselves as well as working hard.

*****************************

On Saturday night Emma and Bella had a couple of drinks at Emma's house before heading to the Open House. As they walked inside she saw Jon standing at the bar.

"Look, it's your manager" said Emma "Go and say hello, I'll get a table"
Bella headed over to the bar and said "Hi"
"Hi Bella" he replied, "How are you enjoying the new job?"
"I love it, thank you so much"
"It's not a problem, I'm glad you're enjoying it"

Bella noticed he looked nervous and said "You okay?"
"I'm fine...I um want to ask you something"
"What is is?"
"Would you consider...um...going on a date with me?"
"Oh" she said, with mixed feelings. She didn't understand why she felt happy that he had asked her. The butterflies were back in her stomach making her feel nervous but excited too "Okay" she responded finally.
He exhaled, he was obviously nervous asking her "Thank you" he said. "What date suits you?"
"Um...next weekend?" she asked.
"Great, shall we say next Saturday?"
"Okay" she said smiling.
"I'll take you to dinner"
"Okay" she said again.
He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek saying "Thank you, I'll look forward to seeing you next week"
"Me too" she whispered in his ear.
"I won't intrude any more on your evening. I will call you in the week to arrange where to meet"

He headed out the bar then and Bella headed to join Emma.
"Drinks?" said Emma smiling happy that her friend was finally letting men back into her life.
"Oh yes" replied Bella still in a daze. She headed back to the bar to buy the drinks.

Emma wisely decided not to quiz Bella about her conversation with Jon so they chatted about lots of other things and Emma smiled to herself happily.

Jon treated Bella normally at work although they shared a few smiles and he rang her on Wednesday evening to arrange the date. He suggested going to Richard's restaurant in Hove, somewhere Bella hadn't been but when she had walked past it she thought the food looked lovely. They agreed to meet there at 8pm on Saturday. Bella shyly told Emma about the date and asked her friend what she should wear. Emma suggested they go shopping to find something on Saturday morning. Bella tried on a few dresses in Debenham's before finding one in a lime green which made her green eyes look so bright and her long dark hair shine. Emma declared it perfect and they then found some shoes and a bag which matched it almost exactly. Emma went back to Bella's for lunch and helped her get ready for the evening. She stayed until Bella needed to leave worried that her friend would cancel her date if left to worry alone. As they headed out the door she hugged Bella and wished her a good evening saying a silent prayer that this would be a good match.

Bella caught a bus into Hove and nervously headed into the restaurant. Jon was sitting at a table and when he saw her he jumped up and said "hello" kissing her on her cheek.

"Hi Jon"
"Come sit down" he said grabbing her elbow and leading her to the table."How was your day?"
"Good thanks, I went shopping with Emma"
"You look gorgeous"
"Thanks" Bella looked at him and noticed how smart he was dressed "You look very nice too"
"Thank you" he smiled.

The waiter came over then and they ordered a bottle of Pino Grigio which arrived as they were looking at the menus.

"I like the look of the sausage and mash" Jon said.
"It does look nice" replied Bella wondering what to choose. "I like the look of the chicken"
"Is that what you'd like?"
"Yes I think so"
"The waiter took their orders and then took the menu's away.

Jon was very funny and charismatic and soon he had Bella holding her sore stomach laughing. It made him happy to see her relax, he wondered why she was always so tense. They enjoyed the food, and shared a piece of cheesecake for dessert as they were both so full. Jon paid the bill when Bella headed to the toilet. And then they headed out of the restaurant.

"Would you accompany me for a drink?" he asked politely.
"Haha okay"
Jon grabbed her hand as they crossed the road and kept hold as they walked to the Temple House. When they reached the pub he put his arms around her waist and hugged her. He suddenly notices how stiff she'd become.

"Sorry Bella" he said letting go.
She stood still trying to calm down feeling foolish for reacting like she had "Sorry" she said.
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched you like that"
"It's ...." she started feeling tears in her eyes.
"What?"
"It's not you, it's just..." she started.
"Just what?" Jon asked concerned and leading her to the outside seats so they could talk.
"My Mum went through so many men. They weren't too bad until she met Nathan. She moved us in with him straight away for some reason"
"What happened to you?"
"He used to hurt Mum" Bella said and the tears started running down her cheeks. Jon brushed them away but they kept coming so he stopped.
"I sat in my room hearing it happen, I wondered why she didn't leave. The one day he hurt me" said Bella. She put her hands over her face and sobbed. Jon had tears in his eyes too and wanted to hug her but he didn't dare, she was giving off so many vibes of not wanting to be touched.
"I'm so sorry that happened to you" he said then adding "Not all men are like that! I would never hurt you, I don't know you very well but care about you Bella"
She looked at him then and seeing the worry on his face she leaned on him and he tentatively put his arms around her saying "Is this okay?"
She nodded and he felt her relax in his arms.

"I'm sorry for overreacting" she mumbled.
"Shh, it's okay darling. You can always talk to me"
She wiped her red eyes and then said "Can you take me home now?"
"Of course" He sat her straight then got up and signaled for a taxi. When one stopped he helped Bella stand up head into the taxi. He asked her for her address and wiped her eyes as they drove to her flat. When they arrived he helped her inside and settled her in her room with a glass of water before leaving.

When Bella woke the next morning she was mortified at what had happened and blushed feeling so embarrassed. She texted him apologising but he responded asking how she was and telling her she had nothing to apologise for. As the day wore on she remembered how sweet he'd been, wiping her tears and helping her to get home and to bed and she realised that she wanted to see him again. At work on Monday he called her into his office and asked if she would consider going on another date with him.

"Are you sure?" she responded before quickly saying "I'd love to"
"I am sure" he said smiling. Knowing that he wouldn't risk going near her in case of upsetting her she bravely walked closer to him and and gently kissed him.

**********************************

They went out most weekends for dinner or drinks and took things slowly getting to know each other. Jon was very patient, always being careful when he held her and kissed her as she would tense up at times but she gradually grew to trust him. He was happy. The got on so well, and had a lot of laughs together. One day Jon told Bella he would like to marry her and asked if she would accept if he asked. She happily accepted and they married a year later in the Royal Pavillion.

A Poem - My Cat

She woke me today

Like most days

whining for food

and once fed still whining

never settling

rushing to the kitchen

whenever I do

always around my feet

tripping me over

and yelping when

I step on her

tail or paws

I hate the hairs

she sheds

on the carpet

and on my clothes

yet I love her

like a daughter

if she's sick

I worry

very much

I love my cat.