by Eric Asher
I look at Toby. “Do you want me to stay and help you for the rest of the day? I don’t have anything else to do and I don’t want to see you stuck.”
He looks at me for about a minute and then he smiles. “If you would that would be great, it would help me out of a hole. I think we were finished anyway. Your appointment is booked for next Thursday.” I walk with him down to his office to grab my coat and bag, which I had left in there earlier.
I walk back to reception and settle myself in at the desk. After about ten minutes he comes out and goes through the diary with me. He only has a couple of appointments, one this morning and one this afternoon. “Can I take you to lunch to say thank you?”
“I suppose you can, come back after your next appointment and then we can go somewhere.” He smiles at me and walks back down the corridor.
I spend the morning answering the phone and booking appointments, there are a lot of people in Ireland who want to have cosmetic surgery. Some of them are even coming up from the country, he must have a good reputation.
An hour later the doorbell rings and it is his next appointment. I let her in, she is a tall, leggy blonde, just the type I don’t like. I smile at her, I know I shouldn’t judge her by her looks, but I can’t help it. I want to be like her.
“Hi I’m here to see Dr Whyte, my name is Melissa.” She smiles sweetly at me.
“Take and seat and I will let him know you are here.” I pick up the phone and press the button with his name on it. “Dr Whyte your next appointment, Melissa, is here.” I nearly spit her name out.
He chuckles. “That’s great I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
When he comes into reception Melissa stands and puts a big smile on her face, I can see she is flirting, her body language screams at him that she wants him. He smiles back and takes her hand to shake it.
“Follow me Melissa” he says and I watch her walking down the corridor shaking her arse as she goes. What is wrong with me? That is the type of woman I want to be, why am I being off hand?
I ignore the strange feeling in my belly and go about looking around the reception to see what other work Bev does.
It’s about an hour and a half before Melissa leaves and she doesn’t look as smartly turned out anymore. She blushes when she says goodbye to Toby and then waves at me as she walks out the door.
“I’ll be half and hour or so before I will be ready to go for lunch, is that ok Faith?”
“Of course it is, don’t feel you have to take me to lunch. I don’t mind helping you out.”
“I want to take you to lunch, it’s no trouble.”
I continue looking at the computer when the phone rings. “Good morning A New You, Faith speaking, how can I help you?”
“Hi, is that Faith as in Janie’s friend?”
“Yes it is, who is this?”
“It’s Seamus, I met you in the nightclub. What are you doing answering Toby’s phone?”
“I was in seeing Toby today and Bev had to go home sick so I offered to help out as I have nothing else on today.”
“Jammy devil.” He says chuckling. “Nice talking to you Faith, is he there?”
“Yes he is hang on I’ll transfer you.”
I press the button with his name on it and it rings for a couple of seconds “Hi Faith.”
“Hi Dr Whyte I have Seamus on the line.”
“Ok thank you, put him through.”
A few minutes later Toby comes through to reception “right are you ready Faith?”
I stand up and follow him out the door.
Lunch was fantastic, we went to a small bistro and I had a chicken salad it was really tasty. “So do you still want to go through with it Faith?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?” He’s starting to annoy me now. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’ve wanted this for so long.”
“Ok ok I’ll stop. I just don’t think you need to change, you’re perfect the way you are.”
I blush, how can this god of a man think that I’m perfect. He must be hallucinating because he obviously sees something different to me when I look in the mirror. I don’t say anything because I just don’t know what to say.
“Listen Faith, I know I shouldn’t be saying this to you because you are a patient of mine, but I think you are wasting your money. I think you are doing all of this to get one guy, who isn’t worthy of you anyway. From what I saw he’s a prick and an arrogant one too. He might go out with leggy blondes but I bet they have nothing between the ears, you are intelligent and fun to be around. Those girls are only in his life for short periods of time, what if you do all of this and you get the man and then he lets you go again after one night. Will it have all been worth it?”
I think about what he is saying, maybe he’s right. Maybe it is an extreme measure to get my guy, but then I think about how long I have wanted to be Jake’s woman. The years of longing are too much to just give up like that. “Yes I think it will.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t understand that you would do all of that to your body, all the pain and recovery for one night in his bed.”
I look up at him. “That’s not for you to decide Toby, that’s for me to decide.” I am getting really angry with him. I stand up and throw my money on the table.
“Don’t go Faith, I’m sorry it’s just I like you and I don’t want you to go through all of this and then be unhappy.”
“I’m unhappy now Toby. Now!” I turn and walk out of the bistro and start walking back down the road to the clinic because my car is there.
Toby catches up with me and takes my arm to slow me down. “Faith please don’t go anywhere, come inside, I don’t have an appointment yet. Please.”
I nod and go back into the clinic with him. When we are inside he says “I was going to ask you if you would help me out for a couple of days until Bev’s back. You’re very efficient and I like your company. What do you say?”
I smile. “Only if you promise me that you won’t try and stop me from having that operation next week.”
He sighs and I can see him fighting something inside him, eventually he looks me in the eye and says “I promise, but I have one condition.”
“And what might that be? I’m not changing the date of the operation?”
“Give me this next week to show you why you don’t need to have the operations.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that, or what you intend to do, but ok it’s a deal if it makes you happy.”
He takes the step between us and pulls me in close to him, he hugs me tight and he says in my ear “it makes me very happy and I am going to prove that you don’t need to do it.”
He releases me and I just look at him. “I can’t believe you are prepared to lose the money I want to give you.”
“It doesn’t happen often Faith, but I just think that you need to believe in yourself first and then you will see the swan you are underneath.”
My heart skips and I take a breath, he is quoting from The Ugly Duckling, my favourite book. I really must read it again, to see what Auntie Jenny really meant. “Oh my god Toby I forgot I have an appointment to get my Invisaligns fitted this afternoon. Your next appointment is at three o’clock so I can see her in and then I have to run, is that ok?”
“Of course it is Faith, you are getting me out of a hole. Just make sure you leave me your mobile phone number, don’t forget you promised me a week to get you to change your mind.”
I laugh. “Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten, although I don’t know how you think you might do that.”
The phone rings and interrupts us and so begins the afternoon. There are many calls and letters to be sent and then his three o’clock appointment, Poppy, comes along. She is a mature lady who is extremely pleasant. I like her a lot, she is fun.
When I have seen her into Toby’s office and made them both a drink I tell him that I am leaving and what time does he want me tomorrow. “Just leave me your phone number and I’ll ring you when I
am done here. Good luck this afternoon.” He winks at me. He is really hot when he does that. I blush.
I drive straight to Smiles and am just in time for my appointment. By the end of it I have my Invisaligns fitted on my upper teeth, the bottom ones don’t need doing. I can’t stop looking at them in the mirror, you wouldn’t know they were there if you weren’t told. I can take them out when I am eating and brushing my teeth. I have a different one to wear when I sleep but it only feels a little bit strange. I have an appointment to go back in two weeks to have it changed. By changing it every two or three weeks, it brings the teeth into line slowly.
I stop by Mum’s on the way home. I forgot to tell her I was staying in town today. “Faith, where have you been, I didn’t hear from you. I knew you were going for your results today. What did he say?”
I explain to her what he said including that he wants to try to show me over the next week why he shouldn’t do the surgery. “Ooh he sounds so nice. Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Mum! I don’t know, I didn’t ask him. I bet he has though he is absolutely gorgeous. He probably has a different woman each weekend.” It saddens me to think of him with a different woman every weekend, he’s too nice a guy for that.
Mum makes dinner and she is very good and gives me my dinner cooked to a slimming world recipe. She must have been looking it up on the Internet or something.
She asks me to stay the night because her and dad want to talk to me about something. I’m curious about what they want so I say yes and she gets out the wine glasses and a bottle of wine. I have to make sure I don’t drink too many glasses, although I was good at lunch time so I should be ok with a couple of glasses.
Just as we are getting settled my phone rings and it is a number I don’t recognize. I answer with trepidation “Hey Faith, it’s Toby. How did it go this afternoon?”
I motion to mum that I am going into the kitchen to take the call. “It went well, I have it on and it feels ok. I have to go back in two weeks time, it shouldn’t take too long for me to be finished with them really.”
“That’s great. Listen Bev isn’t going to be in for at least the rest of the week, are you sure you can come in and help me out. Obviously I’ll pay you for it.”
“Of course I don’t mind, I’m getting restless at home anyway. What time do you want me to come in?”
“Can you make it for about nine in the morning, I know I have a meeting at nine thirty so that will give us chance to open up and chat about the day.”
“Perfect.”
“What are you doing now? Are you going out?”
“No I am at mum and dad’s they want to talk to me about something, I haven’t got a clue what about. I’m intrigued.”
“Ooh sounds exciting. I’ll see you in the morning then, Faith.”
“You sure will Dr Whyte” I say laughing.
He chuckles, “I like it when you call me that. Oh and Faith”
“Yes Dr Whyte”
“Don’t forget to come in with an open mind this week, you promised.”
I sigh. “I know I did.”
I hang up and when I walk back into the lounge Mum asks who it was.
“It was Toby, just making sure I was ok to work for him for the rest of the week.”
“Ah that’s nice of him. I know you’re getting bored being at home, so it will do you the world of good.”
“He also said not to forget that I should keep an open mind, I think he has a couple of tricks up his sleeve to make me change my mind. Well they will have to be whoppers to do that Mum.” I plonk myself down on the couch and take a big sip of my wine.
“Faith, he obviously cares about you or he wouldn’t be doing this. Why else would he be trying to talk you out of unnecessary surgery?”
“Mum it is necessary. It is just everyone else who thinks that it is unnecessary.”
“Ok Faith, whatever you say.” She says taking a sip of her wine too.
We are all quiet for a few minutes and then she starts by telling me that she wants to read the last two letters that were in Auntie Jenny’s safety deposit box.
“Jen
This is third year that I’ve been gone, happy anniversary my beautiful little swan.
I hope you haven’t forgotten me and I don’t think you have. Although you are probably wondering how you are still receiving these letters.
I know your inquisitive mind so well. I have a very good friend who is a solicitor and has been instructed to send these letters to you so that they would arrive on our anniversary. I also knew that you would leave our beautiful sanctuary and move back home to Ireland to your family who you love so much. I am just sorry that I didn’t have enough time on this earth to meet them. I am sure I would have loved them as much as you do.
Live your life well, I have made provisions for you so that you can be comfortable until the end of your days on earth.
My Love as always
Philip xx”
“I wish we had met him, he obviously made her very happy.” Mum says wiping her tears.
“I know, they had the kind of love that you and dad have. Beautiful, unconditional love! That’s what I want mum, more than anything I want that kind of love.” I feel sad, will I ever have that kind of love?
“Let’s read the last one.” Mum says folding the letter and putting it back in the envelope.
She carefully opens the last one.
“Jen,
Happy fourth anniversary. I hope that you are doing well.
I know this will upset you but this is the last letter I am going to write to you. Not because I don’t want to write any more letters to you but because I think you need to move on. I do this knowing that even though it’s been 5 years since we married, I know that you will always remember me.
My last gift for you is being held by my solicitor, if you want it. I acquired the house that we rented in Crete and I have put it in your name. If you can stand the memories that we had there, then please go visit it and make it your own.
I enjoyed every moment we had in that house, even though I died there.
I love you with every ounce of my being. I watched you grow into a beautiful graceful little swan and I will never forget you.
One day our souls will meet again and that will be the happiest day of my afterlife.
Look after yourself and live your life fully because you never know when it can be taken away from you.
Love as always
Philip xx”
Mum and me are crying, he was so romantic and obviously adored Auntie Jenny. When we manage to pull ourselves together again we fold the last letter and put it back in the envelope.
“I wonder if his solicitor is the one that she used? Maybe I should give him a ring tomorrow to see if he can tell me more about the house in Crete.”
“I bet you it is and yes find out as much as you can. It might be worth a visit to see where Auntie Jenny had lived with all that love.”
I stay the night and I have a restless night dreaming of Auntie Jenny and a faceless man.
I arrive at A New You at nine o’clock and Toby is already there. While I make us both coffee he is telling me about his day and what he has planned. It is going to be a busy day today.
I have everything set up for his first appointment and before I know it, it is lunchtime. Toby comes out to say goodbye to his last appointment and then he leans on the reception desk. He smiles at me and asks “do you have any lunch with you Faith? Shall I go and get something and bring it back here? We have an hour and a half until the next appointment.”
“That would be lovely Toby, thank you.”
“Be right back” he winks at me and disappears out of the door.
He comes back in ten minutes later.
“What the hell? How? What is going on?”
He is carrying a picnic basket and a picnic blanket. “Follow me” he says walking down towards his office. He moves the couch out of the way and puts the blanket down on the floor.
>
I laugh, he is so intent in what he is doing he doesn’t see me standing there just watching him.
He puts the basket down in the middle of the blanket and starts to take out plates, food, drinks. My god he has everything in there.
“Toby” I interrupt his intense concentration. “When did you do all of this? What is all of this?”
“Sit down and enjoy your lunch. I prepared all of this before I came to work this morning. I suppose I assumed you wouldn’t have time to get yourself some lunch. Well I was hoping you didn’t anyway.”
He pats the blanket and I sit down on the other side of the basket. He hands me a plate and a glass.
“I didn’t bring wine as we are working this afternoon but I did bring some diet 7 up, I hope that’s ok?”
“It’s perfect Toby. You are amazing.” Without thinking about it I lean over the blanket and kiss him on the cheek. As soon as I’ve done that I blush. Why did I do that? He doesn’t need a fat ugly girl like me kissing him, I’m sure he has lots of better looking girls doing that all the time.
“Don’t be embarrassed Faith. Thank you, it’s nice to be appreciated.”
We are both silent for a few minutes and then we start eating. I start to tell him all about Auntie Jenny and the letters and how wonderfully romantic they were.
“It must be amazing to have someone that loves you that much that when they are dying they can only think of you and not themselves.” I say absentmindedly.
“I know” he says “I really want that type of love with someone. I don’t give my heart away very easily Faith.”
“I don’t get much chance to give mine away.” I say, feeling sad.
“Maybe you’re just looking in the wrong places. You need be open minded about love and then you will find the true unconditional love that you are looking for.” He starts to pack up the picnic and I feel a loss, like he is trying to tell me something important and I don’t know what it is.
After we have tidied away, the first patient of the afternoon comes in and I don’t see him to talk to until it’s time to lock up.
“Hey Faith. Can I talk to you about tomorrow?” He looks a bit sheepish.
“Of course you can. Don’t you need me to come in tomorrow or something?”
