Rigby chuckled in his own self-depredation, “You know I am horrible with names, please go find Susan and ask, I need to greet our other guests.”
Geoffrey moved through the crowds, amazed to be greeted as a long lost friend. For years, he pushed these people away, avoiding the happy couples and flaunting his inappropriate behavior until wives kept their husbands away from him.
He didn’t want to push them away anymore. Perhaps when he bought a new house, he would have an outdoor kitchen. He used to like cooking steaks and corn cobs for a crowd.
It would even be good to have some one at his side to share the banter and jokes with. Someone old enough to remember life before mobile devices. Someone smart enough to call him on his bull shit. Someone who managed to make him laugh and want to fall in love again.
“Geoffrey, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He recognized Susan’s voice before he saw her through the crowd.
“I would never let you down, you look beautiful.” Not for them the polite greeting, she gave him a huge embrace. “Thanks, Susie,” he murmured in her ear, “I finally feel as if I’m rejoining the world.”
As she smiled and nodded, he heard a familiar laugh from behind. His smile spread unabatedly across his face even before he turned around, it could only be …
“Geoff, I’d like you to meet,” Susan began.
“Rebecca Garran, but I will call her ‘Bec’. If, she would allow me to be her friend.”
“Geoffrey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” His Bec stood before him, tall and poised in a long black halter neck gown.
He raised her left hand to his lips. The black nails were still there, minus the wedding ring.
“Miss Garran, I assume you are my guest for this evening?”
Susan interrupted with a cough, “I see you have met before, Geoffrey – behave and don’t scare Rebecca back to the States or you will have Derek Casbar to answer.”
“My darling Susan, what if I promise not to let this stunning vision out of my sight and insist her wish will be my command.”
Susan shrugged, “It is out of my hands. Have fun.”
“Did you know?” he asked Bec as he handed her a glass of white wine from the roving waiter.
“Know what?” her blue eyes locked on his as the rest of the world vanished.
“Did you know one plane trip with you changed my life?”
Her head turned to the side, her eyebrows raised ever so slightly in query.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” In a room full of people, he felt they were alone, with music playing just for them.
“Before you, I never spoke about Rachel, not with anyone. Until you, I locked down the grief into a dark chasm and insisted no light enter. Until you.” He spoke quickly, trying to explain what a difference she made before they joined the crowd.
“Geoffrey, don’t. We had one conversation. You could have spoken to anyone. For a moment, we had perfect timing – it had nothing to do with me.”
“Bec, you know that’s not what happened.”
They were interrupted by the calling to dinner.
Geoffrey watched every movement, the way she held her fork, the way she held her neck as she laughed at the feeble jokes of the other dinner guests.
Only he knew the curls were tamed into glossy waves. Only he looked for the faded tan line from her wedding ring.
“So, how long have you two known each other?” Rigby asked them as the main meals were being served.
“I spent the most wonderful night of my life with this man, only he walked away without a glance.” Bec laughed at the shocked look on all the faces. “Geoffrey, you could have at least asked for my number!”
Geoffrey decided to play along with the charade.
“Bec, you were still wearing your wedding ring, I didn’t think I stood a chance.”
“Really? Well, I’m not wearing it anymore.”
“Do you want to give me your number now?”
“Just like that – I don’t think so,” she laughed, catching the attention of the whole table.
“If I had the opportunity, I did want to ask you something,” Geoffrey didn’t care if the room was silent while everyone tried not to listen.
“Keep talking,” she put down her knife and fork, awaiting his reply.
“Would you come to the opening of The Dream Masters at the gallery with me next weekend. I understand it is a mixture of our First Nation’s indigenous paintings and artefacts.”
“Something for everyone, I’m sure. Are you asking me on a date, Professor?”
“In front of this audience, I’m hoping you don’t embarrass me and decline. After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Geoffrey, I’m afraid I would ruin your reputation, by at least a dozen years and a world of experience. Are you sure you don’t want to take someone slightly younger, perhaps someone who is still playing with her own crayons?”
Geoffrey laughed at the shocked looks on his friends.
“Bec, I think we better put our hosts and their other guests out of their misery. Susan, Rigby, it is true. This lovely lady and I do know each other. When we first met, she was the gracious vision you see before you tonight and I, you will be surprised to learn, performed the role of rude and ignorant jerk. We then spent a wonderful night together, talking and sharing far too many truths about ourselves, not expecting to ever see each other again.”
Bec laughed again at the looks of horror across the guests.
“What he failed to tell you, Susan, is we met travelling back to Sydney. I gave him a lift to the airport, he escorted me through customs and then we sat next to each other for the twenty-odd hour flight and shared the odd conversation.”
“Rebecca, call me Bec, Garran. Will you please agree to go on a date with me.”
Geoffrey willed her to say something, to give him a second chance with her and with life.
“You haven’t answered my question. What would a date with me do to your reputation with the younger ladies?”
“How about you go out with me, enjoy the art and let me worry about my reputation.” Geoffrey looked around the table for support, surely amongst his old friends someone would help him over the line.
“Rigby, Derek, convince this beautiful woman not to let me go to the gallery on my own. If you don’t, then I’m afraid one of you will have to join me.”
“Geoff, old mate, if I was going to go to a gallery, I’d be taking my beautiful bride.” Derek joked, “I’m sure Rebecca can make up her own mind, perhaps she needs to get to know you better before agreeing to spend another night with you!”
After dessert, guests mingled amongst the tables. Geoffrey watched Bec move among his friends, easily making conversation with the women and charming the men. She carefully kept the room between them, throwing him the occasional glance. He waited ten years to feel live again, he could out wait her tonight.
“My dearest friend,” Susan joined him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so besotted.”
“Did you know about her husband?” Geoffrey asked, wanting Susan to understand how much they shared in common.
Susan nodded, “Yes, Derek filled me in. His wife heard her speak at a fundraiser for partners of people with cancer. Apparently, she gave up everything to be at his side and has experienced a tough time with rebuilding her career.”
“I know how she feels.”
“Geoff,” her hand stopped him from moving away, “She is ready to move on, but I need to ask - are you? She isn’t one of your little play things. She is very sweet and vulnerable. Don’t ask her to go out with you unless you are ready to fall in love again.”
“I appreciate your concern,” as frustrating and insulting as her concern appeared, it came from a good heart, “But how the hell am I supposed to know? I’m here tonight, I’ve asked her out and I am waiting around like a love-struck fool hoping she says ‘yes’. All I can say right now is I want to get to know her more but she has to meet me
half way.”
Geoffrey walked off, fuming. Why bother putting himself out like this for some woman who he barely knew? Now, a room full of people heard him ask her out on a date and her mock his reputation with other women.
If only his heart didn’t race at the thought of her.
“I can’t avoid you anymore.” Bec joined him on the verandah, shivering in the cool air.
“Why would you want to?” Geoffrey placed his own jacket around her shoulders.
“I don’t know what to say to you. You are in my head and I keep thinking about you, wanting to reach out and say ‘hi’, but not knowing how you would react.”
“You removed your wedding ring.”
“Someone made me realize I didn’t need to wear it anymore.”
“Oh. How are you finding Australia?”
“I haven’t seen a lot of it, Derek’s got me busy with a number of his clients looking to restructure.”
“Your consultancy work?”
“I help companies going through change to ensure they bring their staff with them.”
“How do you help them change?”
“I don’t help them change, I help them understand the impact change has on them and their life, and then help them adjust.”
“So they can leave their past behind and look forward.” Geoffrey guessed. The halter neckline of her dress kept drawing his eyes to the fall between her breasts. Glamorous. Graceful. The complete opposite of the flustered mess standing before her. Normally, he was the master of seduction with a well-rehearsed routine with a high success rate. Now he wanted to impress this amazing woman but found himself at at a loss how to make the first move to touch her, to hold her, to kiss her.
“I’m buying a house,” he blurted.
“Good for you, but why now?”
“I bought a painting at a fundraiser a week ago and I need somewhere to hang it.” Stupid, arrogant, such a lame excuse even to him, yet it was the truth. The dragon painting rested against a wall in his loungeroom, taunting him to find a wall in a home he owned.
“Where have you been living?”
“When I came back to the university, they offered me short term use of one of the residences.”
“How long ago?”
“Almost ten years.”
“I see,” this time, she made the first move, reaching out to his cheek. “I’ve missed you. We had a moment on the plane, didn’t we?” In the way she looked up at him, Geoffrey knew she shared his fears about moving on.
His hands reached for her under the jacket, running down her back until they rested on her lower back. Pulling her close, he nestled soft kisses on her neck.
“We certainly did.”
“It is disconcerting I can’t read your face, or your eyes. They are so dark and hidden and don’t give anything away.”
“What would you like to see?” His lips were close to hers and he felt it would take less effort to kiss them than to resist the lips that intrigued him since he watched her sleep on the plane.
“Whether you are ready to move on or if you are looking to replace your sweet young things with another temporary solution?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you are as scared as I am,” her breath hot against his face, “And we both know there is too much to lose for us to rush into a relationship. I think there is too much between us to go in lightly and walk away unscathed. I think …”
Geoffrey silenced her with his lips, touching hers, ever so lightly, pulling her hips towards him as his tongue explored her until she responded with her own pressure.
Their first kiss played like a dance between two new partners, slowly and softly building until he knew they needed to stop before he embarrassed them both in front of the other guests.
As they broke away, Geoffrey kissed her cheek, saying, “You think too much. I don’t want to think anymore, I want to feel.”
Even though he tried to move apart, Bec didn’t let him go, “What if it doesn’t work? Wouldn’t we be better off as friends? What if you turn up to class next week, and can’t resist the charms of another student? Geoffrey, I’m too old to be the jealous girlfriend.”
“Bec, uni started weeks ago and I haven’t been interested in anyone. Ever since I met you, all I want to do is build my life so if I ever found you again, I would be worthy.”
“Geoffrey, oh, Geoffrey, you know the right things to say to a girl” she cried, this time Bec’s lips found their target and he felt a growing passion as their bodies melded.
“Would it be presumptuous for me to invite you back to my place for coffee?” he asked, wanting her to come with him yet hoping she would decline and give them both time to think.
“Darling, I would love to come and have coffee with you but not tonight. I’m catching the first flight out tomorrow morning with Derek and need to get some sleep.”
“I’d make sure you got a good night’s sleep,” he said, cheekily.
“No, you wouldn’t and if I came back to your place, I wouldn’t want you to,” she lightly kissed his cheek before walking inside and leaving.
Close enough to touch
“Good morning, gorgeous,” even knowing he would see her tonight couldn’t stop him from wanting hers to be the first voice he heard. Geoffrey tried to be restrained in contacting Bec since the dinner. The intended occasional phone call, the occasional text became daily. Hopefully, not enough to scare her off but enough for her to be thinking about him as much as he dreamt about her – all the time.
“Good morning, yourself. How are you this fine day,” he wanted to listen to her accent all day and tease her for avoiding one of his most loved consonants – the “r”.
“All the better for hearing your voice, I’m making my first coffee and then ready to start the day. How about you?”
He heard her laugh, “I got back from my jog half an hour ago and am ready to go into the office.”
“On a Saturday?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be finished in time to get dolled up for you tonight.”
“If you aren’t at your house by six thirty, I’m tracking you down to your office and dragging you out to have fun.”
Again, with her beautiful laugh, “I’ll be ready.” As the phone died, so did his heart, a little. The highlight of his day became hearing her voice and after a number of false starts and work crisis, tonight was to be the night of their first real date.
Taking women to the gallery had been his go to move for young undergraduates. They were intimidated by the glamourous, elegant women and thankful for his attention. For many, he watched them take their first taste of expensive champagne and become overwhelmed by his charm. He let them lead the conversation, and when the magic of the evening took them to his bed for the beginning of a very satisfying relationship. At least for as long as the affair lasted.
Never again.
Tonight, was first time a woman like Bec accompanied him to the gallery. She would not be intimidated by the surroundings. He was looking forward to her views on the indigenous art featured in the new display. Older and more worldly than his undergrad girlfriends, Bec wouldn’t put up with his arrogance and proved on many occasion she beat him at verbal sparring verging on flirting.
Tonight he looked forward to a date because he wanted to get to know the woman, rather than run through his routine until they ended up in bed. He didn’t care if he took Bec home tonight or tomorrow night – as long as once she came home with him, she never left.
He felt drawn to her, needed to hear her voice, wanted to see her, wanted to talk to her about random events he read online or happened during the day. For the first time since his wife died, he wanted a real relationship with feelings and even, possibly, in the fullness of time, love. Bec opened his eyes on the plane and since then, started opening his heart.
Bec slammed the cab door shut and ran inside her unit complex, fumbling with the swipe card and trying to think whether the lift or stairs would be quicker. The “qu
ick phone call” with a client took almost an hour and now she left herself with less than twenty minutes to shower, change and become the relaxed goddess she hoped would be waiting for Geoffrey when he arrived.
After her quick shower, her hair felt too damp to straighten and she didn’t have enough time to style. “Natural it is,” she admonished herself knowing she would spend then night with random curls down her shoulders instead of the styled waves or up in a dancer’s bun. Now she faced the choice of dresses to go with her messy rather than elegant hair.
Dress after dress ended up in a pile on her floor, each discarded as too old fashioned, too long, too short, too filled with memories of her previous life. Finally, she found an old nude colored slip style dress she bought on a holiday impulse. Completely different to everything she normally wore, but, she thought, appropriate for tonight. Perhaps this evening with Geoffrey could be the start of the rest of her life. And if it turned out to be another failed attempt at rebuilding her life, then she would give the dress away with no regrets.
Gold strappy sandals and a multiple gold chain necklace completed her style until she looked in the mirror and saw a woman she didn’t recognize. Bec saw a vibrant, sexy woman on her way to meet her lover, not the look for going on a first date.
Dressing to match the way she felt when Geoffrey kissed her. As if their clothes were merely an impediment to standing as physically naked as they were emotionally naked together. She had felt him grow against her and regretted not taking him up on the offer of coffee. One wanton night together might have been the tonic for her insomnia!
She swapped out the gold accessories and sandals with grey blue pearls and matching sandals which were still high but not as strappy. She found a blue grey silk jacket in the back of her closet which toned down the sexy look to something she felt more comfortable in and didn’t scream “Grab me now and make love to me in the cloak room”.
A light touch of makeup completed her look and Bec waited for Geoffrey to pick her up for her first, first date in more years than she cared to remember.
Trusting his Heart Page 4
