Table of Contents
A Feeling You Can't Ignore
About the Author
A Feeling You Can't Ignore
by Norah C. Peters
Copyright 2013 by Norah C. Peters
A FEELING YOU CAN'T IGNORE is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events are either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual places, happenings or people, living or dead is coincidental.
All Rights Reserved.
Table of Contents
A Feeling You Can't Ignore
About the Author
A Feeling You Can't Ignore
Diane sat in the rose garden of London's luxurious Hyde Park Hotel and quietly cried. Her youngest sister, Sarah, had just got married, she was so happy for her but that's not why she was crying. She'd cried too when her other sister, Sylvia, got married two years earlier. She had started to hate weddings, the last few years had been a whirlwind of family and friends married off. But not her.
Real fear gripped Diane. A matter of weeks before her 33rd birthday she looked fabulous, at least that's what everyone said. She was attractive, slim and famous for her beautiful long black hair. Why then was she alone at yet another wedding? Why couldn't she even bring a date to this one? She sniffled and composed herself. Can't let my little sister see me like this she decided. She stood up, straightened out her beautiful pink bridesmaid dress and made her way back into the reception room. As the music wafted out the doors, she could hear the clink of glasses and the laughter and buzz of people living it up. She didn't feel part of it but she knew in a few hours she'd be back at home with her ever loyal chocolate brown labrador.
"Diane, over here," she heard a familiar voice above the chatter of the crowd. She turned to her left and spotted her grandmother waving to her from a table by the dance floor. She rushed over, kissed and hugged her, delighted to see her, "Gran, I thought you weren't coming. I'm so glad you made it. Where's granddad?"
"Our flight from Paris was delayed. Your grandfather took me over there for a romantic weekend," her eyes twinkled. "He's nipped out to get me a packet of mints. He knows I won't last more than a few hours without some," she laughed. "So, where's your date, Diane? Don't hide the men from me. I warned you about that before."
"I'm afraid it's just me, gran. I don't mind though. It means I get more time to meet everyone," Diane lied. "Sarah looks beautiful, she's enjoying her big day so much, I'm so happy for her. And did you hear? Sylvia is pregnant. She's over the Moon."
"Yes, lots of good news. I'm looking forward to having some great grandchildren to spoil. It make me very happy to see you all grow up and doing so well. It's simply marvelous to see.
"Enough about them, how are you, Diane? Any news? Any new men in your life or maybe a special one?"
"Not yet gran. Everything else has worked out to plan, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong when it comes to men, that's a complete disaster as far as I'm concerned. To be perfectly honest I'm starting to think I'll just have to accept that men don't like me very much, I'm just too much of a handful. Few men want the challenge of taking me on, I'm 33 years old, successful and strong willed. Most of them just can't handle that."
"Diane, I love all of my grandchildren very much, you all light up my day. And, you and I, we've always had a special bond, you know that don't you? Have you ever wondered why that is?"
"Not really, you're my gran, it's just how it's always been." Diane frowned.
"Diane, it's because you remind me of myself. I was just like you when I was a young lady. I was ambitious, very determined and good at whatever I put my mind to. However, I also had a dark side. I had a fiery temper and I could be quite stubborn. I was very demanding when it came to men and I was looking for a great man to be my husband, anyone average just would not do, so I had very high standards.
"And you know what they gave me? Years of misery, I had 5 brothers and sisters, and they were all married off before me. Even my young brother was married before I had a steady boyfriend, and he always swore he'd never get married. That just shows you what a problem child I was for my parents."
"Really, gran? You're not just saying this to make me feel good. How did you end up with granddad in that case? I don't understand."
"One day I was feeling sorry for myself and I went to visit my Aunt Greta, she was a wonderful woman, always happy, always delighted to see me. So, I went to see her for afternoon tea and I poured my heart out to her, I started crying, she had never seen me like that, I was always so strong and so together. After I calmed down she told me a secret that would change my life and shortly after I met your granddad. And I can, hand on my heart, I love him more today after 48 years of marriage than the day we met."
"I never knew that, gran. So, quick, tell me, what's the secret?"
"Hold your horses young lady, all in good time. But first don't you want to know how I met your granddad?"
Diane grabbed her grandmother's hand. "Yes, but please, the secret, tell me that first?"
"Diane, dear, I need to tell you the story first. The secret won't mean so much otherwise. Here's what happened...
"Shortly after that heart to heart with Aunt Greta I was at a dance in the village hall and I remembered what she had said. I had fun with my friends and we giggled, laughed and teased the boys. Then, I noticed one boy I'd never spoken to before. He was looking at me, he asked me to dance and afterwards we sat and talked. He asked to meet me the next day and I said yes even though I would usually have said no.
"We met the following day and talked, and talked, and talked. I'd never talked so much to a boy before. He was just so interesting and he seemed genuinely interested in me. I found all of this quite strange. When I looked at him he just wasn't my type, he didn't look the way a boyfriend should look as far as I was concerned. He was a little skinny, kind of nervous and a little hyperactive as you'd call it today. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him. By the end of that summer we were inseparable and still, we were just friends because he wasn't in the boyfriend box as per my requirements. Then one day, he told me his family were going to France for two weeks and I didn't mind. I had plenty to keep me busy.
"Funny thing is, I missed him terribly. Those were the longest two weeks of my life. And the best, because it showed me I loved him very much. We've been together ever since. We've not had a day apart in all that time."
"That's beautiful gran. But please, don't forget the secret." Diane whispered as she squeezed her grandmother's hand.
"Ah, the secret, I almost forget. Thank you for the reminder," her grandmother teased, "The secret is to see people as they are not as you think they are. In other words get to know a boy first before deciding if he's a good match for you."
Diane sat back in her chair. "Hmm, interesting. I've never looked at it like that. I'll have to think about this."
Diane looked up as her grandfather approached their table. "My bride, here are your mints, freshly made today," kissing his wife on the cheek, Diane's grandfather smiled and then turned to Diane, "Thank you for keeping my good wife company while I was gone. Did you two have a good chat?"
"Yes, we did, granddad. It was very interesting, she told me all about how you two met, wait until I tell Sarah the gossip." Diane giggled and sauntered back to the party.
Diane found Sarah on the dance floor, Sarah was a beautiful bride, she was beaming and she couldn't her eyes off her husband. Diane was so happy for her, maybe, that would be her one day.
A slow number came on, and Diane reacted automatically and made for the bar. Out of nowhere a hand touched her shoulder and a deep voice said, "You're the one and only, Diane, right? Would you like to danc
e?" Before she could think up a good enough excuse she found herself dancing.
"I'm Simon, a friend of your sister, Sylvia, we're neighbors actually, I moved in across the street from her a few months ago. She told me to say hello to you so I'm doing what I'm told," he grinned.
"Oh, nice to meet you, Simon, I'm Diane, well, you already knew that. I'm a little tipsy, too much champagne flowing today, you know what it's like." Diane smiled back at him.
As they danced Diane had a good look at this new man and she liked what she saw but with a few reservations. He appeared to be about 40, he was tall, well built and looked like a guy who liked to work out. His broad chest filled the jacket of his tailored navy suit and he wore a lovely dark green silk tie, his brown hair was long, down past his collar. But his shoes, oh no, his shoes were all wrong, they were burgundy hiking shoes, he looked ready to go on a 10 mile march. He was handsome but he also looked like a geek. Kind of nerdy. He wasn't much of a dancer either.
When the song came to an end, Diane's natural reaction was to thank Simon for the dance and to disappear into the crowd, years of practice made this second nature, she had great expertise when it came to this. Before she could, Simon spoke up, "Diane, could you help me take some drinks over to Sylvia's table?"
"Of course, if you can make a bee line for the bar, I'll follow you," Diane answered, surprised at what she was saying.
"Great, follow me," Simon led the way.
Four bottles of champagne and tray of glasses later they joined Sylvia's table and shared a toast to the bride. A little light headed Diane turned to Simon and couldn't help herself asking, "So tell me Simon, what's with those shoes?"
Simon frowned, "I love these shoes. What do you mean? They're really comfortable and I walk a lot. Before I got here I did a quick lap of the lake in Hyde Park."
Diane looked away from his shoes. "Oh, I see, practical but just not that becoming with that fine suit. I love Hyde Park by the way, it's my favorite park in London. I love feeding the ducks, it cracks me up the way they swim about like that."
Simon drank some more champagne. "Yeah, it's a great park, I jog there every evening, I'm what people generally call a fitness fanatic."
"I can see that, I took you for a fitness guy, so I wasn't wrong," Diane laughed as she drained another glass. "So, do you like weddings?"
"To be honest they 're not my favorite thing. I've been to a few too many over the last year or so. It's like everyone I know got married at the same time. I could do with a break from dressing up on the weekends. It's really getting in the way of my training for the London marathon." Simon explained.
Diane had another drink. "Hmm, so I'm not the only one who is wedding phobic. I thought it was just me. I'm not that busy on weekends so at least it gets me out of the house, that's how I justify it to myself, dressing up like this in a bright pink dress."
Simon put his glass down and moved closer to Diane. "You look great. If you were wearing white I'd have guessed you were the bride. You're lovely."
Diane tried to suppress a blush and failed. Feeling awkward at the unexpected compliment she repeated to herself: he's a geek, he's a geek, control yourself Diane, stay calm Diane.
"Oh thanks, I do have a lot of experience when it comes to weddings, maybe that's what it is". Diane joked hoping she hadn't blushed too much, hoping he hadn't seen the effect he'd had on her."
Simon was surprised to see the red glow in Diane's cheeks. "Don't be embarrassed, please. I was just saying you looked beautiful because it's true."
"Thank you, that's very kind of you. But, anyway, what are we going to do about those silly shoes of yours?" Diane joked.
Simon sighed and stood up, "Lovely to meet you, Diane, I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. There's some people I promised to catch up with. See you later." Simon turned on his heel and stormed off.
"Bye, Simon, nice talking to you," Diane called after him as she watched him disappear into the crowd.
Sylvia got out of her chair and rushed over to Diane. "Diane, what on Earth did you say to Simon? I've never seen him look so agitated, he's normally so relaxed."
Diane turned to her sister. "Nothing, honestly, we had a chat and then he left. I didn't put my foot in it, honestly I didn't."
"You sure about that, Diane?"
Diane shrugged. "Ok, I might have said one thing. It was nothing, really. I just pointed out that his shoes didn't match his suit. Maybe, I shouldn't have gone on about it so much, I suppose."
"Oh no, you didn't Diane? No wonder you scared him off. Simon was in a road accident a month ago, he got knocked off his racing bike and he narrowly avoided breaking his ankle. That's why he's not wearing dress shoes, because of the lack of ankle support. If he doesn't heal quickly he'll miss the London marathon. He's been quite upset about it."
Diane felt the heat rising to her face, she dropped her head and sighed, "Oh no, how could I be so insensitive? He must think I'm a complete cow. I'll go and apologize right now."
Sylvia put a hand on Diane's shoulder. "No, stay where you are, where I can keep an eye on you, and take it easy on the champagne. Let him cool down first. I'll talk to him. Leave it to me ok?"
"Ok, I promise, and I won't talk to any more guys today." Diane felt like going home but it was too early to leave. And she'd liked Simon too. That just made the whole situation even worse. He was certainly not her type but he was easy to talk to. It was like gran had said, take some time to find out what the person is like before judging them. Now if only she could ease up on being so critical.
* * *
Diane and her faithful four legged companion, Twisty, were walking in the park when she spotted a familiar figure running towards her. It couldn't be, could it? It was. She felt her heart beat faster as Simon ran up along side her.
"Hiya, Diane, that's a beautiful labrador. What's her name?" Simon smiled and puffed.
"Oh hi, Simon, this is Twisty," Diane smiled as she took in Simon's muscular physique in his tight lycra running shorts and skin tight top. He looked even better than she expected and she wondered for a fleeting moment what he'd look like naked.
Simon crouched down and gave Twisty a vigorous rub behind her ears as she snuggled into his lap.
"It looks like she likes you," Diane smiled as she tried to stop staring at Simon's broad chest and big shoulders.
Simon wiped the sweat from his forehead. "She's lovely. I have a dog myself, a border collie. I walk him in this corner of the park, actually. Funny, isn't it?I've never seen you in the park before and now I've seen you twice in two days."
"Maybe it's fate," Diane laughed. "And by the way, I'm terribly sorry about the way I spoke to you yesterday, I was quite rude. I feel terrible about it. I really do."
"Don't worry, it's all in the past, Sylvia spoke to me about it and I looked for you later on in the evening but I couldn't see you anywhere. She said you'd left before you could put your foot in it again," Simon laughed.
Diane smiled and forced herself to maintain eye contact even though what she really wanted was to check out his butt in the tight black spandex. "Yeah, I do have a reputation for that in my family. Particularly at weddings for some reason."
Simon checked his sports watch. "Anyway, I've got more miles to clock in before it gets dark, let's meet up another day. How about we walk the dogs together tomorrow, say, I meet you just over there at the fountain at 6?"
Diane pulled out her phone. "I'm not sure. I think I've got to work late tomorrow and I don't have my diary with me. Let's swap numbers. I'll text you to confirm."
After swapping numbers, Simon sprinted off into the distance and Diane walked along at a leisurely pace, she looked at Twisty, "So, what do you think? He's hot isn't he? Would you like to go walk walk with his dog? Maybe we could double date, I know you'd like a boyfriend too. I'm free tomorrow evening and I know you are, what you say we go for it?"
Diane felt good. Maybe Simon and her could get along even if he was a bit of a geek. She'd have to ov
er look that, ignore his footwear and get him a haircut. Only a few minor changes and she'd be fine about being seen out with him. Nothing unreasonable about that. A girl needs to have standards you know.
Back in her flat, Diane flicked through the London Evening Standard and scanned the business section with disinterest in her search for the movie listings. She was shocked to find herself looking at a photo of Simon.
"Simon Balfort, the software entrepreneur, today announced the sale of his company for an undisclosed sum to a New York based company. Industry insiders suggest that the deal went through for a figure in the region of $24 million in an all cash transaction. Mr.Balfort declined to comment."
Diane put the paper down and stared at Twisty. "You're not going to believe this, Twisty. Simon is loaded, and yes he is a geek but not just any geek, a very successful one. Now if only I can sort out his hair. What do you think, Twisty?"
Diane grabbed her phone and sent a quick text to Simon: "all ok for 6pm tomorrow".
* * *
At 6 p.m. precisely Simon stood by the fountain with Chobi, his border collie. He looked around and couldn't see Diane anywhere. "Ok Chobi, we'll give them 5 minutes and that's it, we don't have all day to be waiting around like this." Simon furrowed his brow and checked his phone for messages, he exhaled slowly and pursed his lips. Where was she?
Out of nowhere, Diane strolled up to him with Twisty eager to play. While the two dogs sniffed and sized each other up, Diane apologized for keeping Simon waiting.
Simon tugged on Chobi's lead. "Don't worry, but I've only got an hour, let's get moving."
"Ok then, let's go. You were in the Evening Standard last night, I take it you know that." Diane replied as they made their way down the tree lined path.
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