Chapter Six
Eye Eye
The Next Day – Saturday
‘HMMM,’ I MOANED, POINTING my toes and stretching when my morning alarm went off. I’d slept so well. I loved waking up after a good night’s sleep, especially when I was warm and toasty. ‘Morning, Tibbs,’ I smiled as I felt her bat my face with her paw. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then let out a terrified scream.
‘Oh my God, I’ve gone blind,’ I wailed. I couldn’t see. Not a thing. I’d seriously gone blind overnight. I started to hyperventilate as I desperately fumbled on the bedside cabinet for my mobile, forgetting for a moment in my literal blind panic that it was no use to me if I couldn’t see what I was doing on it. ‘No,’ I whimpered, feeling my eyes fill with tears.
Losing any sense would be awful, but I needed my eyes to write. I inhaled sharply as common sense kicked in. I hadn’t opened my eyelids, they were shut. I could feel them covering my eyes, that was why I couldn’t see anything. Any momentary relief I’d felt soon left me and panic kicked in again when I made a concerted effort to try and open them, but still remained in darkness with them firmly shut. I needed my home phone, I could call Abbie to come over by using my speed dial, but that was over in my office. I stumbled out of bed and screamed again as Mrs. Tibbles let out an ungodly cry, then hissed at me. I must have accidentally stepped on her tail.
‘I’m sorry, but that will teach you for getting under my damn feet,’ I cried. ‘Like it’s not dangerous enough when I can actually see.’
She growled and I heard her padding across the carpet, then the gentle rhythmic thumping of her taking one step at a time to head down to the kitchen. I decided that trying to navigate the house while I was blind wasn’t a great move, so I dropped onto all fours and crawled. I was thankful I had a cat who slept in my bed, as it meant I kept my door ajar overnight. Keeping the bathroom wall and door against my left-hand side so I wouldn’t end up rolling down the stairs, I crawled across the landing.
‘I’m never going to make it through this alive,’ I grunted when I bashed my head on the office door. Seriously, how did blind swimmers not do that when they got to the other end of the pool? I eased myself up, located the handle, and made a wobbly and tentative beeline for the desk, walking straight into the corner of it and swearing again. I knocked over my pen pots, the noise making me jump. It was like losing my sight had heightened all of my other senses. I was like Daredevil! He didn’t need his sight to do anything, but I wasn’t sure my skills extended to fighting crime in a tight red leather suit, especially not when I was carrying a few extra pounds in weight. Plus, leather was so in and out of trend. No one wanted to be an untrendy blind superhero.
‘Get back on point, Charlie, now’s not the time for your vivid imagination,’ I warned myself as I patted around the desk for the landline handset. ‘Ha, got you.’
I felt my way around the buttons, got a dial tone, and then pressed one for Abbie’s number. It was rare for her to work on a Saturday, whereas Georgie was usually busy with her doggie clients, especially owners who couldn’t make appointments for them mid-week.
‘Hello?’ Abbie mumbled, her tone sleepy.
‘Abbie, please come, something awful has happened. I can’t see.’
‘Charlie? You can’t see what?’
‘Anything. Anything at all! I thought I’d gone blind, but I realised my eyes were shut.’
‘Well, opening them would be a good start,’ she yawned.
‘Oh, of course, silly me. Go back to sleep, crisis averted. How stupid of me not to try opening my eyes when I woke up, the way I’ve done every day for the last thirty-one years of my life,’ I almost screeched, my voice rising as I got more frustrated.
‘You’re serious? You really can’t see anything?’
‘No. I mean yes, I’m serious, and no, I can’t see. It’s like my eyelids have been superglued shut. I’m scared, Abbie. Please come.’
‘Ok, stay where you are. With your track record, adding blindness is asking for trouble,’ she said, her voice quickly changing to her efficient accountant’s tone. ‘I’ll throw on some clothes and come and let myself in. Where are you?’
‘My office,’ I sniffed, feeling the need to start crying, but worrying where the tears would go if they couldn’t leak out. The last thing I needed was my eyelids bulging out with a lake of salty tears unable to escape.
‘Ok, sit straight down on the floor and don’t move a muscle, understood?’
‘Yes,’ I whimpered, then did as I was told.
‘I’m going to hang up and I’ll be with you shortly. If I can’t see what’s wrong, sorry, poor choice of words in the circumstances, I’ll drive you to the hospital, ok?’
‘Ok. Hurry, Abbie, I’m seriously scared.’
She ended the call. I put the phone in my lap, then reached up to feel my eyelids and gasped. They didn’t feel normal, they were hot and puffed up really badly, and so damn itchy. I curled my fingers into my palms to resist the temptation to rub or scratch, not wanting to make matters worse. It wasn’t long before I heard the front door open and close and Abbie running up the stairs.
‘Oh my God,’ she exclaimed. ‘Are you allergic to shellfish? Your eyes are so swollen, no wonder you can’t see. I bet it was those prawns you had last night. You’re having an anaphylactic reaction.’
‘The next morning? With my breathing not impaired? I don’t think so. How bad are they?’
‘Well, you can’t open them, so even without the benefit of seeing them with my own eyes, I’ll go out on a limb and say they’re not looking pretty. Do you have any ice packs in your freezer? Putting something cold on them should help.’
‘No, but there’s some of those pouches of ready mixed cocktails.’
‘Oh, which ones?’
‘Lemon vodka sorbet.’
‘Oh, they’re so nice, but I’m not sure alcohol is a great move, Charlie. What if you need urgent medical attention and drugs?’
‘I wasn’t suggesting drinking them, Abbie. Though, if I have to go to hospital and face Dr. Fitton looking like this,’ I gesticulated in the vicinity of my face, ‘I might need to drink them to give me courage.’
‘Oh right, let me go and get them and I’ll put some teaspoons in the fridge as well. They always help when I have puffy eyes after crying.’
She helped me back to bed and arranged the pillows so that I could lie with my head slightly propped up, then dashed off. She returned soon after and told me that she’d got the cocktail packs and had wrapped them in tea towels. She carefully placed them over my eyes.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered, enjoying the cooling sensation. ‘Sorry to drag you out of bed.’
‘Don’t worry about it. That’s the benefit of being good friends with your neighbours, we all look out for each other. I’d say you look like you’ve had a tearful night, and knowing I looked like that after I ran from Miller, I think it’s going to take a few hours for the swelling to go down enough for you to see anything. I’ll go and do you some toast and bring you some water, then it might be best for you to have a sleep and we’ll see how they look later before deciding if you need to go to hospital, ok?’
‘Ok,’ I agreed with a heavy sigh.
‘Sweet mother of … owww … son of a … shit,’ I hissed as I sat on the toilet in my en-suite. Like it wasn’t bad enough I was partially sighted, having a pee felt like someone was pouring acid on my lady parts.
‘Are you ok?’ called Abbie from outside the en-suite door. She’d ended up sitting in bed with me, distracting me from my predicament by making me laugh as she filled me in on how she planned to woo Miller next weekend in New York.
‘No. My damn jeans have chafed me.’
‘Oh, thigh rash? Nasty.’
‘Not there, there. You know, down below.’
‘I’ve never heard of anyone getting beaver rash from jeans,’ she laughed.
‘Honestly, I swear it feels like someone has taken a sander to my privates. I need to pee so badly, but it hurts too much.’
‘Maybe your knicker elastic cut you,’ she suggested. ‘Take a look.’
‘How flexible do you think I am?’
‘With a mirror,’ she tutted.
‘I’m not sure I could see anything even with a mirror, not with these squinty eyes.’
‘Well, don’t ask me. Muff inspections aren’t in the “things girlfriends do for each other” handbook.’
‘What do I do then?’ I huffed. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong and I’m too scared to pee, it kills.’
‘I’ll go and run a bath.’
‘Please, feel free to relax in my Zen-like spa bathroom while I die all alone in agony on the toilet.’
‘Not for me. Maybe if you sit in it, the water will neutralise the acidity a bit.’
‘Oh my God, you want me to pee in the bath while I’m sitting in it?’ I shuddered at the grossness of it.
‘Well, you can always stay in there for the rest of the day, letting out a drop at a time and then moaning about it for an hour before trying again.’
‘God damn it, sometimes my life sucks!’ I shouted in frustration. ‘Run the damn bath, but this is like Fight Club. The first rule of me peeing in the bath is no one talks about me peeing in the bath. Got it?’
‘Got it,’ she called with a giggle.
‘Charlie Faulkner?’
I sighed with relief as I turned to see a female nurse holding a clipboard. ‘Oh, thank God, it’s not him.’
‘Do you want me to come in with you? If you don’t, that’s fine, I’ll wait here.’
‘I’d rather you come, just stay at the head-end, ok?’ I suggested.
‘You have no worries on that front,’ she confirmed with a vigorous nod.
I stood up, and Abbie grabbed my arm to guide me. The idea of coming to A&E with my eyes still hideously puffed and a vagina that looked like it had caught the worst ever case of measles and chickenpox combined hadn’t exactly thrilled me. It was going to be bad enough to have anyone looking down there, let alone Dr. Fitton. We followed the nurse into one of the side rooms, me bouncing off the doorframe since I’d put on my sunglasses to try and hide my eyes.
‘I’ll leave you alone for a moment. Please undress from the waist down, lie on the bed with your ankles together, legs bent, and let your knees flop apart, then cover yourself with the blanket. I’ll be back shortly and we’ll take a look, shall we?’
‘Great,’ I replied, feeling my cheeks flush at the mortification of having to lie down with my legs akimbo so a stranger could ogle my mangled lady parts. I heard the door close.
‘We won’t take a look, I’m honouring the head-end deal,’ Abbie said. ‘I’ll help get you settled on the bed if you keep your knickers on, then I can cover you and you can shuffle your knickers off yourself.’
‘Thanks, Abbie, sorry to ruin your Saturday.’
‘It’s ok, it wasn’t like I had anything planned. Witnessing your embarrassment is far more entertaining than doing some accounts.’
Five minutes later, feeling like I was about to give birth in this position, I heard the door open.
‘Right, let’s take a look,’ the nurse said. I shut my eyes and felt myself automatically clench as she lifted the blanket. The cool air was actually quite nice, as my beaver had never been so hot. ‘Oh. That looks sore.’
‘Sore is an understatement. What’s wrong?’ I asked, as Abbie gently took my hand and squeezed it.
‘To be honest, I’m not sure. Have you had sex recently?’
‘I wish,’ I muttered.
‘Sorry, what was that?’ she asked.
‘No, no sex recently.’
‘Well, on first glance I’d have said it was something like herpes.’
‘What?’ I shrieked, bolting up. ‘There’s no way it can be herpes.’
‘Well, I’m really not sure,’ she said as she snapped on some gloves. ‘I need to look a bit closer, if you don’t mind.’
‘Oh my God,’ I groaned as her head dipped down again. I flopped back on the bed and shook my head.
‘I didn’t think you’d had sex for a while?’ Abbie asked.
‘I haven’t, and I’ve never had herpes, she’s made a mistake.’ I grimaced as the nurse examined me more closely, then sighed and covered me up again.
‘I need to bring a colleague in for a second opinion,’ she said, as she removed her gloves and placed them in the medical waste bin. ‘Just try and relax and I’ll be back as soon as I can, ok?’ She didn’t wait for my reply before disappearing and closing the door.
‘You’re sure you didn’t use any orgasm enhancements last night?’ Abbie asked again. ‘It could be an allergic reaction.’
‘Well, I’m confident it’s an allergic reaction, I just don’t know what to. And yes, I’m sure, I’ve never even tried any cream.’
‘Well, don’t make a mistake and use eucalyptus rub by mistake,’ she chuckled.
‘Oh my God, what on earth possessed you to put that down there? It stings like hell if you accidentally put some on a raw nose when you have a cold.’ I burst out laughing when she filled me in on the battle of wills she’d had with her arch nemesis Fi-Fi, and was laughing so hard I didn’t hear anyone come in.
‘Good afternoon. Nurse Walters here has asked for a second opinion. I’m Dr. Fitton, I’m going to need to take a look at your genitals if that’s ok, Miss Faulkner.’
My laughter died in an instant and I heard Abbie suck in a gasp as she realised who was standing in front of us.
‘Now, I understand there’s some blistering. Can you tell me when the symptoms first occurred?’ his deep and sexy voice asked, as I cringed and hoped that my sunglasses would mean that he wouldn’t recognise me. Hell, with his track record, even without them he probably wouldn’t recognise me, but I was still mortified.
‘Ermmm, possibly last night, around eight o’clock as I was having dinner with my friends.’
‘Any history of food allergies?’ he asked as he pulled some gloves from the dispenser on the wall.
‘No,’ I replied, taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t see my eyes to check him out.
‘And when did you last have unprotected sex?’ His question made me die a little on the inside.
‘Trust me, it’s not a sexually transmitted disease,’ I said firmly.
‘I think it’s best you let me make a diagnosis. How long?’
‘It’s been a while,’ I squeaked, my cheeks heating up.
‘Can you define a while?’
‘Two years,’ I mumbled quietly.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Yes, me too,’ I huffed. He had no idea just how sorry I was about it.
‘You too, what?’
‘I’m sorry, too.’
‘I think we’re at cross-purposes here. I didn’t catch how long it had been since you last had sex.’
‘Oh right, sorry. I thought you were sympathising, because … you know, it’s worthy of it.’
‘So how long exactly?’ he repeated, turning his back as he fiddled in a drawer and extracted something.
‘Two years,’ I squeaked, beyond embarrassed. I just wanted to be magically teleported out of there.
‘Ok, do I have your approval to take a look?’ he asked, turning around.
‘Oh God,’ I grumbled. He was strapping a head torch on. If he found out it was me lying here, it would be bad enough that he’d have seen my vagina before he’d even bought me a drink, but that would never happen now as he’d think either I was so undesirable that no one wanted sex with me or I was frigid.
‘Is that a yes?’
‘Yes,’ I hissed reluctantly, my toes curling up tightly with the shame. My love interest was about to go spelunking around my own personal cave. And we hadn’t even been on a first date. ‘Someone shoot me now,’ I whispered to Abbie as the bright torch was turned on and he moved closer to the car crash that was my privates.
‘Now that’s what I call diving in head first,’ she giggled, squeezing my hand tightly.
‘Hmmm,’ he murmured. Considering I’d spent all day wanting nothing more than to be able to open my eyes, I couldn’t squeeze them shut tightly enough. It wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined the first time I felt his breath down there to be. And what was with the “hmmm” every damn time he examined me. ‘Well, I’ll need to do a swab for formal confirmation, but it’s not herpes,’ he stated confidently.
‘No shit, Sherlock,’ I muttered. I didn’t need a potholer with a fancy medical degree to tell me that.
‘And these blisters are unusually symmetrical,’ he advised, making me jump as he ran his gloved fingertip over them. I banged my head on the thin pillow on the bed a few times out of sheer sexual frustration and mortification. ‘Do you have any history of allergic dermatitis?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘No other incidences of blistering, itching, or swelling anywhere on the body?’ he asked.
‘Your eyes, Charlie,’ Abbie exclaimed, making me suck in a breath as she revealed my name.
‘I was going to examine those next. I’ll just change gloves, if you can take off your sunglasses for me.’
‘They’re fine, honestly. If you can just give me some cream for whatever’s going on south-of-the-border, that would be great.’
‘Well, I suspect that the two flare-ups might be related, so I’ll have to insist on examining your eyes to make a diagnosis, please,’ he said in that oh-so-sexy dominant tone. Or at least it would be if we were anywhere but here. I let out a heavy sigh as I heard the waste bin clang, then him washing his hands and grabbing another pair of gloves. I gritted my teeth as Abbie gently removed my glasses, since I seemed unable, or unwilling, to do it myself.
He moved closer and asked me to close my eyes and shone a bright light over them, before asking me to open them again. He showed no sign of recognising me, yet again. I wasn’t sure if I was insulted or relieved.
‘Have you come into contact with any metal in either area in the last twenty-four hours?’ he asked.
‘Not that I can think of …’ I mused. ‘Oh, actually yes, I use metal eyelash curlers, why?’
‘And how about in the vaginal area?’
‘No! What would I use eyelash curlers for down there?’ The mind boggled. I was surprised to hear Dr. Fitton laugh at the same time as Abbie and the nurse.
‘I didn’t mean eyelash curlers. I meant any possibility of any metal making contact. What were you wearing yesterday?’
‘A body.’
‘A what?’ he asked, and this time the nurse and Abbie laughed.
‘It’s like a swimsuit with arms, but far sexier than it sounds. Oh my God, that’s it. It has metal poppers on, so you can part them to take a pee, because… well, you know… women can’t just flop it out and do it standing up through a hole in their knickers.’
‘Quite,’ he chuckled, choosing the most inappropriate time to develop a sense of humour with me. ‘Well, it appears that you’ve suddenly developed contact dermatitis. You have an allergy to something in the metal, most likely nickel. Any time it comes in contact with your skin, you’ll develop an itchy blistering rash, which is what has happened here.’
‘But I’ve used those eyelash curlers for years. Why now?’
‘I can’t say, I’m afraid. Sometimes the body views something it’s been exposed to for years as a threat–’ I zoned out as he gave a detailed rundown of antibodies, histamines, and responses. All I could focus on was that it was curable and I could hopefully get out of here without him even realising it was me. ‘You’ll get a letter regarding a referral to the allergy testing clinic soon,’ he continued. ‘I’ll give you a few minutes to get dressed, then come back with your prescription, which you can collect from the dispensary. Just follow the instructions on the packet for now and wash your hands carefully after application.’ He smiled at me and gestured to Nurse Walters to leave the room with him.
‘That was the worst five minutes of my entire life,’ I groaned, covering my embarrassed face with my hands.
‘Oh, Charlie, of all the luck in the world. But it doesn’t seem like he recognised you, does it?’
‘No, and on reflection, that actually makes me happier than I ever imagined it would.’
‘He’s hot, not Tyler hot, but then I always preferred me a blond.’
‘Tyler is good-looking,’ I agreed, ‘but I prefer my men a little darker. Close your eyes unless you want a flash of trauma central,’ I warned as I sat up and shuffled my knickers back on.
I stood up and was chatting to Abbie as I pulled up my leggings, having not wanted to risk the pressure of my jeans in such a delicate place when I got dressed earlier today. I’d bent over to do up the laces on my trainers when I heard the door open and close, then a cough.
‘I have your written prescription here, Miss Faulkner.’
‘Great, thank you,’ I replied as I straightened up and turned to face him.
‘Have I met you before?’ he asked, cocking his head as his eyes did a slow scan of my body from head to toe, then back up again, making my mouth go dry. ‘You seem familiar.’
‘No, don’t think so.’ I replied, snatching the prescription out of his grasp. ‘Come on, Abbie, time to go.’ I shot out of the door before he had a chance to ask anything else or scan me further while I was in such unflattering clothes. I hurried around the corner and let out a sigh of relief as I leaned back against the wall and covered my face with my hands.
‘Good God, and here I was thinking you didn’t know how to run,’ Abbie laughed as she found me.
‘Until today I could have set a speed record running towards him. I never imagined I’d want to do it running away.’
‘So, what now? Is that it for your aspirations with McFitty? I mean, shouldn’t he at least have bought you dinner before getting in there head first?’ she teased. I linked arms with her as we started to walk towards the exit.
‘You know, I thought exactly the same myself,’ I giggled, rolling my eyes, which were thankfully nearly fully open now, though still puffy. ‘Oh, damn it, my–’
‘Glasses,’ came his voice from behind me, making me screw up my face in a grimace. ‘You left your glasses, Miss Faulkner, and I thought you looked familiar. A quick scan of your records reveals that I seem to have treated you a few times.’
‘Well, saying I’m accident-prone is an understatement, you’ve seen the size of my file.’ I reluctantly released Abbie’s arm and turned to face him.
‘I’ve seen bigger.’
‘Isn’t that supposed to be my line?’ I cursed myself for never knowing when to rein in my sexual quips, but he surprised me by laughing again as he held out my glasses for me to take.
‘Hmmm, I definitely remember you now. What was it, an extreme mental capacity for kink? You’re the author, aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ I said slowly, taking my glasses from him. Our fingers brushed, which sent a shiver down my spine. I wondered why he suddenly remembered me then and he hadn’t before.
‘Maybe I’ll see you again in town one night when I’m off duty, you can tell me more about it then.’ He frowned as his pager started beeping. ‘Sorry, got to run. Try and stay out of A&E for at least a few weeks, will you? Your file is going to need its own transport if it gets any bigger.’
‘I’ll try, but … hey, it’s me.’
‘Quite,’ he nodded, flashing me a smile and nodding to Abbie. He spun on his heels and quickly jogged away, disappearing around the corner as I stood rooted to the spot, slightly stunned.
‘Hello, Miss Faulkner, I do believe that the hot doctor is starting to warm up to you.’
‘Don’t be silly, he was just being polite,’ I said as I turned around, not wanting to make a big deal out of a few comments.
‘There was nothing polite about the way he was checking out your backside when he walked in to find you bending over.’
‘He was?’ I asked, as she took my arm again and we started walking.
‘Mmmm-hmmm,’ she nodded, grinning at me. ‘And I saw the slow once over, too.’
‘Why now? He’s virtually blanked me most of the times I’ve met him.’
‘Well, you obviously have one hell of a magical beaver, one look and he’s fallen under its spell. Thank God I stayed up top, or I might be rethinking my plans with Miller.’
‘Shut up,’ I laughed, shoulder bumping her. ‘It wasn’t the beaver.’
‘With some men, it’s always the beaver,’ she laughed.
I smiled at her, then frowned. With some men, it was all about that, but I didn’t want a guy who was only interested in sex. I was thirty-one, I was ready to fall in love and think about settling down. It wasn’t all about sex anymore, not that it ever had been for me.
We left the hospital with me feeling more confused than if McFitty had treated me like he had all the other times.
‘Hurrah,’ I cried when I heard the knock on the door, scaring Mrs. Tibbles, who was sleeping on the sofa next to me. I quickly gave her head a ruffle and ran to the front door, grabbing my wallet off the hall console on the way. ‘Is that you, Pizzaman?’ I called.
‘It is, but I could say yes now even if it wasn’t, couldn’t I?’
‘Yes, maybe, but I know your voice too well, Kitt. Can you close your eyes?’
‘Last time I checked, yes,’ he laughed.
‘I meant, I want you to close your eyes. And keep them closed, I’m not a pretty sight,’ I warned him, as my hand hovered over the door handle.
‘Some girls look even better without makeup.’
‘Is this where you say, “sadly you’re not one of them?”’ I laughed.
‘No, you’re one of the lucky ones. You always look stunning, even without it. Are you opening the door or what? It’s not like you to wait three seconds to open the door for pizza, let alone three minutes.’
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ I told him, as I checked that Tibbs wasn’t poised to make a bid for freedom. I threw the door open, shot out, and pulled it almost closed behind me, making sure I didn’t lock myself out. ‘Oh my God, that smells so good.’
‘It always smells good. Oh no, what happened?’ His hand shot up to sweep my hair away from my eyes. ‘What’s made you cry so much?’
‘I could have cried. You won’t believe what happened today.’ I handed him his money, with the usual tip that he’d stopped arguing about around twenty deliveries ago. He shoved it in his pocket as I took the pizza box from him.
‘Thanks, Charlie. Don’t tell me you’ve been to A&E again?’ he chuckled as he leaned against the oak beam that held up my thatched canopy over the front door.
‘How on earth did you guess?’ I grinned and quickly opened the box and offered him first slice, but he shook his head. ‘Do you have time to hear all about it?’ I mumbled through my first bite, groaning with pleasure. Instead of just Authors Anonymous, they needed a PAAA. Pizza and Authors Anonymous. I’d need daily meetings.
‘You know I do, you always make sure you time your call with my clocking-off time.’ His dimpled grin came out as he shook his head.
‘I enjoy our chats. Come in if you want,’ I offered as I virtually inhaled the rest of the slice, knowing what his response would be.
‘It’s not appropriate. You’re the customer and I’m Pizzaman.’
‘Kitt.’ I rolled my eyes at him, but flicked my head over to the bench under my kitchen window. The only time it was ever used was when Kitt and I chatted. We sat down and I filled him in on my latest encounter with Dr. Fitton, leaving out some of the more embarrassing finer details. ‘Anyway, Abbie reckons he’s thawing. What do you think?’
‘I think he’s an idiot if he hasn’t already thawed.’
‘Well, I think after about another five or six medical emergencies, I’ll have completely wooed him.’
‘Isn’t it a bit weird for a woman to woo a man? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?’
‘You sound just like Daphne,’ I chuckled. ‘Such old-fashioned virtues. Women are allowed to woo nowadays, you know. Some even propose.’
‘Well, I guess I can get on board with a woman showing her interest, but not proposing. That I don’t agree with at all. A man should propose, it’s a matter of pride. So, it could get serious with you and the doctor, you think?’
‘Steady on,’ I said as I wiped my mouth and shoved the napkin into the empty pizza box. ‘He recognised me, that’s all. That’s hardly serious.’
‘He’s seen parts of you naked,’ Kitt reminded me as he suddenly reached out his hand and cupped my face.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked, taken aback. He swept his thumb over the corner of my lip.
‘Pizza sauce, you missed some,’ he replied. He lifted his thumb to his mouth and sucked off the aromatic mixture. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but shook his head and glanced at his watch instead, then shot to his feet. ‘Damn it, I didn’t realise it was this late. I need to go.’
‘How is your mum?’ I asked as I shoved the box onto the bench and stood up too.
‘No change,’ he sighed, running a hand over his face.
‘I’m sorry to hear that. And I’m sorry if I kept you, you look tired.’
‘It’s been a difficult week,’ he shrugged. ‘But never apologise, talking to you isn’t a chore. I look forward to our conversations. I guess I’ll see you soon, Charlie.’
‘You know it, take care driving back.’
He flashed me another smile and headed off up the path, his hands tucked deep in his jeans pockets, his shoulders slumped with the weight of the responsibility he carried on them. I was about to go in when I changed my mind, ran up the path, and hung over the gate.
‘Kitt,’ I called, just as he was about to shut the door on his car. He leaned out and looked back at me, his eyebrows raised in question. ‘You’re not just the delivery guy to me. You’re a friend, ok?’
‘No more Pizzaman references?’ he asked as his face lit up.
‘Don’t be silly,’ I scoffed. ‘You’ll always be Pizzaman to me. See you.’
‘See you, Charlie,’ he replied with a smile and a shake of his head.
I disposed of the evidence of my pizza weakness in the bin around the side of the house, then headed back in and locked up. Mrs. Tibbles quickly took up residence on my lap when I sat down and we enjoyed some rare quality time watching television together. After all of the drama today, I wasn’t in the mood to write. There was always tomorrow.