In Bloom - Chapter 1

Jane travels to London to meet him for the first time.

This isn’t what she had been expecting. Not at all. The place is too crowded, the music is too loud. Too many loud people, in suits mainly, and with loud ties, loud haircuts and loud voices. She can barely hear the sound of her own doubting voice inside her head asking herself all of those silly questions, manifestations of her little insecurities.

“What am I doing here? Is this really me? When he sees me, I just know he will change his mind.”

The meeting time was 6pm. She was late.

She had spent the morning trying to make herself look presentable. Hair, make-up, a new dress. When she stared at herself in the mirror at 9:30am she had smiled back at her own reflection.

“If I say so myself, you look quite the part, Miss Cassidy.” she laughed. That was this morning.
At 6:15 she had burst in through the doors of the bar and sat herself down on one of two bar stools next to a pillar adjoining a partition in the rear part of the bar. She didn’t feel quite the part now. Hot and a little sweaty after running to make it to the bar, a light drizzle of rain that had covered her hair was now trickling down her scalp and the nape of her neck. She was no longer feeling as confident as she had nine hours previously.

“He’s late. Very late now. Twenty-five minutes. I know he’s changed mind.”

She sits, looking down at her hands. She rubs the fingers of her left hand with those of her right. She can feel her heart pounding, the urge to simply get up and leave is becoming stronger as the minutes tick by.

It is now 6:30.

“He isn’t coming. Did I really think he would?”

She makes to step off her bar stool and looks up towards the exit. He is standing in the doorway, looking anxious and exasperated at the same time. His eyes, dark and wide, dart around the room as they attempt to adjust to the low light of the bar. Then he spots her.
She sees him visibly relax when their eyes meet, the anxiety draining quickly from his face. He smiles broadly. Her expression doesn't change. She sits back down on her seat and adjusts her position as he walks over to her.

“This isn’t where I said,” he mouths to her. The music is too loud for her to hear him and she doesn’t quite catch what he says.
He offers her his hand and smiles and she reaches out to take it as she steps back down from the stool.

His hand feels warm around hers as he leads her out through the glass door and into the street, then back in through an adjacent door, next to the one they came through. It is part of the same establishment. He turns back to her.

“Come on, it’s just through here.”

She follows him through another door and then up a narrow staircase, which opens out into an ornate, art deco-styled bar. It is much less noisy in here. On the other side of the room, a middle-aged man sits at a piano and softly plays jazz standards.

“You sit down, honey. I’ll get us a drink. What would you like?” he asks her.

“I’ll just have whatever you are having.”

She sits at one of the low tables in an alcove, away from the bar.
He returns with two gin and tonics. She hates gin. She decides she will drink it anyway.

“So. You made it then?” he says. He stares directly into her eyes as he sits down; his eyes don’t leave her...

She is flustered.

“Er.. yes. Just”

“I was late. Sorry but I was delayed at the office by a few minutes. Then when I got here at 6:10 you weren’t here so I waited. When you still didn’t arrive I started to wonder if you had decided not to come. I tried calling you too, but there was no answer. I left three voicemails.”

He looks concerned. “Then I wondered if you’d gone into the wrong bar. It’s easily done here; so many bars close together.”
He takes a long slow gulp from his drink.

“Anyway, cheers, Jane. I’m so glad you made it,” he says softly, as he smiles and looks deep into her eyes.
She meets his eyes for a second and then looks down. Reaching out, he takes her hand and squeezes it.

“Really, honey. I am.“ He doesn’t drop his gaze and now her heart is starting to beat a little faster.

“I’m sorry I look such a mess. I ran down the street to get here ‘cos I was late,” she says.

A smile starts to creep across his face as he listens to her explain. Then:

“Oh, you are such a mess!” he jokes.
“Really, you have no idea have you?” he puts his fingers to her cheek, “no idea how lovely you are. I think that’s what makes it all the more appealing... the fact that you really aren’t aware.”

He pushes a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear and she feels a frisson of excitement under his gaze.

“We have to take this slowly, don’t we?” he says.

She nods and then looks to the side, embarrassed by this candour. He moves his seat a few inches closer. His knee brushes against her thigh. Another jolt of electricity. He takes her right hand in his and places his left over the top, his warmth on her palm and the back of her hand simultaneously. She relaxes a tiny amount as he looks into her eyes, saying nothing. She wants to say so much but she too says nothing. Where to start?

“You have made quite an impression on me since we met, Jane. You really have. I feel something strange and wonderful for you. I want to make you happy if I can. Things are difficult and I don’t know how they could change but I so want to bring some happiness into your life, make you feel loved.”

He is closer now. His face is only inches from hers. For some reason she can sense tears are not far away. Why? She tries her hardest to hold them back. He brushes his fingers against the smooth skin of her cheek and smiles again.

He inches closer still. She closes her eyes and feels his lips brush against hers as the churning in her chest threatens to overpower. Her beating heart has moved into fifth gear, its echo pounding in her head. He presses his lips slightly harder against hers, she feels her insides melting as little pangs of desire make their presence felt.

“Oh, this is so right. Please let it just go on and on,” says a voice inside her.

Slowly he releases her. She opens her eyes. His are still on her, his face still beaming.

“Hello again,” he says. “Are you back in the land of the living?”

She blushes and giggles shyly as she nods slowly back at him.