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Great Writing - Home > Extended > Confessions of a site secretary - part 14
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Extended Work
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| Confessions of a site secretary - part 14 | |
| By teddy | ||||||||
| 22 October 2006 | ||||||||
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Last night was the first I’ve spend away from Vicky. She’s nearly three months old now and she’s changed so much since she was born. It’s unbelievable how fast she grows. She’s such a happy bubbly baby. And, I must say, she’s so much like her dad. When she looks at me with her amazing eyes I feel totally powerless; the weakest snivel, the smallest frown and I’m always there, ready to satisfy her every single need. She seems to have the same effect on George, he’s absolutely smitten with her. I think if she was caring his genes he couldn’t have loved her more. Well, he’s been there for her every single step of the way so I can’t really blame him for feeling like that. But most of all, she seems to have so much energy, especially at night when she keeps me awake big time. Just as Paul used to do sometime I can’t help myself thinking. There’ve been times when I wondered how it would’ve been if Paul and I had been still a couple, bringing Vicky up together. I would’ve probably been the happiest woman on earth. Well, I don’t think that anyone’s ever allowed to reach that stage of happiness so I’m more than grateful for I’ve got. Anyway, on Wednesday evening we popped around Tina and Craig’s, just to say hello and pick up some letters, which, for some reason, keep being dropped at the old address. ‘Hello, gorgeous.’ Tina snatched the baby of George’s arms just as we got through the door. ‘How’s my favourite girl?’ she kept talking to Vicky. ‘You’re such a beautiful little baby, aren’t you?’ ‘Blimey, you two look awful.’ she finally diverted her attention towards George and me for a second. ‘Oh, thanks, that’s charming, that is.’ we put on indignant faces. ‘I didn’t mean it like that, you silly sods. You do look very tired though. I bet she keeps you busy, doesn’t she?’ she turned her eyes back to the presumed guilty part. ‘You are, aren’t you, you little devil?’ ‘Oh well, she’s quite lively, I must say.’ I watched Vicky’s bubbly face. ‘She wakes up during the night quite a lot. She doesn’t cry much, well, she does until she gets you into her room, but once you ‘re there, that’s it, she’s a happy bunny again. I don’t think she likes being on her own.’ ‘Have you tried to change her routine? Maybe she sleeps too much during the day.’ Tina asked. ‘Believe me, I’ve tried everything, but she wouldn’t have any of it. It’s either her way or nothing. She’s such a strong-minded little girl.’ ‘Yeah, I wonder who she gets it from.’ Tina hinted at me smiling. Well, I wasn’t too sure about that, I didn’t think I was really that bad. It must’ve been the other side. ‘Listen,’ Tina generously offered, ‘why don’t you bring Vicky around here on Saturday? You two look like you could really do with a break. Just go out somewhere nice, enjoy yourself, relax a bit, you know, on Saturday night. And you can come and pick her up on Sunday afternoon. That way you can have a lie in on Sunday morning and rest a bit. I mean, when was the last time you two went out?’ ‘God knows, ages ago’ George said. ‘I dunno.’ I nervously looked at George. Not that I don’t trust Tina, of course I do, she’s brilliant with babies and both Craig and her absolutely adore Vicky, but just the thought of not having my baby around made me feel quite agitated. George didn’t say a word, he let me make the decision. On the other hand, I thought, Tina was right, he looked just as tired as I was and needed a good rest. I mean, even though I’ve banned him from having a baby monitor in his bedroom, he still keeps sneaking into Vicky’s room when he hears her crying at night. ‘Oh well, if you don’t mind babysitting her then ok, why not? But don’t bring her back in the middle of the night when she keeps you up and about, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ I finally decided. ‘Don’t you worry about that, dear.’ Tina smiled indulgently. So that was settled then, yesterday morning we dropped Vicky and her ‘trousseau’ off at Tina’s. ‘You’re not planning to do a runner, are you?’ Tina looked amazed at the big bag full of nappies, toys and baby clothes. ‘We’re only having her for the weekend, you know.’ ‘See, I told you.’ George laughed looking at me. ‘Oh well, just making sure she’s got enough stuff.’ ‘Yeah, more than enough, even for a month.’ Tina’s face mocked an exasperated grimace. . ‘Listen, Adi’ she said when we were on our own in the kitchen making the coffee ‘you’ve got an appointment for two o’clock at Jessie’s.’ ‘What for?’ I looked at her intrigued. ‘When was the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror?’ she smiled at me. ‘No offence, dear, but your hair could do with a bit of trimming. And your nails with a good manicure. Oh, don’t worry’ she said when she saw the worried expression growing on my face, ‘it’s all been paid for, my treat. You deserve a bit of pampering.’ ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have done that.’ I hugged her thankfully. ‘Thanks, when I’ll be rich and famous I promise to pay you back.’ I joked. We looked at each other smiling, both thinking that that might never actually happen. George had booked two tickets for ‘Chicago’, the musical, and a table at a rather expensive restaurant in the West End. I felt really spoilt. At five o’clock my eyes and hands were nervously searching my wardrobe: did I have anything to wear for the night? I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to fit in any of my old dresses. Luckily I’ve never had any weight problems, not even when I was pregnant. I chose a silky light green dress, which’s been always one of my favourites. I put a bit of make up on, not a lot ‘cos I didn’t really want to look like a clown, and by six I was ready to go. When I got downstairs, George was already waiting for me in the living room. ‘You look adorable.’ he flatteringly looked at me kissing my hand in a very old fashion gentlemanly way. I liked that, it was rather sweet. ‘You look quite nice yourself.’ I thought admiring his smart figure. After the show, when we left the theatre I phoned up Tina. ‘Oh, stop worrying, will you?’ she said exasperated, ‘she had her dinner and bath nearly two hours ago and now she’s sleeping. Just enjoy yourself and don’t ring me up again until tomorrow, ok?’ When the cab stopped in front of the restaurant where we had our table booked I was worried that it might be a bit too posh for the quiet dinner I longed for. Well, this was how it looked from outside anyway. When we walked inside I realised that it was actually nice and cosy and with our table set in a corner I knew I was gonna enjoy every single minute of the evening. When the waiter came to take the order for the drinks, I decided, encouraged by George, to indulge myself with one or two glasses of wine. After the first glass I was already feeling quite jolly, not surprising though after all that very long alcohol-free period. I mean, blimey, I hadn’t had a drink ever since I found out I was pregnant with Vicky. ‘Listen, George, you have to stop showing up with me in public.’ I teased my dining companion. ‘Why’s that, Adi?’ I made him curious. ‘Well,’ I wittily smirked at him, ‘I bet everyone thinks we’re a couple and that’s enough to put off any potential aspirants to your heart.’ ‘Oh well, who cares, I’m sitting in front of the most beautiful woman in this room and I bet I’m envied by all the men dining here tonight.’ he said reaching for my hand across the table and holding it into his. I involuntary blushed. Now, I wasn’t quite sure if it was the wine or the warmth of his hand. It was quite late when we left the restaurant, I suppose neither of us wanted the pleasant evening to finish too soon, especially knowing that we might not be able to have another night out for a very long time, well, not together anyway. ‘Let’s try to find a cab.’ George offered me his arm once outside as we started walking along the pretty quiet road. ‘Are you cold, Adi?’ he gently rubbed my back for a moment when he noticed that I was slightly shivering. ‘Brrrrr…yeah, a little.’ I admitted. It wasn’t the warmest of nights and I was wearing only a light coat over my dress. ‘Do you want my coat?’ he courteously offered. ‘Nooo, don’t be silly.’ I refused. ‘It’s too big for me, I’d look stupid in it. You can always give us a cuddle though.’ I stopped in front of him cheekily slipping my arms inside his coat and wrapping them around his waist. George obeyed the request and hugged me while trying to bring the sides of his coat together over my back to cover it. ‘Thanks, that feels better.’ I sighed quiet satisfied with the process of heat transfer taking place from his body to mine. I was warming up and all my senses seemed to become quite alert. So were his ’cos I could feel his back muscles through the fine material of his shirt contracting under my touch. I mean, we hugged many times before but never that close. ‘You warm enough now?’ George asked kissing the top of my head. ‘Uh-huh’ I nodded lifting my eyes up to his face to find out how he felt. He was smiling. Then, without warning, standing on my toes I reached up until my lips touched his. At first his mouth was confused and quite shy but then, encouraged by mine, it became quite adventurous. ‘Behave!’ a drunken voice made us stop for a second and smile. ‘I didn’t know you’re such a good kisser.’ my lips teased his ear lob. ‘Neither did I.’ he said before covering my mouth with his again. On the way home in the cab he held me tight in his arms without saying a word. I kept quiet too, I was feeling so warm and cosy, I didn’t want to spoil the moment. Back home that night I swapped my bedroom for his. * The book flew through the air and hit the wall opposite before falling down to the floor. In his chair, Paul held his head in his hands with his elbows resting on the desk. He started to frantically rub his temples with his thumbs in a desperate attempt to keep away the enraged feeling that was trying to take over him. It was the anger that only the betrayal from a loved one could rouse. ‘How could you do this to me?’ ‘Adi was no longer yours, she was a free woman, remember? And you pushed George out of your life long ago, he wasn’t owing you anything anymore. Even so he tried his best to look after Adi and your child, you should be grateful.’ another more rational side of him was trying to defend the traitorous. He stood up and nervously started walking around the room. He stopped in front of the book lying on the floor and picked it up. ‘If you think you can keep her, George, you’re a fool. She’ll be mine again, take my word for it.’ Back in his chair he started reading again. He was in agony already, finding out more about Adi and George’s affair it wouldn’t have made much difference. Perhaps deep down he hoped that there had been nothing more than a night of physical pleasure. For Adi at least. * Having sex, …no, that’s not the appropriate wording, making love to George was calm and tender, very different from what I knew. ‘I love you, Adi.’ he whispered in my ear while moving gently but deep inside me. ‘I love you too.’ I ardently moaned. Ok, I know how this might sound like, that it must’ve been the excitement of the moment. But it was nothing like that, I really meant it, ’cos I do love George. I know it’ll never be the same way I’ve felt about Paul, but, if there’s anyone in the world I want to be with, other than Paul of course but that’s out of the question, then that must be him. This morning when we woke up next to each other we exchanged jolly good mornings accompanied by huge smiles. ‘Come here.’ George said grabbing me with both hands and pulling me towards him. ‘I just want to make sure this is real..’ he said before giving me a long affectionate kiss. We made love again and after we finished we just lied there, in bed, holding each other: it felt so cosily right. ‘Stay here, don’t move until I come back.’ he got up after a while. I heard him going downstairs. I quickly phoned up Tina to see how Vicky was: ‘She’s fine, Craig’s entertaining her at the moment.’ Tina said. ‘How was your night out? Any good?’ she asked. ‘Yeah, it was brilliant.’ I replied with a big smirk on my face. Thank God she couldn’t see it. ‘Great. What you up to now then?’ she asked. ‘Well, I just had a shag and now I’m waiting for George to come from downstairs. If I’m lucky I might get another one.’ I tried to imagine Tina’s face if I’d told her that. ‘Nothing, just being lazy, lying in bed.’ I said instead. ‘We’ll come to pick up Vicky around three, is that ok?’ ‘’Course. You’ll stay for dinner, won’t you?’ ‘If you’re inviting us, yeah, why not?...that saves me from cooking tonight’. ‘Cool. We’ll see you soon then.’ Five minutes later George came back with a tray with toast and coffee. ‘You’re spoiling me.’ I smiled at him. ‘You shouldn’t, I’ll start taken advantages.’ ‘You’re allowed.’ he replied returning the smile. After we finished the breakfast he put the tray down on the floor and took me in his arms again. It was like he couldn’t get enough of me. And I really enjoyed that. ‘You’ve got no idea how happy you make me feel. I love you so much, Adi. I’ve wanted to tell you this for a very long time.’ ‘But why did it take you so long? Well, you did mention it once before but you were a bit too tipsy to be taken seriously.’ I smiled at him. ‘Because….how could I, Adi? I’d never thought you’d even consider…well, I mean, I didn’t think you’d ever see me more than just a friend. I was just grateful to have you around.’ Well, to be honest, for months I’d been trying to convince myself of the same thing, that we were just friends. There'd been few contradicting signs before but I failed to recognise them. I remember when he told me that Anne, his ex girfriend, wanted to see him. My feminine instinct guessed straight away what was all about: she must’ve regretted him. I mean, com’on, it’s madness to even think about dumping someone like George. ‘You have to go and see her. She deserves that.’ I told him when he refused to grant her wish. ‘Ok, Adi, if you say so.’ he let me persuade him in the end. But the evening he went to see her I suddenly felt lonely and depressed. ‘Have you been crying, Adi?’ he looked at me concerned when he got home. ‘No.’ I denied. ‘Yes, you have. What’s wrong? Please talk to me.’ ‘Nothing, I’m just feeling a bit down, that’s all. It must be the hormones.’ I joked putting on a fake smile. ‘Come here.’ he warmly hugged me. ‘Please, I don’t like seeing you upset. It doesn’t do you any good.’ ‘How did it go with Anne?’ I eagerly asked. ‘She admitted she made a mistake and wants me to give her another chance.’ ‘And?’ my heart beat nervously faster. ‘Well, she knows now that I've moved on and I hope she will too.’ I suddenly felt better after he told me that. I knew I shouldn’t have, that was selfishness, but I couldn’t help it. About two months ago we went to his dad’s birthday party. At first I felt reluctant to go, Vicky was just one month old but Karl and Claire instead. ‘Please, Adi. We’d really like to meet little Vicky.’ Later that evening, with Vicky fast asleep in one of their spare bedrooms, we were entertaining ourselves downstairs among their other guests. I was talking to Karl when throwing a quick look around the room I spotted George engaged in a conversation with a pretty woman, who I remembered being introduced as a friend of the family. They seemed to be very comfortable with each other and definitely enjoying themselves but I personally felt so peculiarly annoyed and I wondered why. ‘George and Lorraine are just good friends, they’ve known each other since they were kids.’ Karl smiled when he caught my eyes staring at them. ‘Oh well, she seems quite nice and George deserves to be happy.’ I uncomfortably blushed. And then when I gave birth to Vicky I didn’t let him stay in the room with me ‘cos I felt too embarrassed. It was weird to be honest ‘cos I’d always thought he will be there but when it happened I saw the man in him and not the friend. ‘You make me feel really special, George, you know that?’ I said to him this morning after listening to his confession. ‘You are special, Adi.’ he gently kissed me. About one o’clock we finally managed to drag ourselves out of the bed. ‘I suppose it’s time to get ready. Tina’s expecting us around three.’ I told him. ‘Poor Vicky’s most probably thinking that we’ve deserted her.’ I felt guilty for not going to pick her up sooner. ‘Don’t worry, Adi, she’s in good hands.’ George tried to reassure me that there was no harm in Vicky spending more time with Tina and Craig. Two hours later, before knocking in their door, he gave me a quick hug and a big kiss. ‘I won’t be able to do this again until later so I need to make sure you won’t miss it too much.’ he teased me. Once inside we tried to behave as nothing had happened, playing the best friends still roles as best as we could. ‘Hello, my little gorgeous baby.’ I lovingly cuddled Vicky when I picked her up in my arms, instantly promising myself never to abandon her again for so long. ‘Have you been a good girl?’ ‘Of course she has.’ Tina answered in her place. ‘Listen, you two’ Tina said later on when we were sitting around the dinner table enjoying her roast ‘what you keep smirking at each other for?’ ‘We’re not.’ George and I innocently protested. ‘Oh ok.’ she suspiciously looked at us then she stretched across the table to fetch the gravy. ‘Adi, ‘ I heard her saying a second later ‘you could do with an extra hand today, couldn’t you? ‘Cos one’s holding the fork, one’s stuck on George’s leg, you really need another one to hold your knife, don’t you?’ George and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. ‘Ok, are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Or shall I start?’ Before we manage to say anything she said to George smiling: ‘I was wondering when she’s was gonna let you get into her knickers.’ ‘Tiiina!’ I put on a scandalized face. ‘Oh, com’on, stop bloody behaving like two stupid teenagers. What did I tell you after she rang the morning? she turned to Craig. ‘Well, she did say she bets you must’ve been up to …errrmmm…naghty things.’ Craig smiled at us a bit embarrassed. ‘Of course they have. I mean, she rings me up at eleven o’clock and tells me she’s still in bed. And that she’s only coming to pick up Vicky later on. Yesterday she had to think twice before letting us babysitting her. I knew straight away that something must be going on. Otherwise she would’ve knocked in the door at eight o’clock in the morning.’ George put his hand at the back of my head turning it towards him and kissed me gently on the lips. ‘Satisfied?’ he smirked at Tina a moment later. ‘Well done, kids.’ she laughed. ‘I’m really happy for you. Craig, go and get another bottle of wine from the kitchen, will you? This needs celebrating.’ I know she must be really pleased ‘cos she’s always hoped that one day George and I will get together. Oh well, this is it. My little Vicky’s happily sleeping in her cot, just checked up on her ten minutes ago, George’s downstairs in the study getting few things ready for his work for tomorrow and I’m lying under the duvet keeping the bed warm for when he comes upstairs. Isn’t life wonderful?
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