Chapter 1
Missed Opportunities
I met Loraine at my local gym; she joined a few months after me. We got to recognise each other as people do in that situation and would say hello when passing at the gym, or smile and nod if we saw each other in the street but that was it. She was very classy, the kind of woman who drove a late registration Mercedes sports car, wore designer label sports kit and paid for tennis coaching. I wore an old faded T shirt and rugby shorts, ran a company Ford and cycled to the gym.
She was an attractive woman, I put her at about 38 years old, 5 years older than me, with a great body that she worked to maintain, not hard and athletic but smooth and shapely, and she was always immaculately dressed, her hair was auburn and shoulder length, she wore it down most of the time and in a simple pony tail when in the gym. I must admit that I thought her husband was a lucky man, coming home to her every night.
I was training one evening after work and she was there, keeping up an impressive pace on the running machine, and I watched her lithe movements as I warmed up on the rowing machine behind her. I had not meant to stare, but she was what I was looking at as I built up to a steady rhythm. As I shifted my gaze I noticed that she was watching me in the mirror and I blushed, I hoped that she would think it was due to physical exertion, but I could see her smiling at my embarrassment.
As we moved round the gym I noticed that she kept glancing at me and smiling, I did not know if she was teasing me or being friendly but I did feel a little uncomfortable and avoided eye contact.
I walked past the 'Pec Deck' and saw someone bending over it, I realised it was her struggling with the weight stack. She looked up and said "excuse me, can you have a go at changing the weight setting on this machine for me please? The pin is stuck; I think it might be bent"
She moved out of the way for me to try to move the pin and I struggled for several seconds before getting it free, it had been jammed in too far. I turned and asked "where do you want me to put it?" she smiled again and said "now there's a question to ask a lady..." I laughed at her innuendo and she said "set it at 20Kg please, I don't want to strain anything". I started to warm to her, she obviously had a sense of humour, and I thought that her glances might not just be teasing after all.
I stood up and moved out of the way so that she could use the machine. As she sat on the seat she said "thank you, I'm Lorraine by the way" and held out her hand, I took it and said, "Pleased to meet you Lorraine, I'm Alex". Her hand was firm and smooth and she held my hand a little longer than she needed to as she looked into my eyes and smiled.
I finished my training regime and went to get a cup of water from the water cooler on my way out. Lorraine was already at the cooler with her sweat top over her shoulder. Just for the sake of conversation I asked "Are you off home now as well?"
She looked into my eyes over the rim of her cup and replied "Not necessarily, I'm open to offers."
I was caught off balance with that and stuttered "Er...Do you fancy a drink in the club bar?"
She pulled a face and said "I think we can do better than that, can't we?"
I replied "that sort of leaves me a bit stuck, I only have my sports gear and I cycled here...sorry. If you don't mind waiting I only live a short distance away, I can go and get changed and drive back, but it would be about half an hour..."
She hesitated then said "Some other time maybe?"
I replied "Sure, sorry".
I went and got my bike, wondering what I had just missed...Ah well, I had intended going home for a hot shower and watching a movie while eating dinner, so I could not miss what I did not have, and some kind of affair with a married woman was not really my style.
It was over a week later that I bumped into Lorraine again, in the supermarket, this time I was in work clothes - a fairly new dark grey single breasted suit with a white shirt and a deep red silk tie. I saw her before she saw me, she was walking toward me in the wine isle, and her eyes passed over me twice before she recognised me. I smiled as she did a double take. As she drew level with me she said, with a mischievous smile, "I did not recognise you dressed, you scrub up OK, I should have waited the other evening".
She was wearing a pair of jeans and a light green cross over blouse that accentuated the size and shape of her breasts, she saw my eyes look down before coming back to meet her eyes. "You look pretty good yourself, I thought you only owned pink track suits".
She laughed and said "touchΓ©" then she paused and said "You still owe me that drink...are you busy this evening?" I smiled and nodded, "I have to go training at seven thirty. I think we are destined never to have this drink...what about a coffee at the coffee shop in the store here, just to break the jinx?"
She hesitated a second then said "I was thinking of something a little more cosy, but what the hell".
We ordered coffee and sat at a table by the window and chatted easily, it transpired that she was no longer with her husband; four months ago he had left her to move in with one of the women execs that he worked with. He had had affairs with secretaries and the like over the years, but had always come back to her and she had let him for the sake of her daughter, but this time he had said he was moving out and he had not come back. Her daughter Christine had moved in with her boyfriend two months ago and so Lorraine was enjoying some peace and quiet at home.
She only had two friends she could call close, one widowed and one divorced; all her married friends had shunned her after the split with her husband because they saw her as predator, after their husbands. Her friends told her she had to get a computer and start internet dating, they were having a great time, but she knew nothing about computers and did not know where to start.
I told her about the recent bitter break up of a long term relationship, my girlfriend of 6 years had decided that I was not the man she wanted me to become, and left, meaning we had to sell the house and furniture to pay her off her half and I was now living in small but very nice one bedroom apartment close to town.
We ordered and drank another coffee each and chatted and laughed until I had to go. She asked if I trained every day, I told her I did every day apart from Sunday. I don't know if she was impressed or disappointed, she did not say either way. Before I left we arranged to meet the following evening, Friday, at the gym, then we would go to a local bistro, it had just re-opened after a major refurbishment, we had both heard good things about it.
The following evening went to plan, we chatted briefly at the gym as we worked out. She arrived at the bistro 20 minutes after me; she obviously took more time on presentation as she was wearing a very well cut strappy black dress and short jacket that showed her figure off beautifully. She wore little make-up, her skin was in as good shape as the rest of her and she had that classical high cheekboned face that did not require hours in front of a mirror.
I watched her walk in and leaned to kiss her cheek as she reached me at the bar. "You look fantastic" I said.
She smiled and said "thank you. I should do, this little outfit cost my ex-husband over Β£2000 with the shoes, bag and necklace!" The necklace she spoke of was white gold with a large single diamond nestling just at the top of her cleavage, drawing the eye to her breasts. She was dressed to kill and I thought this held the promise of being a very good night and I felt the glow of anticipation.
I ordered her a drink, vodka and tonic, and we and sat on stools at the bar. We talked about where we grew up and about our passions and hates, getting to know each others personalities. We sat and chatted and laughed, Lorraine kept touching my hand and arm, then our legs touched and we pressed against each other and locked eyes. That moment confirmed our feelings for each other, and our lips met softly. By now the bar was getting busier so I said softly "We should move away from the bar, I noticed some two seater sofas over the other side of the room, I'll see if there are any not in use."
She leaned close and her perfume filled my senses, she said "there is a great place I know not too far from here that does good wine and great music - and it always has plenty of room on the sofas."
I said "so what are we waiting for...and why didn't we go there first?"
She smiled and leaned close again to whisper in my ear "Because I wanted to make sure that you were at least half normal before I invited you into my house."