Hello, again!
Here's part 3, not the last one, though (part 4 will be some kind of special chapter from Finn's POV, not really necessary to understanding the story, but it will add a bit to it, some little interesting details at least, like why such uncommon names).
I know. Some people didn't agree with Hero's decision in part 2, which is why everything is explained here. Why she made the choice she did.
And maybe they'll get a second chance!
AGAIN (I will always make this clear): Not native English speaker, so if you see something wrong, please forgive me.
*I received some suggestions from part 2 readers. Thank you very much for that! I'll welcome some more.
Enjoy!
Nana.
*****
The little clock marked 19:40.
Finn would leave the hospital in twenty minutes. Considering how fast he walks, he'll probably be here in thirty five to forty minutes.
I was thinking to myself, while I considered the possibilities the night would offer. The good, and most importantly, the bad ones.
Earlier, I'd had a long, minucius bath that had left me smelling like a walking rose petal soap bar. I had shaved, washed my hair, and even used some macadamia nut body oil.
Of course I knew that wasn't going to be a date. Of course it wasn't.
Still, I had dropped Massie, my Labrador, at my mom's for the night. She didn't like strange people and I didn't want Finn to get bitten while we talked.
We were only going to talk.
Just talk.
Despite that piece of knowledge I was spending too much time on deciding what to wear. Sitting on my bed wearing a ridiculously lacy underwear, I looked over every piece of clothing in display inside my opened closet. I found nothing suitable. And the more time I wasted on deciding, the less time I had to decide.
The danger was, If I wore something too fancy, he'd think I thought that was a date when it obviously wasn't. Now, if I wore something too casual, he'd think I didn't give the occasion enough importance.
I glanced down at the little watch by the bedside table.
19:50.
"What is wrong with you, Hero? He won't care what you wear. Just get a grip." I said out loud, scolding myself.
Having made up my mind, I walked over to the closet and chose a simple tea-length black dress with long sleeves. A bit prude despite its tightness, but I wasn't going to spend any more time staring at my closet. Walking over to the bathroom, I spilled some drops of perfume on my wrists rubbing some on my neck, under my ears.
There was a woman staring at me from the other side of the oval bathroom mirror. She had large, expressive brown eyes lined with long, dark lashes. She seemed nervous. I could see her plump lips were slightly parted as she exhaled warm air through her teeth, fogging up the mirror glass.
Her cheeks were blushed due to the hot blood running faster than usual under her golden brown skin. I brought my fingers up to my hair and the woman in the mirror touched her own wild curls.
"It's all going to be fine. It's just Finn." She said to me.
Believing her, I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
***
20:10
He'll be here any second now.
Since he'd said he would come straight from work, I figured he'd have no time to eat, so I had pretentiously prepared his favourite meal. Lasagna.
My whole day had been spent in a constant state of agonized expectancy that resulted in inumerous butterflies flying around my stomach, unabling me to eat.
Amazing as it was I had not, in fact, consumed all of the wine I had in the house while mourning my shitty marriage. So I opened a bottle of Pinot Noir and poured myself a glass to steady my nerves. I was nervous in a way I didn't even remembered ever being so.
I was afraid of the course our conversation might follow. We had ten years of things to talk about. Last night when we had finally been reunited we didn't have any kind of productive talk, when we did talk. It was clear to the both of us by now we still held some power over each other.
Now anything could happen.
Anything.
Did that include the thing I wanted the most?
But what did I want though?
I gulped some more wine, forcing the thoughts in my head to drift away. I opened and closed the kitchen cabinets arranging placemats, plates, cutlery, and a glass on the wooden kitchen table. The table wasn't too big, so I saved myself another dilemma.
Where do I sit? Too close, too far from him?
Instead I placed our plates directly across from each other on the table. I stepped back, admiring my work and sipping more of my wine when the doorbell rang. I jumped startled and spilled red wine on my dress.
"Oh! Marvellous!"
Thank goodness I wore a black dress.
I whirled around looking for some cloth to clean myself with, but none seemed to be found when I needed it. So I gave up looking and went to the door.
I stood in front of it and breathed one, two, three times deeply through my nose and out through my mouth. I ran a hand down my dress to smooth the inexistent creases in it. The bell ringed again. Taking one last breath I opened the door, and there he was.
All the air was knocked out of me when he smiled and his lips formed the word "Hi."
"Hello." I said back, and felt that my dumb smile was wider than his.
He looked tired. There were bags under his eyes. He was wearing jeans, a simple navy blue t-shirt and there was a messenger bag clutched to his side. His hair was a disheveled mess with some large curls falling to his forehead that made my fingers tingle with the desire to brush them back.
Finn had always been handsome and even though he seemed to be worn out, he still looked disgustingly gorgeous.
"So," Finn's voice broke my admiration trance. "Can I come in?"
Apparently I had been standing there obviously staring at him for longer than I thought.
I cleared my throat and spoke way too loudly.
"Yes, of course! Please, come in."
I stepped aside and he stepped in. His scent spread through the air at once. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek. I shivered as the smell of his after shave invaded my nostrils. I wanted to crawl out of my skin and into his.
