Ghost (2 page)

#

Page saw her from a distance as she walked down the side of Millbank and onto the Lambeth Bridge. He was normally half asleep as he walked across it each day to and from the office but at this moment it was as joyous as walking on the Yellow Brick Road.

She smiled at him from a little way off and as they met somewhere near the middle she said hello and kissed him on the cheek. “So where’s your place then? Are you going to show me around?” Slightly taken aback, he asked her if she wouldn’t rather head out somewhere for a drink. “No I’m good, I’d much rather go somewhere a bit quieter to chat. Why don’t you lead on?” He did as requested slightly amazed as she took his arm and they walked the short distance back to the apartment.

As he walked her in to the apartment it’s fair to say his head was spinning, he knew so little about this woman, had barely spoken more than a few words to her and now she was in his home and clinging to his arm. Whatever he had imagined might happen that evening, this wasn’t it! Nevertheless he was comfortable and now quite relaxed. Without asking her, he poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to her, which she took, nodding approvingly.

“So,” he said, “needless to say I’m very pleased to see you but I’m a little curious as to how this has all come about.”

“Well I don’t make a habit of visiting strange men in their apartments if that’s what you are wondering!” She replied, breaking into a smile. “I did catch you giving me the once over in our meeting. You thought you had gotten away with it, didn’t you?” She was teasing him and he was enjoying it. When she smiled, she became even more beautiful and he thought that if she were a painting, he would find it difficult to ever avert his gaze.

“Ah” said Page, “I guess I’m not going to be appointed to the Surveillance Corps anytime soon then!”

“Oh I don’t know. You were pretty cool under pressure, but you’re reputation for that precedes you.”

“Oh Really? I didn’t think a lowly political run around like me would be on the radar of a top legal brain”

The verbal jousting began and it was clear they were both enjoying it, sipping whiskey and exchanging flirtatious looks.

“Well, you do have a high profile within the Department and I hear you are quite the ladies’ man…”

“Well in my defence they weren’t all ladies!” he retorted and smiled as she laughed and gave a little snort as she tried to swallow the rest of her sip of whiskey.

Lucinda leant over and kissed him gently on the lips. “There, that gets rid of a little of the sexual tension don’t you think?”

“It’s a pretty neat way of saying nice to meet you, for sure” said Page.

“Okay… well if truth be told, I just… like you and I fancied some company. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here tonight, I very much wanted to be here earlier. I know it’s late, so I won’t stay too long. And honestly I promise you I don’t do this all the time!”

For all her beauty and status, there was definitely an air about her, but Page couldn’t quite put his finger on it…Vulnerability? Loneliness? Unhappiness? Time would tell, but he knew this wouldn’t be simply another conquest. Determination stirred within, determination not to balls it up by acting the playboy. In truth he abhorred one night stands. They were something that just… happened and they left him hollow, sometimes even guilty and detesting himself for succumbing to temptation.

Lucinda, beautiful Lucinda… married Lucinda, this Lucinda sitting so close to him and writing a new chapter in his book.

“So, show me round your little love nest” she said and got up from the sofa.

“Well it’s a one bedroom apartment so that won’t take long and you’ve seen my not so spacious open plan lounge and kitchen, that just leaves the balcony and the bedroom”

“Oh excellent! Let’s do the balcony first then shall we?”

Page opened the sliding door and they both stepped out on to the tiny balcony. She slipped her shoes off and nestled into him. Though amazed at the speed of proceedings, to Page it felt just… right. “So, if you stand on tiptoe or put your shoes back on you can just about see Parliament over there, and the Tate, is just there too. Have you ever been?”

“Nope, never. You have I suppose?”

“The Tate is one of my favourite places in London. I went in one day intending to spend a few minutes just to say I’d seen it and ended up wandering around for hours… I go back as often as I can now, the Tate is my little haven in the midst of the madness… the Pre-Raphaelites are just breath-taking.”

“My goodness, I’m impressed, hidden depths indeed!”

“People think they know me because I’ve gained some notoriety but they know nothing of my life or what I’ve been through or who I am as a person.”

“Sorry, did I hit raw nerve?”

“No, of course not, it’s just… this is all quite sudden. I’ve no idea what you think of me or why you’re here, though I’m glad you are...” He glanced her way and his stomach knotted in excitement, “God, I need another drink!”

“Well, get me one and bring it through to the bedroom” she said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

#

Lucinda lay on his bed and as Page walked into the bedroom she flicked through his IPod searching for something to play. She had quite remarkably settled on the Bay City Rollers. He handed her the glass and lay down beside her. As she moved towards him, her skirt rose up revealing her tanned thigh, Page put his hand on her flawless skin and began to stroke gently. He pulled her towards him and placed his lips on hers and kissed them softly. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her neck whilst his hand continued to glide along the soft skin of her smooth leg. “You are so beautiful” he whispered, “but there’s more to you than that, there’s something deeper…”

“I’m more like you than you might imagine.” Now relaxed and sleepy Lucinda yawned.

“I can’t imagine you being like me in any way at all, care to elaborate?”

“Next time” she replied.

“Okay” said Page, not for one moment doubting that there would be another time and quite content to give her whatever time and space she needed to tell her story. He congratulated himself as, by all accounts, Page was the perfect gentleman tonight, and he hadn’t made a wrong move at all.

“
First time for everything”
said the voice.

Lucinda reached across and pulled Page into her “I’m not taking off either my clothes or yours, but I want you to hold me… and touch me. Please”

Page kissed her. Gently he traced the outline of her lips with his tongue and softly bit her lower lip. Breathing harder now, Lucinda reached down and felt him stiffen at her touch.

Page’s hand slid along her thigh. She moaned gently as his hand moved up onto her ass, realising she wore a thong, Page squeezed her buttock firmly as Lucinda’s tongue went deeper into his mouth. With the tips of his fingers he traced a line from the small of her back, around her firm buttock and then between her legs. Her pants were mesh and he fondled her growing wetness. He was incredibly turned on by her touch and her response to him.

His finger gave the most gentle of strokes and he kissed her harder. Her thighs clenched around his hand meaning only use his thumb could continue to stroke her.

“You… are… good…” she whispered as she nibbled his ear. “My head is spinning”

“Do you want to stop?” he asked.

“No! But yes… I don’t want you to think I’m some cheap thing that gets her knickers off at the first sign of a drink”

“I don’t think that” he replied, but as he spoke he moved his hand back to the relative safety of her ass and lessened the intensity of his kiss. He was determined not to fuck up. He wanted her to be completely at ease and more importantly to leave with no regrets about what happened between them.

“You are sweet” she said and nuzzled into him. They held each other as they dozed off. Blissfully at ease for two people who were relative strangers.

#

On waking, neither had any sense of time passing and were taken aback to discover the time to be 4 am. “I’ll walk you back to your hotel, come on “said Page. Hand in hand they strolled back along the bridge, saying little but sensing that in each other they had found something of a kindred spirit. At the entrance to the hotel she kissed him and turned towards the foyer without saying another word.

Page walked home, tired, but on a high, hoping that his life was about to take a turn for the better. He had no idea.

#

If Page was expecting flowers and romance the next day, he was to be sorely disappointed. Nothing, apart from one text “Thank you for a lovely time.” She said. He texted a few times but when he received no response, he called it quits for the day. Instead he tried to focus on his work which stubbornly played second fiddle to the tumult inside his head.

That night he sat in his apartment, drinking some nice Rioja and for the umpteenth time recalled every minute of the previous night. It was odd. She had been there for a matter of hours and now the place seemed strangely empty without her.

A few days later, at his desk in the Belfast office, Page jolted when he saw a message pop up on his phone.  “Sorry, work’s been a bit mad, can you escape for a little drive and some lunch?”Lucinda’s name was on the screen

Page read the text twice to make sure it wasn’t some kind of joke or mistake. He replied almost immediately, wanting to be cool and calm but unable to help himself. Within an hour she collected him. As he got into the car she leant across and kissed him on the cheek.

“Sorry, I know you must be cross with me, but work has been a nightmare and things are a bit difficult at home.” She commented no more on what ‘difficult at home’ might mean and he thought better of asking.

She drove him a short distance down to the coast where they stopped in a car park overlooking the sea. Lunch was the bag of chips they had stopped to buy on the way and they sat in the car eating the chips, talking and listening to Rory Gallagher’s Calling Card on the car stereo. He had never before, or since for that matter, met a girl who liked Rory Gallagher and to him her musical taste was just something else that made her different, in a good way. Rory Gallagher was a legendary Irish Blues guitarist who had recently passed away. What endeared him to every Irish music lover though was that he had continued to play gigs in Belfast throughout the Troubles, when many more famous artists had abandoned the place. If Lucinda liked him, that was another attribute to be welcomed.

“So, I know it’s all been a bit of a mad few days but I wanted to ask if you are okay with this?” she asked.

“Well, let’s see. I’m in a car with Lucinda Harris, eating chips and listening to Rory Gallagher, so… I think I’m pretty okay with this, yes” he smiled at her again, and couldn’t help giving her the once-over without her noticing, he hoped.

“Good!” she flashed a smile, “I wish I had more time to talk, but… bear with me if you can. I’m just in a strange place in my life at the minute. I’m married, which of course you know, I love my three children and enjoy my job, but… I’m so empty at times and so lonely, even when in company.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me, I have no expectation other than to be here for you if that’s what you want. I’m unsure of what you’re asking of me, but let’s not worry about that for now. There are a few things I’d like to tell you too, about me, setting the record straight type of stuff.

“Thank you, you’re very easy to talk to” she said and kissed him on the cheek, “Right, I need to head back, I’ve got a meeting. I just wanted to see you again and thought a little spin was better than nothing.”

They drove back and when she had dropped him off Page realised that he was completely on a hook here, she was calling all the shots and he was following her like a little lost puppy.

“
Woof Woof
” said the voice.

And pretty much that was the sum of their relationship… at the start. Just the odd chat or email and in general life went on as normal. Lucinda didn’t suggest meeting up and the messages when they came were nice, pleasant, but hardly high romance.

Then everything changed dramatically a few days later, courtesy of his blackberry.

#

Today was just another ordinary day at work. Well not quite ordinary as Page was hurtling across Europe on the Eurostar High Speed train accompanying his boss on a trip to Brussels and then on to the World War 1 memorials at Ypres.

He was in an exceptionally fortunate position, he loved his job, enjoyed his boss’ company and they could chat for hours about anything and everything… mostly football and politics but nothing was off limits. As they sipped a glass of wine and perused the usual mountain of paperwork, he noticed the flashing red light of his blackberry indicating the arrival of yet another email, one of the hundreds he received every day. A cursory glance at the screen told him the email was from Lucinda, he quickly opened the message and as he began to read Page broke into a huge smile. “Hi, hope you are good. I just had to send you this to let you know that I can’t stop thinking about you and I desperately want to see you. I tried to put you out of my mind and get on with things but it’s clearly not working. See you when you get back? Light blue touch paper, hit send.”

“What are you grinning about?’ asked his boss.

“Well, let’s just say someone has made me an offer I can’t refuse” he replied, still smiling and reading the email for the fourth time in a row.

He had anticipated the Europe trip for ages but now, just as his journey began, he wanted to get off the train and fly straight home. Of course that wasn’t happening so he would just grin and bear it. First things first though, he needed to reply. What to say to a message like that? He opted for simple but cool, “Thank you….home on Friday. Book a half day holiday?”

              “Yes.”She responded almost immediately.

#

Friday couldn’t come quick enough. He could think of little else. He just wanted to see her again but more than that, he wanted to know what made her send the text and why. When he thought about Lucinda for any length of time, he realised he knew so little about her, other than what she told him in his apartment or the car journey they briefly shared and that wasn’t much at all.