Peter’s Predicament – Part 1

Peter was not sure how to react to the news that he had just received. He was sitting in his car in the car park at the office, clutching his mobile phone. He looked out at the building that might as well have been a prison and let out a sigh. His mother-in-law was in the hospital and his wife was not taking it well. He had just got off the phone with her and she had explained how her mother had most likely had a stroke when she collapsed whilst they were out shopping that morning. This had not yet been confirmed by the doctors but he had still heard Diane’s distress through the phone; understandably. But then again, his wife had a tendency to over-react about anything and everything. He rolled his eyes at the thought of her stressing out and making everything a bigger deal than it needed to be.

Diane’s mere presence had become irritating to Peter lately. Just seeing her plod out of their en-suite bathroom with her dressing gown pulled tightly round her thickened waist annoyed him. Her voice, particularly when she was on the phone to her mother, grated on him. Her comments made him want to snap at her.

The frenzy of his phone ringing and vibrating jolted him out of his trance. Even that annoyed him; he knew it was her before he had even looked, despite only just ending their first phone call. He could hear her moaning at him before he even answered.
“Hello?” he answered after a few rings.
“Hi, have you left the office yet?” she asked quickly.
“I’m just in the car. Leaving now,” he replied calmly.
“Ok, can I just ask you to pick up some lunch for me and William on your way over please?” she asked, too sweetly in Peter’s opinion. “Get something for yourself too of course if you’re hungry,” she added.
“Will do. Any particular requests or shall I just pick up a couple of sandwiches from the supermarket by the hospital?” he asked.
“Sandwiches would be fine. Thank you, Peter,” she said.
“No problem. I’ll see you in a bit,” he replied, before they said their goodbyes and hung up. Maybe he was being too harsh on her. He often felt this way after getting irritated by Diane, like he was blowing things out of proportion. After all, she was always civil and polite to him. She still always made him his morning coffee and asked him what he would like for dinner. The guilt and the irritation ran alongside one another, most of the time without disturbing one another and sometimes they bumped along the way, grinding against one another.

Peter started the car and headed off towards the hospital. On his way he thought about the guilt he was feeling and berated himself for getting annoyed with her all the time. But sometimes he just couldn’t help it. He thought about his son, William, who was 13 years old. He was entering that horrendous teenage phase where nobody mattered but himself, although Peter had to admit, William seemed to be much better behaved than some his colleagues’ children. William was their only child and he had a soft side that meant he was very close with his mother.
Peter and Diane tried to have a second child for a fair number of years but failed to do so. Peter had offered Diane IVF treatment but she refused, firmly believing that this was nature’s way and that if she couldn’t get pregnant without intervention, then it shouldn’t happen. Peter, if pushed, would admit that he was a bit relieved to hear this, not because he didn’t want another child but mainly because of the cost involved with the treatment. It wasn’t even simply the cost; it was the fact that paying that much money would not have even guaranteed that the procedure would be successful. So William ended up an only child; a much-loved child who was the apple of his mother’s eye. Diane was good with William though. She didn’t smother him but kept herself at a close enough to ensure that nothing too serious would go wrong. She liked to think that she knew everything in and about her son’s life and he didn’t seem too bothered by this. Probably because it wasn’t true, Peter thought to himself. Probably because there is quite a lot she might not know. He’s a good kid though, so Peter wasn’t too worried.

Turning the corner and into the small shop car park, Peter looked around for a space to park the car. He parked, got out and walked into the shop. He slowly browsed the sandwiches for Diane’s requests and picked up some crisps, chucking everything into his basket rather carelessly. It’s not how Diane would have done it. She would have picked things up carefully, inspected several packets and slowly placed them into the basket to avoid shaking them up or disfiguring anything. Peter shook his head at the thought of the way Diane would do the shopping. Everything done with meticulous care and dedication. Why?

Peter paid for their lunch and turned away from the checkout to head towards the door. Whilst counting his change quickly, a lady standing in the aisle opposite the checkout caught his eye. She was looking at the chocolate selection, trying to make a sensible choice, no doubt. A figure like that was not maintained by being careless with chocolate. She was wearing an expensive-looking tight-fitting, tailored suit. Navy blue trousers, a white silk blouse and a light brown blazer over the top, were teamed with a pair of brown high-heeled shoes; Jimmy Choo or Louboutins most likely. These were the only brands that Peter had heard of and this lady’s outfit looked like it was worth a considerable amount. Peter stood for a moment to admire how her suit hugged her curvaceous body in all the right places. He watched her flick her long honey-coloured highlighted hair as she knelt down to inspect the lower rows of sweet choices. As Peter was becoming more and more mesmerised by her, the lady must have felt that she was being watched and suddenly looked directly at him. Immediately under pressure, Peter quickly pretended to be looking at the products directly in front of him; female hygiene products. Great! Of course she came swanning over, smoothly with minimal effort. She peered over at him trying to get his attention.

“Hi,” she said. When Peter looked at her, she was smiling. “Do I know you?” she asked.
Peter was genuinely surprised. He may have been ogling and although he didn’t want to believe it, she probably caught him doing so, but it never occurred to him that she might come over and speak with him. But she did, and to begin with, he did not deal with this well.
He stared at her rather blankly and proceeded to trip over his words and mumble something that was nearly incoherent. The lady looked at him curiously and asked him to clarify. “Sorry?” she asked. “Do I know you at all?” she repeated.
Peter pulled himself together. “No, I don’t think so. Do you recognise me from anywhere?” he asked her, much clearer than his first attempt. Phew!
“Perhaps,” she smiled at him and then added, “I’m sure I recognise you from somewhere.”
Peter looked back at her, unsure of what to say. The truth was that he did not recognise her from anywhere. He had no idea who she was but he did want to keep talking to her for a little longer. So he smiled back and said, “I’m not sure. Do you live around here?”
“I’m just passing through on business actually, so no I don’t,” she replied, still unconvinced that they don’t know each other. She sighed at the same time as Peter took a deep breath.
“Perhaps I know you from another time then. Maybe from uni or something,” she trailed.
Suddenly Peter felt like he should take the lead for a bit. He had so far felt rather silly.
“Ah, where did you study?” he asked her confidently.
“I studied Social Work at Royal Holloway in London. How about you?” she replied, flicking her hair over her shoulder lightly. It gave off a lovely whiff of shampoo.
“Oh, I read English Literature there!” he cried in disbelief. There was no way that Peter knew this lady back at university and couldn’t remember.
She smiled at him, satisfied that she had identified him correctly. Like she had won something.
“You’re Peter, right? Peter Wilson?”
Peter was stunned into silence for a moment. As though to save Peter from his obvious surprise and embarrassment she then calmly added, “I’m Lisa. Lisa Hutchins; I think we were in the same halls of residence in our first year.”
“In Founder’s Hall?” he asked her.
She nodded, nearly laughing now.
“How do you remember me? That’s amazing!” he said, speaking his mind exactly.
“I think you’ll find a lot of people know you from Uni. People that you don’t even know exist,” she said, the smile fading off her face.
Peter wasn’t sure what to say in reply to this, so there was a moment of slightly awkward silence. It was obviously more awkward for Peter because Lisa quickly broke the silence.
“I know you’re probably on your way somewhere and this might be a bit out of order but would you like to pop over to Costa across the street for a coffee or catch up?”
Peter thought of Diane waiting for him at the hospital with William and became torn with the decision he was now faced with. He decided it would be best not to give himself much time to think about it and quickly accepted the invitation. They paid for their respective products and headed out to the coffee shop across the street.