Summer Loving

by Spicer, Rivka

  “Yes ma’am!” Still smiling he went to find his notes and behind his back Elise silently punched the air in glee. She could do this. She was going to get this man a date if it killed her.

  Chapter 5

  When Elise got home that night after a busy afternoon going over all of Mark’s hidden talents and writing copious notes for the profile they were going to create on Friday she was exhausted and decided she wanted nothing better than to have a long soak in the bath. Nathan wasn’t coming over because he had stuff to do so she put some music on, ran a bath, shucked off her clothes and climbed gratefully into the tub with one of her borrowed books to relax for a couple of hours, topping up the water every time the temperature dropped. It was blissful.

  Because she’d done her blog post for that evening the night before she nearly didn’t even switch her computer on when she towelled off and put her pyjamas on but then she realised she hadn’t had an email about it and if there were edits she would totally have missed the deadline. She swore. Loudly. Luckily there weren’t any edits but the email she had from Taylor was just as confusing.

  Dear Elise, he said, I was surprised to read your blog post. Were his pictures really that good? Seems to be going well. Glad you’ve taken to it so naturally. Taylor x

  There was a kiss. What the hell did that mean? He’d gone from nothing, to barely civil, to suddenly sentences of more than two words followed by a kiss. The phone rang as she frowned at the screen and she picked it up, barely looking at the screen before she answered.

  “Hey beautiful lady!” Nathan sounded tired but cheerful. “How did your day go? Was the photographer a success?”

  “Definitely.” The memory made her smile. “Turns out it wasn’t just me – he was so impressed he’s taking Mark to his studio to build a portfolio tomorrow. They’re going to pitch to a gallery for an exhibition of his work. I knew it was special!”

  “That’s excellent news! I’m so pleased for you but even more for him. He must be delighted.”

  “Yeah he is.” Elise closed the laptop without drafting a response to the email. Taylor could wait until tomorrow. She didn’t need the headache right now. She just wanted to laugh with Nathan and get an early night. “How was your day?”

  “Nothing special but I was good when I got home and did all my chores.” He sighed. “We’ve been invited to my mum’s for dinner on Saturday. You up for that or is that just a little too scary at this early stage in our relationship?”

  “We’ve been invited or you’ve been invited?” Elise asked curiously and he burst out laughing.

  “We. Harry got straight on the phone to my mum the morning after the barbecue. She’s tamping that I didn’t tell her about you myself.”

  “But we weren’t even together then!” Elise protested, amused despite herself. “You surely don’t tell her about relationships that don’t exist?”

  “That’s what I told her.” He started to laugh. “That was when she started shouting at me for not telling her on Sunday after we did get together.”

  “She shouted at you?” Elise was torn between trying not to giggle and being horrified.

  “Well...not really.” He conceded. “But she was hurt. So we need to make nice. She’s the cream in the centre of my family’s Victoria sponge. You don’t want her to go off...ruins the whole cake.”

  “She’s the cream in the family cake?” Elise couldn’t help it, she snorted with laughter and then burst into outright laughing. “That’s a good one. I might have to use it.”

  “Be my guest.” He sounded pleased. “So yes or no? I need to call her back tonight and let her know.”

  “Yes okay, I’ll go with you. Just let me know times and things and I’ll be there with bells on.”

  “Excellent.”

  On Thursday morning Elise sat at her computer and stared again at the email from Taylor. She wasn’t meeting Mark until 10am so she really did need to send some sort of response before she left the apartment or Taylor might think she had spurned his peace offering. If indeed a peace offering is what it was.

  After a good fifteen minutes of staring at the screen she got angry with herself and clicked the reply button.

  Thanks Taylor. Yes, his pictures really are that good. The photographer I took yesterday thought so too. One day when Mark wins a Pulitzer you’ll be able to say with pride that it was Monochrome who discovered him. I’m feeling pretty hopeful that we’ll get him a date but we shall see. Elise

  Her hand hovered over the x. To kiss or not to kiss? That was indeed the question. Adding one in response to his seemed the polite thing to do but what if he had switched personalities again overnight and wasn’t feeling as magnanimous as he had the day before? It was at times like this that you needed a rule book for male-female correspondence issues. The Idiots Guide to Talking to Guys.

  After another fifteen minutes of vacillating between staring at the x and staring at the screen she got annoyed with herself all over again and hit the full stop, clicking send on the email. She reasoned that any guy who blew hot and cold all the time needed to learn not to treat women that way. She wasn’t going to be affectionate until such time as he provided a reasonable explanation for his behaviour. She was not some door mat to be picked up and put down as he saw fit. Feeling empowered and righteous she grabbed her shoes and bag and left the apartment ready for her meeting with Mark.

  He was full of excitement and anticipation for his afternoon at the photography studio. He confessed he’d been up for a large portion of the night digging out negatives and flash drives with his photographs on to contribute to his portfolio and he’d organised to head in at 2pm. Since that only left them 3 hours together at most, given that he had to travel to get to the studio, Elise suggested that they go for brunch to put into place the next part of her plan.

  He took her to a nearby restaurant that served swanky food, the kind that dished up on plates made of some fossilized animal or other. Elise paled a little when she saw the prices, wondering how on earth she’d gloss that over with the expenses department, but Mark saw her expression and laughed.

  “It’s my treat.” He told her generously after they had ordered. “You’ve changed my life for the better. Consider this my way of saying thank you.”

  “That’s very kind but you may not feel so generous when I tell you what I have planned for today.” Elise admitted and he immediately looked nervous.

  “On a scale of one to ten how much am I going to hate it?” He asked tentatively and she grinned.

  “That depends entirely on you.” She fished around in her bag and produced an elastic band. “Please put this on your wrist.” She handed it across the table to him and he stared at her like she had completely lost the plot. “Go on.” She urged so he put it over his hand. “Good. Now, you and I are going to have a pleasant conversation like we are on a date and meeting for the first time and every time you say something negative about yourself I get to ping that elastic until you learn to stop putting yourself down all the time.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He was still staring at her like she’d gone nuts and she burst out laughing.

  “No, I’m not kidding.” Turning serious, she took his hand and looked him straight in the eye. “When we first met you spent the whole of our first conversation basically telling me you hated your job, you hated internet dating and you were a worthless human being. I’ve spent the last couple of days proving to you that you’re not worthless and that you have very special gifts. Now I need you to learn to behave like a person of worth. It doesn’t matter how special you are, if you keep putting yourself down all the time women aren’t going to want to spend time with you.”

  To her astonishment his eyes filled with tears. “You’re right.” He took his hand back and wiped his face. “I guess I didn’t feel like I had anything to be thankful for.”

  “And now?” Asked Elise gently, a little surprised at the intensity of his reaction.

  “I’m not a worthless human being.
” He said quietly after a moment’s pause. “If it had just been you telling me my pictures were great I might not have believed you but Mark genuinely believes they’re good as well. You could see it in his eyes. I have a gift.”

  “Yes. You do.” Well this was an unexpectedly successful breakthrough and Elise was terrified it was going to come crashing in any second now.

  “I know I have a long way to go.” He told her honestly. “I’ve always been negative and I’ve always taken the criticisms of others to heart. I think maybe it’s time to address that.”

  “Well, what goes around comes around.” Elise nodded firmly. “I’ve always believed that. If you attack life with negativity then that’s what you get in response, but if you attack it with positivity you’ll reap the rewards of that over time.”

  “I’d rather you didn’t put this in your blog but I’m going to get counselling.” He declared abruptly and then his face sagged in on itself as though he was relieved he had admitted this. “I...there are things...”

  Sensing he was about to reveal something massively personal Elise reached across and covered his hand. “Mark, you don’t have to tell me this if you don’t want to.”

  “No I do.” He scrubbed his face again. “It’s just difficult. I’ve never really spoken to anyone about it before but I think I need to.”

  “Okay.” Elise settled in for the long haul. “I’m listening.”

  Over the next two hours as they ate he told her a story that was both sad and mesmerising. His father had been an alcoholic when he was growing up and had regularly beaten him and his mother to a pulp. His mother had killed herself when Mark was 17 and he had left home to study accountancy in an effort to get away. His father had died, just before Mark took his finals, of liver cirrhosis and Mark hadn’t been to see him in the hospital. With his self-confidence at an all time low he had fallen into the classic pattern of ending up in an abusive relationship that had lasted almost 6 years. He had finally left her, a broken man, after she had landed him in surgery with a well placed golf club to the nether regions. With no outside help he had slowly built up his career and in the process had become a bitter, lonely and defensive man.

  “But I’m ready to get help.” He told her quietly. “I don’t want to be this way anymore. You showed me that I need to be able to trust people because otherwise I’m going to totally self-destruct without ever actually living my life.” His eyes welled up again. “I don’t want to become my father.”

  “You won’t.” Elise told him fiercely. “Admitting you need help is the first step towards fixing this and I know you can do it. I believe you can do it. Can I help? Do you want me to look into counsellors for you?”

  “No it’s okay.” He smiled tremulously. “I looked online after I left my ex and there’s a male equivalent to the women’s refuge but I was never brave enough or feeling worthy enough to actually call. I was going to look up the number and call them after I get home from the studio this afternoon.”

  “Good. Well...if you want me to come with you I can.” Elise offered. “Or you can call me afterwards if you don’t want to be on your own. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

  He looked as though he was about to say something and then the tears spilled over. “Excuse me.” Abruptly he got up and left the table, heading for the men’s room at the back of the restaurant. Elise watched him go with a heavy heart. When she had considered this whole venture she’d had no idea at all that it would end up being so emotional and she found herself wondering if she would have been brave enough to attempt it if she’d had even the slightest inkling of the journey it would take her on with Mark. She sighed. Probably not, but now that she was here she was going to stick with it, whichever way it led. She had set Mark’s feet on a journey towards becoming whole and she would see it through with him, independent of the feature and the magazine. After a lifetime of being given up on and abused she was damned if she was going to abandon him too. He deserved more. The trust he had placed in her was humbling.

  When he returned from the bathroom his eyes were a little red but dry and his shoulders were a little straighter.

  “Are you okay?” She asked quietly and he nodded.

  “I am. I feel...” he searched for the word and then he smiled. “I feel lighter. I had no idea how much better I feel just from having told someone. Thank you so much.”

  “Don’t thank me – that’s what friends are for.” Elise smiled at him. “I’m glad it’s helped. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

  “Yes.” His smile was dazzling. “I suppose it is.”

  When they got up to leave he paid the bill and then they stood in the sunshine outside. They were going in opposite directions and as far as the feature was concerned they wouldn’t be seeing each other again. She would spend the following day writing up her blog and magazine article and he would be spending the morning re-drafting his dating profile for her to approve. Neither had any doubt they would see each other again but it would be as friends and not as partakers in a feature.

  Impulsively he reached out and hugged her and she held him tightly for a few moments, trying to silently pass him strength. “Keep in touch okay?” She told him. “I’m not talking about emailing me your profile. I want to know how you get on with the counselling and if you have dates. I want to know how the photography goes. You’ve got my number. You can call me any time.”

  “I will.” Shyly he plucked at the elastic band still encircling his wrist. “Can I keep this?” He asked and she grinned.

  “Of course you can.” She burst out laughing. “Who knew an elastic band could be so life changing?”

  “I’ll never look at one in the same way again.” He agreed, plucking at it again in a way she just knew was going to become a habit. “I suspect I’ll wear this one until it wears out.”

  “I have a box on my desk so let me know when it does and I’ll send you another one.” She joked. “You’d better go or you’ll be late.”

  He checked his watch. “Yes, you’re right. Thank you again. It’s been an incredible experience.”

  “No, thank you.” She hugged him again. “Be well Mark. Be happy.”

  “You too.”

  As she watched him walk away down the street it seemed to her as though he grew in stature with every step. Four days ago he had been a small and lonely man. Now he was probably the finest photographer she had ever met and had a friend prepared to help slay his personal demons. It was a good result and she felt both proud and humbled to be a part of it.

  So here we are at the end of week one. To describe it as epic would be like comparing a hurricane to a fart. It’s been life changing for both of us and while that sounds grossly melodramatic I’m prepared to stake my health and well-being on it not being an overstatement of the situation.

  The idea of getting a photographer to appraise Mark’s work was a good one. Said photographer was incredibly impressed. So impressed, in fact, that he has offered him an association with his studio and together they will be pitching to galleries to exhibit and sell Mark’s work. I’m so proud of him I feel like I could burst. A few days ago he felt he had nothing of worth to write about himself and now, for the first time in his life, he’s realising that actually there is a lot about him that’s worth writing about.

  He sent me his new profile to read this morning. It tells the story of a man who is passionate about photography. He explains how he sees the world in a way that allows him to take these incredible pictures and has added some of his work to the bottom to illustrate it. I defy any woman to look at them and not fall slightly for the man behind the lens.

  He further tells the story of a man that loves to travel. So many of his photos are taken in third world countries where he has travelled extensively on a shoe string, totally immersing himself in the culture. Beneath his plain words about the places he has been and the people he has met runs an undercurrent of humbleness and affection that’s both endearing and inspiring. I l
earned this morning that he actually speaks four languages fluently and enough pidgin in 6 or 7 others to get by. As a travel companion I suspect he would be second to none. Underneath his gruff city exterior is a proper old-fashioned adventurer and if he was an archaeologist instead of a banker he would be probably be Indiana Jones.

  It was like a master-class in profile writing. Funny, quirky and warm. If he doesn’t get a date on the back of it I will eat my hat. Or at least I would if I had a hat. Failing a hat I will substitute cake. Actually no I won’t. I like cake. I don’t want to want him to fail. Perhaps I should say shoe...yes. If he doesn’t get a date off the back of this new improved profile I will eat any shoe of his choosing.

  But all of this would be nothing without an improvement in his personal manner. I remember back to that first day we met when I was so convinced we were going to fail because he was so bitter and defensive... People, I have discovered a new potential weapon of mass destruction. On a scale of one to amazeballs it rates around the level of awesomesauce. It is both cheap and easily deployable by anyone with absolutely no training.

  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...*drum roll*...the rubber band. (Awaits applause).

  No seriously, I was channelling my inner sadist and was determined to break him of the habit of putting himself down all the time so I cornered him in a restaurant and put an elastic band around his wrist. I told him we were going to pretend we were on a date and that every time he said something negative about himself I was going to ping the elastic band.

  He clearly thinks I’m more of a sadist than I do because, in the entire two and a half hours we talked, he did not say one negative thing about himself. Not one. He said things that were honest and humbling, things that were personal and occasionally painful. There were tears on both our parts and I strongly suspect I now know more about him than any other person on earth.