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"Shortly after that heart to heart with Aunt Greta I was at a dance in the village hall and I remembered what she had said. I had fun with my friends and we giggled, laughed and teased the boys. Then, I noticed one boy I'd never spoken to before. He was looking at me, he asked me to dance and afterwards we sat and talked. He asked to meet me the next day and I said yes even though I would usually have said no.
"We met the following day and talked, and talked, and talked. I'd never talked so much to a boy before. He was just so interesting and he seemed genuinely interested in me. I found all of this quite strange. When I looked at him he just wasn't my type, he didn't look the way a boyfriend should look as far as I was concerned. He was a little skinny, kind of nervous and a little hyperactive as you'd call it today. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him. By the end of that summer we were inseparable and still, we were just friends because he wasn't in the boyfriend box as per my requirements. Then one day, he told me his family were going to France for two weeks and I didn't mind. I had plenty to keep me busy.
"Funny thing is, I missed him terribly. Those were the longest two weeks of my life. And the best, because it showed me I loved him very much. We've been together ever since. We've not had a day apart in all that time."
"That's beautiful gran. But please, don't forget the secret." Diane whispered as she squeezed her grandmother's hand.
"Ah, the secret, I almost forget. Thank you for the reminder," her grandmother teased, "The secret is to see people as they are not as you think they are. In other words get to know a boy first before deciding if he's a good match for you."
Diane sat back in her chair. "Hmm, interesting. I've never looked at it like that. I'll have to think about this."
Diane looked up as her grandfather approached their table. "My bride, here are your mints, freshly made today," kissing his wife on the cheek, Diane's grandfather smiled and then turned to Diane, "Thank you for keeping my good wife company while I was gone. Did you two have a good chat?"
"Yes, we did, granddad. It was very interesting, she told me all about how you two met, wait until I tell Sarah the gossip." Diane giggled and sauntered back to the party.
Diane found Sarah on the dance floor, Sarah was a beautiful bride, she was beaming and she couldn't her eyes off her husband. Diane was so happy for her, maybe, that would be her one day.
A slow number came on, and Diane reacted automatically and made for the bar. Out of nowhere a hand touched her shoulder and a deep voice said, "You're the one and only, Diane, right? Would you like to danc
e?" Before she could think up a good enough excuse she found herself dancing.
"I'm Simon, a friend of your sister, Sylvia, we're neighbors actually, I moved in across the street from her a few months ago. She told me to say hello to you so I'm doing what I'm told," he grinned.
"Oh, nice to meet you, Simon, I'm Diane, well, you already knew that. I'm a little tipsy, too much champagne flowing today, you know what it's like." Diane smiled back at him.
As they danced Diane had a good look at this new man and she liked what she saw but with a few reservations. He appeared to be about 40, he was tall, well built and looked like a guy who liked to work out. His broad chest filled the jacket of his tailored navy suit and he wore a lovely dark green silk tie, his brown hair was long, down past his collar. But his shoes, oh no, his shoes were all wrong, they were burgundy hiking shoes, he looked ready to go on a 10 mile march. He was handsome but he also looked like a geek. Kind of nerdy. He wasn't much of a dancer either.
When the song came to an end, Diane's natural reaction was to thank Simon for the dance and to disappear into the crowd, years of practice made this second nature, she had great expertise when it came to this. Before she could, Simon spoke up, "Diane, could you help me take some drinks over to Sylvia's table?"
"Of course, if you can make a bee line for the bar, I'll follow you," Diane answered, surprised at what she was saying.
"Great, follow me," Simon led the way.
Four bottles of champagne and tray of glasses later they joined Sylvia's table and shared a toast to the bride. A little light headed Diane turned to Simon and couldn't help herself asking, "So tell me Simon, what's with those shoes?"
Simon frowned, "I love these shoes. What do you mean? They're really comfortable and I walk a lot. Before I got here I did a quick lap of the lake in Hyde Park."
Diane looked away from his shoes. "Oh, I see, practical but just not that becoming with that fine suit. I love Hyde Park by the way, it's my favorite park in London. I love feeding the ducks, it cracks me up the way they swim about like that."
Simon drank some more champagne. "Yeah, it's a great park, I jog there every evening, I'm what people generally call a fitness fanatic."
"I can see that, I took you for a fitness guy, so I wasn't wrong," Diane laughed as she drained another glass. "So, do you like weddings?"
"To be honest they 're not my favorite thing. I've been to a few too many over the last year or so. It's like everyone I know got married at the same time. I could do with a break from dressing up on the weekends. It's really getting in the way of my training for the London marathon." Simon explained.
Diane had another drink. "Hmm, so I'm not the only one who is wedding phobic. I thought it was just me. I'm not that busy on weekends so at least it gets me out of the house, that's how I justify it to myself, dressing up like this in a bright pink dress."
Simon put his glass down and moved closer to Diane. "You look great. If you were wearing white I'd have guessed you were the bride. You're lovely."
Diane tried to suppress a blush and failed. Feeling awkward at the unexpected compliment she repeated to herself: he's a geek, he's a geek, control yourself Diane, stay calm Diane.
"Oh thanks, I do have a lot of experience when it comes to weddings, maybe that's what it is". Diane joked hoping she hadn't blushed too much, hoping he hadn't seen the effect he'd had on her."
Simon was surprised to see the red glow in Diane's cheeks. "Don't be embarrassed, please. I was just saying you looked beautiful because it's true."
"Thank you, that's very kind of you. But, anyway, what are we going to do about those silly shoes of yours?" Diane joked.
Simon sighed and stood up, "Lovely to meet you, Diane, I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. There's some people I promised to catch up with. See you later." Simon turned on his heel and stormed off.
