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"Bye, Simon, nice talking to you," Diane called after him as she watched him disappear into the crowd.
Sylvia got out of her chair and rushed over to Diane. "Diane, what on Earth did you say to Simon? I've never seen him look so agitated, he's normally so relaxed."
Diane turned to her sister. "Nothing, honestly, we had a chat and then he left. I didn't put my foot in it, honestly I didn't."
"You sure about that, Diane?"
Diane shrugged. "Ok, I might have said one thing. It was nothing, really. I just pointed out that his shoes didn't match his suit. Maybe, I shouldn't have gone on about it so much, I suppose."
"Oh no, you didn't Diane? No wonder you scared him off. Simon was in a road accident a month ago, he got knocked off his racing bike and he narrowly avoided breaking his ankle. That's why he's not wearing dress shoes, because of the lack of ankle support. If he doesn't heal quickly he'll miss the London marathon. He's been quite upset about it."
Diane felt the heat rising to her face, she dropped her head and sighed, "Oh no, how could I be so insensitive? He must think I'm a complete cow. I'll go and apologize right now."
Sylvia put a hand on Diane's shoulder. "No, stay where you are, where I can keep an eye on you, and take it easy on the champagne. Let him cool down first. I'll talk to him. Leave it to me ok?"
"Ok, I promise, and I won't talk to any more guys today." Diane felt like going home but it was too early to leave. And she'd liked Simon too. That just made the whole situation even worse. He was certainly not her type but he was easy to talk to. It was like gran had said, take some time to find out what the person is like before judging them. Now if only she could ease up on being so critical.
* * *
Diane and her faithful four legged companion, Twisty, were walking in the park when she spotted a familiar figure running towards her. It couldn't be, could it? It was. She felt her heart beat faster as Simon ran up along side her.
"Hiya, Diane, that's a beautiful labrador. What's her name?" Simon smiled and puffed.
"Oh hi, Simon, this is Twisty," Diane smiled as she took in Simon's muscular physique in his tight lycra running shorts and skin tight top. He looked even better than she expected and she wondered for a fleeting moment what he'd look like naked.
Simon crouched down and gave Twisty a vigorous rub behind her ears as she snuggled into his lap.
"It looks like she likes you," Diane smiled as she tried to stop staring at Simon's broad chest and big shoulders.
Simon wiped the sweat from his forehead. "She's lovely. I have a dog myself, a border collie. I walk him in this corner of the park, actually. Funny, isn't it?I've never seen you in the park before and now I've seen you twice in two days."
"Maybe it's fate," Diane laughed. "And by the way, I'm terribly sorry about the way I spoke to you yesterday, I was quite rude. I feel terrible about it. I really do."
"Don't worry, it's all in the past, Sylvia spoke to me about it and I looked for you later on in the evening but I couldn't see you anywhere. She said you'd left before you could put your foot in it again," Simon laughed.
Diane smiled and forced herself to maintain eye contact even though what she really wanted was to check out his butt in the tight black spandex. "Yeah, I do have a reputation for that in my family. Particularly at weddings for some reason."
Simon checked his sports watch. "Anyway, I've got more miles to clock in before it gets dark, let's meet up another day. How about we walk the dogs together tomorrow, say, I meet you just over there at the fountain at 6?"
Diane pulled out her phone. "I'm not sure. I think I've got to work late tomorrow and I don't have my diary with me. Let's swap numbers. I'll text you to confirm."
After swapping numbers, Simon sprinted off into the distance and Diane walked along at a leisurely pace, she looked at Twisty, "So, what do you think? He's hot isn't he? Would you like to go walk walk with his dog? Maybe we could double date, I know you'd like a boyfriend too. I'm free tomorrow evening and I know you are, what you say we go for it?"
Diane felt good. Maybe Simon and her could get along even if he was a bit of a geek. She'd have to ov
er look that, ignore his footwear and get him a haircut. Only a few minor changes and she'd be fine about being seen out with him. Nothing unreasonable about that. A girl needs to have standards you know.
Back in her flat, Diane flicked through the London Evening Standard and scanned the business section with disinterest in her search for the movie listings. She was shocked to find herself looking at a photo of Simon.
"Simon Balfort, the software entrepreneur, today announced the sale of his company for an undisclosed sum to a New York based company. Industry insiders suggest that the deal went through for a figure in the region of $24 million in an all cash transaction. Mr.Balfort declined to comment."
Diane put the paper down and stared at Twisty. "You're not going to believe this, Twisty. Simon is loaded, and yes he is a geek but not just any geek, a very successful one. Now if only I can sort out his hair. What do you think, Twisty?"
Diane grabbed her phone and sent a quick text to Simon: "all ok for 6pm tomorrow".
* * *
At 6 p.m. precisely Simon stood by the fountain with Chobi, his border collie. He looked around and couldn't see Diane anywhere. "Ok Chobi, we'll give them 5 minutes and that's it, we don't have all day to be waiting around like this." Simon furrowed his brow and checked his phone for messages, he exhaled slowly and pursed his lips. Where was she?
