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Six Years Before I Do
As Fred held the door open and Audrey stepped outside the café, she saw with surprise that the rain had stopped. Fred suggested they walk down to Hyde Park.
‘Where were you headed, before you spotted me on the platform?’ he asked.
‘The dentist, and then the library,’ she said, grimacing. ‘I should call to reschedule, but I don’t have a phone right now. I managed to put mine through the wash yesterday – it’s currently sitting in a bag of rice.’
‘I don’t know if that trick works after a whole spin cycle.’
‘I have faith.’ She grinned. ‘The rice trick hasn’t failed me yet.’
‘Do you want to use mine?’ he asked. She shook her head. ‘I’ll feel responsible if your dentist blacklists you and all your teeth fall out.’
‘Well, you can feed me puréed churros if they do.’
‘Deal.’
When they got to the park, there was a brass band playing on the bandstand. It was an upbeat, joyous tune, and Fred started to swing his hips, dancing his way along the path just as the sun came out from behind a cloud. He was a good dancer with natural rhythm, as though the music were pulling him in time with the notes. Audrey usually only liked to dance in the anonymity of a dark nightclub, but Fred took her hand and swung her around, encouraging her to move with him.
The conductor must have seen them dancing on the grass, because the music changed, and the band started to play ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. Fred threw down his bags in delight and pulled Audrey into an up-tempo waltz around the bandstand. His hands were firm and confident clasping her waist and hand. It was exhilarating and for a moment, she felt as though she were flying.
What was she doing here?Dancing around the park with a stranger? This was not how Audrey had predicted her Saturday would go. She’d thought she’d be getting a filling replaced followed by several hours of linear algebra, not being transported into some 1950s musical theatre fantasy. Fred began singing, making up the words, and Audrey felt a swell of delight, his enthusiasm infectious.
‘Did you arrange this?’ she asked, slightly breathless, as he spun her around and around on the grass in broad daylight.
‘Yes, I called ahead. I like to have a full brass band on standby whenever I have a date with a beautiful girl.’
‘This is a date, is it?’ she asked, unable to hide her smile.
‘A fortuitous meeting,’ he said with exaggerated grandeur.
When the music came to an end, the band put down their instruments to applaud their dancing. Audrey and Fred both bowed and clapped for the band in return. A few onlookers cheered, and an elderly man with a shock of white hair came over to tell them that seeing them dance like that had made his day. Unlike her mother, Audrey had never been much of an exhibitionist, but for some reason, today she didn’t mind being the centre of attention.
They left the bandstand and walked further into the park.
‘You know, you’re just what I imagined you’d be like,’ Fred said, looking across at her with a dimpled grin. ‘Sexy and smart.’
‘So are you,’ she said, then blushed. ‘You have this infectious energy, like you’re hungry to live every moment all at once.’
‘I do want to live every moment,’ he agreed. ‘I don’t want to wake up in fifty years with any regrets. I think as soon as you stop wanting to learn, explore, change things, that’s when you get old.’ Fred looked out across the park, then reached down and firmly clasped her hand. The intimacy of it made her stomach feel deliciously molten. ‘If this was our first date, what would you want to do?’
‘Something unforgettable,’ she said breathlessly.
He grinned and started pulling her along faster and faster until they were both running through the park.
Further south, beside the Serpentine, was a fairground. Fred led her straight to the Ferris wheel, where they queued for a ticket. They bought warm nuts, which smelled of hot sugar and cold days, to eat in the queue.
‘A Ferris wheel? Nice, but it’s not exactly original first date territory,’ she teased.
Fred turned around to the queue of people behind them and said, loudly, ‘She’s a harsh critic, ladies and gentlemen.’
‘Shhhh,’ Audrey said, pulling him back around to face the front.
He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. ‘We’re not just riding it. We’re going to jump off it.’
She rolled her eyes, assuming he was joking. ‘Why would we do that?’
‘Because it’s the best way to get to know someone.’
