better, even if it was only a token gesture. Another lesson he had learned from the increasing visits from the black dog was that just as the slightest thing could send him off into blackness also distraction and doing positive things, even only vaguely positive in fact could lift him and lighten him. The act of retrieving, washing and sorting into bagged carriers that he could take to the recycling centre made him feel virtuous. He could drop them off when he went to the supermarket.
Which might as well be the next job, he decided. Ideally he preferred to get to the supermarket early or to do his shopping late night. By Saturday afternoon the world and his wife packed the aisles adding to the stress of something he already disliked. He looked at his watch. It was getting late but better now than later.
Grabbing his jacket, coat and keys, Dan carried the three bulging carriers of recycling down the two flights of stairs to the ground floor and then outside. He then stood stupidly looking at the place where his car should have been.
And wasn’t.
‘Oh bollocks!’ he said quite loudly.
The car was, of course, safely in the office car park.
Cursing under his breath, Dan walked briskly to the bins and threw his carefully sorted recycling in with everyone else’s rubbish. As soon as the lid slammed shut, as if to mock him a splatter of rain announced the arrival of a heavy shower.
Morosely he trudged to the bus stop. He was still 50 yards away when a bus arrived, dropped off a single passenger, then pulled straight off, even though Dan was sure the driver had seen him running. He stood and sheltered under the cover of the stop and read the electronic display. It told him that the next one was due in 15 minutes.
It arrived 28 minutes later.
As he settled into his seat having paid what he felt was an extortionate amount for his ticket he felt his mobile vibrate. It was a text: ‘Really, really sorry about last night. Are you still talking to me? Jen xxx’
Kisses, hmm, he thought. He wondered how much she remembered about last night. He found that he could remember a fair bit, the softness of her lips, the firm yet yielding nature of her breasts when she pressed up against him, her warmth, her scent. It had been too long since he had been that close to an attractive woman. It would be fun to explore all of the above further he decided.
But then he remembered that this was the first time he had thought about Jenny – Jen – since he had left her last night whereas Tess had occupied his waking thoughts and even his dreams virtually all the time since he had met her. It was Tess that he had hoped to find in his bed this morning. Given that would it be right to string Jen along? But then again, Tess kept vanishing on him and he had no idea whether she was interested in him in that way, certainly not in the way Jen seemed to be, though God knows why she was. And she needed a reply, he hadn’t been upset by her last night. He didn’t want her feeling bad.
He decided to send a light, polite text back, saying that he hoped her head wasn’t too bad and that she was feeling OK. He was hoping that she would have forgotten about her asking him to go clubbing or else wouldn’t be feeling up to it. Right at this moment he felt a lot older than 33 and couldn’t think of anything he would like to do less.
At the office, his was the only car left in the car park. He felt a stab of admiration and jealously at his colleagues greater powers of recovery.
As he was about to turn out of the car park entrance he noticed the florist opposite and this gave him an idea. He reversed back, left the car and hurried over the road. Minutes later he was putting what he though was a horrendously expensive but surprisingly small bouquet of flowers onto the back seat. He hoped it would say sorry for falling asleep better than words could.
It was then he realised that he neither had Tess’s number nor knew where she lived. Sure, he knew that it had to be somewhere in the apartment block where he had met her but he didn’t know which flat and