Peter

Sofas

He text a few times over the next few days. Let me know he'd got back safe, asked how I was the next day and then on Monday, he called.

"Good morning" I chirped

"I promised I'd call,"

"That you did, hi"

"Hey" he paused. I think we were both nervous.

"Did you call to just say hey?" I joked.

"Well, no. I mean yes I called to say hello, but not just that. I'm back in the city at the end of the week and I wondered if you wanted to help me pick a couch"

"Help you pick a couch?"

"Yes. I would have said to go for dinner or drinks or something but current climate we'd have to be outside and I thought you might not want to be photographed out for dinner with an old guy..."

"...you're not old"

"I am quite a bit older than you, anyway, I'm a dreadful procrastinator and I need someone to help me make a decision"

"Are places even open?" I was inquisitive.

"I've made an appointment somewhere. Are you free Thursday afternoon?"

"I can be yes" I smiled down the phone.

"Perfect. Shall I pick you up? Say 3 o'clock?"

"I'll see you then"

"You will" there was a pause before "I'm looking forward to it" and then he hung up.

"You ok?" Dan looked up from his laptop as I was staring at my phone.

"Yeah. I think I have a date" I smiled

"With the tall, married, old guy?"

"With the tall, sexy as fuck, separated, older than me, guy" I corrected.

"Ha! If you say so" he pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked back at his screen. "How old is he?" He asked, before I heard his fingers tapping.

"No don't! Don't Google him!" I tried to stop him by closing the laptop but he batted me away.

"46, not so bad I guess" he continued scrolling and I gave up trying to stop him and my morbid curiosity got the better of me. "Sooo married for like forever, seen as a golden couple - everyone loves Mariska Hartigay, right? Three kids, sounds like a whole lot of drama. Let's Google him shirtless and lighten the mood"

"What you can't Google is - funny, and kind and ridiculously hot" I started to walk away.

"Pretty sure the hot thing is searchable" Dan turned the screen to me and hundreds of thumbnail pictures of Peter looking stunning filled his screen.

"So you can" I walked off feeling rather smug and very excited for the sofa search.

"This one is far too squishy" I sat down and sank back.

"Can a couch be too squishy?" He asked looking down at me struggling to get back up "maybe it can" he took my hands and pulled me back to my feet I stood in front of him rather close and we both paused a second before he smiled and took a deep breath and I spotted a good looking love seat over his shoulder.

"Ooh, this looks good" I pulled his hand behind me and sat us both down on the seat. We sat close, and he wiggled in an over the top manner to get comfy - putting his arm around the back of the seat behind me.

"I like it" he smiled down at me "not too squishy, I feel like I can get up without help" he chuckled.

"It's good, I like it. You should get it" I looked up at him and there was that pause again.
We'd spent the afternoon in easy company again, talking, laughing, I wanted to know everything about him and to tell him everything about me. Something about being around him just felt right! We'd flirted effortlessly, little touches here and there, teases, jokes and now we sat quietly in that pause again, I knew exactly what I wanted to happen.

"I should?" He looked down our eyes meeting, he turned a little and he smiled. His free hand reaching over and brushing my cheek slightly "I should" he said confidently and quietly, before slowly leaning forward and his lips brushing mine.

"You guys found one you like?" The shop guy came walking over from behind us and we jumped apart a little.

"Yeah, I like this one I think" Peter sat up straighter his arm still behind me.

"Great. These are matching and would go well..." the shop assistant started walking towards some other piece and we got up. Peter kept hold of my hand as we followed I glanced down and noticed that the wedding ring that had caught my eye last week was missing. Peter bought several bits of furniture and organised for it to all be delivered to the new house.

"I don't have a plan but I'm not sure I want to say goodbye yet" he smiled down at me after he paid and we gathered our things to leave.

"Me neither. Umm we could walk maybe?"

"Lovely. I could show you the outside of my new place" he smiled before letting go of my hand and holding the door open. We headed out to the street, with masks on photos had become less and less and we could be any one walking down the streets of New York.

His hand brushed mine several times and my heart reacted at the slight contact. What was happening to me! He pointed out a few places; where did good coffee, where some friends lived then we got to the steps of a very nice four storey town house. "And this is going to be me" he smiled up at the building. "There're a few things that I want to do up, nice simple diy projects though. The main building is pretty sound. There's an extension out the back and a little garden. But Central Park is just over there and the kids are just down there" he leant back and looked in the direction of his old house.

"It looks amazing, I don't think I could ever afford to live here"

"Nonsense. You're pretty much a superstar" he smiled. I chuckled I'd done well the last few years but had been a underpaid stage actor before then and had built up a fair bit of debt to my parents and the bank. It was all paid off now, but New York town houses on the upper West side weren't quite within my grasp yet. "You fancy a coffee? No one's home up the street, we could stop by there if you don't have to get straight back?" He suggested.

"Why not, coffee sounds good"