Chapter 1
"Fuck, what is this? You're got a dick."
"Whadda mean? You know I'm transgender."
"I don't . . . I don't, I didn't . . . I didn't fucking know."
"Bullshit, Henry. You cracked onto me at that club. It's well-known there that I'm TG; I don't keep it a secret. Those friends that you were with all know; shit, I went to school with two of them."
"They're not my friends."
"You mean they kept it from you. Come on, I find that hard to believe."
"I didn't know them. I was just standing with them having a bit of a chat when you came along."
Heidi pulled the sheet up over herself. They were lying on her bed and she was now naked. Henry still had his underpants on.
"You said that you'd been to that club before so naturally I expected that you knew some people there."
"Well, that was actually my first time and I didn't know anybody there."
"Ah, right. Trying to impress, were you? Playing the cool clubman, ay?"
"No, no . . . I don't know. I just didn't want to sound like a new boy, that's all."
"Oh, duh."
"Anyway, Heidi, you could have fucking told me when I asked you out."
"Yeah, yeah. I should go around with a sign stuck to my forehead: 'Transgender, watch out'."
"Now don't be stupid. I mean, you look like a girl, you act like a girl, there's no way you can tell that you're not a girl."
"Fuck you, Henry. I am a girl. Different, true, but still a girl."
"Okay, okay, you know what I mean."
"I'm not sure I do."
Henry was lying on his back shaking his head, "Bloody hell, I've been snogging a bloke."
"Now who's being stupid? You been snogging a trans girl, repeat girl, not a bloke."
"I better go."
"Yeah, I suppose you'd better."
But he made no move to get up, instead he said, "Geez, it's such a pity. You're a great-looking chick. This has been terrific date until . . ."
"It's not my fault, but you're right, we did have a good night. I hadn't intended to jump into the sack with you, but you got me all hot."
"Really?"
"Yes, really, and don't tell me that you weren't panting away as well."
"Hell, yeah."
Henry started shaking his head, "Shit, what a cock-up."
"Now, you're trying to be funny."
"I didn't mean it like that, I mean, it's been a balls-up . . . oh, no . . ."
"Just shut up, Henry." Heidi couldn't help herself, she started heaving with laughter, "You're an idiot, just shut up for a while. A cock up and a balls up . . . God, I don't know."
"I should have said stuff up," Henry spoke to the ceiling.
Heidi turned her head towards him, still grinning, "Yeah, that's probably better."
Henry also turned his head. "You're such a doll. How did you come to be a trannie?"
"Don't use that term, it's become associated with the porn industry."
"Sorry."
She let out a long sigh.
Chapter 2
"I'm an only child, and an adopted one at that. My mum couldn't have kids and her health was too poor for her to take on paid employment. She did sewing at home, patchwork stuff like cushion covers, dolls, bedspreads, etc and sold them to bring in a bit of extra money.
People would give her leftover materials and old clothes to use for her patchwork. This included a lot of girls' dresses and other items with their useful colourful patterns. Sometime when I was quite young, I started playing dress-ups, quite openly in front of my parents.
I just kept doing it more and more. I felt better when I was dressed as a girl and I came to realise that I was a girl not a boy.
I would have been ten, I think, when Mum and Dad talked to me at some length over a period of many weeks. Eventually they decided that, okay, I was a girl, and we got the process started shortly thereafter. I became a full-time girl, school and all."
"Did people pick on you, give you . . ."
"Oh yeah, and not just kids either. All I could do was stick it out, I felt that I didn't have a choice. Things did slowly improve over the years, but there is always a few . . ."
"What about work?"
"Yeah, that's been a challenge. I've always been upfront about being trans and that has probably been a mistake. I've done some courses on business management and office procedures, but I have only ever been able to get casual work.
Even the crowd I'm working for now won't make me permanent though I mostly work full-time for them. It's Wacko's, that big variety store in town. They do online orders as well and that's my job: out the back away from the customers doing the online stuff."
"Do you like it?"
"Not really. The pay is no great shakes, but at least it's a job. I'm trying to save up to get my transition finished."
"You mean . . .?" Henry nodded towards her groin.
"Yeah."
"I should go."
"Sure."
Chapter 3
The next morning, Heidi answered the door of her small flat. A large bunch of flowers stood there at eye level.
"What?"
The flowers moved to the side.
"Shit, Henry, what are you doing here? I'm in the middle of cleaning; I probably look a wreck."
"You look fine. Can I come in?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"These are for you. I don't think I behaved very well last night and I've been feeling guilty."
"God, Henry. Look, it was a cock-up, as you put it so graphically; you shouldn't feel guilty. But thank you, I love flowers. I've got a vase because I can sometimes get flowers from Dad's garden."
"So you love flowers, do you?"
"Oh yes, and this is a beautiful big bunch." Heidi was busy arranging the flowers in the vase. "Anyway, how did you manage to get these on a Sunday morning?"
"I have my sources."
"Oh, that looks terrific. Thank you, Henry, thank you so much."
"Tell me, have you ever tried to get a job in a flower shop?"
"No . . . you know, I've never thought about it. I've always looked for office jobs. Hmmm, it would be nice working for a florist, all the lovely flowers . . . but I'm not sure they would want a trans girl dealing with customers."
"The customers needn't know; none of their business."
"Yeah, I suppose not, but I wouldn't feel comfortable deceiving my employer."
"Okay then. How would you like to work for me?"
"What . . .?"
"I have a flower business, Heidi, five retail outlets and a workshop where we prepare the floral arrangements for weddings, funerals, corporate functions and so on."
"You slippery devil. That's where you got these flowers from."
"Of course, but if you don't want them . . ."
"You touch my flowers, you bugger, and I'll give you a black eye."
Henry was laughing, "So what do you say? I can put you in a shop with one of my experienced people and they can teach you all about flower arranging and the associated stuff."
"Are you serious?"
"Absolutely, I think you've got potential."
"Then yes, definitely yes."
Chapter 4
Irene had been managing one of Henry's retail outlets for the past three years. She was an experienced and capable florist and happy in her job. She was also happy to have Heidi as a trainee. She found the young woman to be bright, willing and a quick learner.
However, after a few weeks, Irene began to wonder.
Henry was coming around to the shop far more frequently than was necessary to check on Heidi's progress . . . and they seemed to be rather familiar with each other at times.
"There's something going on there," Irene said to herself.
Then one day, "Irene, I want to have a quiet chat with Heidi about how she's going, so I'm going to take her out to lunch today."
"Okay, Henry."
But then it seemed that he felt the need for more 'quiet chats' because the lunch dates became regular, once a week and sometimes twice a week.
Heidi was very closed-mouthed about her relationship with Henry and her personal life in general, and Irene was reluctant to pry, after all Henry was her employer and she liked her job, but still she wondered.
Four months in and Henry spoke to Irene again. "How do you think Heidi has come on, Irene?"
"Well, her flower skills are good, and will continue to develop; she's great with the customers and her management skills are excellent - I mean, she's teaching me that stuff."
"Good, because I want to put her in to manage the new shop I'm opening over at Causley."
"She'll do fine, Henry."
"I'll be sending Doris back to you."
"Oh lovely; Doris and I are good friends. Still, I'll miss Heidi, she's a terrific girl."
"Yessss, she is, isn't she?" Henry replied abstractedly.
Chapter 5
Three more months passed.
"Well now, Doris, you missed all the excitement while you were out to lunch."
"Did I? Damn! What happened?"
"Heidi dropped in. You've met her haven't you?"
"Yes, briefly on one occasion. She's the girl you reckon Henry is keen on, isn't she?"
"Yep. I always felt that there was something between those two, and I was right; they're engaged."
"Oh, how nice."
"Heidi came by to tell me the news and to show me her ring. She also said that her shop is doing well - 'Thanks to your training,' she added graciously."
"Are they planning to marry soon?"
"Well, there's the thing. Heidi says that they want to get married as soon as possible but she has to go into hospital first, so they will have to put it off for a few months."
"Hospital?"
"Yes. She tells me that she has a congenital problem, something she was born with, and they want to have it rectified before they marry."
"Poor girl. Is she concerned about it?"
"On the contrary, she is very excited to be 'getting it done at last' and gushing about how wonderful Henry is in helping her."
"But she didn't say what it was?"
"No, she says that she doesn't like to talk about it."
"Some sort of woman thing I suppose."
"Yeah, probably."