The months rolled by. It was now August and Alan had moved into a new apartment away from the bad memories, not wanting Marie to haunt him. The first few weeks after she'd left were traumatic and he'd felt so ill. Alan had never cried so much before. He never thought grown men would cry, but men had tears and hurt feelings the same as everyone else. He'd found that out the hard way. He almost made an appointment to visit his doctor, but just as he made that decision, he started to feel better.
Alan's new apartment, No 12 Maddison Gardens, was on the fourth floor with a balcony at the back over-looking a garden. The ground on which the block was built had once been part of a large house and garden. The garden, although now much smaller, had been grassed over for the residents and there was a high wall around it creating a quiet, private space.
The front of the apartment over-looked a large, tree lined park. In the middle of the park was a small lake; home to swans and ducks. Alan was nearer to the office here and as the flat had only one bedroom, it was smaller and easier to maintain, now he lived alone. Alan was pleased. This was a fresh start and he was feeling good. The previous owner had taken good care of the flat and it was clean and reasonably decorated. The kitchen and bathroom had been recently refurbished, in good taste, to a high standard.
Angie encouraged Alan to hold a flat warming party and several colleagues from the office were invited, Angie and Matthew with Bob and Helen, but Clare and Hal were away on holiday somewhere and couldn't make it.
Alan hadn't met Angie's Matthew before, but he liked him immediately as he was a bit of a joker, like himself. They had a chat in the kitchen whilst Matthew replenished his lager glass. Angie often wore trouser suits in the office and this evening she was wearing a long skirt.
"Hasn't Angie got a pair of legs then?" asked Alan.
Matthew grinned. "It was a joke. I told her she had a horrible pair of legs and that she should hide them away." He laughed. "She believed me. Ha, ha, ha, I only said it because they are so gorgeous. It was only a joke!"
"Sneaky!" replied Alan, who was laughing very loudly by now.
"If a man can't be sneaky," Matthew whispered, "he's losing his grip!" They continued to laugh.
"It's hilarious." said Matthew. "She keeps looking in the mirror and saying 'I don't think my legs are that bad'. I'm going to have to tell her soon."
Alan thought this was great, another man who liked a joke and took it as far as possible. It made his evening and he kept looking at Angie and smiling; she wondered what was going on.
Also invited to the party were Tony, Justin, Sean and Martin, some of them with their girl friends and also Jessica with some boy or other and also several friends Alan knew from the offices upstairs including Patrick, a Solicitor, with his wife Sabrina. Friends who had known Alan and Marie as a couple also came along, taking Alan's side in the split up.
An older man, Charles Wheeler, was also invited. He lived beneath Alan's flat, on the third floor. Alan liked Charles and had only recently met him. He was a divorced man who had been on his own for the last eight years. Alan didn't like the sound of that. Unfortunately, he also asked the three rugby players to come. Tarquin, Barking and Larking, he called them, he could never remember their real names. They lived on the ground floor in the next block, which had three bedrooms.
Inviting Tarquin, Barking and Larking to the party was a mistake, they were rowdy and badly behaved and Alan made them leave, not long after they arrived. They were obviously quite drunk when they came. They upset Sabrina, Patrick's wife, something they said, but despite that it was a good party and Alan felt happy as he said goodbye to his last guests, Angie and Matthew. Angie had insisted on helping with the washing up and the tidying away. "Thanks, Alan." said Matthew "We've had a really good time, but we'd better go now. The taxi is picking us up shortly."
"Bless you, Alan." Angie said, as she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I hope this is the start of something better for you." Alan loved Angie. She was one of the kindest, happiest people he had ever met.
Alan thanked them for coming and watched them leave. Suddenly, he felt lonely. There was no one to kiss him goodnight and no one to argue with him. Not that he missed that. Alan felt envious of Angie and Matthew. He could tell just by looking, that they loved one another. 'No', he thought, 'I shouldn't feel envious'. Wasn't envy one of the deadly sins? In any case you could be envying someone who might die of a heart attack the very next day, or get cancer or something. No, envy was definitely wrong. 'I suppose its' wishful thinking,' Alan thought. 'Wishing I had someone to kiss goodnight.' He washed, brushed his teeth and prepared for bed. He wondered if Clare was enjoying her holiday with Hal, wherever they had gone, he couldn't remember. In fact, he had a terrible memory. He always joked about it.
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