Time Changes

Part Twenty Eight

Alexis sighed; this was what she had fought, this discussion, this crushing hand of reality. She had no idea how things would...or could work out. "Do we have to?"

Peter chuckled, tilting her chin up so she was looking at her, "we do.” It scared him, the thought of what could happen next, but there was no way he was spending another night without knowing what they were going to do.

“You have a medical degree; you didn’t do that for fun. You need to find work, you have to develop your own career, I mean I did this ten years ago, forged my way into business, but you have to graft, put your education into practice.” She nodded, then looked away, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. “Lex! Look at me,” he brought her eyes back around to meet, his, “I know you want me to ask you to move here, to live with me, and I know you’d move in tomorrow. But I can’t, you can see that can’t you? We’ve not been on a date, we’ve not lived with each other, this has all been like one long holiday with you, and we don’t live holidays twenty four seven.”

Her heart sank at his words, because in her head it was easy to just move to Geneva and love him, to be part of his world, to become part of him, but he was right, she’d never be happy with that for the rest of her days. 

Looking up at him, she spoke quietly, "So what do you suggest?"

He exhaled, finding pain in her desperate expression, but knowing that he felt as sad and disappointed as her. But he couldn’t stop her growing, she’d resent him if he did that. But that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. She’d become such an integral part of his life, as essential as oxygen, and he feared everything falling apart without her.

"I think you need to find the career you want, you won’t do that if you come here, and I’ll be here waiting for you however long that takes. When the time is right, we also need to date, get to know each other properly, dinners, cinema, and picnics. All the things that normal couples do. We can’t just pretend that by sleeping together it’s everything. We need to learn about each other, become a proper couple."

Alexis hated that he was so composed, so mature, and so in control, it made her feel like a child WAY out of her depth, “Why do you have to be so practical?"

Peter cupped her cheek and smiled at her bewildered face, "because I don’t want to ruin this, I want us to be together forever. And letting you go back to London is a sacrifice, but one I know will make things better in the end."

It was less than a week after leaving Rio that she landed back in Heathrow. Dan was there to meet her, waving and smiling, and whilst she was glad to see him, loved the trip through the damp dark streets to their home, all she could think was that beside her was a Peter shaped space that nothing seemed to fill. But stories of her darling nephew Oscar, and hugs from her sister went some way to making things right.

Later when Dan was at the gym, Oscar asleep, Henrietta filled two wine glasses, and sat across the kitchen table from her sister.

                “So Miss Carmichael, spill!” For a moment Lex feigned innocence, but Henrietta knew her better than anyone, “you left Rio a week ago. I have that on good authority. Which means you’ve been AWOL the last seven days...care to expand?”

Lex slugged at her wine, then leaned back in her seat, “ok, I’ve been in a log cabin in the Alps.”

                “With Peter?” Her sister squealed, “I KNEW it! Tell me all!”

Lex laughed, “I will not share the details, needless to say I had an amazing time. He’s perfect.”

Henrietta grimaced, “I sense a ‘but’?”