There was a twinkling flash of recognition in her eyes, "I know you ...", Jeff thought to himself. It only took a fraction of a second to realise who she was, and his face broke into a smile – just as her lips broke into the cheeky grin he remembered so well. But the real smile was in her eyes.
He paid for his purchase at the checkout, hardly taking his eyes from her – almost as if she'd disappear if he did. He waited a few seconds for her to pay for whatever she'd bought and she walked the few feet to him, looking up still grinning. She still looked great – a few more lines on her face, and certainly a few extra pounds – but nothing to spoil those curves too much. Her hair was short and blonde – just like it used to be, though the cut was more elegant. But those laughing eyes were the real killer. For some reason he felt nervous about the brief peck on the cheek and hug that he gave her. They babbled to each other about how long it had been, but he broke her off.
"Look", he said, "I've got to see my Bank Manager – it won't take more than ten or fifteen minutes. Are you hanging around? I'll buy you a coffee and we'll catch up properly". He hoped she couldn't detect the nervousness in his voice, or the delight he felt when she agreed to meet him in Starbucks in half an hour.
He was through with his bank manager in no time, and was sipping his latte on one of the comfortable couches ten minutes before she was due. "Jenny Green", he thought to himself. How long had it been? Nearly 25 years since he had reported for his first day at a new job. She was his boss's PA and collected him from the HR department. Yes, she was thinner then he recalled, as he pictured her - pink blouse, grey skirt just above the knee, fantastic legs in sensible-ish shoes – just a small heel. He remembered following her, making small talk as they walked through the building that seemed to be a maze to him, which would be his working home for the next couple of years. He smiled to himself as he remembered wondering if she was wearing stockings or something less interesting? He smiled again as he realised it would take him the best part of six months to find out the answer.
At that time Jeff had been married for about 3 years, and he had been faithful to his wife. Their marriage had got past the frantic sex stage, and had settled down into regular, if not particularly adventurous lovemaking. Although they had discussed kids, his wife had a good career, and so the two brilliant children that were to come were a few years off.
Jeff remembered that job 25 years ago with great fondness. He had always found it easy to get on with people, especially women, having two sisters and no brothers saw to that. So over the first few months of his employment he had made many new friends, several of them women. The company was growing rapidly and so there were always new people to welcome, and promotions or inter departmental moves to celebrate. Hardly a week passed without there being some reason to go to the pub at lunchtime. Over that first few months he found himself increasingly in Jenny's company at such events; not because he was plotting anything, and he was fairly sure she wasn't either, it was just that they got on so well together. One of the reasons would be quite familiar to just about anyone nowadays, but in the mid 80's this company was quite advanced. Every employee had e-mail.
It had started with Jenny sending him a mail one day, to ask him to mention to one of his colleagues that his flies were undone. It caused great amusement and knowing smiles, as they shared the private joke. The e-mails between them started from that day as a trickle, it soon became a stream and finally a river. Jeff was sure, looking back and thinking about it, that there had been some days when they had got hardly any work done – just a steady flow of e-mails. It was a good job they were both very good at their jobs and could get away with it. He recalled the day it had started. At about eleven an e-mail popped into his inbox, and Jenny announced she was starving – she had left home late that morning and missed breakfast. Almost without thinking he suggested they go for an early lunch – he said he'd take her to one of the pubs, away from the staff restaurant. The reply was rapid and affirmative, and at twelve on the dot they left together. It was approaching Christmas, and her blouses had given way to sweaters – today's was red, with a high roll neck, but as was the style in the 80's, it was quite tight fitting and accentuated her perfect breasts. Not too big and not too small he thought, a perfect handful. She also had on a fairly conservative grey skirt – perhaps a little shorter than she usually wore. The question of what she wore on her legs flashed through is mind again, as he was hoping for a glimpse and a clue in the next hour or so. But before his memories could progress any further, the 25 years older Jenny walked in.
No skirt today though – the jeans showed she still had a great body. An expensive leather jacket, a white T shirt and a knotted red silk scarf showed she still had great taste, and she looked elegant and casual at the same time. He bought her a cappuccino and they agreed to split a blueberry muffin. The next hour was effortless and a huge amount of fun – as they remembered life in the 80's and caught up with where their old colleagues were. At one point she'd got up to take off her jacket, and he saw her boobs were definitely bigger – no doubt as a result of the two (now at university) children he learned she had. He thanked his lucky stars she didn't have anything low cut on, because he knew that if she had, his conversation would have been with those fantastic breasts – they looked superb even if hidden in a T shirt and bra. As it was, her smiling, blue eyes were the focus of his attention (well, most of the time).
As they left the shop, he joked that nothing had changed, as she had eaten well over half the muffin. She smiled and said that next week, they'd have to buy two.
"Next week?"
"Yeah, I'll be here next week – there's no way I'm going to risk not seeing you for another 25 years, so you'd better be here too!", she hugged him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, grinned and left him standing there as she walked over to her silver Audi A3. As he waved her off and walked towards his BMW, he couldn't believe how alive he felt. His senses seemed so acute, as he recalled her touch, her smell, her giggle – Jenny Green seemed to have come back into his life with a bang.
"Where would it all end up?" he mused as he put his car into drive and moved off.
The next few days were fairly hectic for Jeff professionally, and so he didn't have much time to think further about his Wednesday afternoon encounter, or indeed about next Wednesday. The weekend was typically hectic too, and it was Monday before he found himself with free time. His mind drifted back those 25 years to that lunch date he had been thinking about earlier in the week. As they left the building he remembered being surprised as she casually, as if it was a thing that happened everyday, linked his arm and walked close to him, as she continued the conversation. He remembered not having the faintest idea what she was talking about as all he could think of was her closeness, her intoxicating smell and the warmth of her hand, and the way his heart had changed gear! The butterflies in his stomach had strangely chosen that moment to wage war on his insides – and they were winning. He tried to calm himself down thinking it was just a meaningless gesture, but he knew otherwise as soon as he made eye contact with those laughing eyes that suddenly seemed to be smiling a bit more seductively. They ate and drank, talked and laughed, and it seemed the most natural gesture in the world when Jeff started stroking Jenny's hand. When they left and got in his car, he couldn't wait any longer, but put his arm round her shoulders and gently pulled her towards him and he kissed her very gently.
"I've been waiting months to do that", he whispered.
