Life Of Robert Peterson

Paul Kelly

Description

Robert Peterson has had a troublesome time in the past few weeks... well, the past few years really. Until the day he met Freya he thought he would always have to get through tough times by himself. She had met a few chaps since her divorce but Robert was different somehow, although she couldn't understand why.

Sujets

• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 03 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783334377
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
THE LIFE OF ROBERT PETERSON
by
Paul Kelly



Publisher Information
Published in 2013 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Paul Kelly to be identified as the Authors of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2013 Paul Kelly
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.



Chapter One
“You’ve spilt your coffee,” she said as she bent down to mop up the mess that Robert Peterson had created on the floor beside his table. “Are you alright?” she went on, looking at Robert as he sat with his head in his hands. He looked up at the waitress after a short while and she could see by his eyes that he had been crying. “Are you alright?” she enquired again, but Robert hardly saw her through misted eyes as he sighed heavily and lowered his head again.
“I’m O.K.” he moaned, “I just want to be left alone.”
The waitress looked about her. There was no-one else in the cafe.
“I don’t like to see you like this,” she said, “Please let me help you. I think you must be in some trouble and ...”
Robert shot his head into the air and stared wildly at the waitress as she looked on with concern in her eyes.
“I’m alright, he said ... Didn’t you hear that? Are you deaf?”
“I’m sorry if I have upset you. I didn’t mean to do that. My name’s Freya ...Freya Carmichael I’m a waitress here. If I can help, please call me,” she said as she turned away and left Robert sitting awkwardly on his chair with one arm slung across the table.
“I’d like another coffee, please?” he called out and Freya turned round to face him again. She stood beside him for a second before she took out her pad.
“Anything to eat?” she asked and Robert shook his head.
“Just the coffee, if you don’t mind . ..” he groaned, “and I’ll try not to spill it this time.”
Freya smiled, but as she was about to walk away, Robert dried his eyes and called out after her.
“Black with only a little sugar. My name is Robert ... and thanks,” he said, but Freya seemed to ignore him as she went into the kitchen to bring him the coffee he wanted, returning a few minutes afterwards with his drink and sitting beside him at his table.
“Black with a little sugar,” she said and hesitated before she went on, “I didn’t mean to be intrusive. Only you are the only one left here and it is past closing time and I thought ... well, I thought you were drunk when I saw that you had spilled your drink. Sorry.”
Robert smiled weakly and Freya looked relieved,
“I am the one who should be sorry,” he remarked, stirring his coffee as he spoke, “You see, I have had a rather a troublesome time in the past few weeks ... well in the past few years, I should say. I am sorry if I appeared rude.”
“I have broad shoulders,” she said and cocked her head to one side as Robert looked into her eyes.
“Thanks, but no thanks. It is something that wouldn’t interest you and besides, I will have to get through this time by myself and I think I can only do that on my own.”
“A trouble shared ...” she went on as Robert sipped his coffee, but he put one hand in the air and shrugged his shoulders.
“Are you? ... “I’m sorry I have no right to ask you anything of that nature,” he said without finishing his enquiry as he stood up to leave the cafe, “and anyway, as you have said, you should be closed by now. I’ll be off and thanks again for your concern.”
“If you can hold on for just a few minutes, I’ll come with you. I have to close the cafe and I should be going home myself anyway”, the waitress called out as Robert stood still and looked about him.
“Going home?” he said and raised his eyebrows in despair. “Going home ... Nice expression if you can mean it,” he said and Freya rushed off to get her coat before she locked up the premises, but even if it had only been a few seconds to get her coat, when she returned Robert had left the cafe. She rushed out, closing the door quickly behind her, just in time to see Robert about to turn into a narrow street, not far from where she worked.
“Wait,” she called out, “Wait for me please ... “I don’t like walking home in the dark and . . . “ At that moment, Robert returned to her view and she turned the key in the cafe door before slipping the key into her coat pocket.
“Do you live far?” she asked, “I can walk with you if you like and as I’ve said, I don’t like walking alone in the dark.”
Robert stretched out his hand to her as she rushed towards him.
“How far have you got to go?” he asked, but she dismissed his enquiry with a question of her own,
“Never mind about me,” she said, “I’ll be alright. I only have a short walk from here, but you ... how far do you have to go?”
Robert looked down at the ground and did not answer as Freya slipped her hand into his as they walked , but he pulled away from her.
“I don’t have far either,” he said, “but I’ll see you home first and then I’ll make my own way.”
Freya gripped his hand, almost as if by fear.
“But will you be alright?” she asked, “It looks as though it might rain and I know you were upset about something when I spoke to you in the cafe.”
Robert looked at her as she spoke, but there was a deadly pale; almost deathly look on his face in the moonlight and as Freya was about to speak to him again, he put his forefinger to her lips.
“I’ll see you home and I’ll be alright,” he said and they walked on together in silence until Freya told him where she lived at Bluebell Gardens.
“I wish you’d come in for a hot drink or something,” she said as a faint wind blew her hair from her face and a light spot of rain touched her cheek, but Robert shook his head.
“I might spill the stuff again if I do that,” he joked, but his eyes did not smile and his face was solemn. “I’ll wait until you go inside and close the door before I leave,” he added. “I live only a few streets away in Cotswold Road.”
Freya walked up the few steps to the front door of the flat before she turned around to speak to Robert again.
“You are very kind. I mean, I appreciate your waiting until I got in safely. Can we meet again perhaps?” she asked, but Robert shrugged his shoulders.
“I might be in the cafe again tomorrow, who knows?” he replied before he walked away as she went into the flat.



Chapter Two
Freya rose the following morning and rubbed her eyes. It was a few moments before she remembered the incident of the night before and she rubbed her eyes again thinking it might just have been a dream. She had a strange feeling in her heart ... not like love or anything like that ... Well if it was she had never experienced anything like it before and she thought she was in love when she married Sammy ... Oh! but that was ages ago, or so it seemed ... and she had been nursing at the time, taking her SRN soon after she married him and yet, she had only been married for about fifteen months. She closed her eyes to block the scene from her mind as there was nothing about Sammy that she wanted to remember and she recounted the days since she had been divorced. As she showered and dressed, her mind was in confusion. She had met a few chaps since the divorce and some of them were nice, or at least seemed to be that way, where others were nothing but ‘gropers’ she suspected, but to be on the safe side, she hadn’t gone out with any of them, however she remembered with a fickle smile that Robert was different somehow, although she couldn’t understand why. He just was ... .He hadn’t tried to engage her in useless conversation nor had he tried in any way to touch her and she was pleased that she had remembered his name. Would he remember hers, she thought wildly as she yawned and gave a little chuckle.
“Might be in the cafe tomorrow, who knows?” he had said and she wished she had been on the early shift at work just in case he did turn up. Should she ring Jenny, her work partner who was on the early shift that week and tell her to look out for him? but how could she do that? Tell Jenny he was handsome in a strange sort of way, that he was six foot tall, had mid brown hair ... and oh! he had a dimple on his left cheek when he smiled.
Freya ran her fingers through her hair. She felt a happiness that she hadn’t experienced for a very long time ... if she ever did experience a feeling like the one she had then. What was it about this man who spilt his coffee carelessly on her spotless cafe floor and made no attempt to apologize? Was he any different to the men she had met throughout her twenty three years? She tugged at her hair as if by that action she would find an answer to her dilemma, but the sun shone through her bedroom window regardless of her thoughts, as it regularly did on a fine spring morning and left her still thinking of a man called Robert ... Quickly she showered and dressed, laddering her tights in the rush and had to put on a new pair.
She thought it might be best just to call in at the cafe when she was dressed. It might be that Jenny had seen Robert before when she was on the early shift yesterday and she might even remember him, or better still, where he could be found again. It was a pretty wild guess, but she took the decision she would do just that after she had a rushed breakfast of toast with some of her own home made whisky marmalade. She liked that; licked her fingers and headed for th