The Girl in the Floral Dress

The day began early for Jerry as he reluctantly left the arms of his lover, it was first light and the dawn chorus was in full voice.
His real name was Edwin Jeremiah Dootson, which he always thought was like something out of Charles Dickens novel, a villain knowing his luck.
He hated his name, Edwin was so old fashioned, so he used his middle name Jeremiah which he didn’t like much better so he shortened it to Jerry and everyone assumed falsely that it was short for Jeremy, he didn’t enlighten them.
As he prepared to slip out of her bed she rolled over and put her arm across his chest.
“Don’t go Jez” she implored
“I have to Zyggy” he replied “I’ve got a long drive ahead of me”
They were in her university digs which was a room in a house she shared with three friends.
“Oh stay a bit longer” she begged
He kissed her on the forehead
“I wish I could darling” he said and she kissed his chest
He really did want to stay with her but he had a wedding to go to, a family wedding that required his attendance, on pain of death.
He picked up her phone and dialled his own number so they now both had each other’s numbers.

He had only met her the day before and he’d fallen head over heels for her.
Jerry arrived in Sharpington by sea on Thursday for a stag do and he had met Zyggy, the girl in the floral dress on Friday morning as he was preparing to drive home but they ended up spending the day together, and the night.
They hit it off immediately it was like they’d known each other for ever.

On the drive home Jerry couldn’t get Zyggy out of his thoughts.
He was convinced she was the one, she fitted the template perfectly.
He had carried the template with him in his brain almost since the moment of his sexual awakening.
Long brown hair falling across her shoulders in generous waves.
Hazel eyes, intelligent, warm and full of familiarity that screwed tight shut when she laughed.
A pretty face, which hers was, pretty but also full of imperfections, an aquiline nose, a small scar above her right eye, a lopsided smile and freckled cheeks.
An exquisitely defined jawline as if chiselled from marble and a strong and resolute chin.
She was very tall, as tall as him in her heels and he was six-foot two, and slim as a willow and lithe as a dancer.
But all of that was superficial, just an accident of heritage.
What made Zyggy special was that she was funny, intelligent, caring, romantic and grounded.
In fact she ticked every box, plus numerous other boxes he didn’t even know existed.
Jerry wasn’t exactly sure where that template came from but he had always had it and he had begun to wonder if he would ever meet the girl to fit it or if indeed such a girl even existed.
Then he saw the girl in the floral dress.

He got back in plenty of time for the wedding but spent much of that happy day wishing he was somewhere else and he cursed his luck at having to be there.
Why did he have to meet her that weekend he pondered, but then if it hadn’t been that weekend he wouldn’t have been in Sharpington.

The wedding all went off without a hitch the only downside of the whole day was that he couldn’t get a phone signal.
Sunday was a succession of family farewells and hug fests as he waved goodbye to three generations of his family and after the weekend it was back to work.

All week long they had been missing each other on the phone and for the first half of it they communicated solely by voice mail.
Zyggy was in lectures all week and had several approaching deadlines and for Jerry it was the financial year end for the company he worked for.
So Jerry was having to work late every night and spend a disproportionate amount of time in meetings with accountants and auditors.
He was reassured however that she seemed to be as anxious to talk to him as he was to talk to her.
If it hadn’t been such a hellish week at work he would have driven back down to the house in Sharpington to see her, but that wasn’t an option.
By Thursday he was getting increasingly frustrated and he could tell by her tone that she was too so he texted her his email address and cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier.

On Saturday Jerry had to work to put the finishing touches to the yearend accounts and on Sunday it was his mum’s birthday so he had to spend the day with her.
He had at least succeeded in talking to Zyggy and it turned out she was tied up all weekend too.
But they were hopeful that the following week would offer an opportunity for them to actually get together.
The email traffic between them had been quite epic and were tantamount to love letters.
Woven amongst the sentimental words of love were the minutiae of the everyday, the mundane and the ordinary that would make up the fabric of the budding relationship.

Jerry picked his mum up on Sunday morning and took her out for lunch to an expensive restaurant and then drove her home afterwards and then went in with her for tea.
“Put the kettle on Edwin” she said and he winced at the sound of it but he duly obliged.
While he was in the kitchen there was a knock at the door.
His mum answered the door and an exchange of exited chatter ensued.
He recognised the other voice as that of Aunty Edith, she wasn’t really an auntie just a family friend who was particularly close to his mum.
Jerry hadn’t seen her since he was at school, but throughout his childhood she and her family had featured heavily.
“I thought I would just pop in and wish you a happy birthday dear” Edith said
“And I brought Alex along she’s just back from university”
Jerry’s heart sank, he remembered Alex very well, she was younger than him by about 3 years and she was a clumsy gawky girl who used to trail after him.
She was a blight on his childhood summer holidays.
“Oh it’s so lovely to see you Alex” his mum said
“Edwin is in the kitchen”
Just at that moment Jerry got his first sight at the young woman called Alex, narrow hipped, round pert buttocks, small breasts, firm to the touch and soft-silky skin.
And that last part wasn’t wishful thinking either, he knew this to be true and not to be a fanciful notion, because it was her bed he had reluctantly vacated the previous weekend. And as if to dispel any doubts she was wearing the same floral dress she wore when they first met.
“I thought it would be nice for them to see each other again” Edith said
It was nice to see her, he thought but not as nice as the last time they met.
So it was Alex, Alexandra Zygmunt, he didn’t realise the Alex of his childhood was the same girl who called herself Zyggy.
So they really had known each other for ever.
“So you’re Edwin” Zyggy said
“And you’re Alex” Jerry responded
“It’s nice to see you again” she said formally “After all these years”
“Yes, perhaps we might go out while you’re home and catch up” he replied and then whispered
“Did you know?”
Zyggy just shook her head in the negative and said
“Yes that would be nice”