BREAKING POINT

“Hello -what’s the time?” he asked.

“Seven fifteen” Penny told him. “I have brought you a cup of tea”

Jeremy sat up. Completely unselfconscious, he stretched his arms, rubbed his chest, and grinned at her like a school boy.

“Gosh! I feel good” he said. “Darling, put that cup of tea down and come here”.

Obediently, Penny placed the cup on the bedside table and sat down beside him, pulling her dressing gown across her knees

“Modest little sweet, aren’t you?” he said, still smiling. But before she could answer, he pulled her against him with a quick gesture and kissed her on the mouth. Then he held her at arms length and said :

“Let me look at you. Yes, you are still as lovely as ever. Some women look ghastly in the morning… You both look and smell beautiful”

“I’ve just had a bath” Penny replied, but she was thinking : ‘I was right. There have been other women… Women who looked ghastly in the morning’

She drew away from him and reached for the tea pot.

“It’s getting cold” she said. “You’d better drink it now. Would you like breakfast right away?”

“I don’t mind” Jeremy said good humouredly. “Come to think of it, I’m hungry”

“I will bring you egg and bacon on a tray” Penny said, standing and moving towards the door.

“No, I will get up. I hate breakfast in bed. Besides i need a shave” Jeremy replied.

Penny left the room -disturbed-happy -and unhappy. She broke eggs into the frying pan. Something which she could not quite fathom was disturbing her. It wasn’t altogether Jeremy’s remark about ‘the other women’. It wasn’t that she loved him less, because she had known when he kissed her a few minutes ago that he was hers, all hers, and that she was drawn to him in such a way that resistance was impossible. It was…. Just the feeling that something was wrong. Not Jeremy. Nothing was wrong with Jeremy. It was herself, a little niggling inner fear, the old doubt that could not be expressed. Perhaps a feeling of guilt, too. Almost as though she had been unfaithful to Howard -which, of course, was absurd.

Penny heard Jeremy’s voice, very out of tune, and amazingly happy, coming from the bathroom, and suddenly she smiled.

No, nothing was wrong. It was all as perfect as it could have been. There was nobody in the world like her lover and no girl alive had ever loved a man the way she loved Jeremy. There was nothing she would not give him, give up for him, nothing she would not do for him.

“Ooh! Bacon” said Jeremy, sniffing over her shoulder. “And eggs! Darling, you’re amazing. I will just pull a shirt on, and I will be ready”

He rubbed his clean shaven chin against the back of her neck and kissed her behind the ear, then more urgently on the lips.

Penny said :

“alright-get dressed, darling… ”

He silenced her protest. It was not too early for Jeremy to make love and the warm, deeply in love Penny responded. Breakfast was forgotten.

——————-

An hour later.

The sitting room seemed to Penny to be cold and untidy. She grimaced as she carried in the breakfast tray and put it on the table. She began to tidy up. She didn’t want Jeremy to feel that he was in sordid surroundings.

Jeremy looked very large, very virile and masculine as he sat down to breakfast. He had not noticed the room but Penny still felt he might have done so if the disorder had not been tidied up. He helped her make toast and his good spirit rose steadily.

“I wish I didn’t have to go to work” Jeremy said, and seeing the look on her face, he laughed. “Alright… Maybe I could take a day off and drive out into the country somewhere for lunch. Do you play golf, Penny?” he asked.

“Not really” Penny replied. “Tennis is more my game”

“Well, we could walk” Jeremy went on, between bites of toast and marmalade. “I love walking. Pity we don’t have a dog. I might get you one. I like Labradors myself”

“There’s hardly any room for a dog that size here” Penny laughed. Her dark, velvety eyes were soft and happy as she looked at him “But i would love a tiny tyke” she added.

But Jeremy was still planning his imaginary day.

“We could go hang out at some farmhouse. Just the two of us” he said. “Then drive back and stop at all the pubs on the way”

“Do you really have to work today?” Penny asked, spoiling his dream. Jeremy came back to earth.

“Afraid so” he said. “Damn nuisance really. There isn’t even much to do but my boss wants me there. Still, I’ll be off Saturday afternoon. We might run down to Sussex for the day”

“I know” Penny cried. “We will go see my Uncle Charles and Aunt Ann. I keep promising to go down, but they live so far away and i keep postponing it. They would love to see us”

Jeremy did not seem so taken with the idea.

“They don’t even know me” he said.

“But they will love you, Jeremy” Penny argued, her face flushed with excitement. “Oh darling, let’s go. Please”

Jeremy was in a good mood, and he felt especially good natured towards Penny.

“Allright, darling” he said.

Penny flung her arms round his neck, and nuzzled against him like a puppy.

“Oh, I do love you, love you, love you” she whispered. “I’m so happy. Jeremy I’m so happy I could die”

He laughed, and hugged her to him for a moment.

“You look about twenty two” he said. “How old are you you, Penny?”

“Twenty seven” Penny replied.

“Impossible. You still look Twenty two” he said. “I feel ancient when I look at you. I will be Thirty One next month”

Penny was genuinely surprised.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

“Are you really as old as that?” she asked. “I thought you were about… Well, my age”

“I’m wearing well” Jeremy said, laughing. “Signs of dissipation are well hidden. Besides, Thirty one isn’t really so old. And I can stay Thirty Nine”

“I believe you mind growing older” Penny teased him.

Jeremy looked at her almost crossly, then laughed.

“I do” he said. “I can think of nothing worse than becoming fat and middle aged. I’m enjoying my youth, and I want to keep it”