The Optician's Wife Read Online Free

people’s eyes. Literally.’ He laughed.
    I imagined beautiful women queuing up to get their eyesight checked by him and it made me feel invisible again.
    ‘You can tell a lot about a person from their eyes.’
    ‘Windows to the soul?’
    ‘Exactly.’ He nodded. ‘Happiness. Fear. It’s all in the eyes.’
    We crossed over the footbridge and followed the path along the river until we reached our bench. He signed for me to sit down first and so I did.
    ‘Pick a side.’
    ‘A side?’
    ‘Everyone has a side they prefer.’ He was serious.
    ‘OK.’ I said sitting down on the left side of the bench.
    ‘Well, what do you know?’ he chuckled to himself, ‘I always choose the right. That’s neat, isn’t it?’
    The bench was damp and I felt the wetness soaking through my uniform. He didn’t seem to notice.
    ‘No grumpy swans in sight.’ He looked down the river past the houseboats.
    ‘No ducks either.’
    ‘They’ll come.’ He was confident.
    I opened my rucksack and removed my sandwich, which was slightly squashed.
    ‘Don’t you have any lunch?’ I asked, biting down into the crusty bread. Mayonnaise spilled out of the sides and on to my fingers.
    ‘No. I forgot to bring any.’ He was still looking at the river.
    ‘We could share mine.’ I suggested brushing crumbs off my coat before tearing the sandwich in two.
    ‘Thanks.’ I handed him his half and he look a large bite. ‘Nice,’ he said, his mouth full.
    We sat and ate in silence for a while, enjoying the food and each other’s company until we felt the first raindrops. I looked up at the clouds and cursed the weather for ruining our moment.
    ‘April showers.’ Larry pulled his brown coat collar up around his square jaw. ‘Shall we go to a café?’
    ‘I’m not sure I have time. I can’t be late back for work. My boss will be angry.’ I wished I could have been braver.
    ‘All right then.’ He didn’t even try to convince me to stay and the disappointment I felt was bitter.
    I got up from the bench. The rain was coming down more heavily then. ‘I’ll see you around.’
    ‘Why don’t we meet for lunch tomorrow?’ He stood up, raindrops running down his nose. ‘I owe you half a sandwich. My treat.’
    ‘OK.’ I found it hard to contain my happiness.
    ‘Great. I’ll meet you outside Woolworths tomorrow. Twelve-thirty again?’
    ‘Sure.’ He was looking at me with such intensity I felt uncomfortable. He had a searching gaze and when he looked at me everything else seemed to melt away.
    ‘Great. It’s a date then. See you tomorrow.’ Without any warning he leant over and planted a small kiss on my cheek. I felt my face flush with colour as I turned around and quickly walked away. I had never been kissed before, let alone been on a date.
     

July 11 th 1983
     
     
    Things with Larry carried on like that for some time. Every weekday we would meet for lunch and, if it wasn’t raining, return to our bench. As the spring retreated and made way for summer I felt myself growing in confidence. Larry seemed genuinely interested in learning all about me. He wanted to know everything there was to know. For the first time in my life I felt special.
    I told him all about my family and my mum’s death. He listened intently and never interrupted. He was curious to know about my childhood and what Harlow was like. He grew to know my likes and dislikes and paid attention to it all. Larry had a wonderful memory. He never forgot even the small details.
    In turn I learnt all about his life. He was born in 1960 in Peterborough. His father, Jim, and his mother, Linda, moved the family to Cambridge in 1981 when Jim wanted to move job. He was a science teacher. He hated his previous school. The kids there had no respect, Larry said. No doubt he was echoing his dad.
    Linda was a homemaker.
    Larry had a younger brother, Eric, who, he told me, he got on well with. It seemed Eric had a weakness for gambling and the horses. Larry told me he spent a