Elias
Hey gorgeous hope you’re having a fun night out. Know it’s cheeky and late but can I be cheeky and late? *winky face* Can I come over when you’re back? It’s about the surprise!
A rush of anticipation surges through Pearl’s body, instantly dispelling any irritation over the crushed lipstick.
She replies, smiling as she types:
Pearl
Of course. I’m just home so come over. See you soon! Xx
5
SEVEN DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
1.07 a.m.
Fifty-three years old and Pearl is in the throes of a sexual reawakening. She’s already had two orgasms since Elias bowled up an hour ago, fresh from his Christmas night out with his consultancy buddies and expressing delight that they had her flat to themselves. Before she met him, it was more than she’d had – at least involving another human – across the entire previous decade.
Elias is a remarkably youthful-looking man of fifty-eight, with barely a wrinkle and an enviably toned physique. Pearl wonders if he’s had work done and fears that his peachy complexion makes her look like a withered potato in comparison. Always impeccably groomed, he has a personal trainer and guzzles probiotics for his microbiome and drinks onlynaturalwine, and in moderation (as far as Pearl is concerned there is nothing unnatural about any wine).
Pearl had never imagined that this kind of scenario would be possible because, until a few months ago, when she’d started dabbling with a couple of dating apps, she had been celibatesince Dean died. Sometimes Pearl had wondered if she’d even remember what to do. And the thought of being with anyone who wasn’t Dean seemed unthinkable and rather terrifying.
Going on a couple of dates in the summer merely confirmed that she was better off alone. There was the man in frankly hideous basketweave shoes who, after they’d agreed to meet for a coffee, proceeded to order an enormous salad and sat there cramming lettuce into his mouth in front of her. Then the cycling enthusiast with whom she re-lost her virginity, and who harangued her for not having a proper pension provision in place: ‘And you, being freelance? What are you going to live on – supermarket own-brand food?’ Pearl had wanted to cosh him with a tin of Aldi baked beans, but she couldn’t, as they were in his flat. Instead, she messaged the group chat from his dismal maroon-tiled bathroom.
Pearl
He’d barely climbed off me and he started offering me financial advice!
It was a numbers game, her friends insisted. Don’t throw in the towel after a couple of bad dates. And then she met Elias, who is currently lying naked beside her in her own bed. Opportunities such as this are rare and precious. Pearl loves her little modern flat, and feels lucky to have it. But sounds travel freely through the tissue-thin walls, and if Abi isn’t clomping about in the colossal wooden-soled platforms she bought recently on eBay, she is blowing her nose on a tea towel or bellowing on her phone outside Pearl’s bedroom.
Sex, when it happens, takes place mainly at Elias’s apartment – a warehouse conversion next to the Regent’s Canal, all stripped floorboards, exposed brickwork and squishy tan leathersofas. It’s a novelty to have him here with her, and the flat to themselves. He hasn’t even told her what the surprise is yet.
Pearl pushes back her mussed-up hair and stretches up to kiss his mouth. The post-coital Elias is extremely loving and sweet. He likes to cuddle and talk and run his fingers over her body, sending her tingling all over again. ‘So you’re not angry about your boyfriend turning up in the middle of the night?’ he ventures.
She smiles. He’s never referred to himself as her boyfriend before. ‘I’m furious,’ she teases. ‘You do know I should be asleep by now.’
Elias chuckles. ‘Not working tomorrow, are you?’
‘No. I had all those jobs last week but there’s nothing now till after New Year. I’m relieved, to be honest. Now I can just focus on Christmas.’
‘Ah, that’s good.’ Gently, Elias lifts an auburn curl away from her finely boned face. ‘You look so gorgeous like this.’
She smiles, still unsure of how to respond to his compliments. ‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
He traces his fingers over her bare shoulder. ‘It’s nice, being here together for a change.’
‘It is,’ Pearl agrees.
‘So, it’s okay for me to stay over?’
‘’Course it is,’ she says, laughing. ‘Did you think I was going to throw you out into the cold wet night?’
‘Well, you might,’ he teases.
‘Brandon’s fine with you, you know that.’ In fact, they have already met several times and he is happy about his mother seeing someone. He’d encouraged it, even; another person along with Lena and Shelley, badgering her to start dating. She doesn’t need to pretend to be a nun, and she suspects Brandon and Abi enjoy having the flat to themselves whenever she stays over at Elias’s place.
‘It won’t be awkward over breakfast?’ he asks now.
