Chapter 3 – The
Anxiety
The next morning Claire continued to stay in her room, uncertain of what she should do. She felt so embarrassed about what had happened the previous day that she just lay in her bed thinking for a while. She knew that she needed to talk to Peter, but she felt so incredibly ashamed at how she had behaved.
"Why the hell did I hit him? A three year old hits people," she thought to herself. "How could I be so immature, so stupid!"
After a while Claire decided that she couldn't take it any longer, she had to get the awkwardness over and done with. Still in her PJ's and knowing that she had bed hair, she took a deep breath, opened the door and silently walked toward the kitchen.
Peter was standing at the bench, reading a newspaper. Claire noticed that he had bed hair as well and smiled.
"Damn he looks hot," she thought to herself.
Peter had heard that but he wasn't going to tell Claire that he had been reading her mind. "There's a new pack of Coco Pops in the cupboard if you're hungry," he said kindly without looking up.
Claire was a little surprised that Peter had known she was there, but warmly thanked him and poured herself a bowl. After she ate a few mouthfuls she looked at a clock on the wall and shrieked.
"Oh my God I was supposed to be at Bec's house a hour ago!"
"Don't worry, I can take you there," Peter said calmly.
Claire raced into her room, frantically putting on some clothes, then quickly neatened her hair and grabbed a handbag as she ran back out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to grab Peter's car keys.
"Peter, you're not dressed!"
"Don't need to be."
He walked up to her and held her in a warm embrace. A second later they were at the front door of Bec's house. They continued to stay in each other's arms for a few moments, but even burying her head in Peter's chest didn't make Claire feel comfortable.
Just yesterday Peter had traveled with her this way, but it had been under very different circumstances. She had been violent and her behaviour had been positively that of a person half her age or less. She had never cared about a man so much as the one that held her and she needed to apologise. She just had to say something, inside she was going insane.
"Peter I'm so sorry about yesterday I-I really didn't mean to get all violent, I'm never like that, never!" She began to sob into Peter's shirt.
"It's OK," he said gently, combing through her hair as she hugged him tightly. "I can heal just like you remember. See, not a scratch." He showed Claire one of his arms. Claire smiled up at Peter weakly and he gently brushed the tears off her face.
"I'll see you when you get back OK?"
Claire smiled. "Yeah, I'll see you then."