Gina was in a quandry. She'd spent her whole life obsessed by myopic men, to the point of stalking them. It had lost her jobs, it had kept her poor, and just when she's tried to shake herself out of it and look for a good husband instead, she'd found a man at least ten years her senior who wore reading glasses. Plus lenses. It WASN'T what she had been looking for, it was all wrong, all wrong. She paced up and down in her tiny apartment, trying to weigh one thing up against another. Just to make everything more complicated, he was her boss, a busy man, and an educated man too, just about the oppposite of every man she'd ever actually dated. But he was wonderful. He was charming, and intelligent, and, well, not hard up either.
She got into work on time, and to her utter delight and surprise, as everyone was watching, when he walked through the main floor he greeted her with a kiss. Just a peck, but it said "OK you gossips, have a field day". He didn't care. Yes, the gossips got busy. She even overheard Kate saying that he was probably one of those bosses who just worked his way through every woman in the place. For a nanosecond Gina worried, but they hadn't had the evening with him she'd had. There was no way he was like that.
Mind you, he could have been. The main comment she overheard when lurking to hear the gossip was that all the girls thought he was hot. And she listened in to most people's conversations. Years of stalking had made her a very good spy.
Just before lunch a note was put on her desk telling her to go to Tony's office. She assumed it meant immediately, so she gathered up her belongings as if going to lunch, and headed straight there.
The door was slightly ajar, so she stuck her head round. What a treat. He had his glasses on. He was, as always, talking on the phone, so he waved her in with a smile. The telephone conversation was boring, and she just sat and gazed at him. She'd never really studied plus lenses before. The light played on them differently. Right now they seemed to glow. It was bittersweet. She felt like she'd been given the ballgown of her dreams - but in the wrong color. But at least he wore glasses, at least. She smiled to herself, how silly, thinking she could ever get over that obsession. It was never going to happen. He saw her smile and returned it. God he was gorgeous. Just plain gorgeous. Like no man she'd ever seen before..........
He interrupted her thoughts by hanging up the phone and pretending to sceam. She laughed.
"I've been on that call...." he looked at his watch ".....thirty minutes, can you believe that? He just kept repeating himself. God, I HATE this job!".
Wow. It had never occurred to her that someone in his position could feel that way. She thought it was only minions like her who dragged themselves in every day thinking only of the paycheck. She was still gazing at him. For a moment he lost himself too. But then he asked her,
"What are you thinking Gina? You're very intense."
"Oh" she came to, "I'm sorry, I....um......I'm OK"
"Shall we escape and take a business lunch?"
"Sure!" she said, having been expecting, or at least hoping that was what she was here for. He took off his glasses, put them in his pocket, stood up, walked across the office and held the door open for her. My hero, she thought.
They walked half a block to "The Miller's Arms", a British style pub. Gina loved it.
"This place is great! I've never been in here before."
"It reminds me of London" he said "I spent five years there actually, I've only been back a few months. Have you ever been there?"
Gina had never been anywhere. She'd never left her own state, let alone her country.
"No", she said "Tell me about London."
But he told her more than that. He told her about the rolling English countryside, about Stonehenge and Canterbury Cathedral and the little cobbled streets. He told her about red double-decker busses, and fish and chips in newspaper, and sweet old Yorkshire women who were totally unintelligable. He ordered Cornish pasties for lunch and something called real ale, and it was good. It was all good. And it got better, because the check came, and that meant he put his glasses on and she could lose herself in them again. And because she was lost he obviously felt no compulsion to take them off because he was too busy looking back at her across the table. Finally he said,
"You know Gina, I've traveled quite a bit actually, both here and abroad, and I've met a lot of really sophisticated women, the type of women I really thought I wanted, and I never found anyone I could really just feel comfortable with. Sure, I can talk easily enough, it goes with the job, you know, communication skills, people person. But it's always like I'm talking in code. And so are they. And we both know it. I never get past that. I prefer talking to you, it's refreshing, you're so.......honest."
He means dumb, she thought, or maybe he truly meant what he said.
"A lot of people think I'm weird" said Gina, honestly. "I say things that you're not supposed to. My priest told me that I should count to ten before I say anything."
Tony laughed, but kindly.
"It goes like this - I'm 43 Gina, and I'm still single. I really don't enjoy my job, but the money is good and I've made enough from it to do something I'd like better when I can't stand it anymore. I have a nice home, a nice car, and I'm fit and healthy. The only thing missing from my life really is someone to share it with. I'm long past the playboy thing, and I really, really need to settle down. I'm looking for a long-term relationship, so it's only fair I'm upfront with you about that. I didn't ask you out so quickly because I'm some kind of office gigolo, I just knew the moment we first met that you were exactly what I was looking for. You're funny, you're so open and honest, my God, you're so natural. I didn't have any reason to wait, and I hope you don't feel I'm rushing into something here."
Whew. Gina sat straight upright. Honesty. He wanted honesty?
"I hate my job too," she offered to begin with, he laughed.
"It's OK, I wasn't asking you to confess, I think your priest is probably better for that."
"He doesn't understand me," she said, and then realized she'd left herself wide open.
"Well, then in THAT case, feel free to offload. It makes a change from business talk."
But right then she had nothing to say. Oh yes, there WAS something she wanted to tell him, but now was not the time. He waited a bit, saw she wasn't going to begin, then looked at his watch and apologized.
"Maybe we can talk later? I really MUST get back now, you understand, I know."
He took his glasses off, folded them, but instead of putting them back in his pocket something occurred to him to tell her, and he cupped them in his hands.
"See? I'm middle-aged. Me. I never saw it coming, it crept up on me. I was the jock, you know, and then the cool young business exec with the fast car. Then one day I realized my arms had gotten shorter....."
Gina suddenly felt very strange with him talking like this, and she wasn't sure what he was going to say next. Seeing her obvious reaction, he laughed,
"What?" he said, looking at her bemused.
"Well" she said, in a whisper "you see I've got this....um....quirk"
He looked more bemused, and now amsued too. She couldn't go through with it. She couldn't tell him.
"I'll explain later" she said, very flustered, and quickly got up to leave.
Immediately after work she went to straight to the music store to find Kevin. He was closing up.
"Don't tell me you're busy, I need you."
"OK, alright, I'm all yours, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, well it's all wrong, but it's alright, I mean it's all good, JUST LISTEN."
"I AM LISTENING. MAKE SENSE!"
"OK, sorry, OK. OK, Kevin, how long have you known me."
"Since school"
"Right, and since then you've always know me to be pretty singled minded about men, you know what I'm saying, we share the same thing."
"Yes, indeed" he replied "We both have a passion for nearsighted men. You take the straight ones and I take the gay ones. None are wasted! None left behind!."
"Yes," she laughed "But what about the other men, the farsighted ones, they get left behind, right?"
"Well" said Kevin, "It's true they're not my first choice but I wouldn't reject them......."
"Oh?" said Gina.
"No, I mean, hey it's still glasses right? Just different. There are just more cute nearsighted guys around, I guess."
"Well" said Gina "I've got one."
"One what?"
"I've got a farsighted guy. He's my......boss actually. He wears glasses to read."
Kevin's eyes were like saucers. "Is he cute?"
"Yes, very. Listen you know about these things right?"
"What things?"
"Oh stop acting dumb Kev. You know all about glasses, you wear glasses yourself. You know all the terminology."
"Well, some of it."
"So what's the difference? I mean I'm used to looking at minus lenses, these are really different. They glow."
"They glow?"
She wanted to hit him.
"OK, maybe glow isn't quite what I mean. They hold the light. Oh come on, you know what I mean."
"I think so, but it depends. Are you sure he's farsighted and not presbyopic?"
"Huh?"
"Well, if he just wears them to read...how old is he?"
She knew that precisely "He's 43."
"Well, there you are then, that's presbyopia. It comes with middle-age, sheesh Gina, what are you dating a wrinkly for?"
"He's not wrinkly. Actually he doesn't look any older than you."
"Well, if you say so, but I mean it's an old guy thing. I know what you mean about holding the light, that means they're pretty strong actually, do they make his eyes look bigger?"
She had to think about that.
"Yes, now you come to mention it, they do."
"OK, follow me."
He took her to the pharmacy on the corner. They sold cheap, over-the-counter reading glasses.
"Now look at these" he said to her "do they look like this, or this, or....."
"This" said Gina. Right at the bottom of the display the strongest lenses they sold matched how she remembered Tony's glasses to look.
"Wow" said Kevin.
"Wow?"
"Yeah wow, like how the hell can anyone see through those."
"Well, he can obviously," she said, defensively "What's the problem?"
"Not a problem, no, just.....wow."
Kevin hurt her head sometimes.
"What's that word again?"
"Which word?"
This time she hit him.
"You said there was another word, began with p, instead of farsighted."
"Presbyopic."
"I don't think I'll remember that."
"Were you thinking of asking him?"
"No, no......but I was going to tell him....my.....quirk."
"Good for you. Honesty is a good thing"
"That's pretty much what he said"
"There you go then, now can I go home?"
She released Kevin, and went the other way, to her home. She spent an hour getting ready for Tony, and he was right on time. Yes, he had a VERY nice car. They drove to a dinner theater on the other side of the city. She'd never been anywhere like that before, and, being honest, she told him so. It was divine. The setting, the service, the food, the show, everything. And Tony, so handsome and....suave? And her special treat, watching him put on his glasses to read the menu, and then the program. And laying them on the table the rest of the time for easy access. He put them on to read absolutely everything, including - she noticed - his watch. She loved it. She felt like a voyeur again, with the ever changing view. There was something very exciting about this on-off-on-off thing.
After the show he asked her if she wanted to go straight home, or to go back to his place for coffee, and he stressed,
"No pressure Gina, OK, just coffee?"
She was happy to say yes anyway, as it was his suggestion.
What an amazing place. Leather sofas you could drown in and some really neat artwork. It wasn't cluttered but it wasn't sparse like batchelor's homes often are. He'd obviously collected quite a bit in his travels, and he enjoyed having it around him. A beautiful long-haired cat appeared from a doorway, and he rushed to pick it up.
"This is Cleopatra, she's my first love. Can you accept that?"
They both laughed. He fetched coffee, and put some of that guitar music on. He threw his jacket on another chair and took off his tie. She wasn't completely convinced about "no pressure" but she wasn't bothered. She was quite ready to bed this man.
They chatted for quite a while, and the topic drifted from one thing to another, always without any pauses, only stopping to think while gazing into each others eyes. God he had beautiful eyes, she thought. What a beautiful man! What gorgeous skin, bone structure, hair - his hair always looked slightly ruffled, but never bad. That's what she was trying to put together in her head. He was very sure of himself, but not so much as to be "smooth". He had an edge.
They gradually sank further and further into the sofa, until she was laying across him. She was starting to get sleepy, and she thought he was too, but there was so much to talk about. She found she was talking about herself very openly, like she normally didn't, and she felt so completely totally relaxed just laying there, that when he said,
"Earlier you said you had a....... quirk?....."
......she was ready to open up.
"Well, this is going to sound funny, but ever since I can remember I've only been interested in men who wear glasses."
He nodded, like it didn't sound too funny at all.
"And when I first met you, and you didn't, I wasn't sure why I was attracted to you. Like it wasn't right. Then I saw you that wear reading glasses, and then it was OK, but not what I was expecting.....I mean for me.....to end up with.......I mean.......I never thought the man I really............."
"Fell in love with?" he said, hopefully.
"Yeah, I guess....I never thought I'd fall in love with a man who was......." and she tried to remember the word that Kevin had taught her, but it was long gone.
"OK" Tony said, smiling "I think I understand. You like guys who wear glasses all the time, because only needing them some of the time isn't the full deal. And people who wear reading glasses only wear them some of the time."
"YEAH!" she said exitedly, and then suddenly felt like she wanted to disappear down the back of the sofa. Well, she'd been honest.
"Well" said Tony "I think I can help."
She sat up, not knowing what was coming next. He was killing himself laughing.
"Can I be honest with you?" he asked.
She nodded.
"You know, I said earlier, I'm not enjoying the idea of being middle-aged too much, I live in denial. It's crazy, but there you are. The only part of me that's middle-aged is my eyes, honest."
She agreed eagerly. He really didn't look his age at all. No grey hairs, no lines, nothing.
"So as you can imagine, when I was told by my optometrist the other week that I really ought to be wearing glasses virtually full time, and he said the word "progressives" I just freaked right out. I did. I lost it. I don't remember what I said exactly, but I pictured my Father, you know? What happened? When did I get old? I haven't had a life yet! And...and...I just said no, flat out, right there. I walked out! But I know it would really be so much easier. AND, I thought, I've just met this girl, and she's...fantasic.....and she's so much younger, and she'd hate it......."
He looked pleadingly at her, like he'd said too much and wanted reassurance, and he got it. She kissed him, and she told him they could grow old together.
The next morning she emerged from the bathroom to find a very casual Tony in a white sweater, making breakfast. Wearing his glasses.
Part Four
