Walter remained silent for a long second then finally took off his jacket and said,
"This might take a while so I suggest we order breakfast", he said getting comfortable and unpacking some of the things he packed when he was mad.
Fortunately, I had time, the workshop program was starting at 11:00 am which meant I had 4 hours left to spare, and since it was the last day, the only thing on the programme was the team building exercise which was going to be wine tasting at a grape farm an hour from the city. So as per Walter's suggestion, I ordered room service and within 30 minutes, a simple English breakfast was delivered to the room, I had mine with Rooibos tea while Walter paired his with an expresso.
We ate in silence as if we were both readying ourselves for the conversation we were about to have, I kept thinking of the possible reasons for Walter's change of heart, I even included myself in the mix, 'could it be because of me?', just the thought of that gave me goosebumps and had my heart beating uncontrollably. The suspense was starting to kill me, so I quickly finished my food, then silently watched Walter take small bites which made him uncomfortable because the look on my face was telling him to hurry, "Thandie, you are going to make me choke if you keep looking at me like that?" he said in response to my eyeballs probing him for information. I kept gazing at him until he finally put away his food "Fine, because at this rate, I won't even enjoy the breakfast,"
I finally used my words, "So..?!?", I asked, "What changed ...tell me?", I asked biting my lower lip in anticipation,
Walter smiled slightly at my eagerness, then his face turned soft, "Well, I thought by letting Rachel hurt me, it was only going to affect me, but I was wrong, my family had to endure it as well. Every year instead of remembering my grandmother for all the good she had done, we had to remember her for how she died. Instead of wishing both her and our baby a peaceful rest, we had to relive their final moments. It was like that over and over again. In the middle of it all, I forgot about my mother's health issues, when Rachel showed up this time, the strong woman I knew suddenly collapsed. Every time Rachel shows up, my mother has to relive the final memory of her mother's passing, I can't imagine what that is like, I refuse to lose my mother the same way I lost my grandmother. So, it had to stop."
At that moment, I realized that in the past 3 weeks, I learned more about Walter than I had in the past 8 months we had been together. Just hearing him admit that it was time to let it go made me emotional, but the thought of Rachel still lingered. She still harbored some resentment towards Walter, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't repeat what she did, it honestly left me feeling uneasy, "Walter, do you think that Rachel feels the same way?", I said with a heavy voice,
Walter paused for a split second, "Yes...I would like to believe so", I saw the doubt on his face which validated my uneasiness.
I wondered why Walter was so sure which led to the question if they had struck a new deal, or made new promises.
"How are you sure? Remember what happened? The moment you cut ties off with her, she started cyberbullying me?"
Walter silently thought about it, his face tensed up visibly showing his tangled thoughts. He then looked at me again, "Trust me, would you?". At that moment, I had the feeling that Walter was hiding something from me. There was more to the story than I was being led to believe, but I decided to let it go for now. "Are you going to ask for more time again?", I asked in response to his question.
"Unfortunately, but this time is different?", Walter said with his face covered in disappointment at his request.
"How so? You need to give me more to work with",
Walter assured me, "I can't tell you now, but it will all be sorted in a few days....",
"Then you will tell me...in a few days right??"
"Yes..", Walter said. I gave him a look of approval, upon which he sighed, "Thank you. Oh, I booked us a table at O'malleys...they have the best seafood in town", he said reaching for the plate he pushed aside earlier,
I squinted my eyes in surprise at what he just said, "But you are allergic to seafood"
"Yes, but you love it. Besides, they have other dishes that aren't seafood"
I smiled a little softening my face, upon seeing the sparkle in my eyes he replied, "I will take that as a yes, should we go around 18:00?
I checked the time on my phone only to find that I was already left with an hour to get ready, talking to Walter almost made me lose track of time, panic-stricken, I exclaimed, "Walter I am late! I need to take a shower?!" I gulped what was left of the now cold rooibos tea.
Walter suddenly pushed his plate aside once again, and abruptly stood up before I could, almost making me choke, "What are you doing?! Do you also have some place to be?",
He gave me an awkward and nervous smile, "Yes,"
"Oh, you do?", I furrowed my eyes,
"Yes,"
I thought he was in Cape Town for me, so hearing him say that gave me a little shock, "If you don't mind me asking, where are you going?"
Walter scooped me up, "To the shower with you." before I knew it, my feet were off the ground. I was laughing and kicking like a child while he had me over his shoulder slightly tapping my bums.
While we were in the shower with my back turned against him, Walter started to move his soapy hands around my thighs, indicating it was time, "No Walter we are not doing that", my mind was too focused on finishing, I had not even picked out an outfit for the day.
"Just a quicky, I promise", he said nibbling my ear,
"No Walter, a quicky is never a quicky with you, remember the last time? I was almost late for my flight?", I said firmly
"Thandie, it's been four weeks!"
"That is exactly why. I can't afford to be late today."
Walter started sulking, I found his sulking face really cute, and I almost changed my mind, I honestly would have if it weren't for the fact that I was in a fragile position at the workshop, the last thing I needed was to have their attention on me again.
After the shower, Walter helped me dry my hair, just to untangle it for the Afro comb to run through smoothly. We were standing in front of the vanity table with a mirror big enough for me to see his face as he moved his fingers through my hair roots, with just the white towel on. Thanks to his height, I could also see his Adam's apple as he tilted my head to the side to blow the right side of my head. The image of my tilted head and the way he looked at my neck, gave me wild thoughts, he suddenly looked delicious, I imagined him taking me from the back right in front of the mirror, I imagined the faces he would make while he had me bent over on the dressing table. As I was caressing him with my eyes through the mirror, our eyes met and I knew he was having the same thoughts as mine, his eyes were just as burning with desire.
He turned off the hair dryer, unplugged it, and slowly started to roll the cable around the handle while maintaining eye contact with me, I stood frozen in front of him, it was as if his eyes were commanding me to stand where I was, and I obliged.
When the hairdryer was safely packed away, he moved closer to me, and whispered, "Shall we?", the combination of his warm breath and the slow movements of hands underneath my towel caused me to let out a soft moan, which gave Walter the permission he needed to continue.