[Eighteen Months ago]

Sometimes in life, you have to take risks. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. So far, my track record in life was pretty bad.

Two years before, I’d told my wife of my desire to live as and eventually become a woman. Once the dust had settled, I found myself homeless, jobless and almost penniless.

Very slowly, I recovered and got my life back on track. Every so often, I was rudely reminded of my mistake when I received demands from the lawyers of my former wife, Alexandria for more and more money. Well, they can go to hell before I pay her another penny let alone a thousand pounds a month. I have threatened to declare bankruptcy citing her and her lawyers as reason. I also said that I’d stand outside their swanky new offices wearing a sandwich board proclaiming their evil deeds.

They responded with a court order banning me from going within one hundred yards of their premises and a bill for two thousand pounds. I declared bankruptcy the next day. They can go to hell for all I was concerned. The court agreed with me and while refusing my application for bankruptcy, they told the legal firm that they’d initiated the action so they could foot the bill or withdraw the order. They withdrew the order and with it their action for costs against me.

Their demands on my income were viewed as excessive. Given that I only take home a little over nine hundred pounds a month after tax etc from my job cleaning at a local hospital, no sane judge would award her a penny more of my meagre income. She and her lawyers know that but it does not stop them from trying. Every attempt would cause me to spend money that I don’t with lawyers so I took to defending myself.

The threat of my declaring bankruptcy is still on the table. After one court hearing where I’d defended myself against not one, not two but three Barristers, I got a good writeup in the local paper which got me another threatening letter. They assumed that I had paid for the paper to write the article which was about as far from the truth as you could get.

I passed it all over to a legal firm in another town who was building a complaint on my behalf for submittal to the Law Society but that wasn’t going to happen overnight.

My new life is very different from the old one. In the old one, I was John Stanley Thompson, Teacher and Husband to Alexandria. In my new one, I’m Ayesha Brown, single woman living alone.

---

So here I am on the last Friday of the month with a few pounds in the bank eating my dinner and having a glass or two of wine. Once a month I splash out and by a bottle of pretty cheap supermarket wine. I limit myself to two glasses on the Friday and then finish the bottle the following evening. I pay for this by not drinking expensive coffee or tea in the staff canteen. For one week, I drink tap water but even so, I dread being confronted by my wife as I paid for the wine. She’d raise merry hell at the mere thought of me enjoying myself.

The tirade of words that she’d said to me, rather shouted at me the night I told her about wanting to become a woman still ring in my ears all this time later.

After doing the washing up and clearing things away, I sat down with my last glass of wine to read the local newspaper. My neighbour, Fred Bannister gets it on a Thursday and pushes it under my door when he’s done with it. He’s like me in that we both ‘waste not, want not’ although I could do with a little more money at the end of the month as my winter coat is well past its’ prime. As I bought it from a charity shop for a tenner, I can’t complain that much. It might last one more winter as long as it isn’t too cold.

---

Saturday is also my day for cleaning unless I’m working. I was just putting the now read local paper into the blue ‘recycling’ bin when I saw someone from my past walking along the street right towards me.

The person concerned was Tina Holt. We’d dated for a while at school before I got involved with Alexandria.

For a moment, I dithered about saying hello. Questions like ‘Would she remember me?’ and ‘How would she react to the new me?’.

In the end, I decided to say hello.

As she came close, I smiled and said, ‘Hello Tina’.

She stopped dead and looked at me.

“Do I know… John, is that you?”

“I’m Ayesha now. Ayesha Brown. Nice to see you again.”

“Oh my god. You actually went and did it then?”

“Afraid so. Came out a couple of years ago. Told the Missus and got thrown out on the street.”

“Nasty?”

“Yeah. Nasty is about best way of describing it. Say, want to come in for a Coffee? If you are not busy that is?”

She hesitated for a moment. Then she smiled and said,
“Yes, I’d love to do that.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have much of anything but it is home.”

Tina looked around and said,
“It looks temporary.”

“Yeah, two years and counting sort of temporary.”

“Milk, no sugar if my memory serves me right.”

“Sill the same,” she replied.

“Here you go. Please take a seat and tell me what’s been happening to you since we last met?”

Tina took the coffee and sat down.

“I got married. I think it was about a week after you. You know that I was a dreamer. Always dreaming about the ideal wedding. Well, I had the wedding all right but then it was a total failure. Two days into the Honeymoon, I caught my Husband in bed with another guest. Right there in our suite in Cancun. So, I stiffed him with an order for a case of their most expensive champers and walked out of the Hotel and took the first flight home. He was mad as hell but had to pay the bill before they’d let him leave. By the time he got back, I’d already filed for divorce.”

“Bummer.”

“Nah, I should have seen it coming. He married an ex-girlfriend not long after the annulment. That lasted a year. That’s the sort of person he is. He’s onto number 4 already. I’ve not done a lot of dating since. I guess that I really don’t trust men.”

“So, we both lucked out then?”

“Yeah. It seems like that. But what about you then?”

I smiled back at her.

“What you see is what you get. I’ve been living as Ayesha for the past two years. I work at the Hospital as a cleaner. That’s it. My life in a nutshell.”

“How far along are you?”

I was temporarily startled by her question. Then I realised what she meant and it wasn’t related to me being pregnant.

I sighed.

“On the waiting list to start hormones. Got an appointment in three months.”

I decided to change the subject.

“What are you doing these days? Like me, you wanted to be a teacher like me if I remember correctly.

“I did want to do that but I failed to get the right grades in my ‘A’ Levels. Then I got married and divorced and now, a few years down the line, I run my own business.”

I smiled back. From her clothes, she was obviously doing quite well.

“You seem to be doing quite well is those clothes are anything to go by?”

She smiled back at me.

“After my divorce was finalised I drifted for a but then I got lucky. I started working for someone and… well we became a couple. After a year or so I became a partner in the business. Everything was great for a few years until the silly fool went off to Amsterdam on a stag weekend and got too high on some really strong weed. Ended up being fished out of a canal. That was eighteen months ago. As the one remaining partner, I took over running the business.”

“Sorry to hear about that. What sort of business are you in?”

Tina hesitated for a couple of seconds before answering.

“Custom bondage,” She said with a straight face.

I almost burst out laughing.

“Tina, weren’t you the most prudish girl in school. You know what your nickname was?”

“Yeah, yeah. Miss Steel Knickers. So? I’ve changed. Just like you.”

Then she stood up.

“Thanks for the coffee. It has been nice seeing you again especially the new you. You are looking good you know.”

As we walked towards the door, she stopped and said,
“Am I to blame for the new you? I did let you wear my skirts when we were dating didn’t I?”

“No Tina, you are blameless. I knew that I’d have to transition at some time. I hoped that getting married would stop it but it didn’t.”

I sighed.
“So here I am. Ayesha Brown.”

Tina opened her handbag and pulled out a card.

“Here’s my number and website. Give me a call next week and we can get together. I owe you a coffee.”

“Thanks Tina. You were always good to me. No one else as school would have been as understanding as you. I can still remember the day I told you. Once you stopped laughing at my wanting to get into your skirts… we had some good times together.”

“Nonsense Ayesha. You kept the randy buggers away from me. In return, I let you wear my clothes. That was a small price to pay believe me. How many girls got up the duff before they finished their ‘A-Levels’ eh? Us being a couple worked for both of us. Shame that I fucked up the exams eh. We both had places at the same teacher training college. We might still be together today. But… that was my own fault wasn’t it?”

We both laughed.

“Young love eh?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

I watched her walk off down the road before going back inside.

Later that day, I went to a local internet café where viewed her website and got quite a shock at the sort of things she sold. Definitely NSFW (not safe for work) but I didn’t feel that much there was of interest to me mostly because of the cost of things. Still, it piqued my interest in Tina and her business. I had to admire how much she’d changed and … well, she was doing very well indeed. Finally, I had to admit to myself that I was more than a little envious of her.

---

Events at work conspired to stop me having time to call Tina before the following Friday.

“Hi Tina, its’ Ayesha.”

“Yes. I did. It was interesting to say the least...”

“You know, I would like to.”

“Yes, I’m free tomorrow. Where?”

“Ok, got it. See you tomorrow. Bye.”

I’d just agreed to visiting her business premises the following morning.

Just before 11am, I walked up to her business. Apart from a small sign saying ‘Custom and Special Supplies Ltd’, the place was just another anonymous small business unit on a small estate on the edge of a neighbouring town centre. I opened the single door and stepped inside.

“Hi Ayesha. I’m in the back,” came Tina’s voice.
“Come on through. I’m just doing a fitting.”

I went through into the back and there was Tina and another woman. The other woman was naked and it looked like she was hanging from the sort of thing that a trapeze artist would swing on.

Tina was working on a leather corset that was wrapped around the woman’s already slim waist.

“There we are Veronica. That seems to fit a lot better.”

The woman just grunted as Tina pulled the laces tighter.

“How tight do you want it today?”

Veronica didn’t answer as the corset was made tighter and tighter. Her breathing settled down as Tina tied the laces off at the back.

Then Tina measured Veronica’s waist.

“Twenty-one inches. That’s one less than last month. If you keep this up, you will reach your target by the end of the year and just in time for your wedding.”

“Thanks Tina. Those seams were driving me mad,” said Veronica as Tina lowered her down to the ground.

She released Veronica’s wrists and stepped back to examine her client.

“I think he’ll like what he sees when you get home.”

She grinned back at Tina.

“Why don’t you go and get dressed? We’ll be in my Office,” suggested Tina.

Veronica disappeared into a curtained off changing room.

“Come and sit down. I’ll put the kettle on.”

I followed her into her office. There were samples of her products all over the place.

Tina saw my interest in them.

“Interested in anything?”

I gave an involuntary shudder.

Tina laughed.

“I reacted like that the first time I saw some of this stuff. Now I wear some almost every day. I sort of feel naked without any gear on me.”

I stared at Tina trying to see what she was wearing but to my untrained eye, I could not see anything.

Tina soon made some tea and sat down.

“If you don’t mind me asking what are you wearing today?”

Tina laughed.
Then she lifted up one foot and pulled back her ankle length skirt.

I could see that she was wearing very high heeled boots and there was what looked like a steel band at the top that was locked shut.

“The keys are at home,” she said in a matter of fact way.

“Can you stand in those all day?”

“No problem. I wear heels all day, every day.”

I laughed as I remembered how she’d tottered her way around the end of term dance at school. She hung onto me as if her life depended upon it. Towards the end she’d given up and threw her heels at the very bad band and stormed out vowing never to wear shoes like that again.

Tina saw my snigger.
“Remembering the dance at School?”

“Yeah.”

“My one moment of fame,” she replied.
“Those shoes were bought by my Mother and were at least a size too small but the shop wouldn’t change them so I was stuffed.”

“Your exit was the talk of the whole school for weeks.”

“Yeah. It was so embarrassing.”

“But look at you now? Who’d a thought it eh?”

Just then Veronica appeared. I was shocked by her appearance. She was wearing a Nicab. Only her eyes were visible.

“I’ll be back next Wednesday for the other bits,” said the voice from under the cover.

“Everything will be ready for you. Give my regards to Jimmy.”

“I will. See you next week.”

Once she’d gone I looked at Tina.

“Veronica has worn a Nicab for at least the last five years. An ex stalked her for more than a year. As a result, she adopted the Nicab as a way of moving around without attracting attention. There are a number of Muslim women in the area who also wear the Nicab so she does not look that much out of place.”

Her explanation sort of made sense to me in a vague sort of way.

When we finished the tea, Tina stood up and said,
“Let me show you around and some more of the things we sell. A lot is made locally. That’s part of our USP. It also means that we can get items customised pretty quickly. I never realised just how big a ‘cottage industry’ this sort of stuff was until I got involved with it.”

---

Tina gave me the full tour. I’d never really been interested in this sort of thing but actually touching a few things piqued my interest.

“Want to try something out?”

I smiled.
“There are so many things. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Tina laughed.

“You would be surprised at how many people wear some stuff on a daily basis.”

“What sort of things?” I asked now that she’d pressed me a bit.

Tina grinned and went to a glass topped display cabinet and removed an item.

“This is a very popular item.”

She handed me what was obviously a steel collar.

“People actually wear this sort of thing in public?”

“Sure. The more extrovert customers show it off but many just cover it in a scarf.”
Tina chuckled.
“One of my customers wears a much wider one all the time in public. She takes her dog for a walk with two leads in her hands. One for the dog and one for herself. Her partner leads her around at home all the time. A few years ago, she could have been my twin from back when we were at school. Something just clicked in her and now she performs three or four nights a week at a Burlesque Club in London.”

Then she said,
“Want to try it?”

Slowly, I said,
“Ok but just for a minute.”

Tina’s eyes were alive. I’d seen that many times when we dated. It was usually while we were having sex. That told me that she was enjoying herself.

As if by magic, she opened the collar and placed it around my neck. Then she closed it. All I heard was a slight click.

Tina stepped back with a devilish grin on her face.

“It looks good on you.”

I didn’t believe one word of what she’d just said.

“Come on, lets go to lunch. My treat.”

I didn’t move an inch.

“Come on old girl live a bit. You need to lighten up and enjoy life a bit. You are far too good a person to keep down.”
I loved it when she called me ‘old girl’. That had been her pet name for me when I wore her clothes back when we were at school. It had been a long, long time since I’d been called that.

Tina smiled and opened a drawer. She pulled out a chiffon scarf.

“Here, put this on and we can go to lunch.”

---

[Nine Months Later]

“This place will do us perfectly,” said Tina to the Estate Agent.

Tina and I were an item again and had been for months. She’d gradually worn me down and now I was just like her in that I wore some bondage gear 24/7 but I rebelled at anything visible. I never knew when I might run into my former wife and … well I shudder to think what would happen next if I did.

The Business had been doing really well since I came on board. Just part time to help out you understand. The downside was that we were outgrowing our existing premises quite rapidly. As a result, we’d been on the lookout for some new premises for a few months. The first few places were not suitable so we expanded the area where we were looking.

One agent was showing us a unit on a small Industrial Estate on the other side of the same town where the business was currently located. It had just become available and we were almost the first people to look it over.

The unit seemed to have everything we needed. Well, it was originally two units that had been knocked into one by a previous tenant. One had a small showroom area and the other would be perfect for a warehouse and workshop plus somewhere for us to live but the agent was not going to know that part.

The site offered plenty of parking which was always a problem at our current location. We were also expanding our range of shall I say somewhat larger items. These items, that needed transporting away and not attracting attention was the order of the day for most of them. The Unit had a large roll up door that would easily take the sort of vehicles that transported these items. Everything seemed perfect for our needs.

We didn’t waste any time and put in an offer for the freehold the next day. The offer was accepted which enabled us to get on with the detailed design and specification of the alterations we wanted to make before we could move in.

Tina had developed contacts with a number of builders who would do alterations and installations of the things we sold and not ask questions or tell the world via Twitter or Facebook. Discretion was the name of the game with us and especially our customers. We engaged one of these companies to do the work for us. As we were planning on converting part of the unit to living space we really didn’t want to attract attention as we didn’t have planning permission for that.

By the time the sale had gone through, we had all the plans in place. What needed planning permission was on the schedule for the council to approve. They were pleased to see the back of Tina’s business from the town centre. More than one councillor had used the words ‘smut sellers’ to describe the business. At least two of them were mail-order customers of the business. Two faced? Most certainly but they knew that if they went too far certain customer details might get leaked to the local press. They called it ‘keeping up appearances’.

---

Six weeks after building work started, Tina moved the business to the new facility. I gave notice at the Hospital and to my landlord. I was going to work for Tina full time but that’s when the trouble started.

Less than a day after I’d handed in my notice, my ex-wife appeared while I was cleaning the Ladies toilet on the Geriatric Ward.

“And where the hell do you think you are going? Don’t think for one moment that I will let you default on your payments to me!”

“Nice to see you not Alexandria.”

“Well? Where are you going and how much more are you earning?”

Tina and I were prepared for this sort of encounter.

“I’ll be earning exactly one whole pound a week more than I am here. At least I won’t have to clear up shit like this anymore.”

“Bollocks. You must be earning a lot more and I want it all. I have a position to maintain.”

“Oh yes… Mistress to the Captain of the Golf Club. You were screwing him long before I told you that I was going to transition.”

“You little pipsqueak. You are nothing. I don’t know what I ever saw in you?”

I laughed.

“I was the one boyfriend who didn’t want to shag you on the first date. That was enough for you. You told me that many times just before you faked an orgasm.”

“I’ll….”

“You’ll what? Get me fired? I’ve resigned. Oh? Silly me. You will get me evicted. But wait, I’ve given my landlord notice. Sorry Alexandria, there is nothing more you can do to me.”

“I’ll see you in court. You are obviously hiding money somewhere.”

“Bollocks Alexandria. You can’t handle the fact that I’m a better woman than you will ever be.”

Alexandria gave me a look that would have killed many other people.

“You! I’ll make you pay for this. Mark my words.”

“Fine. But in the meantime, I have a job of work to do so why don’t you piss off home before I empty this bucket of rather smelly and dirty water all over you?”

Alexandria didn’t need a second hint. The left me to finish cleaning the toilet.

---

Several people remarked that I had a nice smile on my face for once. Cleaning toilets is not a job that you can smile at but that day I had good reason to be happy that day.

After work, I met with Tina and told her about the incident. She almost split her sides with laughter.

“Well done darling. That might get her off your back for a while?”

“I doubt it but it felt nice for a while afterwards.”

Tina held my hand and squeezed it.

“I’ve got everything setup for the opening tomorrow,” she said changing the subject.

I sighed.

“I wish that I could be there with you but…”

“I know. They are holding you to your notice period.”

I nodded.

“Somehow she found out that I’d resigned. I’d love to find out who told her?”

Tina squeezed my hand once more.

“Don’t worry darling. We can soon be together.”

“Yes, but she’s like a bad penny in that she keeps on coming back.”

Tina gave me a kiss and I waved her off in her car. I took the bus home. As I did so, I thought that I would not be doing that much longer.

---

Five weeks later Tina helped me move from my ‘two year temporary’ residence into the newly created flat above the workshop she’d bought for the business. We spent the weekend getting everything straight ready for me to start work on the Monday.

One of the areas that Tina had struggled with before I came along was dealing with internet and mail orders. That was now my job. Due to the move there was a bit of a backlog of orders that needed seeing too. I’d been doing it at weekends for a while but now I was able to do it full time and put in a proper tracking system. More than once we’d lost an order amongst the pile of paperwork. Tina wasn’t that good at this sort of thing. She’d managed somehow but as the business expanded, she’d gotten a lot more behind with things.

“I’ve sorted out a few of the more urgent ones,” said Tina as she showed me a pile of orders.

“These have all been sourced and all we need to do now is wait for them to be delivered.”

“Thanks love. I’ll go through them first and just check the orders. If there is a mistake we need to catch it sooner rather than later.”

Tina smiled and gave me a long kiss.
“You always had more sense than me.”

Just then a customer arrived in the shop so she had to disappear.

I got down to work reviewing the ‘in progress’ orders.

After an hour, I opened the last but one file for review. When I saw the name of the person who had made the order, I began to smile. As I read the items on the list my smile got a whole lot bigger.

I was so engrossed in the file that I totally missed seeing Tina come up the stairs with a mug of coffee.

“That order seems to have gotten your full attention. How so?” asked Tina.

Her words startled me.

“Sorry… What did you say?”

Tina laughed.

“What’s so interesting in that order?”

I smiled.

“Perhaps this could turn out to be the best day of my life since I transitioned.”
Then I added,
"Apart from meeting you again that is!"

Tina walked over to my desk and put the Mug down on it.
“Why?”

I turned the folder so that she could read it.

“Look at this.”

She glanced at the file.

“So?”

“That’s the address is where my ex lives. Or well she did six months ago.”

Tina was silent for several seconds before she started to laugh.

“Did she show any interest in this sort of stuff before…?”

I laughed.

“I bought her a vibrator for her birthday once and she hurled it back at me along with a mouthful of insults.”

“Well, something has changed or it looks that way.”

I didn’t reply.

Tina then asked.

“What are you going to do with that order? We can cancel it if that’s what you want?”

“No. Don’t cancel it.”

Tina looked at me and a smile appeared on her face.

“Ok, what are you thinking? It has to be something devious?”

“We fulfil the order exactly as requested. Then we do nothing.”

Tina came around to my side of the desk and sat on my knee.

“Ok Darling. Before you tell me why you should remember that I know all your ticklish spots. So?”

“We do nothing but when she comes knocking as she surely will, we have something that will make her go away with the wind taken right out of her sails.”

“Oooohhhh Blackmail. I like it.”

“Not really blackmail but this order going public would hurt him a lot more than us. He is the Council Chief Executive and now Chairman of the Golf Club. He has a position to maintain after all…”

“Nasty. I can see the headlines in the local paper, ‘Council CEO locks wife up in jail cell’.”

“They aren’t married.”

“Really?”

“What do you mean?”

“Stay right where you are. Don’t move a muscle.”

Tina left the office and literally ran down the stairs. She returned a minute later with a sheet of newspaper.

“The painters were using this to stop the paint tins marking the floor in the workshop. I noticed this the other day.”

She sat back down on my lap and together we read the article.

The article reported on the ‘topping out’ ceremony for the new Council Offices. It clearly identified my ex-wife and her husband as being present. A photo showed them with the Mayor and a few other dignitaries at the ceremony.

“That bitch!”

“Don’t go off in a rage or anything. We can verify their marital status. I know someone who works in the Registry Office. Then if she comes knocking and they are indeed married we can shove both things right in her face and tell her to fuck off…”

I didn’t say anything. I could see the sense in her argument but at that moment, I could have killed her and not have any regrets about it.

Tina sensed my angst.

“It will pass darling.”

“What will pass?”

“Whatever it is that you are thinking of doing to Alexandria. It will pass. We… No, you keep your powder dry and wait. She will come calling if past experience is anything to go by. Am I right?”

I looked her right in the eye.

“Yes darling, you are right. Why could we not have met again earlier?”

Tina laughed.

“The time wasn’t right. Both of us had to make mistakes in our lives and then learn from them. That day you said ‘Hello Tina’ to me, I got a real fright until I realised who it was. I suddenly felt happier than I’d been for years. And here we are living and working together as if we have been doing it for years.”

Before either of us could continue, the bell to the shop rang.

“Drat! Not saved by the bell!” exclaimed Tina as she headed downstairs.

---

[The present time]

I went into the town where I used to live to go to the Dentist for a check-up. Tina and I were really comfortable together. I’d asked her to marry me but she’d refused.
“When you become a real woman then we can get hitched!”

As I’d just started on hormones and was having real problems getting the dose right but what she’d said sort of made sense as usual.

On this particular day, I was feeling pretty good. The fact that I didn’t have to have any work done at the Dentists helped a great deal.

I was walking back towards the Bus Stop when I heard someone speaking at me.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in!”

The voice told me that it was Alexandria.

I turned around and there she was. Her hair was even blonder than before and she was wearing a lot more makeup than I’d ever seen her wearing, but it was her.

“Hello Alexandria.”

“I’ve been looking for you. You owe me a load of money.”

I sighed.

“I thought that we were past that?”

“No chance. The court awarded me maintenance and you have not been paying it for the past four or is it six months now? Pay up or I go back to court.”

“Direct and to the point as usual I see.”

She just glared at me.

“Please go back to court and when you do, I’ll have your guts for garters. You are married and have been for over a year. You lied on oath to the court. That’s perjury and if I have anything to say about it, you will go to jail. I think the standard tariff is three years. That won’t look good for the wife of the Council Chief Executive now will it. My guess is that you will be out on your ear before the ink on the charge sheet has even had time to dry.”

She tried to say something but couldn’t.

“But, you love being locked up don’t you. After all, you have a jail cell with a St Andrews Cross in your Cellar, don’t you?”

“H… How do you know? Have you been spying on me?”

I tapped my nose.

“Now, now Alexandria. I’m not going to reveal my sources standing here on the street. I will tell you one thing and that I that I have never ever been near your home and hopefully never will. Why don’t you just go home and lock yourself up and wait for hubby to come and rescue you. Remember that his job is on the line if it gets out that you have a dungeon at home.”

I looked at my watch.
“I have a bus to catch. It has not been nice seeing you again. If you do want to go to court then send me an email or a text. You have both of them don’t you.”

I turned and left her standing in the street and hurried off to the Bus Stop that was out of sight of her.

---

When I got back to the shop, Tina immediately knew that something was up.

“You look very pleased with yourself! I’m just going to make some tea. You can tell me all about it over a cuppa.”

“Right my Darling. Why are you looking as pleased as punch?”

“I met Alexandria. Or rather she accosted me in the street just after I’d left the dentists.”

“Oh goody. And?”

“I gave her both barrels and a cruise missile as follow up. Then I left her as I had a No 23 bus to catch.”

Tina laughed.

“How does it feel to have that weight off you back?”

“You know it feels kinda good.”

“Great. Then Yes, let’s get married!”
“Eh? I thought that you wanted to wait?”

“I did but then I decided that once you had told her that her days of extracting money from you were over, I’d say yes. You have done that and so… How about it, girl? Want to marry this super successful businesswoman?”

I leaned over the table and kissed her.

“Yes, but I’m not wearing any of our products on the day and I don’t want you to either…”

“Spoilsport!” replied Tina with a huge grin on her face.

“That does not mean that later we won’t but I want to be totally free to marry you.”

Tina looked sad.

“Ok. You win.”
She said as an evil grin spread over her face.

“Want to close up early today?”

“Oh! You are awful but I like you!”

[the end]

[authors note]
The last line is a tribute to the late great Dick Emery. He was a British Comedian of the old School who often dressed as a woman for part of his show. When he did so, it was often in a sketch where she was being interviewed. The last line would be ‘Oh, you are awful but I like you!”