They were never free at the same time.
Apart from that brief childhood friendship. Kiss chase, postman’s knock and giggles. The rose-tinted spectacle of warm sunshine glinting through the leafy branches, initials carved into a tree, a kiss and the promise of a future wedding.
With the advent of senior school, they grew apart, he moved away.
Coming back to find her five years later, there was someone else.
And then he found her again after a further three decades.
Facebook.
He had three kids and was getting divorced, she had two and was in a new relationship.
Meeting for coffee in a motorway service station, it was if they had never been apart.
Talking for England.
Phone calls to chat.
It was obvious that the attraction and the connection was still there.
But when she went to see his new home, had too much to drink and stayed the night in his spare room.
She felt safe with him. Their relationship wasn’t dependent upon sex.
So she crept into his room.
The woman snuggled into the adult body of the boy who had been her childhood friend…
… and they slept.
There is NOTHING like sleeping next to someone CLOSE.
My Best Friend and I could Never approach anything like you described until I admitted to myself, first, and then to her, that we would destroy the DEEP friendship we have, if we had sex.
I think last week we reached that place.
It’s strange but he actually read this piece and texted me about tea and toast the following morning. It’s really lovely to know that we can have an adult relationship that embraces the joy of the mutual appreciation we shared in our childhood