My Recycled Soul (A Sample)

" Can I help?" I offer.

" No, you just sit there and keep me company." After he pulls a tub of butter from the refrigerator, he asks concerned, "So, are you happier now than when you arrived?"

" I am. After I made friends with Jane, it felt easier to stop living in the past and imagine what could have been."

He is concentrating on buttering the toast. "I am sorry about dumping my whole heart out on you last night but is it really so wrong to have to know?"

I smile shyly. "I am glad you don't like the uncertainty. I know how it goes when you love someone in silence for years."

He looks up at me from across the room. "You loved someone? Did you have a boyfriend back in South Africa?"

" I wish." I laugh dismissively. "Never even been in a serious relationship before, so I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work." I feel a rush of heat push up my neck and into my cheeks. Embarrassed I ask, "Is this a relationship?"

He smiles as he dishes up the huge fry-up and sits down across from me. "I am sure there are no set-in-stone rules, I know though that I want to be in a serious relationship with you."

I concentrate on the plate of food in front of me. "This looks seriously delicious."

Glancing up at him, I see him smile through a mouthful of food. "What time did you tell your mom you'd be home?"

" Later this afternoon."

We continue eating in silence and when I have eaten every morsel on the plate, I sit back and place my palms on my stomach. "That was so nice. Thank you."

" Pleasure. Nothing like a warm breakfast on days like this." He moves away from the island and takes our plates with him. After he puts the plates in the basin, he asks, "Do you want to watch some football?"

I know he means soccer and it is not actually one of my favourite pastimes, so I say honestly, "Not really, but I've never really sat down and watched a whole game, so for all you know I might enjoy it."

" We don't have to," he starts.

" But then I would never know if I enjoy it or not."

He smiles that heart-melting smile of his and taking my hand in his, he leads me to the lounge. My eyes glance at the expensive looking paintings on the walls.

The lounge is decorated in warm beige and brown colours. Two long couches are placed in an L-shape, facing a large television against the opposite wall.