Mister or Myth?

Caitlin picked up the discarded Independent supplement. For someone who wasn’t going to look in the Soul Mates section this week, she wasn’t doing a very good job, and had already gone through it once. The usual ads covered the pages: Male, 46, seeks cuddly female for friendship, possibly more. She knew what that meant – he was on the large side himself. With a sigh she scanned the pages once more, knowing that it wouldn’t be any different this time.
It was then that she saw it, and it could have been written for her.

Professional 43 yr old male seeks slim, gorgeous female for getting lost in the English countryside, drinking too much wine and sharing life.
Must love music and good food, be a non-smoker and preferably Vegetarian

‘I didn’t see that before’, she took a sip of coffee and looked at the ad again. It almost jumped out of the page at her. As she looked at the ads that surrounded it, Caitlin remembered seeing this page. Just not this ad.
His voice message was almost mesmerising. Deep and soothing: as though he’d just swallowed a pot of honey. Caitlin listened with pleasure, and then immediately recorded her message without the usual notes in front of her. It just seemed to flow.
She hung up and thought about her catalogue of dates with ‘Soul Mates’. Why was it that they all seemed to be besotted with her within a very short space of time, yet she never felt the same? All the annoying habits, from sniffing to throat clearing had got on her nerves very quickly. And it wasn’t as though she hadn’t given any of them a chance. Well this was it. This was the last one. If he didn’t get back to her, then so be it. She would just get on with life.
She wasn’t surprised when ‘Professional Male’ phoned her back. After all, she’d been through this same thing many times before. But she was surprised at her reaction to his voice over the phone. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up when he said,
‘Hello, this is Martin.’
They arranged to meet in a local wine bar the following evening, and Caitlin felt quite nervous as the hour approached. Checking her watch she set off early, and ordered a glass of wine, then positioned herself as far away from the door as possible so that she could get a good look at him right from him entering the building.
It had to be him. He was tall, slim, dark haired, and carried a newspaper, as agreed. He walked straight over to Caitlin as though he knew exactly who she was, and sat down beside her.
‘Hello,’ he said, and Caitlin looked up into deep brown eyes that seemed to drag her in to his very soul. ‘Can I get you another drink?’
Normally she would have insisted on getting her own, but this time she nodded gratefully.
‘Dry white is it?’ How did he know that?
‘Please,’
Once he had joined her again, Caitlin found herself relaxing and talking with a total stranger as though she’d known him for years. While they talked, she observed. He had very smooth hands, and immaculate fingernails. Not an ounce of fat on him, which pleased her greatly, and excellent dress sense. His face was clean-shaven, and his hair wasn’t too long or too short. In fact she couldn’t fault him in any way, which worried her slightly. No one was that perfect. Certainly not in her experience anyway.
It was strange. When he asked to see her again at the end of the evening, she felt like a teenager again. The thrill rushed through her in a way in never had with all the other ones. This was just too good to be true. He shared all her interests, and so far didn’t seem to be displaying any of the annoying habits that had so quickly manifested themselves in previous relationships.
The days to the weekend dragged, and Caitlin’s thoughts were full of Martin. They were going to meet up and go for a walk, and then have a pub lunch. A simple day out, but she was very much looking forward to it.
‘This is wonderful,’ Martin gazed up at the sky as they lay in the grass sharing the last of the Kendal mint cake. ‘I’ve never been up here before. It’s so quiet.’
And it was. The silence was almost deafening. He passed the last piece to Caitlin, then helped her to her feet. Ever the gentleman, as she was fast discovering.
The whole day was amazing really, even when it rained and Martin offered Caitlin his waterproof, it didn’t dampen the mood. It was quite strange, she thought after the rain had stopped. Her borrowed waterproof was quite wet, but Martin’s jumper appeared to be bone dry, as was his hair. It must be a trick of the light.
‘I’ve had a wonderful day,’ Caitlin leaned against the car. ‘Shall I give you a lift home?’
‘No, it’s fine. I’ll walk,’ Martin said. ‘It’s not far from here.’
‘But we’re in the middle of nowhere,’ she protested, looking around for any possible signs of habitation.
‘It’s no problem,’ he insisted. Then he bent to kiss her, and in that split second Caitlin felt a range of emotions she couldn’t place, none of which she could describe or remember afterwards.
‘Can I see you tomorrow?’ he asked. ‘And the next day. And probably the one after that too.’
Caitlin nodded. He was the one.
The days turned into weeks, and if they didn’t see each other every one of them, they spoke on the phone. Martin spent his first weekend at Caitlin’s house. He helped her finish decorating her spare room. A job she had been putting off forever.
The paint matched his sea green eyes perfectly. That was odd. Caitlin could have sworn they were brown. Oh well, maybe observation wasn’t her strongest point. Every time they were together, she felt that there was something about him that she hadn’t noticed until that moment. Maybe it was because there was so much to discover about Martin.
The room was finished. They sat among the dustsheets and boxes and opened a bottle of wine. Caitlin lay her head against Martin and looked up into his penetrating blue eyes. Hang on a minute. Eyes didn’t change colour. It just didn’t happen.
‘What colour are your eyes?’
‘What colour do you think they are?’ Martin seemed to find it amusing.
‘Blue,’ Caitlin said. ‘At least they are now.’ She had another look. Yes, they were definitely blue.
Martin laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘Nothing. You just make me laugh.’
Caitlin stretched out on the dustsheet.
‘I don’t think I need to bother with Soul Mates anymore,’ she said. That was brave. Let’s hope it didn’t backfire on her. But Martin just nodded.
‘Me neither.’
So, it was official, and the next weekend Martin invited Caitlin to stay with him. She had never been to his house before, and was looking forward to it. Would it be to her taste, as everything else about him was? The days of putting up with irritating habits were over. Martin was the first ‘perfect man’ she had ever met, and she still couldn’t believe her luck.

‘It’s a bit hard to find,’ he said. ‘If you wait where we parked that first day I’ll come and meet you.’ So Caitlin sat in the car in the middle of nowhere, waiting for Martin to appear.
After what seemed like an awfully long time she suddenly became aware of a vehicle noise. Looking round the road was empty. Not a car in sight. So where was that noise coming from. It was definitely an engine. Well, some sort of mechanical noise. Actually, it didn’t sound like a car engine at all. More like a jet engine.
Slowly Caitlin got out of the car. It was so loud she immediately clapped her hands over her ears. She should have been afraid when the source of the noise didn’t materialise, but for some reason she wasn’t. Suddenly it all made sense.
The noise started to wind down until it reached a level that was bearable without ear protection.
‘You came,’ Martin whispered in her ear. Caitlin spun round to see his smiling face. He held out his hand and she took it.
‘When did you guess?’ he asked, leading her slowly up the metal stairway, which led to the open hatch.
Feeling the freezing cold of the rail beneath her fingers, Caitlin smiled back at him.
‘You had to be. You’re far too perfect to be human.’