Feb 1, 2019

The Train Boyfriend


I don’t get the chance so much anymore, but I used to love taking the train into the city; the soothing rock of the carriage, watching the play of sunlight over pitched roofs and barren winter trees, tracking the changes in architecture as we moved through different suburbs.

It was also great for people watching. The school kids – some quiet and thoughtful, others rowdy with youthful confidence. The elegantly city workers who look so slick in the morning and less so come evening. The families taking their weekly trips to parks, museums, the big wild world beyond home.

And then there was the Train Boyfriend.

You’ve had one of those, right? Yes?  No?  That one cute guy who takes the train with you. (Well not with you, but at the same time.) He reads a book. Or keeps his friends entertained with his great wit. Or people watches like you.

For those who bus or train or fly to work, the commuter boyfriend can be the one who gets you through the long-haul trip and the work day ahead.

When I sat down to write my current book I knew it would start on a train. Years ago I'd snipped out a Lonely Hearts column in a commuter newspaper and was waiting for the right story to come along in which to use it.

Evie - our heroine in what would become HIRED BY THE MYSTERIOUS MILLIONAIRE - has a Train Boyfriend. Not that he has a single clue, of course.  They never do. That’s the beauty of the Train Boyfriend. They are so much better in your imagination than they could possibly be in real life.  Or so Evie thinks…


Evie looked over at Bryon’s hotter descendant. She couldn’t help it. Heck, at that very moment the train rounded a bend and a slash of sunlight lit him up like something out of an old film.
“He’s dreamy, Evie,” said Zoe, though Evie hadn’t said a word.
Evie blinked, only to find she’d been staring too long as a pair of stormy blue eyes caught on hers. Her breath lodged in her throat. Her cheeks burned as her very blood went haywire.Look away, her subconscious begged. Look. Away. Now!
Instead habit overcame instinct, and she smiled.Growing up in a country town, she’d been smiling at strangers since she’d learned how. Saying hello to anyone who made eye contact. Waving in thanks to cars that stopped to let her cross the street. It was simple good manners.
Now, on a packed train hurtling towards the big city, she felt like an utter fool, her smile frozen into place as those fiercely blue eyes stuck on hers and didn’t let up.
Then a small miracle happened. The man blinked, as if coming to from a faraway place. The corner of his mouth kicking north into what could only be a return smile. And then he nodded. Nodded! Sending her a private hello from across the way.
She felt the train concertina as everything beyond the tunnel between their gazes turned fuzzy and out of focus. 
And then those eyes slid north, pausing at the top of her head. Catching on her beanie, the wool suddenly itching like crazy against her scalp, the bob of the pom-pom like a pulse at the top of her head.
He blinked again, then those stormy eyes slid away.
“Oh, my ever-loving gods,” Zoe said. “Did you see that?”
Hell, yeah, she had.

Have you ever had a train boyfriend?  Or a work husband? A regular stranger who doesn't know you from Adam, yet whose presence lightens your day?


2 comments:

  1. Hi Ally

    I used to catch the train to the City when I first started work at the age of 16 but I always caught it with my boyfriend we both worked in banks in The City but that never stopped me from checking out the other males travelling to and from and there were some good lookers back then :) but I married my boyfriend at the age of 20 and we are still together, and I have this book waiting for me on my kindle and look forward to it :)

    Have Fun

    Helen

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  2. Looking forward to reading this one, Ally!

    ReplyDelete