All of a sudden I have a busy week lined up!

Wednesday: Pilates.

Thursday: Ha said we should “do something”

Friday: Elise has told me to keep the evening free.

Saturday: Alison has set up the second tea session with me, Ellie, Ana and Sarah, and of course Russ is serving us ladies.

Sunday: going to have brunch with Mark and Ana and talk about holiday plans!

Work was better today now things are a bit more out in the open with Tim, and I was in a better mood when I headed to Mel’s. Which meant I was somewhat complacent and stuffed my dress into the mailbox, called the elevator, got in and… some other random woman came and pressed the call button before the doors closed and they opened again. She was more surprised at finding a naked woman in the lift than I was at being there. I did say to her it was fine and I was just going up to the seventh floor, but she said she’d wait for the next one.

I was smiling about that when I knocked on Mel’s door and she asked me why I was in such a good mood. So the coaching session started before I had even taken my shoes off, and I told her about the night with Elise, how I thought things were okay with Tim, and how Linda and Gary were… odd.

Then I told her all about work, and the press release, and we focussed on work stuff for about an hour. I have a big task list now. It’s all self-imposed but there’s so much reading to do and she said I should follow up on every opportunity even if it meant working twelve hours a day for the next few months, because future me would be grateful for it. She’s probably right.

At the end of the session we even shared a glass of wine looking out from her half-balcony as I let the evening sun wash over my body. Sometimes being nude is great.

It definitely was not a normal dinner.

Linda was naked when she opened the door, which didn’t surprise me, and Tim was inside looking slightly sheepish because he knew I was doing this reluctantly. As I walked in Linda said “Mel texted just now and said hi”, and I’m sure that was to remind me that I was under instruction. Then she told me I could go and get undressed in Tim’s room and he’d show me the way.

I followed him to his room and he opened the door and then left me to it. I think I took an age and never before have I been so reluctant to get undressed.

I found my way to the kitchen and that was when I met Gary. He was a big guy with muscles and tattoos and the look he gave me when I walked in naked told me all I needed to know about his relationship with Linda.

She was wearing an apron and cooking, so I was the only one entirely naked for a while, and said that Gary was helping but Tim and I should go into the other room and they’d be through soon.

Tim found me some wine and we sat across the room from each other, me on the sofa and Tim in an armchair, and somehow he struggled through some small talk.

Dinner was actually okay and I relaxed a bit. Gary was a fitness instructor at a gym, which I guess goes with the look, and that was where he met Linda when she started to come for sessions. He said it all happened really suddenly when she suddenly stripped out of her kit mid-session, climbed on top of him and they had sex on a bench press. I imagined that at that time Tim still thought they were in a relationship.

Then Gary said he found it strange at first that he’d come around here and Linda would be naked, even though Tim was “just her flatmate”, but that he’d gotten used to it over time. He said he didn’t know how Tim could resist a beautiful woman walking around nude all the time, which I knew was a dig at Tim’s masculinity. I felt sorry for him, because Gary was just so much of a bloke, but also so not interesting, despite his physique.

Things got weird after dinner when we went to the front room and Linda insisted on Gary giving her a foot massage with Tim and I watching. Because, of course, it wasn’t just a regular foot massage, not when hands sometimes drift a lot higher up the legs than the ankles, or even the knees, and not when there’s the occasional kiss on the leg to go with it, and not when the foot that isn’t being massaged is planted right in Gary’s groin and is massaging right back.

Then Linda offered Gary’s services to me, which I declined, and she smirked and said I needn’t worry because he was fully trained and he did sports massages all the time. Gary said he could see that I needed one, and not just my feet, which I took to mean he thought I needed more than just a massage.

I got the feeling the whole time that there was a lot more on offer than a foot massage, and it wasn’t until nearly eleven that Tim managed to successfully suggest that he walked me home and I went and got dressed at last.

We chatted on the way back and he said sorry, but he hoped it wasn’t too bad, and it was just Gary that was annoying. I couldn’t disagree with that but I did wonder how he puts up with Linda being like that around him all the time. Naked is one thing but it’s like she’s on the verge of having sex with Gary at any moment and who cares who’s watching.

Well, that’s over with now at least.

I made the park run this morning. Mel asked me if I was looking forward to dinner with Linda and Tim and Linda’s boyfriend later and I said kind of, which is a lie but I think if she knows I don’t want to go she might try to set me up with more of them.

I’m still hoping it won’t turn out too bad. I’m going to turn up in jeans and a t-shirt and hopefully it’ll just be a normal dinner and I can leave early.

I needed a quiet night in so I snuck home before anyone could try and drag me out for a drink. I did some extra work this evening as there have been a few enquiries off the back of our company press release, and it seems like I’m the only one who’s been reading about international tax accounting lately. It’s good to feel needed at least.

Well.

I was nervous all day about talking to Tim, and I didn’t do at all well at hiding it. We went to a local pub after work and I tried to engage in chit-chat on the way but it didn’t work. So I just had to tell him over a drink that I was finding it difficult to separate work and outside life. And Tim was so nice it was unbelievable, and I felt so bad I can’t even describe.

He said he could tell I was having trouble and that he’d started looking for another job! I had to tell him that no way should he do that just because of me, and he said he didn’t want to but he didn’t want me to be uncomfortable. So I said don’t think about that, I’ll get over it, and I actually felt better because he was prepared to go so out of his way to respect my feelings, when all of this was my fault.

I asked him a bit about Linda, because I wanted to see if I could get out of Saturday. He told me about how they used to go out but sometimes she’d invite other male friends over and flirt, all the time naked, and he said he couldn’t handle it, until one day she just seemed to be going out with some new guy Gary (who I’ll meet) and they hadn’t even officially split up. He said they’ve never even really talked about it.

The bad news is that Mel has told Linda to report back on the whole thing, and not to let me out of it, to make sure I didn’t wear a stitch of clothing… he seemed embarrassed about saying that. But then he said not to worry that he thinks it’s a double-date or something because he’s started seeing someone, but he hasn’t told Linda because he doesn’t want her nosing into it. So as far as he was concerned it was just dinner with a friend and he wouldn’t do anything to make me feel awkward. I didn’t say that I already felt awkward.

But by the time I got home I felt a lot better about things, but I also felt distinctly like Tim has a lot better handle on all of this than I do.

I couldn’t avoid lunch with Ha any longer and she asked why I’d not been to see them for ages. So to cover up my worries about Tim I told her about my night with Elise, and then she asked me all the questions I don’t have an answer to: do I fancy her? (Well, I do know that, but I can’t admit it.) Is it serious? What about Mark and Ana?

It was good to get some of it out anyway and Pilates made me feel better too.

Tim couldn’t meet today, and I have Pilates tomorrow, so we’re doing it on Thursday. Meanwhile I had a message from Linda on Saturday asking if I had any food allergies and said she couldn’t wait to have a fun little get-together with just the four of us! I really hope she’s not expecting anything to happen between Tim and I, because it’s not.

I had a meeting with Tim today, and was brusque with him (again). Enough that Rachel raised an eyebrow, and I instantly regretted it. Later this afternoon I sent him a message suggesting a chat tomorrow because I need to do something before Saturday.

I was ready to talk about it some more when I got to Mel’s, and this time I didn’t pretend to forget the rules: I put my dress into her mailbox, rode the elevator (naked) to the seventh floor, and dutifully took my shoes off when I got inside her apartment. But she had work for me to do, with three weeks of receipts and invoices, and I know I shouldn’t take notice of these things but there was a small invoice for an initial coaching session with Tim! I had seen her give him a card but didn’t expect anything to happen from it. Now I wonder if they talk about me… I guess they shouldn’t, and I think Mel would keep things confidential, but it made me wonder.

Mel didn’t even bother to tie me this week either, so I was just a “regular” naked accountant. It felt almost normal, and she just kept at her own work in the other room. Then after little more than an hour I put my shoes on, went downstairs, didn’t see anyone, put my dress on and came home.

Life is so complicated! So many good things at work. So much trouble with everything happening with Tim. But now a good thing with Elise! Or at least I hope the start of a good thing. But what do I say about Mark and Ana? I’m meant to be going away with the pair of them soon. I guess nothing is official with Elise yet so I’m not committed to anything.

With all that going on I spent the day entirely naked doing household chores, and even went and put the washing out in the nude. I know Alison and Russ from across the road saw me hoovering. The only time I dressed during the day was to go out for a run later in the afternoon, but the exhaustion from Friday night really showed and it was hard work.

It’s an early night for me anyway as I still haven’t caught up on sleep.