40 year age-gap - I was his carer, now I’m his lover!
Donna Brickell, 40, fell in love with her patient...
As I waited for the mash and carrots to heat, I caught a glance of myself in the microwave’s re ection. Then I quickly adjusted the buttons on my navy blue tunic and xed my hair.
I wanted to look good for my new patient.
After the microwave pinged, I balanced the food on a tray and took it into the bedroom where Eric was.
He’s such a silver fox,
I thought.
Eric had grey hair, wrinkles and gorgeous blue eyes.
‘Here you go, darling,’ I said, as butter ies danced in my tummy.
I didn’t know why I felt so nervous!
After he nished eating, I helped
Eric into his wheelchair.
At 38, being a carer for the elderly had always been my life-long dream.
For the past year,
I’d been doing house visits at pensioners’ homes, and this was the rst time I’d met Eric.
Chatting away, I realised we shared a love of musicals and had an identical sense of humour.
‘I’ve not laughed this hard in years,’ I giggled, wiping away tears.
‘Me neither,’ Eric said. ‘You have a wonderful laugh.’
Despite being married and a mother of three, I fancied Eric like crazy.
One hour passed and I was sad when my shift ended.
‘This has been amazing,’ Eric said. ‘Please take my number?’
We weren’t supposed to exchange numbers with our patients, but I couldn’t say no.
Back at home,
I kept checking my phone to see if
Eric had messaged as my husband watched TV.
We’d been married for 20 years, but we’d fallen out of love and though we’d discussed separating, we stayed together for the kids.
Then, later that evening, Eric texted!
When are you coming next? I want to see you, he wrote.
Me too. I’ll come tomorrow, I told him.
I wasn’t rostered on to care for him that day, but after my shift ended, I drove to his at.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself.
‘I’ve been excited all day,’ Eric gushed at the door.
Bending down, I hugged him.
During the next hour, Eric told me how he’d been paralysed from the waist down for 10 years.
‘It’s very hard to live like this,’ he said.
‘You have me to look after you now,’ I soothed, meaning it.
The following day, I noticed Eric’s le at my desk.
Opening it, I saw his date of birth