A Weekend Away

“Come and sit by the fireside?” Kate’s face glowed in the blue and scarlet fire light. “The crackle of the logs will soon clear your mind of presentations. If you sit in front of me, I can rub your shoulders?” Kate patted the orange checkered rug with her bare feet. “Untangle all those knots and free up your rippling muscles I know you have trapped in there.” Kate pulled her spread fingers firmly up her shins and tucked her knees in. “Some weekend! This getaway is turning into a wake. “

“You don’t understand the pressure of this job.” Simon paced the dimly lit hotel bedroom, as he reached the rear side of the bed, he was silhouetted against the wall. Masking his mood.

“There’s a stream nearby. We can have an evening stroll and finish up at that little pub we passed. A pint or two will set the mood. Simon shrugged his shoulders at her suggestions. Kate picked up her book, took a long deep breath and leaned her back against the fireside chair leg. It looked as if the only bit of romance Kate was going to get this weekend was from between the covers of her latest read.

“I promised Saunder’s my look on the takeover would be on his desk first thing Monday morning. I’m not like you I can’t just shut up shop and jet away for the weekend. Plus, this place spooks me out. Simons sits in the chair opposite Kate.

Simon heads for the frosted over window, rubs it with his fingertips and presses his nose against the cold single pane. “It’s spooky out there, gave me my inner-city apartment over this place.

He pulls at the heavy curtains. “And that’s another thing. Who has hangs drapes these days. It like stepping back in time?” Simon reaches for the bottle of red and sits beside Kate. What on earth were you thinking. Anything could be lurking in that water. Poolside, perhaps. Fireside, not my idea of a relax. The logs are half burned, I expect you will be wanting me to chop a few more in the morning.” Simon leaned forward and picked up a log from the neatly stacked pile that were in a cubby hole beside the hearth. He threw it on the fire, which instantly spat out slivers of silver sparks from the embers. “That’s all I need is a splinter!”

Kate griped Simon’s left thumb and smothered it with kisses. In return Simon threaded strands of her long auburn hair through his right hand

“You always knew how to make things better.”