Chapter 2

Monday

The following evening, she knocked on my hotel door just before 6:00. We had agreed to go to the hotel restaurant for dinner tonight.

I opened the door and found her wearing a jacket. She came into my room and asked, “Can I leave this here?” She turned away and shucked off the jacket, laying it on the bed.

I involuntarily sucked in my breath when she turned back around. She was wearing a frilly, emerald-green blouse tonight, with a black skirt.

“Wow,” I breathed. Then I looked down at my polo shirt and jeans. “I feel underdressed.”

She chuckled and came toward me. “Oh, honeybear, you’re fine.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Honeybear” had been her pet name for me, one I had not heard from her lips in almost ten years. She then leaned forward and hugged me again, this time initiating the kiss on the cheek.

Was I imagining that the kiss seemed awfully close to my mouth?

Over drinks, as we waited for dinner, we talked some more. At one point, I mentioned how stressed I was about my ability to retain, let alone use, all the training I was getting during the day’s training session and the sessions to come in the next few days. In response, she reached her hand out and squeezed mine reassuringly. “You’ll get it,” she smiled.

And she continued holding my hand throughout dinner.

Again, after dinner, she walked me back to my hotel room. She came into the room and put her jacket back on, but didn’t take her leave right away. She sat down on the bed. A deep sigh escaped her lips, and with a slight hitch in her voice, she said, “I need a hug.”

I walked over to the side of the bed. Still standing, I took her in my arms. I heard a few sniffles as I held her for several minutes, before I felt her let go of me.

“Sorry,” she sighed as she wiped at her eyes. “We had another fight before he left for work this afternoon, and I just needed that.”

“Anytime,” I smiled.

She stood and I walked her toward the door. She opened it, turned to me, and opened her arms for one more hug. And as she pulled away from the hug, she leaned forward and softly, briefly, touched her lips to mine before leaving the room.