Chapter 19

Richard did his duty by his dogs and then fretted about when he could ring Deborah. She'd collect Annette about seven and be home about twenty minutes later. He wondered how long their 'talk' would take: two minutes or two hours?

He paced the house distractedly, his mind whirling. He was not used to feeling so out of control. The dogs caught his mood and were restless, getting under his feet, which added to his frustration and pent up emotions.

At eight he could bear it no longer and rang Deborah's number. It was answered on the first ring.

"Hello, my darling Richard!"

"How did you know it was me?"

"I have a caller ID like the mobile phones."

"Oh!" After all the waiting he was totally lost for words.

"Are you still there?"

"Yes! Um... er... how did work go?"

"Fine! Why do you ask?

"Anyway," she continued, "would you like to come over for supper?"

Richard's heart rose. If Annette had been difficult he would not have been asked.

"I'd love to," he replied. "When would you like me?"

A giggle at the other end forced the innuendo into his question.

"As soon as you're ready!"

"Black tie?"

"No, you ass!"

"Half an hour?"

"Fine!"

"I'll be there. I can hardly wait."

"Snap!"

"If I put the phone down now I might make it earlier."

Deborah's phone went down with a click. Richard stared at his and then his face broke into a delighted smile. He decided he'd better shower so he dashed upstairs and did that changing into clean clothes as well. He settled the dogs and was out of the house in just over quarter of an hour arriving at the Old Post Office twenty minutes after Deborah had put the phone down on him. As he raised his hand to ring the bell the door opened and Deborah threw her arms round his neck and kissed him warmly.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" she said, her eyes dancing.

Richard held her at arms length. She had changed out of jeans and was wearing a pale blue dress to just below the knee which hugged her figure and was cut low enough to show the start of her cleavage.

"You look lovely, my darling. I'm going to be spending a lot of time just looking at you."

"Thank you but don't do it too much. There are other much more worthwhile things to do. Now come on in."

Annette was standing at the back of the hall. She was in jeans as usual and a navy blue tee shirt which set off her golden hair. The trouble was it would have shown off her eyes as well if only she had raised them. She had gone back into herself.

"Hi, Annette!" said Richard gently. "I'm afraid that in the rush I forgot to bring over the condor tape."

"Hi!" she murmured tonelessly, glancing briefly at him. "It doesn't matter."

"I thought we had become friends," Richard said. He longed to go down on his knees and hold his arms out to her but knew this could destroy everything he had built. Instead he had to treat her like a frightened animal.