Chapter 35: "Do you have any plans... ?"

Lisa and Harold had been dating for two weeks now and she took advantage of a mid-week day off (Joy and Beth were holding the fort at The Sunny Acres Day-care) to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for the kids. Since she was in town anyway, she decided, on the spur of the moment, to drop by Harold's office.

When Annabelle recognized Lisa entering the office, she smiled warmly. The two had met on several occasions during the trial and again at the post-trial party. She had seemed really pleased when she found out that Harold and Lisa had started going out together.

Hi, Lisa ... he's in the back; I'll page him for you."

A minute later, Harold walked into the lobby. He was smiling warmly at seeing her.

"Hi. I was in town to do some shopping and I thought I'd drop by ... You got time for a coffee?"

Harold glanced at Annabelle, who nodded; Annabelle had everybody's agenda in her head. Grabbing his jacket, Harold escorted Lisa out of the office.

In the Seattle-style coffee house down the block, they sat down in a booth; Harold with a double espresso and Lisa with a chocolate latte with extra whipped cream.

"With the money Venera got for me after threatening her brother with a civil lawsuit, I thought I'd come into town and get the kids some Christmas gifts. It's so nice not to worry about having the money to pay for bills. Mind you, I'm glad as well that I finally unloaded my old apartment and signed the deal with Warner that I could rent that cottage for as long as I teach at Sunny Acres; it saves a ton on gas and time as well. I miss Meredith, though."

"I was wondering ... do you have any plans for the Christmas holidays?"

"No, to be honest; I haven't..." Harold admitted, sheepishly. "I'd spent the entire fall chewing over this trial and since it's over, we started going out together and I've sort of been living in a haze. As a matter of fact, Annabelle was just teasing me about it this morning. Why?"

"Well ... I really enjoyed my week-end at Haulover with Meredith and the others but I was disappointed that you couldn't come. I quite understand your reasons and I fully agree with them but ... Now that the trial is over, that doesn't apply any more and I was wondering if you'd like to go on a trip to the Caribbean over the holidays; we could go to St. Martin."

Harold looked at her, suspicious. "Oh ... What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Well ... after the verdict went down and, thinking back at Haulover, I was sort of searching the internet for other naturist vacation spots ... There's Cayo Largo in Cuba, but that's hard to get to with the embargo and all and Mexico doesn't turn me on, somehow ... But then, I heard about Orient Bay, on the French side of St. Martin..."