Author's note: Story 2 of 4 as a reward for your contributions to Nat's jump. This is a 2-chapter continuation of the last story - their weekend away.
Barbara checked her watch. It was six forty-five, a mere ten minutes since she last looked. Just over an hour and I have no idea what to pack.
She reached for her phone and typed a quick message. Clothes?
The reply came quickly. Much as I'd like them to be optional, we will need to eat, so for public decency, yes, please bring clothes.
That was neither funny nor helpful. Ha bloody ha. What sort?
Pub casual.
Barbara frowned. To be honest she was a little disappointed, but also hugely relieved. Ta. CU soon.
Tommy smiled when he rounded the corner and saw Barbara pacing in front of her block of flats. He glanced at the dashboard to see he was not late. In fact, he was three minutes early.
He parked ten metres from where she was standing. Barbara looked over and smiled, but it didn't hide her unease. He imagined this might be her first weekend away with a man, so he gave her his best, slightly saucy grin as he stepped from the car. "Hiya. Ready?"
She looked at him and held up a carry-on-sized suitcase. "Yeah."
After putting her bag in the boot, Tommy went to open the door for her, but Barbara was already seated and clipping her seatbelt. So much for letting him show his gentlemanly side. He climbed in beside her. "Okay. Next stop, Hampshire."
"Hampshire? We're having a romantic weekend in Portsmouth?"
Tommy's smile erupted into a chuckle. "Not exactly Portsmouth, but near there."
"Oh, okay."
He noticed some disappointment in her eyes. "I'm saving Paris for another time when we can stay longer."
"Paris? I'm glad we're not going there."
"You don't like Paris?"
"Dunno, I've never been."
He moved his head back and frowned. "Seriously? Well, then we will need to fix that soon. But you won't be disappointed this weekend, I promise. But if you get really bored we can trip into Portsmouth and visit the Naval Museum"
"No, I'm sure that won't be necessary."
She sounded anything but certain, and the conversation was becoming stilted and awkward. He decided to tell her, rather than surprise her. "We're going to a small village where there's only a pub, a post office and a small general store."
Barbara swivelled in her seat. "Hence pub casual?"
"Yes. I have booked a place I'm sure you will enjoy. Next door is an artisan chocolatier that is earning a very good reputation."
"Beer and chocolate." For the first time, she gave him a genuine smile. "That sounds perfect."
"And me. Beer, chocolate and me."
"Yeah... what sort of chocolate?"
"This is the village," Tommy said after they had been driving for almost 90 minutes.
"It's beautiful." Although only three streets, the small village would not have looked out of place in the Cotswolds. In the fading twilight, the thatch-roofed red brick cottages and grey flintstone walls reminded her of a gentler age long past. They drove past the whitewashed Post Office that was more like a room under a private house.
"Yes, it's quaint," Tommy agreed. "Fancy a quick pint? I have to collect the keys from the barman."
Barbara nodded as he turned into the car park opposite The Three-Legged Horse. The two-storey pub was far larger than she had expected and had strings of small light globes looping across the front, softening the dark bricks and highlighting the ivy growing up the side of the door. On one side, there were several outside tables underneath overhanging oaks. Their green umbrellas were being folded for the evening by a stocky barman wearing a tweed waistcoat.
As they walked across, despite the distortions of centuries-old glass, the inside light shone through the panelled window allowing Barbara to see several couples sitting at heavy wooden tables. Inside it was cosier than she had expected. The ceilings were low with thick black beams making it necessary for Tommy to duck as he approached the bar. In one corner there were two men accepting applause from the audience for their rendition of an old folk song. The older man with the violin had a beard almost to his knees, but the younger vocalist looked like he had just stepped out of a trendy Islington club. Barbara found the only free table was two seats built into the wall below a high window uncomfortably close to the band.
He soon returned with two pints of dark ale and a large black key that looked like it might open an old gaol cell. "Cheers," he said as he slid onto the seat beside her. "To our dirty weekend."
"Cheers, but can we call it something else?"
Tommy smiled. "Sorry. It's far from that, isn't it?" He held up his glass again. "Here's to setting right something we have overlooked for too long."
Barbara grinned at him. He looked far more relaxed than she could ever remember seeing him. The boyish good looks he had had when they met had been ravaged by the years, but tonight, with his face soft and smiling, he looked every inch the handsome, debonair young earl. On impulse, she reached up and stroked his cheek. Feeling him blush under her fingers, she moved away, but his hand found hers. He lifted it to his lips and gently kissed the inside of her wrist.
"Mmmm." That kiss was felt deep inside her, not just on her skin.
He leant closer. "I want to kiss every inch of you."
"Ohhhh." The realisation of what the night held paralysed her with fear.
"You sound shocked."
"I... Tommy, I'm not very good at it."
"At what?" he said absent-mindedly as his lips brushed her fingers.
"I'm no good at sex," she said far louder than she had intended. It echoed back at her through the loudspeaker. There was an odd silence in the pub. She had spoken just as one song on had faded and before the next had cut in, and had been caught by the band's microphone. She dared not look at the faces around her, but she could feel curious and pitying eyes on her. In a second, after a brief collective snigger, the band started up and the hubbub of the pub resumed. Even Tommy had stopped and was staring at her. "Even talking about it is a disaster," she said.
His hand gripped hers reassuringly. "I'm sure you're wrong, but I guarantee you won't think that by Monday."
She pulled her hand away. "Braggart."
His hand softly turned her head to look at him. "No. It takes two. The right two. Whatever's in our past is there, not here with us. We make our own future and that includes how we decide to love each other."
"You make it sound so easy."
"It is, but Barbara, I won't rush you. I don't have any expectations. I just want to be with you."
"Let's get out of here." Barbara took several long gulps from her glass hoping that it would ease her tension. "But I don't want to have sex tonight."
He surprised her by smiling. "Neither do I. We're too tired for such a momentous event. Let's just finish our beers and go and get some sleep."
Barbara stared in disbelief as Tommy pulled into a driveway off a country lane just outside the village. She had expected a cottage similar to the ones on the other side of the hamlet. Instead, it was a modern timber and stone building with a delightful thatched roof and on one end was a tall, circular section with a double-height conical roof.
"It looks stunning."
Tommy pulled their cases from his boot and then led her to the door. "This belongs to a friend of mine from school. I saw him at the club the other night and he mentioned he was letting it out. I have no idea what it's like, but he was raving about the work he had done to it. It's an old oast house that he converted."
"Whoever the Oasts were, they had incredible architecture."
"Oast houses are what they call the places they used to dry and roast hops."
"Mmmm, so it will smell of beer?"
"I hope not." Tommy put the cases down as he fiddled with the lock.
Barbara was surprised that when he turned the key, the door didn't open, but a small keypad lit up. "Do you know the code?"
"It's my phone number. You set your own code at the pub. The code doesn't work without the key, so it's double security."
"Good idea. Barbara stepped inside and stared. "Oh... how much does this cost a night?"
"Not that much... oh, yes, very nice."
The house was magnificent. Barbara looked right at the large open-plan living area. With dark, polished concrete floors and grey flintstone walls on the long sides, it was softened by the cathedral ceiling with exposed oak beams and a wall of glass on the narrow end that overlooked the greenery of a Japanese-style garden. A large circular fire sat in a stone well in the centre of the room, giving the large space a cosy feel.
"Someone lit the fire," she said.
"Yes, the barman offered when I rang to book this afternoon. I must say it's larger than I expected for a one-bedroom house."
Bedroom? Yes, where was that? In the circular section to her left, a gleaming kitchen with sleek white cabinetry and brushed gold fittings and elegant gold glass pendant lights could even tempt her to cook. Beside the kitchen, a beech wooden staircase swept up around the curve of the oast house and disappeared behind a low wall. "It must be upstairs," she said setting off to explore.
Tommy followed her up the stairs, hoping that the bedroom was as tasteful as the rest of the house. Beech wall panelling overlapped to enclose the space, extending up into the maw of the cone that tapered to black. On one side was a curved wall. Behind it was a large open bathroom with a toilet discretely hidden in the far corner, a basin up the other end and an enormous open monsoon shower with several large showerheads hanging from the roof and a strategically placed step. Oh, yes, this could be fun.
Barbara had wandered in the other direction, so he backtracked and found her staring open-mouthed at the bedroom. Three picture windows stretched from above his head to the floor revealing a myriad of twinkling fairy lights strung through the trees. He smiled at Barbara who had flung herself onto the crisp white linen covering the bed.
"Weee."
He laughed then dived after her, amazed at the thickness of the duvet and the soft springiness of the mattress. It was huge, even by his standards. His friend had said the bed was big enough for a "jolly good romp", but this would cater for a full-blown orgy for at least ten people. Not that he had participated in any since his university days, and never with ten people. He cast those thoughts aside and snuggled up to Barbara.
"If we sleep on the sides, we may as well be sleeping in separate rooms."
"It's just you and me, and I wasn't planning on us sleeping at each end." He kissed her shoulder.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarves would need company in there."
Tommy laughed as he nuzzled her neck. "Sorry, I neglected to invite them."
"Damn."
Tommy bit her ear just hard enough for her to wriggle in his arms. "You have a kinky thing for Disney characters?"
"No, I didn't pack any pyjamas."
He grinned at her. "Neither did I."