AN: Just a short one because I was missing M&J! Thank you for the continued support and lovely reviews! Again I don't really know much about massage qualifications. It's just made up for my story! And dedicated to my own massage therapist who is a miracle worker!

Chapter 9

Molly spent the next day doing errands and clearing stuff out which was something she did each holiday. It left her feeling lighter and more relaxed for the next few weeks and ready for the new term.

Ella and Kate had been messages her about Charles, but so far she hadn't mentioned their date. She felt strange about sharing it. She wanted to keep it to herself for now. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it all other than a feeling of wishing things were different. She had a constant internal dialogue going on of "what if..." "Maybe I should..." It made her clean and organise even harder to try and distract herself. She made a few trips to the dump and the charity shop and then to the local retail park for some storage boxes. Unbeknownst to her, Charles, sitting at his kitchen island working on his laptop, had seen her many trips out to her car and back and wondered if there would be anything left in her house at the end of the day.

When she finally got fed up, about 4.00 p.m., Molly thought she'd go for a run. As she tied her laces she toyed with the idea of texting Charles to see if he wanted to join her. She wanted to see him again, but she knew that was selfish when she'd shut him down last night. Maybe it was leading him on if she text him, but she couldn't stop thinking about him and it was just a run. She picked up and put down her phone three times before finally deciding not to ask him, but as she went to open her front door, she changed her mind and sent the text,

I'm heading out for a run. Fancy joining me? M

She toyed with the idea of putting a kiss, but thought that would be pushing it. She paced a little, waiting for a reply. She was going to give him 5 minutes and then go if she hadn't heard from him, but he text back almost straight away.

Hey, that would be good, but don't want to hold you back?

She couldn't decide if that was him letting her down gently and he didn't want to go or if he really was worried about not keeping up.

Just a short one for me tonight.

Great see you outside in 5. X

So he was using a kiss, ok. Molly used her 5 minutes to have another wee, check her hair and face in the mirror and take a few calming breaths.

When she came out of her front door, Charles was already leaning on her fence doing some preparatory stretches. Everything that had happened the previous night suddenly came flooding back to Molly, she felt equally awkward and completely thrilled to see him. He watched her walk towards him, smiling a little,

"Hey."

"Hi." she replied shyly.

"You've been busy today." Charles remarked.

Molly looked puzzled,

"Have you had your spies out?"

"No, but my kitchen window affords a great view of your drive," Charles pointed, "I wondered if you were getting ready to flee the country."

Molly laughed,

"No just clearing out." She felt her stomach flip at the thought that he'd been watching her. It should feel creepy, but mostly she was flattered he'd noticed. "You ready to go?"

Charles looked awkward for a moment,

"Yes and no."

"How do you mean?"

"Well I'm ready to go, but I meant what I said about not wanting to hold you back. You're training for a marathon and I'm just training to get my leg strong again. It's been aching today so I'm a bit worried."

"If your leg isn't better in two weeks is there a chance you won't go on tour?" Molly tried to hide the hope in her voice.

Charles smiled knowingly,

"No, I'm afraid not. Like I said it's a humanitarian mission. If I'm not at full fitness I'll be confined to base. If I can show that I've improved enough to pass the next stage of the medical, I'll be allowed to go out with the guys to the refugee camps and actually be some bloody use." He sounded wistful, "There's no point in going if I can't help, but I won't be able to if they think I can't run away from whatever enemy we may or may not encounter." His shoulders sagged as if in defeat.

Despite the fact Molly didn't want him to go, she couldn't bear to see him so down. An idea came to her,

"Why don't I help then? I can be your running buddy - bound to be better than Elvis - and we can hopefully get you a bit fitter."

Charles face broke into a grin,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes why not? What else was I going to do with all these school holidays?"

"Rest? Recharge?"

"Bla bla!"

Charles laughed then.

"Although you mentioned an ache. Are you getting regular physio and massage?"

"Physio yes, but not massage specifically. Could you help me out?"

Molly looked doubtful,

"I could give you the number of a very good massage therapist that's NOT me."

Charles stood a little closer to her,

"Why not you?" he teased.

"Do I need to explain?"

"Yes." He was being deliberately obtuse now.

"Me running my hands over your body, being in close proximity to you lying on a treatment couch. It's got disaster written all over it."

"It's got potential written all over it Molly." Charles leaned in towards her, his voice low, his eyes dark.

She stepped back, breathless with desire as something twisted in her lower abdomen derailing her train of thought.

"Uh right, come on let's start with a short walk to get us moving." Molly sidestepped Charles and set off along the street leaving him to stride out to catch up with her.

"So you never did get round to telling me how you ended up doing massage when you're actually a teacher."

"Students work you know." Molly said pointedly.

"Did Tesco have no jobs then?" Charles replied just as cheekily.

Molly laughed,

"I did a short course during the summer I left school. It was a skills based thing from the careers service, but I really enjoyed it and they offered me the chance to do more. So I worked in a pub to get the money to pay for it and I worked bloody hard to get as many qualifications as I could during that first year at uni. After that, I was able to drop the pub job and get some regular clients. I worked at a health spa in a local hotel and just kept doing extra courses. I don't do it much now of course, except in the staff room if someone has a knot from being so tense!"

"So you can't help a poor injured soldier whose aching joints are stopping him getting fitter?" Charles fixed her with a puppy dog look complete with down turned mouth.

"Oh for goodness sake, I will take a look when we're back. You're probably just out of alignment and need a bit of readjustment. You need to go and see my guy for the full massage though, deal?!"

"I suppose I could do that." Charles smirked.

"Right are you warmed up enough?" they'd turned onto the prom by this point.

He nodded, Molly sounded a bit like him when he was ordering his unit about.

"Right we'll aim for a mile first. I don't talk while I run. If you need to stop, just let me know and DON'T push yourself."

"Yes Ma'am or should I say Miss, you can tell you're a teacher." Charles smirked.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Soldier Boy. Come on."