Thanks once again to all the people who are going along with this story and particular thanks to those who have taken the time to review. It's always nice to read what parts are resonating with people and to realise that the subject line of cricket hasn't driven readers away in droves!
Harry made his way back down to the seats he and Ruth were occupying with multiple apologies. He'd popped back into the concourse area to replenish their drinking supplies and also to get a few moments in some much needed cooler shade, but was now making his way back to Ruth, which came with it's own set of difficulties. It was all very well packing in so many people, he thought to himself, but given he was juggling two plastic glasses of beer and a bottle of water, with a further bottle stuck precariously in his trouser pocket while also causing a mini Mexican wave as people stood along the line of seating to let him through, there was a lot to be said for watching the game from the comforts of your own home. That thought left his head as quickly as it had come, when he spied Ruth who was watching him make his way back towards her, a soft smile playing around her lips. Bugger watching the game at home, he was sat in close quarters with Ruth, watching a game he loved and for once, the notoriously fickle British weather had come to the party and the sun was still shining. All he needed now, was for the Aussies to lose another 6 wickets in quick succession, following the two they'd lost in the morning session and the 2 that had come so far in the afternoon session, and it really would go down as being one of the most perfect days of his life.
As he reached the safety of his seat he gave her a smile of relief, "I thought for one horrible moment back there, that this, "he indicated to the beers in his hand with a nod from his head, "was all going to end up over some unsuspecting persons head. That elderly gentleman at the end seemed determined to make me trip over, between his feet, his bag and his walking stick, it was like tiptoeing through a minefield."
Ruth laughed, "well I'm glad you managed to make it back in one piece," she went to go to help him out with the drinks in his hands, while he went to sit down at the same time before he stopped her.
"Sorry would you mind," Harry felt his face colour, it was only when he'd gone to sit down, that he remembered the other bottle of water that he'd jammed in his pocket, as it had been the only way to safely carry it. There was the chance that Ruth could have taken two of the drinks out of his hand, but that had a high risk of spillage due to the flimsiness of the glasses, without first getting them balanced on his knees, and he certainly wouldn't be able to do that, or sit, without the water coming out of his pocket.
"Mind what?"
"I've got a bottle of water in my pocket."
Ruth looked up at him, slightly bemused, "what about it?"
Harry felt his face colour further, this was all completely innocent, why did he suddenly feel like a character out of a Carry On film. He cleared his throat and spoke in a low tone, though it appeared one else round them was listening. "I can't sit down with the water where it is and I can't get it out myself. I'm sorry about this, but would you mind giving me a hand with it," he groaned inwardly when he realised what he said, " I mean would you mind just giving it a quick tug and it'll come out," dear god, had he just said that, he rushed on "I mean..."
Ruth laughed softly as he got ever more flustered, while the people around them and particularly behind him started getting restless as he still hadn't sat down. She reached up and grasped the bottle neck and pulled it out of his pocket with the minimum of fuss, "I know what you meant Harry, don't look so worried."
"I felt like a first class cad there for a moment," he said ruefully, after sitting down and managing skilfully not to spill any of the drinks. He handed her a beer before taking a large gulp of his own, hoping against hope that his blush would disappear as quickly as it had come.
"Any excuse for you to get me to put my hand down your trousers," Ruth joked lightly, regretting the words almost as soon as they'd come out of her mouth. They'd been getting on so well and after only a few initial stumbles, most of their conversation had flowed rather well, this comment though looked like it'd set them back several years.
"They'll find any excuse they can for that!" Any response Harry was about to make to Ruth's comment was stymied as the lady sat in front of them, that had mistaken them for husband and wife earlier in the day, once again turned round and uninvited, joined their conversation. "He," she jerked her head towards her long suffering husband, who again seemed to have developed tunnel vision for the game going on in front of him as well as suffering the sudden onset of instant hearing loss, "he tries it on all the time, 'can you get the keys out of my pocket love', when we've come home from the shopping rather than putting the shopping bags down to get the keys out. They'll do anything to get a quick fumble," she said with a warm chuckle.
Ruth leapt to Harry's defence while he seemed momentarily lost for words, "I was just teasing him," she said quickly, "he didn't mean anything by it."
"That's what they all say lovey." The woman, turned around to face the game in front of her again, "don't let him fool you, you've obviously not been wed long, as he's obviously been around the traps a lot longer than you have," she said with a laugh.
Ruth went to speak again but was stopped by Harry grabbing her hand to attract her attention and shaking his head. He leaned in close to her and whispered softly in her ear, "leave it, just try and ignore her."
Ruth nodded and looked over at him again, he was still grasping her hand having seemingly not noticed and she realised that she liked the way it felt. "I was only teasing you Harry," she said softly.
He smiled back at her, she hadn't seemed to realise he was still holding her hand so he decided to keep it there and wait for her to pull away. "I know. I don't know what it is about us... about you" he added tentatively, "that makes me talk at times like an ineloquent fool."
She shifted her hand inside his so that their fingers were now laced together, " I think we both suffer from the same issue when it comes to that," she replied quietly.
"Another beer or do you fancy an ice-cream?" Zaf asked Adam, standing up and stretching his back during the mid afternoon drinks break that was taking place on the ground. England had managed to get two more Australian scalps so far during the session, and so far it was 50/50 as to who was ahead in the game.
"Can I have a beer as well?" Wes looked up excitedly, "and an ice-cream?"
Zaf chuckled, "you'll have to ask your dad."
Adam laughed, "You can either have a beer, or you can have a lemonade and an ice-cream, but unfortunately not a beer and an ice-cream," he joked.
Wes looked downcast for a second as if weighing up his options before choosing ice-cream and lemonade as Adam had known he would, not that he had any real choice in the matter, "can I come and help you get them?" he asked.
"Many hands make light work," was Zaf's fast response as he led Adam's son away from the field, making a quick pit stop at the Gents before joining the queues at the bar.
"Do you think Uncle Harry will be having ice-cream too?" Wes asked Zaf as he was handed a cornetto once Zaf had taken all the wrapping off it for him, along with 2 others for Zaf and Adam to eat that were still contained in all their packaging.
"I don't know," Zaf replied, "you'll have to ask him next time you see him." He picked up their drinks and started to make his back to their seats, "do you see him often?"
"Sometimes." Wes replied licking his ice-cream. "He takes me and dad to watch dog racing."
"And do you like that?" Zaf asked surprised, he'd known that Harry had spent a little time with Wes and Adam since Fiona's death, but couldn't for the life of him imagine him down at the dog track.
Wes nodded eagerly, "Yes, Uncle Harry is much better than Dad at picking who's going to win and he always gives me some of the money he wins so I can buy some sweets. He says I'm not to tell Dad, but I think he knows anyway."
"Well he won't hear anything about it from me," Zaf said conspiratorially as they found their seats again, Adam had disappeared, presumably for his own quick trip to the loo. "Next time you see Uncle Harry, you'll have to ask him if he's bought Ruth ice-cream as well when he's taken her out."
"Is Ruth Uncle Harry's girlfriend?"
"I don't know," Zaf tapped his nose with his finger, Malcolm may have stopped him doing his own snooping on the pair of them, but there was more than one way to skin a cat and he happened to have money on this particular cat; "but if you find out then you should let me know." He took the lemonade off Wes as he saw Adam approaching and much to Wes's delight, poured a small amount of his beer into it to make a very weak shandy, " but don't tell your dad." he added in a loud stage whisper.
"Tell me what?" Adam asked with a grin as he sat down, grabbing his rapidly melting ice-cream from where Wes was loosely holding it.
Wes was the picture of innocence as he answered, "nothing Dad."
Zaf winked at Adam over Wes's head, he'd known Adam had seen him mix Wes the shandy and was thinking that was what Wes was keeping quiet, but he also figured that Wes had the best chance out of any of them of finding out if Ruth really was 'Uncle Harry's' girlfriend.
Harry waved the programme he held in front of him, trying to create some semblance of a breeze. Thanks to the suntan lotion Ruth had brought along with her he wasn't going to burn, but the heat was increasing as the afternoon wore on and he was getting hotter and hotter. He'd reluctantly relinquished Ruth's hand as they'd had to stand to let someone through and he hadn't yet found the excuse he needed to take it again. Instead he found himself using said hand in an vain effort to keep cool. "I can't believe how hot it is," he said, pursing his lips, somehow Ruth seemed to be sitting in a different climatic zone to him and appeared remarkably cool and collected.
"The joys of the British summer," Ruth replied lightly, she was enjoying the rare feeling of sun on her skin and she always felt better about herself when she was a little tanned. "We should just be glad it's not raining."
The image of him and Ruth huddled together underneath an umbrella made Harry wish for a moment that it was raining and the cricket be damned, "hmmm."
She glanced over at him, he did look a little hot under the collar, he'd rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows and his shirt had more buttons open than she'd ever seen before showing a glimpse of the upper part of his chest. "You should have put shorts on instead of trousers," she said with a chuckle, "they might have been a little cooler."
"Shorts?" Harry quirked his eyebrow at her, "I don't think I own a pair... at least a pair that would still fit me."
"I suppose Savile Row don't tend to make shorts." she said with a cheeky smile.
"Haha, very droll," he replied. "I can't remember a time other than today when I last needed them... or wore them for that matter."
"You never wear them when you're in your garden or on holiday?"
"I never seem to have the time or inclination to spend time in my garden, and as for a holiday... what's one of those?" Harry joked.
"You need to make time for yourself Harry. You need to relax."
"That's what today is about," Harry stretched his arms out in front of him, "it does feel nice to have had a full day away from the Grid. I can't remember when that was last the case."
"You take most Sundays off don't you?" Ruth looked over at him, "I know you're on call one weekend in three and tend to go in most Saturdays even though you really shouldn't, but I thought you didn't go in on a Sunday unless we have a Code Red?"
Harry shrugged, "you're a fine one to speak, I know for a fact that you go in virtually every Saturday, even when we're quiet."
"It's a good time to catch-up on paperwork," Ruth mumbled, "and you're often there as well."
"Well maybe we should both spend more time away from the Grid," Harry said softly.
"When was your last full day off?" Ruth asked curiously, "before today I mean."
Harry cast his mind back, "that would be around 5 weeks ago. Catherine, my daughter, came back from her travels overseas and spent some time in Brighton. I met her in this little pub in a Sussex village about halfway between London and Brighton and we had lunch." He smiled fondly, "it was the quintessential English pub, complete with thatched roof and a log fire, which was fortunately lit as the weather was behaving very unseasonably at the time despite it being July!"
"That sounds lovely." Ruth murmured, "I can't remember the last time I got away from London for the day."
"It was." Harry looked across at her, wondering whether now was the right time to take the plunge again. He decided it was worth the risk, nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. "If nothing urgent comes up in the week and it looks like it's going to be a quiet weekend, then maybe..." He took a deep breath, "perhaps you'd let me take you for lunch there, we could go for a walk afterwards, get in some country air."
"Lunch? Next weekend?"
"Yes, maybe next Sunday? To thank you for the delicious lunch you've provided for us today."
"It's a thank you lunch?" Ruth asked hesitantly.
"Yes... well, no. It's whatever you want it to be Ruth, I've enjoyed spending the day with you, and I'd like to do it again... if you'd like to of course?"
Ruth nodded with a small smile on her face as she looked down at her feet before answering, "that would be nice," she said.
Harry felt relief course through him, he'd wondered if maybe he was in danger of pushing her too far, "I'm sure it'll be very nice," he said with a warm smile, "good company, good food, what more could a man want from his day off?"
Ruth smiled at him and in response, slipped her hand back into his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
TBC