Claire

"If you didn't kick me out..."

She shook her head. "You haven't come yet, have you?" she asked.

"No," he said. "But I loved every minute of it. These stockings still feel a bit odd, though. Did you experience what you wanted?"

"Yes," she said. "I liked it. I sometimes wore stockings to bed as a treat for my husband. It used to arouse him no end..."

"Has he been dead long?" Rick asked.

"These twelve years," she said. "And your wife?"

"Only five," Rick said. "It seems much longer."

They lay together in silence for some time.

"Come on," Rick said. "Let's go downstairs and finish the washing-up."

Claire got up and put on her robe.

"My things are downstairs," Rick said. He went down the stairs in front of her; she looked at his bum, and wondered if he would want to return to her place some time. She'd thought she would never touch another man again, hadn't felt the need -- and then she took this stranger home to find that all those forgotten feelings were only just so far away in her mind, and she didn't know if she'd dare ask him if he were willing to make the trip all the way to her village again.

She went into the kitchen and Rick disappeared into the living room. He came back in a jiffy, dressed as before, and smiled at her.

"Well then, my lady," he said, "where did we leave off?"

They finished the dishes and Claire asked if he liked some more coffee.

"Not particularly," he said.

"Some whisky, then?" she said.

They returned to the living room. Claire pulled the curtains open to look at the outside world for a moment. Then she closed them again and sat down.

"I'm afraid there's a lot of snow," she said. "And it is still snowing hard. You don't mind, do you?"

Rick shook his head. He looked at his legs for a moment. "Actually," he said, "I'm quite glad. I'd love to get to know you a lot better -- I was devastated when Irene died, and I thought, you know, that I never would find anyone as nice as she. Apart from that, I never thought anyone would want to look at me twice..."

She nodded. "That's just what I thought, more or less," she said. "And the more it snows -"

"Tiddely pom," Rick said.

"Idiot," she said with a smile. "The more it snows the longer I'll have you here with me."

They sat silent for some time, both of them half in the past, half thinking of what had happened that day.

"There is a shop in the village that sells clothes," she said. "It's not much of a good thing, but they do sell some underpants and stuff. When the place is snowed up like this it's generally days before there's a bus again."

"The village will be navigable?" Rick said.

"Yes," she said. "Only just so, though. And tomorrow I'll dry your things. It's just your jacket and coat I can't wash. You will want to wear your own clothes again..."

He grinned at her. "I must confess that eventually I rather liked the idea of wearing your things for a time," he said. "And I certainly enjoyed being called sexy."

"If this snow stays a long time," she said, "could I entice you into a repeat?"

"Yes," he said. "And also if it doesn't."

She grinned back at him happily. "Alright," she said. "Let's have our first repeat now."