She had!
It was this morning that disconcerted her, though in the very nicest ways.
She had a shower, wearing a shower cap, and then got out and picked half a forest out of her hair.
She had love bites on her breasts and she remembered his mouth there and suddenly she wanted him all over again.
She put on her lilac dress and went downstairs and took her seat in a talk she has been very much looking forward to.
But how did you concentrate on extracorporal membrane oxygenation? Kylie thought. Ken was off doing what ever he was doing but he might as well have been sitting next to her because that's where her thoughts were.
She felt the buzz of her phone in her bag and she sneakily pulled it out.
Of course it couldn't be him, suggesting they sneak away, she reminded herself.
He didn't even know her number.
It just felt as if he should.
Instead, it was Alora.
Are you okay?
Yes, but your dress isn't, Kylie was tempted to reply. She thought of the tear he had made in it last night and the grass stains today.
She just hoped they had another one at Gatwick.
All good, Kylie answered without thought, and then she guiltily fired another text.
It seems wrong to say that today.
She smiled when Alora replied.
You awful person. Go to your room and be miserable this very minute.
No, Kylie didn't want to go to her room and cry away the day.
She closed her eyes.
She flew at seven and it seemed far, far too soon.
He wasn't around at lunchtime and thankfully Henry was telling his story to someone else. There was a sag of disappointment in Kylie, though, as she lined up for lunch, for the few remaining hours they were missing out on.
Still, they was always something to smile about and smile she did when she saw a lovely full silver platter detectable paella and she held out her plate to the waiter.
'My room, now...'
She hadn't even heard him coming behind her and the low whisper in her ear was like an audible hallucination.
'I'm not going to get my paella, am I?' She said, but he'd gone.
No, she wasn't going to get her paella.
Two minutes later, with only sixteen minutes to spare before the afternoon session started, she was kneeling on the floor, hands splayed on his head as he took her from behind.
He wasn't a considerate lover, just a very, very good one.
If they had time, Kylie would have turned her head to tell him that usually she wouldn't...
Wouldn't what?
She did turn, though and she saw his look of intense concentration, felt fingers on her clitoris, urging her to come, and then she didn't even bother thinking. She just closed her eyes to the pleasure of being taken.
Her head was her forearm and he was pounding her from behind and, Kylie thought as she started to come, it was blissful to be that woman, even if just for a little while.
His.
They skipped the afternoon sessions.
Like bunking off school, they took his car again and drove for half an hour to a beach and sat there, eating ice cream and then rubbing suntan lotion into each other with sticky hands.
And on one of the saddest days in her calendar year she found bliss.
'So your parents are both doctors?' Ken said as they lay on towels and stared at each other, and she nodded.
'Were they high achievers?'
'God, yes. They still are. It's easier to ring their secretaries to schedule lunch than try to do it myself.'
'You are joking?' He checked.
'Half.' She smiled. 'What about yours?'
He seemed to think before answering.
He was.
They really hadn't spoken about anything other than themselves but it felt quite normal to have her ask.
'I don't really know where to start,' he admitted. 'Well, my mother worked. Her sole job was to look beauitful for my father. He was an arrogant bastard. Growing up, I hardly ever saw him—he worked on stock market and would bring his stress home, worrying about the yen or the pound dropping a quarter of a percentage point.' Her eyes were so patient, Ken thought. She didn't ask questions; she just lay there, staring.
Because she loved his voice.
Because anything he said she wanted to hear.
'Anyway, them he had the absolute fortune of collapsing with a heart attack and going into full cardiac arrest.'
'Fortune?'
'We always joke now that he had a personality transplant because, while his illness made me switch from physics to biology and suddenly become very interested in medicine and saving the world, my father completely changed. He was very depressed at first and he had to see a psychologist and things but then he completely turned his life around. He sold up, got out of the money game, and he and my mother fell in love all over again, and now...'
He hesitated. He didn't want to give too many specifics. He didn't want to say that he was looking forward to Monday and heading over to see his slightly eccentric parents or rather, disconcertingly, he did want to tell her just that.
There was a part of Ken that wanted to extend this conversation, which meant extending them, and that wasn't what his weekend was about so he kept things light.
'They started an Internet dating service. Or rather it wasn't by Internet initially, it was more a word of mouth thing. They used to set up their friends and anyone coming over to Spain...'
'Stop!' Kylie laughed.
'It's true, though. Now they run this very exclusive dating site for the over fifties...'
To hear this rather detached man talking about his crazy parents made Kylie start to really laugh.
Oh, she laughed at times, of course she did.
Just not like this.
They lay then in silence and Ken thought about the six months after lupiter had died.
After the funeral, instead of throwing himself into work, as had been initial plan, he had accepted his parent's suggestion to come and stay in Spain with them.
At first they had infuriated him with their calm acceptance of the terrible facts. Of course they had been upset but not once had they matched his anger.
As he raged and paced around the villa, or slept in well past midday, they had simply accepted him and whatever place he was in—providing conversation when needed and meals that appeared whether he felt he needed them or not.
And finally, when the anger had gone, Ken had been very very grateful for their presence and calm, which had allowed him to heal in his own time.
He had spent days walking and watching the ocean as he slowly come back to join a world that had altered forever. Yet move on he had, catching himself the first time he'd found himself laughing along at a Joke or smiling at a thought that had popped into his head.
And a smile stretched his lips as he thought of them now.
'They are amazing people; he admitted. 'So, yes, what seemed like the most horrible disaster at the time turned out to be a blessing.'
They stared at each other, they found each other, right there in that moment.
'Don't leave tonight...' He said, but even before the words were out he was changing his mind and even as she heard them there was confusion in her eyes because it was supposed to be a one night stand.
'Come on,' he said. 'Let's go in the water.'
There they could be apart and think.
There she could work out how to articulate the million reasons that she had to go back. How did she tell him that the woman he had met this weekend didn't actually exist, that she wasn't floaty and feminine and spontaneous.
She was rigid and brittle and meticulous.
And Ken too, as they ran to the water, was wondering what had possessed him to ask her to stay.
But not even the sea could keep them apart because ten strides in they were waist deep in the water, limbs around each other, kissing in the sun, out display, and there was no reason in the world why she should leave.
The water was idyllic, just a shade cooler than the temperature of skin, and she could feel the sun beating on her shoulders.
She'd heard about the magical seven. Seven waves in, seven out, seven years since love had died and today it felt as if it was being born again.
They said nothing, but their kisses were deep and tender but whatever they were finding was invaded, whatever the moment had meant it had gone.
'Ayuda!'
No, Kylie didn't know Spanish, but a cry for help she was familiar with and she swung around.
'Necesito ayuda...'