Ghost Read Free Page A

clenched around his hand meaning only use his thumb could continue to stroke her.
    “You… are… good…” she whispered as she nibbled his ear. “My head is spinning”
    “Do you want to stop?” he asked.
    “No! But yes… I don’t want you to think I’m some cheap thing that gets her knickers off at the first sign of a drink”
    “I don’t think that” he replied, but as he spoke he moved his hand back to the relative safety of her ass and lessened the intensity of his kiss. He was determined not to fuck up. He wanted her to be completely at ease and more importantly to leave with no regrets about what happened between them.
    “You are sweet” she said and nuzzled into him. They held each other as they dozed off. Blissfully at ease for two people who were relative strangers.
    #
    On waking, neither had any sense of time passing and were taken aback to discover the time to be 4 am. “I’ll walk you back to your hotel, come on “said Page. Hand in hand they strolled back along the bridge, saying little but sensing that in each other they had found something of a kindred spirit. At the entrance to the hotel she kissed him and turned towards the foyer without saying another word.
    Page walked home, tired, but on a high, hoping that his life was about to take a turn for the better. He had no idea.
    #
    If Page was expecting flowers and romance the next day, he was to be sorely disappointed. Nothing, apart from one text “Thank you for a lovely time.” She said. He texted a few times but when he received no response, he called it quits for the day. Instead he tried to focus on his work which stubbornly played second fiddle to the tumult inside his head.
    That night he sat in his apartment, drinking some nice Rioja and for the umpteenth time recalled every minute of the previous night. It was odd. She had been there for a matter of hours and now the place seemed strangely empty without her.
    A few days later, at his desk in the Belfast office, Page jolted when he saw a message pop up on his phone.  “Sorry, work’s been a bit mad, can you escape for a little drive and some lunch?”Lucinda’s name was on the screen
    Page read the text twice to make sure it wasn’t some kind of joke or mistake. He replied almost immediately, wanting to be cool and calm but unable to help himself. Within an hour she collected him. As he got into the car she leant across and kissed him on the cheek.
    “Sorry, I know you must be cross with me, but work has been a nightmare and things are a bit difficult at home.” She commented no more on what ‘difficult at home’ might mean and he thought better of asking.
    She drove him a short distance down to the coast where they stopped in a car park overlooking the sea. Lunch was the bag of chips they had stopped to buy on the way and they sat in the car eating the chips, talking and listening to Rory Gallagher’s Calling Card on the car stereo. He had never before, or since for that matter, met a girl who liked Rory Gallagher and to him her musical taste was just something else that made her different, in a good way. Rory Gallagher was a legendary Irish Blues guitarist who had recently passed away. What endeared him to every Irish music lover though was that he had continued to play gigs in Belfast throughout the Troubles, when many more famous artists had abandoned the place. If Lucinda liked him, that was another attribute to be welcomed.
    “So, I know it’s all been a bit of a mad few days but I wanted to ask if you are okay with this?” she asked.
    “Well, let’s see. I’m in a car with Lucinda Harris, eating chips and listening to Rory Gallagher, so… I think I’m pretty okay with this, yes” he smiled at her again, and couldn’t help giving her the once-over without her noticing, he hoped.
    “Good!” she flashed a smile, “I wish I had more time to talk, but… bear with me if you can. I’m just in a strange place in my life at the minute. I’m married, which of