That Friday Read Free Page B

said, ringing up their bill.
    Charlie knew Tess wanted to pay,
he could see her reaching for her purse out the corner of his eye, but he beat
her to it. He had his wallet out before she could get to her purse and handed
over a twenty pound note.
    "Take a table; I'll bring the
food over when it is ready."
    "Thanks." Charlie
accepted his change and stuffed it into his wallet before returning it to his
pocket. That done he reached down for his case. "Where would you like to
sit?" he asked of Tess as he picked up his glass from the bar.
    A shrug was his answer. "I
don't mind," she said, her eyes moving around the almost empty pub. "How about that table?" She indicated one just a
short distance from them.
    "Sure, suits me." He set
his case down at the side of the table and shrugged his rucksack from his
shoulder, letting it slide down his arm and drop to the floor, he then settled
himself into a chair, his drink in front of him, as
Tess took the seat on the side of the table closest to him.
    That sat in silence for a couple
of minutes as they sipped at their drinks, neither sure what to say to the
other. It was not an uncomfortable silence however; they were both content
simply to sit and look at one another, to be together.
    "How bad was the snow?"
Tess asked eventually. "On the phone this morning it sounded as though it
was really bad."
    Charlie nodded. "I've never
seen snow like it in my life. The most I've seen before this morning is the
occasional light flurry that has settled for a short while before disappearing.
It was practically a blizzard when I looked out the window first thing, you
could barely see the cars in the street for the snow covering them. I reckon
there must have been at least three inches on the ground when I left the house;
it was deeper than my feet.
    "If I hadn't been so keen to
get here and see you I would have loved it. It was so beautiful on the train
coming here, seeing the countryside covered in pristine layers of white."
    "If you're lucky you might
get to see some of that beautiful snow-covered countryside while you're
here," Tess told him, a smile of anticipation parting her lips. "I
can think of a few places we could go that are outside of the city that I'm
sure you will like. You've seen the pictures Kirkstall Abbey on my Facebook page, haven't you?"
    "That's the place you took
Victoria isn't it? The ruin where she was playing in the
grounds."
    "Yes, that's it. We can go
there if you want to. With all the snow we've had recently I imagine it will
look absolutely beautiful."
    "Sounds good," Charlie
remarked. "Ruins, especially castles and churches, are my favourite places
to visit, they have the best architecture. Every time I visit somewhere with
lots of history I find myself wishing I was back there to live it, either that or
I get ideas for new books that incorporate the buildings or the history."
    The barman approached then, as
Tess opened her mouth to speak, and discreetly set the plate he was carrying on
the table. "Would you like fresh drinks?" he inquired, seeing that
their glasses were almost empty.
    Tess looked to Charlie, who
nodded. "Please," she said, getting to her feet and grabbing her
purse from her handbag so she could collect the drinks and pay for them.
    "If you spend so much time
thinking about history and historical locations, why is it you haven't written
a book with such a location yet?" Tess asked when she returned with their
drinks and was seated again.
    Before he could answer, Charlie
had to swallow the mouthful of burger he had just bitten off. "I have
ideas, the beginnings of them at least, but at the moment I have so many ideas
to work on I have to go with the ones that are uppermost in my mind," he
told her once he could speak; reaching for the glass that had just been set
before him he sipped at the cold drink to help his burger down. "Not only
that, but so much of my time is taken up with promoting the titles I have out
there, and working on my co-written stuff,