"We both kissed her at the same time, one on each cheek."It would've been spiteful, mum." And we both love you too much to that to you Polly."I suspec...ed that she and Jill might have some talking to do, if only so that mum could explain what happened the previous night, so I said that I'd see to the tomatoes and made my exit hurriedly.I heard someone leaving the flat and expected to see whoever it was behind me, as I straightened up from pulling off the dead leaves from the plants, but I caught. “Don’t forget, daddy is taking us out to dinner for my birthday tonight,” Martina says as I give her a surprised look. “He flew in today and is going to give me my birthday present.”“You never told me,” I say as she giggles.“Oops, well, I’m telling you now,” she says. “And don’t worry he doesn’t have any deliveries for you to make. But...” Martina pauses for effect. Seemingly in a great mood. “You can always ask him to work for him during the summer.”“Very funny, Miss Comedian,” I say as she. The two dates she’d endured in high school had been unmitigated disasters. Her mother had chaperoned the first one, even going so far as to tell the young man not to put his arm around Elaine’s shoulder. The second date occurred soon after Elaine’s seventeenth birthday, when she confidently insisted on a date alone with a boy. Everything was going perfectly until he touched her thigh in the darkened movie theatre. For a full minute she turned to stone, unable to move as her date. ........here I am justifying a wrong in my mind as I stared at her. "So what do you say, help each other out", she said, her eye brows raised in question."One condition....No regrets", I said.I wanted it to be true and hoped it would be true but the potential for regret is obviously HUGE, we knew it. By satisfying a mutual need and not getting "attached" then perhaps regret can be averted but it's amazing what can flood into ones mind the instant after gratification.We figured if we can hold on.