I leaned over and gave her a kiss.'Mmmm, toothpaste, ' she said, 'I bet I taste awful though.' I kissed her again to show her that she didn't. Actuall... she did, but so what? Stage one is stage one. The coffee-pot began making its noises and she started to get up but I stopped her.'Go back to bed.' I took two cups through, then sat on the bed and waited while she sipped. 'Get a bit more sleep if you can, ' I said, 'and I'll call you at nine.''I only woke up so I could kiss you goodbye, so come. She was sick, her stomach roiling, gorge rising into the back of her throat. She was so scared and she wanted to go home. Not home to her old apartment with the bad heating, no air conditioning and lousy hot water. Or even back to Toledo. She wanted to go home to her parents in Arizona. She wanted them to forgive her and love her again. And now she would probably never see them again. Her mind flashed onto the newspaper images. Men in jackets with the word CORONER emblazoned on the back in big. He tried me again at lunch, discreetly. I turned him down, nicely but firmly. Of course, I was interested. He was built like a rugby football forward – and actually it turned out he did play rugby. “By break-up time on the second day, which was also the last, he was desperate, poor fellow. He swallowed his pride and cornered me as I was having an aperitif in the boardroom annexe. “He asked me please to do him the honour of having dinner with him that evening. So I relented and said yes, as long. If you want to wait and go earlier tomorrow, we can do that, but if we do it today, we can get it done today and tomorrow. If we have to stay over a day, it won't put you late for your weekend trip."I looked at Lisa and she just shrugged her shoulders. She said, "Sure, why not. I will enjoy seeing Alaska."Steve said, "Get your warm clothes together as there is still snow on the ground up there. It's been pretty cold up there this winter and that place doesn't warm up yet this time of year."I.