I was hoping to hold hands, but we needed to keep things quiet. The rest of the group had no idea what had gone on the night before. I remember you go...ng over to sit on the wooden bench. Your dark curly hair seemed still wet from your shower. Although the light summer dress was probably non-descript and inconsequential, it looked good on you. It was white with little blue spots. It looked great.I remember how numb I was with shock when you said you were going to leave the convention early. You. “You have a lovely shop.”Tia noticed a boombox-sized object in Simone’s left hand.“Thank you,” Tia said, blushing at a compliment from a pretty stranger. “Are you looking for anything specific?”Simone shook her head, tossing jet black curls from side-to-side, and said, “I’m curious: where did you acquire so many wonderful pieces?”“Actually, I found a lot of them on my expeditions.” Tia tried to stop herself from blushing again but discovered she was helplessly heating up around this. I felt my legs and arse beginning to ache badly but I wasenjoying myself especially at first when we were punching against the windand tide into a choppy sea and the boat was bouncing a bit. One of the passengerslooked a bit sick but I wasn't sorry for her. She could have been one of thosethat cheered when we were thrashed. However after about twenty minutes of thatI was directed to turn into the mouth of a river where it was much calmer.Two hours later we arrived back and Skip showed his. My cheeks took fire again. “Have you been home long?” he asked. “No, why did you ask?”, I responded, “It’s just that you don’t look ready to see me.” I was unsure quite what he meant, though my hopes were building. I sat motionless. Was this a dream come true? There was a long pause. “Look,” he said, “if you go and get ready- you would like to, wouldn’t you? – I’ll organise some food. OK?” I nodded. “Go on then, Paul,” he said. I left the room in a daze. I could never have planned this and I.