Kelly felt her heart skip a beat as he came closer. “I arrived here this morning from Colorado. I’m actually here on business, but I arranged for ... flight a few days early to give me some time to relax.” “What do you do?” Kelly leaned in too, subconsciously wanting to get closer to Richard. Was it his pleasant way of talking, his kind acts and words, or his good looks that uplifted her spirit so? “I’m a financial manager,” said Richard with a laugh. “I’m here to try and convince the director of. I thought she may frown upon this, or scold, or say something, but she didn’t. She stayed in that position for a good 7-10 sec, while she was sniffing through her handkerchief. Damn! I was confused. I had an image of her as a shy girl, but this incident changed my view, adding to my dilemma. She then broke the silence, which I didn’t notice, by moving on to the next topic in the book. I couldn’t concentrate anymore. Luckily, or unluckily, a friend of ours joined us to study and sat behind us,. "Once again, May burst out laughing. "That's what I said when I saw her, and not because she'd done that, but because of the look on her face while she did. She really was enjoying it, obviously she was feeling something she hadn't felt in a very ... very long time!" So then what?" I asked still trying to collect myself, feeling my own face flushed at the inadvertent slip for one thing, and sitting there trying to imagine the two of them sitting at this very table with humming vibrators. She'd learned from Dillon the various ratings and ranks over the week. Kostowe was, she'd known, a Master Chief Boatswain's Mate, and now she knew the abbreviated rank was 'BMCM'. At first, there'd seemed to be an overwhelming number of ratings, but she'd been able to memorize most. Lenore herself was a 'BM2', she'd learned, and both Dillon and Kostowe had told her that the Navy didn't particularly care about her name, but the rating and rank were presumed enough. She suspected it was something.