He went for his shirt. “Go like you are. No shirt, no shoes. What are they going to do? Refuse you service? I’m going barefoot...” Ray I made sure I had my wallet and my keys, then we walked out of the room, down the hall, then the steps and across the parking lot to the store. There was the usual weekend mix, mostly people like us searching for beer. A few people noticed us as we walked in, but they mainly looked at Stacie. I realized why when I saw her. It should have had her confused, flustered, scared. But it didn’t. ‘I’m a nurse. Just lie still a second, I’ll check your ankle.’ He nodded, but looked at her instead of his ankle. The glint of the hotel’s light on her glasses hid her eyes from him, but he looked just the same. The shape of her face intrigued him. The way that her mouth fell open slightly fascinated him. The ankle hurt, but not much. Almost without realising, he glanced quickly at her ring finger. She suspected in a few seconds. Since that watershed moment when I found myself in the Pilates studioreception Jennifer has told me she thinks I am one of those passivepeople to whom life happens to rather than who makes life happen, I amunderneath rather than on top as it were.I thought about Omar's words over the summer as Jennifer got fitter andas I sat around at home getting fatter. I had forgotten these wereOmar's words as they became my own thoughts.So a month after Karate lessons stopped for the summer I found myself. Zax kneeled and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Liz, I have to”. He drew her to his arms. “I’ve obligations”. He hated his choice of words, what was she, then? ‘I’m doing it so one day we’ll be able to be together, wherever, whenever, without a worry in the world. It’s all for the betterment if my loved ones’. He consoled himself. “Look at me”. He pulled her tiny chin up. “Let’s make a promise. There will not be bad news about me, anymore, and I promise to return in a half a year, at the longest”..