Free The Room on the Second Floor by T A Williams

spine. Her eyes became quite dreamy for a second or two until he turned the page and added, ‘You could hold the fort here for a few days, couldn’t you?’
    Linda nodded, her expression giving nothing away. She had long ago come to terms with taking second place to a long-dead saint. Ruefully, she turned her attention to the post. She began slicing the envelopes open and passing them across to him. As he opened them and read the contents, she allowed herself a few seconds to study him, unobserved. He was looking very relaxed and fit. His early morning runs through the grounds with Jasper had brought a bit more colour to his cheeks and he looked all the better for it. His hair was getting long, and she knew he would soon get it cut. She always thought that it suited him longer though. It fell over his forehead and ears in an unruly brown mop, the sides just beginning to show a few grey flecks. She felt the urge to reach out and tidy it for him with her hand. As ever, she resisted the temptation.
    There was a tap on the door. She looked up to see Duggie, a broad smile on his face. She reflected that he had been looking very happy for a good long while now. Tina and he made a good couple. A glance to her right reinforced her feeling that Roger and she would make an even better couple. Her thoughts sped on to the evening to come. The rigours of church twice every Sunday throughout her adolescence had suppressed any religious inclinations she might have developed. Nevertheless, she offered up a silent prayer for the success of her soirée.
    Jasper, seeing his friend, sprang up and trotted over to him, tail wagging. Linda nodded approvingly. She reflected that only a couple of weeks previously, it would have been a full-blooded assault, albeit with the most amiable of intentions. Inevitably, dog and man would have ended up rolling on the floor. Now Jasper’s greetings were much more restrained. Progress indeed.
    ‘Roger, would you have a few moments for me to run through possible logos with you? I think that the image of the club is so important.’ Roger nodded and waved him to a seat.
    Roger indicated to Linda to sit down with them. ‘I would be grateful for your advice, Linda. You are so much better at these things than I am.’ She happily agreed, pleased to be involved.
    Duggie produced a number of pieces of artwork, some variations on the acronym formed by the initial letters of Toplingham Country Club, and some more abstract. After seeing them all, they both readily decided in favour of Duggie’s stated preference. This consisted of a silhouette of the house, with the two huge cedars of Lebanon in front. Duggie was keen to add a strapline below. They agreed upon Leisure in Luxury. He was clearly delighted at their endorsement.
    ‘Anticipating your approval of my proposals, I took the liberty of asking the marketing consultants to put together a couple of specimen membership cards. What do you think?’ They leant forward to view the flashy gold and green cards, complete with hi-tech hologram and, surprisingly, the photo of Roger on one, and Linda on the other.
    ‘How splendid.’ Roger was impressed, as was Linda, right up to the moment when she saw that the card bearing her photograph was not in the name of Linda Reid, but Linda Dalby. With a masterly piece of iron self-control, she managed to avoid blushing bright red. This resolve lasted for all of a couple of seconds till Roger, too, noticed. He blushed like a traffic light. At that point she joined him in third-degree embarrassment.
    Duggie suddenly realised he was late for an appointment. Sweeping the documents into his case, he mouthed an excuse, and disappeared out of the door. He left them, as he later reported to Tina, like a pair of prize lobsters on the slab.
    After his departure, there was a long silence as they composed themselves.
    ‘How do you feel about lobster?’
    Linda was the first to take a desperate stab at conversation. In an attempt to