He held out a bottle of wine he’d brought. ‘Look,’ he told her. ‘A peace offering.’ ‘Oh, thank you,’ she said, wrapping her arm around ...his and leading him into the den. ‘You just have a seat here and I’ll get Danny to open it for us.’ When she came into the kitchen I was busy slicing tomatoes for the salad. ‘Eric’s here,’ she told me. ‘Good,’ I replied. ‘You sound strange,’ I added. ‘Mmmm,’ she murmured. ‘I’m feeling really sexy and turned on,’ she continued. ‘Are you,’ I answered, in. ”“Do you think I spent so many years crawling through your window because you weren't? I've wanted you since I was thirteen years old.” He was moving closer to me. “You should have been my first.” “Not me.” His fingers traced small patterns over my palm. “You should be someone's one and only. You deserve...”“A guy who'll take me dancing? A guy who will care about me.” I motioned to my elbow which he had cleaned up, hoping he would see it as evidence for and not against my point. “A guy who. "I did. You're a big boy now and yougotta keep those milkings up." It was then he kissed me on the cheek.Just briefly but enough to set me a trembling."Oh by the way," he smiled as he stood up, "Angela's away for atleast a week, so it looks like it'll be you and me for awhile.Perhaps we might even go a bit earlier, before the crowds startpouring in!"And then he was gone. Leaving me amore that a bit bemused andalready beginning think about possibilities. But I kept coming to oneunassailable. Minimize did not mean eliminate, however, and I spent the month before the wedding very busy with OES appearances and wedding-related activities. It did mean that my fledgling beard had to go though. To be honest, I didn't really miss it.As a practical matter it had been decided that it would be easier, given the number of people who knew Ginny and I in Angel's Camp who were not privy to our secrets, to have the wedding there. The folks from Chocowinity would 'fly in' on McKesson chartered.