“At least she was back for the Christmas holidays,” though Becky had little doubt she would be off out drinking and partying for most of the time,... and not with her Mum who would be far too old for her. As Stacey walked slowly along the hallway leading to the stairs, she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror in the hall and from the outside street lamp appraised herself. “Guess I don’t look that bad,” she said quietly, before adding, “in this light,” and then sucking her tummy looked. Finally Natalie said, “So I’ve told you why I’m here, but what about you? Why are you secluded in this cabin in the middle of nowhere?” She could tell right away from his face that she had touched a nerve. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have asked.”“No, that’s okay,” Jeff shrugged. “It’s not much of a story really. I was married to a woman named Cheryl for five years. We were both into traveling, but after a while I felt the urge to settle down and have a child. Cheryl wasn’t. Thanks I have been working for a large retail corporation for about four years in one of the smaller outlets in the Midwest . I am a middle aged married guy, my wife even works at the same store, but would never dream of me getting it on at work with a coworker. Mimi, a cute 25 year old and I came to this store about the same time, and over the three plus years have become friends, of sorts, we are two of the only a handful of smokers that work there. The store provides a separate. I ran into Hannah as I was leaving the field. She told me you guys are having a party tonight and she wants me to come by.”Riley was silent for several seconds, and I could tell that the suggestion was unexpected, to say the least. Finally, she asked me hesitantly, “Do you want to come by? What did you tell her?”“I told her that I might, Riley. It’d be nice to see you of course, and catch up with Hannah and Missy and Parker. I’m curious to see your new place, too.”“It’s pretty nice,” she said.