Table sharing kindness leads to great sex
I called the waitress over and offered to share my table with a mother and daughter stuck in the restaurant queue behind three large families. They looked over tentatively and after quick confirmation I was not an axe murderer; they took the seats opposite.
I hope my smile put them at ease. "There's quite a queue now and you look like you could do with a sit down. I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes."
The mother relaxed. "Thank you. You're very kind." She looked like she'd already had a day to forget. I'd guess she was in her mid-thirties. She had nice blue eyes in a tense but attractive face. A band held back a mass of frizzy blonde hair that defeated her efforts to tame as the pressures of motherhood presented more urgent priorities.
Her daughter was a younger version of her, including the hair. She smiled. "Hello, I'm Iris, what's your name?"
"Pleased to meet you, Iris. I have a silly name." I paused for effect. "It's Zackary. The only people called Zackary were passengers on Noah's Ark; and the only people called Zack are teenage skateboarders from California." They laughed.
"I'm sorry where are my manners? I'm Sarah." Her mother offered me a slim, soft hand to shake. As I held it in my paw, I realised her build was like a teenager or someone who kept fit.
Iris was a confident child. "Are you on holiday Zack? I was going on holiday with my dad until—" She didn't get the chance to finish. Her mother jumped in to stop Iris from spilling the beans. An eight-year-old has no self-censorship.
"Until we had a change of plans, darling. Zack doesn't need to know our troubles." We could both read her mother's look.
A change of subject was called for. "Would you like a cup of tea while you wait to be served?"
They both looked at my teapot and then at the other tables. "You brought your own teapot?" Sarah looked at me like I was the weirdo she should have spotted. She could not self-censor, either.
"I know it's odd Sarah, and combined with a name like Zackary is certainly enough for the police to hold me on suspicion of something, but there is a perfectly rational explanation, if you'd like to hear it?" Sarah looked embarrassed by her assumptions.
"I want to hear it." Iris piped up to save her mum.
"Thank you, Iris. I'll call you as a character witness." That brought a smile from Sarah. "I've been visiting my brother's family for a few days and they don't drink tea. They just stick bags in a cup. I can't stand that. He collapsed in the middle of a charity run we were doing, so it cut my visit short." That's why you're sitting with a strange man and his tea pot. "
"Oh dear, is he ok?"
"Yes Sarah, thank you. It was a heart attack. He's in hospital with a couple of stents in his chest. He'll make it. I offered to stay and help, but his wife gave me the evil eye as it was me who suggested entering the charity run. I thought I'd better leave before she put something in my tea. Not something as nice as this."
She gave in to curiosity and sniffed my cup. Her daughter followed. They both smiled.
"Jasmine tea for two, then?"
I ended up staying to chat as they ate their meal.
"Mum runs too Zack. In the evenings when I go to bed. She says it clears her head to have some time to herself."
"Sush Iris. Don't tell Zack all my secrets. He'll set the social services on me. From his jail cell."
We smiled at the joke.
Iris got up to get more ketchup. It was our first moment alone.
"I don't want to intrude on your personal time Sarah, but if you would like company on your evening run, I'd be happy to show you the route I took last night. You can get to the village from the back of the hotel. It's on Google Maps."
Sarah looked at me, trying to work out if it was a pickup line. "Just a run Zack."
"With a cup of tea after. An either, or offer."
She thought for a moment. "You sly bugger. You are making me choose between the two things you want. Let me think about it."
"I'm in room 247, if you change your mind."
I was watching TV when her call came. We were on for running at 8.30. Sarah wore a sweat shirt over yoga leggings. She smiled at my attempt not to check out her shapely arse.
"Iris has my number. I'll have to turn back if she calls."
"Of course, Sarah. I don't want either of you to feel uncomfortable." Sarah would not have come if she thought I was dodgy, but it was good that she and Iris could contact each other.
We found the road to the village and completed the five-mile round trip in less than an hour. A personal best for me, considering it started raining on the way back. As we got back to the hotel, I called time out.
"Your pace is too much for me Sarah. Following your bum got me round once, but you've got ten years on me. You don't want to be dragging a corpse back, do you?"
Sarah looked invigorated. Running really released her stress. "Come on then old man. Let's sit down and have that cup of tea."
Sarah looked in on a sleeping Iris, then followed me to my room. I was only four doors away.
"Right then young lady. What's your pleasure?" I scattered a selection of foil wrapped tea bags on the bed. We both got the allusion to condom wrappers. She picked one up. "You'll like that one, its flavoured." I raised my eyebrows like a comedy gigolo and she laughed.
"I don't know what I'm laughing at Zack. You still lured me back to your room."
"Are you in mortal danger Sarah?"
"No Zack. I'm having a nice time."
The tea loosened her tongue. Sarah was divorced, and the trip was supposed to be an access weekend for Iris with her dad who had recently moved to the coast. The plan was Sarah would get the weekend to herself and collect her daughter on Sunday night and drive back to London. The plan changed after five minutes.
"His new girlfriend came in Zack. Some tarty bitch in her twenties. It was supposed to be Iris and her dad, that was the agreement. He didn't mention Lisa when we spoke beforehand. I said nothing. It was Iris who changed her mind. He doesn't understand."
"I'm sorry for you Sarah. Being replaced is hard to take. I remember bumping into my ex-wife and her new partner in the supermarket. That's when I really knew I was divorced."
Sarah burst into tears and hugged me. "You know how it feels Zack. It's horrible." She cried for another minute and looked up at me. "I must look a state, Zack."
"You look fine to me Sarah." Her mouth was close to mine. I did not want to make a mistake with a vulnerable woman. "Sarah, is there a version of this moment where I kiss you and it doesn't go horribly wrong?"
"Yes Zack. There is a version where I very much want you to kiss me."
Our lips clashed. Eager probing tongues explored each other's mouths. I didn't know how long it had been since Sarah had been intimate, but her hunger was as keen as mine. I kissed her neck and shoulders and Sarah moaned. My hand went under her sweat shirt and teased a hard nipple through her sports bra.
