Belinda was almost glowing. The presentation at the conference had gone better than she had hoped. She had met some old friends, made some new ones. Networking they called it. Even the bloke she had met at breakfast seemed cute, albeit that he had embarrassed her.
She had been looking for somewhere to sit and eat her breakfast and spare chairs were scarce. She found a spare seat and decorum insisted that she check to see if the chairs were vacant.
The gent looked up from his program, smiled and nodded assent. Belinda ate heartily and before long, she placed her knife and fork on her empty plate, lent back and took a long draw of her coffee.
Placing the mug beside her empty plate, Belinda had time to appraise her co-diner. Mature, in reasonable shape, salt and pepper hair which extended to his moustache. She averted her gaze as he placed the program on the table and searched for his own drink. She took the opportunity to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Belinda," she said cheerily.
"Hi, Tony," he responded, extending his hand in welcome. Perfunctory greetings completed, Belinda spoke.
"You're here for the conference I see," she noted, nodding her head towards the program lying on the table.
"Yeah," he replied. "Looking for something interesting to attend, rather than the same stuff rehashed," he added.
Belinda smiled knowingly.
"Yeah, I know what you mean; but have you found anything you like?" she asked.
Tony looked up, focused on his interrogators face, smiled cheekily and replied.
"Yep," he replied. "Directly opposite me."
Belinda blinked, thought for a moment allowing his words to sink in and garner their meaning. She suddenly blushed, realising he was paying her a compliment having turned the conversation away from the conference.
"Eerrrm, thank you," Belinda stuttered in response. "Thanks for the seat, I'd better get ready for my presentation," she added quickly thinking of an excuse to extricate herself from the situation.
Belinda went to her room, gathered her notes for her presentation, his disarming words still rattling through her thoughts.
"Focus," she mumbled to herself. "You've got to get this presentation right".
Well it went better than expected. The cabaret that evening was THE social event of the weekend and it was a lot of fun, good food, lots of dancing and singing: and there were only a few wayward hands she had to remove from her buttocks while on the dance floor. The stress of presenting had taken its toll and by early evening she excused herself, pleading exhaustion.
She strolled across to the hotel deciding to have a night cap before retiring.The bar was almost empty. She ordered a house chardonnay, sipping her drink while she reflected on the day. As she drained the glass, she contemplated a second. Before she had resolved the dilemma, the barman approached with another. Belinda looked up in surprise.
"Courtesy of the gentleman in the booth," he explained in response to her quizzical look.
She spun on the bar stool and peered into the gloom. Manners dictated that she thank him, but it was not possible to do so without seeing him. She slid off the stool and approached the booths. As she herself entered the gloom, she recognised her breakfast companion.
"Thanks Tony," she said cheerily.
"No problem," he replied.
"You're out early," he added.
"Yeah, too much noise, too many wandering hands," she replied laughingly.
Their conversation ebbed and flowed. just as they finished their drinks, the barman called time.
"Bugger," said Belinda, "I just in the mood for another drink".
"There's a bottle in my room, actually, there's a few. I hit the local wineries," Tony offered.