Lost and Found

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

                “I’m stuffed!” Amelia announced dropping to lie on a sofa in front of the smouldering fire.  Sol had followed her in with two glasses of brandy. After handing her one, he threw a few more logs into the ashes and stoked the hearth until flames once again licked up the chimney. “You always were king of sorting out the fire!”

He nodded, “it’s basic physics Meal, you should know that?” Happy with the fire, he lifted her feet then sat, laying them back in his lap. “Do you want to go to the pub later? Join in the sing-along?”

She shrugged, “I don’t want to go anywhere at the moment.” She glanced at the window, “and in case you hadn’t noticed there’s a lot more snow out there than when we came home.”

                “I’ve already found your father’s wellies, and there is a cloakroom full of winter coats, so I’m not worried about the weather.”

Amelia looked at him coyly, “seems like you’ve thought of everything!”

Taking a slug of his brandy before smiling he replied, “not everything, but most things.”

Since they’d both lived there a large wall-mounted flat screen TV had replaced the black and white cabinet model that her father had refused to upgrade through their childhood. As Amelia flicked through the channels, Sol automatically started to massaged her feet, his thumbs running over the tight tendons under the arches of each instep. After a few seconds she threw down the TV controls and shut her eyes.

                “It’s no use” she surrendered. “I can’t multitask when something feels THAT good!”

It was the most wonderful fifteen minutes of her recent life, nothing to do but absorb the ludicrously sensual sensations that were flooding through her body, waves of heat directly linked to the actions of his hands.  When she finally looked up, Amelia found him watching intently, and knew he was enjoying her pleasure, and she again was warmed by this new, selfless Sol.

Running a hand up her calf he smiled, “I think we should go for a quick stroll, a tramp in the snow before it gets dark, Elf is on at six.”

                “I LOVE that film!”

He grinned, “me too! So come on!” He deposited her feet on the floor. “Dress as warm as you can. See you at the front door in five!”  It sounded ridiculous to arrange to meet like that, but between rushing to bedrooms, cloakrooms and the kitchen to collect various warm items, it was no joke.

Amelia loved the crunch of the heavily packed snow under the boots she’d had the forethought to pack.  Li’s Christmas gift this year had been a multicoloured knitted hat, so that was useful too. Striding out she looked up at the darkening sky, the snow had stopped for a moment, but the ominous black clouds hinted that there was a lot more to come. She had almost finished her little snowman when Sol emerged from the house. She chuckled, he was wearing boots that were a few sizes too big and brought a ‘flipper’ quality to his gait, then there was the Barbour coat that ironically was a little small. He had no choice as the inappropriate coat he’d brought with him from London was still soaked from the trip home from the pub earlier.

After wrapping a spare scarf around Mr Frost and finding stones for his facial features, she stood up, brushing the snow from her glove.

                “What do you think?” she called across to him.

He smiled, “best looking man around here!”

Chuckling at the usually suave Sol struggling through the snow, she stooped up a handful scoop of snow, moulded it into a ball and then launched it. Catching him unaware in the neck, she laughed at his squeal of indignation. Then she started to run as he chased her through the eight inches of snow. Eventually he caught her and tackled her to the ground, but the fall into a drift of snow was gentle and she laughed as he loomed over her with his own fist filled with snow. As his hand zoomed towards her face she squealed, but at the last minute he deviated and smashed it against her hat.