Last night James told me he was going to show me around Charleville, but it didn't involve anything like strenuous walking or climbing. Today was a warm sunny day, so I decided on a pretty cotton summer dress, pale yellow with a flower print and a full skirt. I would wear sandals with it but no stockings, and take a broad-brimmed straw hat since the sun would be fierce later. After showering and dressing, I went down to the dining room and had an excellent breakfast of fruit, and bacon and eggs with plenty of toast and coffee.

James arrived at nine thirty and looked very dashing in grey pants, a check shirt and a broad-brimmed hat. If I didn’t know he was a librarian I might have thought he was a grazier! James is a real gentleman. I particularly liked the way he opened the passenger door for me to get into the car. Then we started off on a tour of the town.

“I don't know what sort of things you are interested in,” he said, “We have the Cosmos Centre which has telescopes for visitors to view the heavens. They have displays open during the day but there's more going on in the evening of course. Perhaps we can come back for that one night.”

“I am interested in astronomy,” I said, “I have an eight inch reflecting telescope myself. One of the advantages of living in the outback is that the skies at night are truly amazing when you don't have the light pollution of the big towns and cities.”

“Well, we could have a look at the Warrego River and the park-lands; there's the Historic House museum, the Flying Doctor base, the Heritage Trail. I tell you what, why don't we go to the Visitor Information Centre and you can decide what you want to see?”

“I have another idea,” I said “Why don't you take me to see the things you are interested in?”

James flashed me a smile “Fair enough,” he said.

We started with a drive around the town, then did the Heritage Trail and by the time we reached the Warrego River it was lunch time.

“I've brought along a picnic lunch,” James said, “I hope you like it.”

I helped him carry the Esky and a large tartan blanket which we spread on the lush grass near the river bank in the shade of a river red gum. He insisted that he was doing all the work, so I sat down on the blanket, spreading my skirt around me and tucking my feet under it. James opened the Esky and produced a chicken salad, some rolls, plates, glasses, and a bottle of mineral water, all of which were nicely chilled.

“I know a bottle of wine would have made it perfect, but I am driving,” he said in an apologetic way.

“The mineral water's fine,” I assured him, “and it's a very sensible choice.”

We served ourselves from the containers and settled down to enjoy our lunch. James had cut up a fruit salad to have for desert and it was excellent. When we finished, I told James that I couldn't remember when I'd enjoyed a meal more. The warm breeze had made me feel a little sleepy after the late night at the restaurant, so I lay back on the blanket and closed my eyes and soon drifted off to sleep. When I awoke about thirty minutes later it was to see James lying beside me with his head resting on his hand, looking at me. I am tempted to say it was the look of a man in love, but am I kidding myself? We've only known each other for a very short while. I smiled at him and reached out to take his hand.

“This is such a perfect weekend, so relaxing with no work to do,” I said, “In fact there's only one thing that would make it more perfect.”

“What's that?” said James, and in answer I kissed him on the lips. They were warm and slightly salty from the salad and fruit. The kiss was soft at first but then grew slightly more energetic as I felt his tongue enter my mouth, and it lasted a long time. When our lips finally parted I smiled at him.

“Now it's totally perfect,” I said.

We packed up the picnic hamper and folded up the blanket and returned to the car. Travelling back into town we visited the Historic House and checked the Cosmos Centre to find out the opening times to view the night sky through their telescopes.

Tea was a much more basic affair than the dinner last night. We called into a cafe and had a very nice pie with chips and I insisted on paying, even though as I pointed out, the cost was a lot less than Saturday night dinner..

“You must let me pay for some things James,” I said, “otherwise I'll feel awkward about coming to see you.”

At the end of a perfect day, we kissed once more as James dropped me off at the hotel. I told him that I had to return home early and intended to take off no later than eight o'clock in the morning, so I felt that I needed an early night
I was up at six-thirty this morning, showered and dressed and was the first person down in the dining room for breakfast, which in my case was a light one. The I went back to my room and collected my suitcase and proceeded to the desk to pay my bill. To my great embarrassment I was told that it had already been paid in advance by James. This could be a problem. I don't know what librarians earn but I suspect it is not a terribly well-paid job, and if James keeps paying for me I will feel awkward about coming to see him.

I was just about to ask the clerk to order me a taxi to take me to the airport when who should appear but James himself. He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and proceeded to take charge of my suitcase.

As he drove to the airport, I was struggling mentally with how to approach the subject of paying for the hotel. Finally I decided that the only way was to come straight out about it.

“James,” I began, “I only found out this morning that you had payed my hotel bill, so I must thank you for that, but nevertheless it does give me a bit of a problem.”

“What's that?” he asked.

“Well, I hope to come down to see you again, but if you keep paying for my hotel bill, it's going to cost you a lot of money and I will feel bad about it.”

He smiled “Well it's worth it to see you.” Oh dear, this was getting difficult.

“Well at least let me pay for myself on every alternate visit. Is that a deal?”

“Alright, it's a deal,” he replied.

At the airport the Cessna had been brought out of the hanger and was ready for me. James loaded the suitcase inside.

“How about I take you up for a joy flight next time?” I said, and it was agreed that that's what we would do. We had one final kiss, on the lips this time.

“Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend. I'm only sorry it has come to an end,” I said.

“I haven't had such a good time for ages,” replied James. There it was again. He's definitely keeping something from me. I'm wondering if perhaps he's divorced, and goodness, if that's the case there may be children. I do hope he opens up to me soon.

I climbed into the cockpit and went through my pre-flight checks and then after permission from the control tower I took off and headed west, arriving back at the Station at about eleven o'clock.

Jack met me at the hanger.

“Did you have a good time Boss?”

“Yes Jack, I was visiting a friend and had a great weekend,” I said in reply.

Jack then proceeded to give me his report, but nothing special has happened at the station while I was away, and anyway I have complete confidence in his ability to cope with anything that wasn't major. If there was then he would have contacted me, and I was only an hour's flying time away.

To be continued

Image credit: Australian cattle station by Harris Walker reproduced under Creative Commons licence with attribution.