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and stopped to listen
when Eddy mentioned half a day to get there.
    “What’s going on?
Who was that?” she asked when he hung up.
    Eddy ran a hand
through his hair. “My boss. Seems there’s a problem with the contract we just
signed off on.” He paused. “I have to go back to London. Today. I can’t delay.”
    Chloe put down
her cup and ignored the relief of hearing such news. Shouldn’t she be feeling
sadness, annoyance or anger that Eddy’s boss would pull her fiancé away from
his holiday to fix a problem he could do himself. But she didn’t and that in
itself explained her relationship with him.
    “Well, I suppose
you better go pack.”
    Eddy came around
the bench, hugged and then kissed her. “Oh, I’m glad you’re not mad. I was just
waiting for your ungodly temper to set off and flay me alive.” He walked to the
bedroom and spoke while pulling bags from the cupboards. “Shouldn’t take me
long to fix the glitch. We’ll go somewhere else next year.” Eddy stuck his head
out the bedroom door. “Come on, I need to get back to London by tonight.”
    Chloe took a
calming breath. “Eddy I’m not coming.”
    “What?” he
yelled, walking into the bathroom.
    “I’m not coming
with you,” she repeated, then waited for him to comprehend her words.
    Eddy walked back
into the kitchen. “You’re staying here. Why?”
    Chloe walked
into the lounge and sat. “Eddy, sit. We need to talk.”
    Eddy came and
sat across from her. She met his gaze and recognized the unease that thrummed
along his stiffened shoulders.
    “Eddy, I love
you. I do. But more as a friend than anything else.” Chloe paused. “It’s not
working out. We’re both so busy with our lives that we’ve forgotten to have one
together. Coming here, to Scotland, I had hoped to bring us back to where we
once were. Or at least where I thought we were heading. It isn’t happening and
I think you know it as much as I do.”
    Eddy slumped onto
the sofa then nodded. “I know,” he whispered. “I love you too. You’re my best
friend. I hope we can keep that at least.”
    Chloe’s eyes
pricked with tears. She stood and hugged him. “Always friends. I’m so sorry.”
    Eddy kissed her.
“Me too. And when I leave, don’t go blaming yourself, Chloe. It’s been on my
mind quite a lot of late as well. I too had hoped the holiday would bring us
back together and I wish it had. But you’re right, we seem to be being pulled
in different directions.” He hugged her then stepped away. “I’ll have my stuff
out of your apartment by the time you return to London.”
    Chloe nodded. “Okay. But it’s no rush, really. Whenever you can will
be fine.” She watched him walk off to pack. She walked over to the liquor
cabinet and looked at the crystal glasses and amber liquid. She needed
something harder than tea.
    ***
    Silk softer than
any she had ever felt glided over her body. She writhed in the bed that seemed
to float on wispy white clouds and sighed in the utter decadence of luxury on
which she slept. She rolled over and opened her eyes. Viewed a city outside her
window made of polished marble and glass. She squinted at the brightness of it
before a noise told her she was not alone.
    Chloe looked
about the room. Women in roman tunics poured water into a golden bath. Some
kind of pink flower with an aroma unlike any she had ever smelled wafted to
her. A woman ethereal in her beauty walked over and pulled her from her bed.
Stripped her of her gown and beckoned her to the bath.
    “It’s time, Chloe,”
the woman whispered against her ear, the caress sparking the fine hairs on the
back of her neck to rise.
    Chloe bolted upright
in bed, the quilt and woolen throw rug clasped tight against her chest. She ran
a hand through her hair and swallowed the fear such a dream rose within her.
    The nightmare
still vivid in her mind ran unease along every pore and every fiber of her
body. She threw back the quilts and walked to the window and looked up at