Melody's departure sucked all of the life out of the house. It did, however, jolt me back to normality. I sat at my desk going through emails, focusing on work to reconnect with my own world again. I smiled as I heard Debbie talking on the phone. She giggled loudly and called me.

"Barry Allison says he hasn't received a transfer yet, Billy," she said, handing me the phone.

"Can you open the Bank App on your computer for me please, Debbie?"

She had it open quickly.

"Baz," I said, "what's the story?"

"Oh, Billy, I was just telling your girl there,"

"Debbie," I said.

"Yes, sorry, Debbie, that the transfer didn't come through."

"Yes, I have it here on my screen, Baz."

Debbie was pointing at something and I leaned in to check it.

"Ok, do you remember I told you that the first payment would only be €1,000 because of the Bank's security protocols for a new Payee?"

"Yes, I remember that now, Billy."

"You got that grand already, according to my computer."

"Yes, I did, thanks."

"Ok, the balance will be with you in another three days, as far as I can make out," I said, as Debbie nodded her head and held up four fingers. "Debbie's holding up four fingers now."

"Ok, great. That explains it."

"Baz?"

"Yes?"

"Why would you ring up and tell Debbie that you got nothing?" I asked. "That's not playing the game."

"I know, I apologise, Billy."

"Ok, let me know when the rest comes in, will you?"

"I'll do that," he said. "have you any more work for me to do?"

"Yes, I have 180 units that I'm pricing at the moment, but they want to pay €40 less each," I said, winking at Debbie. "It's hardly worth our while, Baz."

"Are they Pres and Posts?"

"Yes, all of them are."

"It's still nearly €30k worth of work, Bill."

"€28,800 I make it."

"Yes, that'd be about right," he said. "I wouldn't mind taking the hit, it's still a nice little earner for a short turnaround."

"Maybe so, Baz," I said, "but it might also be the thin end of the wedge."

"I say go for it, Billy, beggars can't be choosers."

"I know that, Baz, but I don't subscribe to being a ragged trousered philanthropist either."

"A what?"

"Have you never heard of a book by a chap called, Robert Tressell, called The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists?"

"I can't say that I have."

"Find a copy and read it," I said, "it's illuminating."

"So, are you going to take that job or not?"

"If you're prepared to take the cut, I don't mind."

"Fuck it, do it, Billy."

"Ok, but I wouldn't do it for anyone else, Baz."

"When will we know? I'll be running out of work by the end of the week."

"I'll make a call when you get off the fucking phone."

Debbie was watching me with a strange look on her face.

"What's up, Deb," I said.

She smiled.

"What?"

"Nobody's called me Deb for years, Billy, thank you."

I patted her hand.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said.

"Yes."

"I didn't see anything coming in about those 180 units you mentioned to Baz. Did I not get it in my system?"

"No, you didn't, Debbie," I said, "because there was no email."

"Oh," she said, "what am I missing here?"

"This was your first lesson on how to deal with a knob head, Deb," I said.

"Ok, I still don't get it, Billy."

"Ok, look at it this way," I said. "Baz wasted about an hour of our time that was based on a lie. His purpose for the call was to get more work and nothing else. He's not an idiot and he's certainly not deaf. He knew there would be a delay in the second part of the payment, because he uses the same system himself. I simply got us a discount that will now become permanent."

"Is it worth a lot?" she asked.

"What did I say the number was?"

She checked her pad.

"€28,800."

"Yes, it's about half that."

She sat back in her seat.

"Wow, you're good, Billy," she said, "remind me never to get on your wrong side."

I patted her hand again.

“I'm going to make some lunch before I head out to do some actual work,” I said. “Do you want a sandwich or something?"

"Yes, I wouldn't mind, thanks."

"What time are you finishing today?"

"Is 1:00 ok?"

"Yes, that's perfect."

I made some soup, coffee and sandwiches and Debbie joined me at the kitchen island.

“Soup and sandwiches,” she said, “I could get used to this, Billy.”

“I was raised on soup, Debs,” I said, “Áine, my wife, used make a flask of it for me on winter mornings.”

“How long ago did she pass away, Billy?”

“Ten years. It was a car accident.”

“I’m sorry, you never get over that.”

“No, but you make adjustments and move on as best you can,” I said. “I suppose separation must either feel like a death or a relief, one or the other.”

“It’s a relief in one way, Billy, at least in my case. If I had my time back again,” she said wistfully.

“No point in looking backwards, Debs. Things can only get better.”

“I’d say Melody keeps you on your toes,” she said.

"Melody is her own species, Deb," I said. "I've never known anyone quite like her."

"You love her, don't you?" she said.

"I do, but not in the way you think, Deb," I said, "It's a complicated one to explain."

"So you really aren't together?"

"No, I think I'd go insane if we were," I said, "I look out for her, and she seeks me out for advice."

"It's gone 1:00, Billy," she said, getting off the chair, "I'd better make tracks. I'll see you in the morning. Will I need a blindfold?"

"Hopefully not, Debs," I laughed.

I gathered my toolkit together and left to do some work. At 4:00 I had completed twenty eight units in Mount Dillon Court, just off the Artane Roundabout. I had a hangover of about twenty unpublished certs sitting on my desk, so I decided that I'd had enough of the site for the day and would finish it off back home. I checked the fridge when I got in and I was correct to assume that it was almost empty, so I made a sandwich and a cup of tea and sat in the chair with the TV on. Less than an hour later I was fast asleep.

A pain in my neck woke me at 8:45 and I decided to go to bed. I still felt tired but I found it difficult to sleep after such a long nap. I turned the TV on and hoped it would send me to sleep and I woke to the sound of my phone ringing at 10:50. It was Melody.

"Melody, are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm good, did I wake you?"

"It's fine. What's the story?"

"I just wanted to fill you in on my meeting with Amelie."

I sat up in bed, suddenly wide awake.

"Ok, go ahead."

"Are you going to keep me standing outside your house, or are you going to let me in?" she said.

"Fuck, Melody, why didn't you say?"

"I just did."

I ran down the stairs, closing my robe around me. She pushed the door open as I released the latch and she rushed me into a hug and a deep lascivious kiss. I went to the kitchen as she took her coat off.

"What are you doing, Billy?"

"I'm making tea so you can tell me what happened."

"This is a flying visit, Billy, I have an out call booked at 3:00."

"3:00AM?"

"Not here, up to bed. I need your cock inside me. We can talk and fuck at the same time."

We broke apart laughing at that one and headed up to the bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed.

"So, how did it go?" I said, as she pulled a black lace mini dress over her head.

"Fuck first, talk later."

I took my robe off as she unhooked her bra. The sight of her breasts dropping slightly and spreading outwards turned me on to max. She sashayed over to me with her thumbs inside the waistband of a black lace thong.

"Do you want to do this, Billy, or will I?"

"Are you able to without damaging them?"

"Oh, Billy, you are in so much fucking trouble right now," she said, turning her back to me and bending over, slowly sliding the thong down over her legs and stepping out of it, seductively.

She pushed me back on the bed and pulled my shorts away, throwing them over her shoulder with a smile. She threw her head back to clear her hair from her face, like a lion about to feast on its latest prey.

Taking my erection in her hand she covered the head with her lips after first licking around the tip and meatus, slowly taking the entire length into her mouth and offering a warm safe harbour to inhabit for a few wonderful moments.

She began slow movements along the length of my penis, driving me to distraction, forcing me to squirm in pleasure beneath her. She swiftly lifted off and took one of my testicles into her mouth, sucking on it gently as she simultaneously stroked my penis with her hand.

“Oh Jesus, Melody, that’s so fucking good.” I said, my voice cracking as her thumb softly flicked across the sensitised tip.

She then took the tip of my penis in her mouth and let her tongue gently rest there as she sucked gently. I could feel myself beginning to fail so I stroked her hair and eased her head to one side as she looked into my eyes.

"I'm not coming in your mouth, Melody," I whispered.

Wordlessly she stood and reversed the position. She straddled my face as she began to stimulate my penis from the base upwards. I settled her hips into a comfortable position for my tongue to taste her. I lost myself in her vagina, it's softness, taste and aroma a heavenly balm to my tormented penis that was completely inside her mouth again.

I felt her hips move slightly against my tongue as it penetrated her vagina. I heard her moan as I withdrew it and slid it along and through the lips of her labia. I felt her quiver when it touched her clitoris as it peeked curiously out from beneath its protective hood. A few short movements of my tongue across the head brought a heavy intake of breath. I buried my lips in her vulva in an effort to soak as much of her in as I could.

Her hips rose slightly as she groaned in pleasure just before her entire body shook with a powerful tremor as her orgasm crashed through her and she flooded me with a delicious clear viscous fluid that flowed warmly and seductively over my face and down on to the bed cover. She lay, face down, on top of me as the shaking of her limbs reduced and eventually ceased. She rolled on to her back and then curled up in my arms as her lips sought mine and took me away to a kind of heaven.

"I needed that, Billy, thank you," she whispered.

"You were certainly on edge when you got here, Melody," I said, "did something happen?"

"No, I was just horny and I missed you."

"What had you horny?"

"You did."

"Fuck off! How?"

"I was telling Amelie about your skills and it just got me all fucked up," she said.

"Ok, Melody," I said, "what's the fascination in telling Amelie about what we do together?"

"It's my little piece of perfection, Billy. I told you before, we don't get to have any orgasms during work and very few of us are in any meaningful relationships, for obvious reasons. Amelie is just another escort, if a highly paid one, so she's just as interested in it as all the other girls would be. By the way, I gave your number to one of the Czech girls this morning and she'll be contacting you this week. Make room for her, she's so pretty. She was actually Escort of the Year four times and Escort of the month a gazillion times. Her name is Sofia VIP on the site."

"I'll put her in the Eyelash Diary."

"You don't have an Eyelash Diary, do you?"

"No, but I might get one."

She laughed and nuzzled my face with her nose.

"I can smell myself on your face," she said.

"I can taste you."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

"Billy, will you fuck me please?"

"Oh, if I must," I said and we both laughed.

We made beautiful gentle love and fell into a light sleep, after which I woke with her still in my arms. It was 1:15, so I shook her awake.

"What?" she said with a croaky voice.

"It's 1:15, love. You’ll be late," I said.

"Fuck! I'd rather stay here."

"You're welcome here any time, Melody."

"I know, Billy, you spoil me."

"Do I?"

"Yes. You, your cock and your fucking tongue."

"You forgot about my magicking of your underwear, Melody," I said, "I'm not being precious or anything, but either something is a superpower or it's not."

"Ok, I'll give you that one."

"So tell me about little Miss Elite."

"Say her name."

"What?"

"Say her name."

"Amelie?"

"Big fucking cheers. You finally got it right."

"Well?"

"Yes, it worked out well, Billy. I stood my ground, as you said, and she upped the fee to €14K and gave me a €4K deposit. In cash. The only thing is, I have to stop advertising on Twitter, Insta and the Escort site."

"That's to be expected."

"I suppose, it's a bit of fuck up though. I also have to change my hooker name."

"To what?"

"I don't know yet. Any suggestions? I was thinking something like Laura Cox."

"Laura Cox?" I asked. "That's unusual."

She stared into my eyes. I ran the name through my mind.

"Come on, Billy, get with it. I haven't got all night."

"Laura Cox," I said, laughing as it finally hit me. "You little minx, what am I gonna do with you?"

"How about you let me suck you off?"

"It'd be Laura Lips then."

"So what do you think?" she asked, becoming serious.

"I'm fucked if I know, Melody. What about something refined and sophisticated?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something upper class English? Isobel? or Penelope?"

"Penelope would sound crass don't you think?"

"What about Emily? It's not a million miles off Amelie."

"You clever little fucker," she said, enthused. "Emily Elite," she said, trying it on for size.

"I like it," I said.

"I do too, Billy, thank you."

And so Emily Elite was born.

"So who pays the balance of the fee?"

"Amelie."

"When?"

"The next day by Revolut."

"So she's still probably getting in the region of six or seven grand out of it."

"That's for an eight hour shift."

"What time do you start?"

"I get picked up at 11:00, the clock starts at 10:30."

"So you could be finished by 6:30?"

"No, he's booked into a reception out in The Crowne Plaza at 8.30 until midnight, so I get six hours guaranteed for that."

"You should be getting the full shift, really," I said.

"Well, I will, Billy," she said. "But the best part of it is that the Crowne Plaza is only over in Santry, Billy."

"I know where it is."

"I was thinking you might pick me up from work, so to speak."

"What's in it for me?" I said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"I can tell you what's in it for me."

"Go on."

"Your tongue and your cock. Plus, I'll be wearing something that will have you creaming yourself."

"Book me in my dear. I can hardly wait."

She left me, having showered and changed, at 1:30. I fell asleep shortly after and woke to the sound of Debbie closing the hall door at 8:30. I quickly jumped out of bed and dressed in whatever was on the floor. I ran downstairs and found Debbie holding a black, lace thong.

"Morning Debs," I said, looking at the thong in her hand.

"Did you have a visitor last night?" she said, with an inscrutable smile.

"Yes, Melody came by on her way to work," I said, checking my phone so I wouldn't have to look at her. There was a text from Melody on it.

"I left a new thong for you to give to Debbie. Tell her it's from me. XX"

I showed the text to Debbie, she blushed, thanked me, and almost ran to her office.

"Thanks for that, now poor Debbie is mortified."

"No she isn't. What's she wearing today?"

I walked into Debbie's office as she hung her coat up. She was wearing a pale blue dress. I had a few items of mail that I wanted to give her and she took them silently, looking down at the floor as she walked away.

"A pale blue dress. Why?"

"She'll be jumping your bones by lunchtime."

"Have a lovely day, Laura."

"I will, Eyelash."

I was smiling as I walked back into the office.

"She's funny, isn't she," Debbie said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Melody."

"Oh, yes, she's hilarious," I said, "you need to be on your toes to stay ahead of her."

"What does she work at?"

I looked straight at her like a deer caught in the headlights. What do I say?

"Come and sit with me for a second, Deb," I said, buying some time to get my thoughts straight.

She followed me into the kitchen.

"Coffee?" I said.

"Please."

"Toast?"

"Thanks, I will. I didn't have time to eat this morning, Billy."

I put some bread in the toaster and switched it on.

"What's wrong, Billy?" she asked.

"Right, what does Melody do for a living?" I said. "As you know, she is in college at the moment, and to subsidise that she works as an escort."

"Oh, that's grand, I had a feeling."

"Please don't judge her, Debbie."

"Oh, I'd never do that, Billy," she said, "I admire her."

"Yes, I do too."

"I'd say she's quite good at it," Debbie said.

"Yes, she is."

"She told me about you and her," she said quietly.

"What did she tell you?"

She turned pink and looked away.

"That toast is ready, Bill," she said quickly. "Let's just say that she was very complimentary towards you."

I retrieved it from the toaster and put it on a plate. She picked a slice up and buttered it slowly.

"She tends to exaggerate, Debbie, but it's all in fun."

"She's very helpful, though," she continued, "I love her attitude. She's so down to earth."

"In what way?"

"Well, in the ways of women," she said, looking anywhere except at me. "She has a more direct view of things and she speaks her mind."

I laughed.

"She certainly does that, Deb."

"We had a long talk and, I have to say, she put a few things in perspective for me."

"Now you say it, Deb, I have noticed something different about you this past couple of days."

"In what way, Billy?"

"I can't place my finger on it. You seem more more assured within yourself."

"You think so?"

"Nobody is infallible, Deb, and I could be wrong. I don't think I am, though."

She smiled and picked up her coffee cup.

"Well, I'd better earn my keep, Billy. Thanks for the toast and the chat."

"Anytime, Deb."

I ran upstairs and jumped into the shower. Forty minutes, or so, later I was ready for the day, if a little behind time. I was coming down the stairs when I felt a hunger pain in my stomach, so I decided to scramble some eggs. I remembered Debbie saying she hadn't eaten that morning, so I made double the amount and added some bacon to the Air Fryer as the eggs cooked.

"What's this?" she asked with a huge smile as I brought it to her desk.

"You said you hadn't eaten this morning and we can't have you doing that. It's my famous Billy eggs with bacon and toast."

"I don't eat at my desk, Billy," she said. "I'll take it to the kitchen, are you having some too?"

"Yes, mine is inside."

I carried it in for her and she followed along. She sat down and peered at the eggs.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"They're a strange colour."

"Bad strange?"

"No, just a little less yellow than I'm used to seeing them."

"That'd be the mustard, Debs," I said.

"What?" she said. "You put mustard in them?"

"Yes, a little Colman's English mustard."

"I've never heard of that."

"It's in a little yellow jar."

"I know what Colman's mustard is. I've never heard of using it in scrambled eggs."

"You can never say that again," I smiled. "Try it, if you don't like it I'll make fresh ones."

She tasted a tiny sliver of it and looked at me as she absorbed the flavour. She took another, larger, forkful and did the same. She started laughing.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"This is surprisingly good, Billy. How do you do this?"

"It's easy," I said, "before you put the eggs in the pot you whisk them in a glass or a mug, or something, with a fork. Before you put the fork in the eggs you scoop a little mustard onto it. Not much mind, and finish whisking them until the mustard is gone from the tines of the fork."

"What then?"

"A little butter in the pot, and a little milk in the eggs. Another whisk and throw them into the pot, which should be heated at this stage. Stir them around until they're creamy and take them off the heat."

"Will they not still be runny?"

"Yes, but they'll continue to cook themselves."

"I'm useless at scrambling eggs, Billy, they always finish up very dry. Maybe I'll try your way next time."

"You must put salt in yours while they're cooking, Debs."

"I do, how do you know?"

"It's a chemical reaction. Never put salt in the eggs until they're on a plate."

"This is brilliant, cooking lessons as well as a job. I love it," she said, smiling like a little girl.

"How are they?" I asked.

"Absolutely delicious, Billy, thank you very much."

She leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"You're most welcome Debs," I said, and touched my face where she kissed me.

She smiled and returned to her office. I put the dishes in the sink and retired to my little cubbyhole. I lost myself in the work, and got through a pile of surveys before Debbie touched my hand at noon, with a call list that needed to be attended to. As I curated the list to prioritise my calls it occurred to me that I hadn't done anything about Amy's wine list. It must have shown in my demeanour as Debbie asked what was wrong. I explained the situation and my inability to download a file.

"Give it here, I'll do it for you," she said."

"It's for a dinner party I've been invited to tomorrow night, Deb," I said, "with everything going on, it completely slipped my mind."

She took my phone and I showed her the file. She did a little bit of manipulation and emailed it to her computer. I gave her the details for Jones Wines and Spirits Bonders in Amiens Street and she did the rest. She even followed it up with a call and a requested time for delivery. She told them she needed it before 1:00 today. She was impressive. I returned to my call list. The first one was to Martin O'Shea. I dialled his number as Debbie walked in. She excused herself, but I asked her to sit beside me and listen to the call. She ran back to her office and returned with a pad and pencil.

"Hi, Martin, Billy Byrne here, you were looking for me."

"Yes, thanks for getting back to me, I just have a few questions."

"Martin, I'm going to put you on speaker," I said. "Debbie is here beside me and will sit in on the call. You'll be dealing direct with her in future."

"Ok, hi Debbie," he said into the ether.

"Hi, Martin," Debbie said in return, an amused look on her face.

"Ok, Martin, hit me with it."

"I've surveyed all, bar three, of those addresses you gave me the other day," he said.

"Why not all of them, Martin?" I asked.

"The keys have been handed back to the Council."

"Ok, did you tell the contractor to get them for you?"

"Yes, but he more or less told me to, if you'll pardon the expression, Debbie, fuck off."

"What does more or less mean, Martin?" I said. "Did he actually tell you to fuck off?"

"No, but it was inferred."

"Ok, who's the contractor?"

"Dudley Emerson."

"Fucking Dudley," I said under my breath. "Yeah, Dudley is a bit of a rogue alright."

"Can you have a word with him, Billy?"

"I will. Anything else?"

"Yes, do you want me to do the preliminary work surveys first and send you the data file? Or do you want the pre and post together?"

"What's the point of that?

"That's what I thought, hence my question."

"Martin, I need the pre survey completed in full with extrapolated data gleaned from the contractor," I said. "I suggest you do a couple of the units that haven't been started yet. That'll give you a base of knowledge on what would have been in them initially and you can extrapolate the data from those."

"You didn't give me any of those yet," he said.

"Did I not? Are you sure?" I said.

Debbie began typing in my computer.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Hi, Martin, it's Debbie," she said. "Billy sent you an email a few days ago and it clearly shows the addresses that have not been started yet. Do you want me to forward that to you again?"

"Eh, no thanks, Debbie, I'll find it."

I sat back and smiled as she took over. It was a pleasure to see, and she didn't stop there.

"Wonderful! I suggest you get those ten surveys done first and publish them," she said. "You can then put the other fifty-five through immediately and invoice us for them. I will contact Mr. Emerson regarding the other three addresses if you can email them to me directly."

"Thanks Debbie, I'll email them to you later."

"Can you do it now, please? I finish for the day at 1:00 and I'd like to have this straightened out before then."

"I can text them now."

"Great idea, text them to Billy's phone please, and can I have those completed survey documents and invoice by tomorrow evening?"

"I'll get a few over tonight and the rest tomorrow."

"Excellent! I need half of them in my inbox tomorrow morning. Is that possible?"

"Yes, I'll work late on them for you."

"Thanks, if you organised to get ten, or so, done every day it wouldn't be such a mess, Martin."

"I know, and I will, Debbie."

She hung the phone up and sat back in her seat.

"Great work, Debbie," I said, "you do realise that he's gonna hate you now?"

"He'll have to get in the queue, Billy," she said, as I picked up my phone.

I exhaled deeply as I dialled Dudley's number. She looked at me curiously.

"Dudley," I said, "he's a rogue, but I love him to death. I'm gonna put him on speaker for a minute so you can hear him. He can fucking talk for Ireland. Give me a shout with something urgent in two minutes, otherwise I'll lose an hour."

"Billy!" Dudley said. I half hoped he wouldn't answer.

"Hey, Dudley, how's it going?"

"Do you know what I'm going to tell you, Billy? I'm out here in Ballymun and there's more fucking useless wasters hanging around this place than you'd credit in a million years. What do they do all day? I'll tell you what they do. Fuck all, lazy shower of bastards. I was out there in Poppintree an hour ago and there was eight of them trying to push a car out of a garden. My lads are working across the road, so I stopped outside and asked them what they were doing.

They told me to fuck off. I'm not codding you, they just don't give a fuck. I remember when I was their age, if you said that to any grown man that you didn't know, you'd get a hiding off your oul' fella. The place is gone to hell, Billy, rack and fucking ruin."

I took him off speaker because Debbie was trying not to laugh.

“I know, Dudley, it’s an awful place.”

“You wouldn’t get that over in England, or Germany, for that matter.”

“Dudley, I’m in a fierce rush.”

“Oh, ok, Billy. What’s up “

“You met a chap called Martin, he’s doing a few surveys for me.”

“Yes, I was taking to him yesterday, I think. Or was it the day before? Yeah it was the day before. Or was it? Jesus, I’m losing the bit I have, Billy. Did you ever get that way?”

“It doesn’t matter when, Dudley. You sent back nine sets of keys.”

I heard Debbie jump up and run into my office. I knew what she was going to say, so I grabbed her hand to stop her talking.

“Nine? No, it wasn’t that many. Do you know what? I think it was only three.”

“That’s better, can you get them for me? I need to do surveys on them or they won’t pay you for them.”

“I’ll drop them in to you after lunch, Billy.”

“Great, we’ll have a chat then. If I’m not here, just throw them in the letterbox. Don’t let me down, Dudley.”

“I won’t Billy. Talk to you later.”

I had no intention of being there after lunch.

"So," I said, "that's your first experience of Dudley, Debs. Was I wrong?"

"No, Billy," she said, "you were spot on."

We both noticed at the same time that we were holding hands. I immediately let her hand go.

"Sorry, Deb. I knew you were going to tell me that it was only three sets of keys instead of the nine I told Dudley."

We both were red in the face with embarrassment as she nodded her head and left the room. I felt sick. I thought I might lose her then. I went to her office. She was standing at her desk looking out the window.

"Deb, please accept my apologies," I said, "that will never happen again. I just got caught in a cleft stick and I didn't want to verbalise anything while Dudley could hear me."

She turned quickly and took three steps towards me. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me sweetly. I was in shock.

"Debs?"

"Sorry, Billy. I couldn't help that," she said, "You've been so good to me since I started working here and something has built up inside me that needed to be released. Please forgive me."

I searched her eyes and remembered what Melody had told me. The silence was deafening as I struggled for words. I thought humour would lighten the atmosphere.

"Are you really sorry, Debs?" I asked.

She laughed.

"No, Billy, I absolutely am not."

"Good, because neither am I."

We kissed again, slower and deeper this time. She was such a wonderful kisser, her lips were soft and gentle and I detected a slight scent of perfume from her which I hadn't noticed previously. The phone rang just as I determined that she was wearing one of Melody's thongs.

"If that's fucking Dudley on the phone again," I said, and we both laughed.

I returned to my office as she handled the call. I got stuck into my work to try and alleviate the strain in my groin and to try and figure this latest situation out. I heard her on the phone and she sounded as efficient as ever. At 12:30 I knocked on her door and asked her if she wanted some lunch.

"I'd love a cup of tea, Billy, please," she said. "Can I ask a favour?"

"Yes, anything."

"Would you mind if I left a bit earlier today?"

"How much earlier?"

"Fifteen minutes, I just got a last minute appointment for something that I've been putting off."

"Nothing serious I hope."

"It depends on one's point of view, I suppose, but no, it's not a very serious procedure."

"Well, feck the tea, Debs. Go now, I've to get out of here in any case." I said.

"Are you sure you don't mind, Billy?"

"Yes," I said, "just go and make your appointment."

"Thanks," she said, grabbing her coat and bag and disappearing through the door.

I hoped I didn't have to place another advertisement for an office staff. I could have kicked myself for being so stupid. I made some tea and went out to work, hoping I could even things out the next day. She didn't appear the next day either.

TBC