Tim and Amy

Tim looked at my expression. He could tell I was eager to show him the surprise I'd prepared.

"Of course," he said.

I disappeared upstairs with everything we'd brought back, and took my time getting ready.

I came down the stairs again, and enjoyed Tim's surprised gasp when he saw me. I wore the silk dress I'd bought, with silk stockings and tall heels. My hair was piled elegantly on top of my head, and the ruby necklace rested at my throat, my new bracelet on my wrist. I'd taken especial care with my makeup.

Tim came towards me, catching the unmistakeable fragrance of the perfume he'd bought for me that afternoon.

"I'm overwhelmed," he said.

I smiled, and put my arms around him.

"Do I dare touch you?" he murmured. "I don't want to spoil your artistry."

"The makeup's easily repaired," I grinned. "Just don't smudge the dress."

He kissed me lightly, feeling the slipperiness of my lipstick. He pulled away for a moment. "Better make sure I get all the lipstick off me too."

I reached out to wipe a telltale smear from the side of his mouth. He smiled and shook his head. "You're a remarkable girl," he said.

I grinned. "I think we're out of time, though. Pam will be back soon."

He nodded regretfully. "Still, tomorrow's another day."

I looked over my shoulder at him as I walked up the stairs to change back into my everyday clothes.

When I came back down, Pam's car was just pulling into the drive. Tim opened the door for her and hugged her.

"How was your day?" he said.

"OK," she replied, "though the traffic was pretty bad. Yours?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he said, catching my eye over Pam's shoulder and seeing me grin.

"Well, we have to be ready pretty quickly," she reminded, "we have to be at the cinema for seven."

"I'm pretty much ready," said Tim, "and I think Amy's OK in what she's wearing."

"OK," Pam said. "I'll just change then."

She went up the stairs, and returned after a while in a soft skirt and matching blouse.

"OK, let's go," she said.

I got to my feet. "What are we going to see?"

Pam named the film – the latest rom-com – and I nodded. "Sure, I'd like to see that."

We got in the car and drove the few minutes to the out-of-town cinema complex. We bought tickets and popcorn and found our seats; I managed to arrange things so that I was sitting between Tim and Pam. The lights dimmed and the film began.

After the film had been running for a few minutes – the bumbling hero had just met the gorgeous girl – I reached out and rested my hand, palm up, on Tim's leg. He put my hand on mine and I twined my fingers through his.

The film continued to its fairly predictable conclusion, and as the trailers rolled, Tim carefully released my hand. Pam stood up, and said, "Well, I enjoyed that."

"Me too," I said, "I like that guy who played the hero. He's a bit wet, though, don't you think? I'd prefer someone with a bit more oomph."

We carried on chatting about the film as we drove home. When we reached the house, I pleaded tiredness and went upstairs to bed. I wondered what other surprises Tim might have for me...

***

I heard the alarm beeping in Tim and Pam's room, and lay in bed as they went about their morning routine. Pam's car pulled away down the road, and a few moments later my door opened and Tim came in.

"You look very comfortable," he grinned. "Seems a shame to disturb you, but we have quite a busy day ahead."

"Another of your surprises?" I said, anticipation in my voice.

"Wait and see," Tim said. "Now, you'd better jump in the shower."

I smiled, and waited for a moment.

"Oops, sorry," he said. He turned his back while I got out of bed and put on a dressing gown.

I went across to the bathroom, and Tim stood outside the door while I showered. I went back to my bedroom to dress, pulling on my usual jeans and t-shirt, then opened the door and came out. "I'm ready – unless you need me to wear something different for the surprise?"

"No, you'll be fine. We'll get breakfast on the way, if that's OK," Tim said.

"No problem," I replied. "Are you going to tell me on the way to where, yet?"

"Nope," he grinned.

We got in the car and set off on a road out into the country. At a roundabout Tim spotted a McDonalds. "You like burgers?" he asked.

"Love them – especially with a chocolate milkshake."

I must have sounded like a little girl, because just for a moment Tim's expression looked fiercely protective.

We pulled into the car park, and went in to the McDonalds. Tim ordered burgers, fries, and two chocolate milkshakes, taking them to the table I'd found for us.

My eyes lit up. I took the milkshake from him and sucked on the straw. "I'd forgotten how thick these things are."

We sat and ate. After a few minutes the milkshakes had melted enough to drink through the straws, and we tried to outdo each other in the noise we made getting the last few drops from the bottom of the cup.

Tim grinned. "I haven't done that for ages."

We got back in the car and Tim drove on. When we reached the sign for an airfield, he turned in.

"Interesting," I said. "This isn't exactly Heathrow, so I'm guessing we're not checking in for a flight to Los Angeles."

Tim pulled up at the side of the office, an unpretentious wooden building.

"Stay here a minute," he said, and went in, coming out a few moments later with a man in flying gear. "Amy, I'd like you to meet Captain Richards. He's our pilot for today."

"Pleased to meet you," I said. "Tim has been infuriatingly good at keeping the secret, whatever it is."

The captain grinned. "Doesn't surprise me – I have reason myself to trust Tim's discretion."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Tim. He kept his face impassive, giving nothing away.

"Anyway," said Captain Richards, "let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

He pointed across the airfield, towards a small but reassuringly modern twin-engined plane. "Ever flown in a propeller job, Miss?" he asked.

"Noooo," I replied slowly.

"Well, hop in," he said. We walked over to the plane, and he showed me where to step on the wing to get up into the cockpit.

"Slide into the co-pilot's seat," he directed me.

I hesitated, glancing back at Tim. He nodded, and I took the indicated position, being careful not to touch any of the controls in front of me. Captain Richards took the pilot's seat, and Tim slid into the one passenger seat behind me.

The captain slid the cockpit shut, and went through the pre-flight checklist. When he got to 'Co-pilot', I looked back at Tim with a smile, and replied "Definitely here – I'm not sure about anything else."

"Don't worry," said Captain Richards, "I'll talk you through it. And I'm feeling entirely well, so you won't have to land this thing with me slumped at the controls."

"Very funny," I snorted.

He started the engines, and pushed the throttles forward. The plane rolled down the runway, accelerating rapidly. At just the right moment, he eased the yoke back, and we were airborne. We climbed steadily, and soon levelled off, the fields a patchwork below us.

"We won't climb high enough to see the curvature of the earth, sadly," said Captain Richards, "We'd have to be Concorde for that, but we'll go above the clouds in a while."

"Now," he said, turning to me, "time for you to take the controls."

I blinked hard, and nodded. "OK," I said.

"Take hold of the yoke firmly," he instructed, "but don't move it yet."

I placed my hands on the yoke, and looked back at him for the next instruction.

"Now, pull back slowly."

The plane climbed through the white clouds, then levelled out as I moved the controls back to the centre.

"You're a natural," said the captain. "Now, watch this."

He increased the engine power to near maximum, then pulled the controls back and held them. The plane climbed steeply, then I squealed as we looped right over.

The captain eased off the power, and said, "Do you think you could manage that?"

I hesitated, then said, "Ok – but you better keep your hands near the controls."

He nodded, then pushed the throttles forward again. I grasped the controls, and pulled them back steadily. The plane looped just as it had before, and I reached for the throttle levers, returning them to their cruising setting just as I'd seen the captain do.

"Well done," he said. "Now, try a turn or two."

I turned the yoke first left, then right, and the plane responded to my direction. "This is great!" I said.

"You can fly us toward the airfield," said Captain Richards. "See, this is the compass; the heading is 270 degrees, and we can lose a little altitude."

I carefully changed heading until the compass matched the heading he'd given, and pushed the yoke slightly forward so that the altimeter showed a gentle descent.

"You sure you haven't done this before?" asked the captain. I shook my head. "Well, I'll take it from here," he said.

Reluctantly I released the controls, and watched intently as Captain Richards landed the plane, making a textbook touchdown and taxiing back to his spot near the office. The captain slid the cockpit back, and Tim stepped carefully out onto the wing, helping me down to the ground.

Tim turned and waved. "Thanks, Captain. I'll see you around."

Captain Richards nodded, and turned back to the controls, shutting everything down carefully in sequence.

"Back home?" Tim said, opening the car door for me.

"Yes, please," I said. "That was brilliant – thank you so much, it was a lovely surprise. But I think I'll need to sit down for a while somewhere that isn't moving."

We were soon back at the house, and I went into the living room and sat down. Tim made coffee, and we drank it; he'd found some biscuits too.

"So, are you going to tell me about Captain Richards?" I asked.

"Are you fishing?" Tim said, pretending to be shocked.

My expression became serious. "If it's something you can't talk about..."

"No, of course I'll tell you. It's nothing too shocking, just he was in a somewhat... compromising position, shall we say, and I was able to help him out."

I grinned. "And there was me thinking you were just a boring manager – at what point in your past life did all this raciness happen?"

Tim settled back in his seat. "Well, this was when I was at Cambridge –" I raised my eyebrows, but didn't interrupt –" and Jim Richards was in the ATC, learning to fly. He was always getting into scrapes, but this one turned out more difficult to get out of."

"He'd taken a girl flying; that was against the regulations for a start. Then he'd taken her into the ready room, you can imagine what for – he'd discovered that his girlfriends were much more well-disposed toward him after he'd looped them the loop a couple of times."

"There were no exercises on that weekend, so he thought he was safe, but what he didn't know was that the Americans had arranged to use the airfield for a secret flight, and the place was about to be crawling with CIA agents."

"So how did you help him?" I asked eagerly.

"I knew where he'd gone – I was entertaining a lady guest of my own by the river – and when I saw the cars heading down the road to the airfield, I put two and two together and realised that he was going to need a distraction. So I changed tack with my guest – she was a little surprised, and probably disappointed – and we took a shortcut, getting onto the road in front of the CIA cars. Then I pulled the car across the road and pretended we'd had an accident, skidded. That held them up long enough that Jim heard the plane coming in to land, and he managed to get his girlfriend into his car and off down the back lane with its lights off."

"I can see why he trusts you," I said.

I stretched, and said, "I hope you don't take advantage of girls after you've looped the loop with them?"

"Not usually," he grinned. He looked at me, an expression almost of regret on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"No," Tim said. "Just fixing this moment in my mind."

I smiled. "Don't worry, you'll have the real me for a while yet. You're not the only one with surprises, you know."

He looked puzzled, but obviously decided to wait until I was ready to explain.

When Pam arrived back we were sitting in the living room, talking about my university plans. "I thought I'd apply to the university here, then I could come and live with you and Aunty Pam – it'd save me from having to borrow quite so much."

As I casually delivered my carefully-timed surprise, Pam came into the room. "How are you guys?" she asked.

Tim hesitated, obviously temporarily speechless, then managed, "Fine."

He cleared his throat and repeated, "Fine. Amy was just saying that she wondered if she could board with us in the autumn, if she gets into the university."

"What a great idea!" said Pam enthusiastically. "It's not as if we ever use the spare room, and we've got the en-suite."

She thought for a moment, then said, "But wouldn't you find it a bit restrictive, Amy? It's not exactly private if you have friends round."

"Oh, there'd be plenty of places to hang out on campus," I said. "I'm not planning on having a boyfriend for ages yet."

My foot found Tim's out of sight under the coffee table and I pressed against his ankle meaningfully.

"No problem, then," said Pam. "We'll chat to Caroline about it when they pick you up." She added, "But you'd better make sure to study, otherwise it might not happen."

"I'm sure Uncle Tim can coach me," I ventured, "He looks like he knows a thing or two."

"Yes, your uncle's pretty smart," conceded Pam. "Now, I thought we'd stay in tonight and I'll order Chinese – Donald said you liked it. And I rented that movie, now what was it?"

She reached into her handbag and pulled out the DVD. "Oh, yes. 'Airplane'. What's the line you like, Tim? 'My worthless co-pilot has frozen up'."

Tim grinned, and replied, "'Surely you can't be serious.' 'I am – and don't call me Shirley'."

I hid my laughter behind a feigned coughing fit. Pam went into the kitchen to get me a glass of water. Tim looked into my face and started to laugh himself. "So, co-pilot, you feeling frozen?"

I started to cough again, my eyes watering, and Pam returned with the glass. "Are you sure you're OK?" she asked with concern in her voice. I nodded, and drank.

"Well, I'll get on the phone then," said Pam. "I'll get one of those banquets for four, and there'll be something for your lunch tomorrow." She added, "You have been making yourself something like I said, haven't you?"

"We've not starved," I grinned.

Pam went out to phone, then we started to watch the film. When the food arrived, she set it out on the coffee table, and we shared the various dishes. Somehow my fingers seemed to meet Tim's quite often when we were reaching for things.

When the film finished, Tim yawned. "I'm pretty tired," he said. "Think I'll call it a day."

"OK," said Pam. "I'll be up in a minute."

Tim went up, and Pam and I talked for a few minutes about my plans to stay with them in the autumn. Then Pam joined Tim, and I went to my room, grinning to myself at the way my surprise had worked out...

***

In the morning I heard Pam leave as usual, and a few moments later Tim came into my room.

"You certainly picked your moment to deliver your surprise last night," he said.

I chuckled. "That's one back for all the times you've surprised me," I replied. "What's it to be today? Deep sea diving bell? Space shuttle?"

"Actually I don't have anything planned for this morning," Tim said. "I thought I'd let you choose."

I thought for a moment. "I know. Let's go and feed the ducks."

"Well, that's not on my top ten list of things I thought you'd say," he chuckled. "But sure, I'd like that. What do you want for breakfast?"

"There's a café at the park, isn't there?" I replied. "Let's get something in there."

Tim went downstairs to the kitchen to find some bread for the ducks, while I dressed. I came down the stairs, and we started on the short walk to the park.

When we arrived, the café owner was just opening up. "D'you think you could manage a breakfast for us, Joe?" Tim greeted him.

"For you and the young lady, I reckon I could manage it," he replied. "This your niece, is it, sir?"

"That's right – she wants to feed the ducks," Tim said, holding up the bread we'd brought.

"Righto – breakfast for the ducks too." He made for the kitchen, and soon we could smell frying.

Tim and I sat down at a table, and after a few minutes Joe reappeared with two heaped plates and large mugs of tea. We attacked our breakfast enthusiastically, and pretty quickly we'd both worked our way through bacon, eggs and all the trimmings.

Tim drained his mug, and went to pay Joe. "Enjoy the ducks," he said, "I bet they'll think it's their lucky day."

We left the café and walked to the edge of the pond. I took a slice of bread and started to throw pieces into the water, and almost instantly the ducks swam over, accompanied by several ducklings, some yellow, some striped pale and dark brown.

"Aren't they adorable?" I grinned. Tim nodded, and helped me break the bread into smaller pieces that the ducklings could manage.

Just then Tim's mobile started to ring. He answered it. "Oh, hi, Pam," he said.

He listened, and a broad smile crept across his face.

"Well," he said, "Amy and I will still go, if that's all right. OK, 'bye, dear. Do take care."

He pocketed the phone. "What's up?" I asked, looking at his face and his broad grin.

"Pam's been called away with work," he said. "We have till Friday afternoon."

I caught his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"And there's a treat for later – an evening out at the ballet. That'll be worth you dressing up for."

"Oh yes," I said, and I was sure he could see the wheels in my mind whirring as I started to plan.

"Shall we walk back to the house?" he suggested.

"With pleasure," I said. I shredded the rest of the bread – the ducks obviously couldn't believe their eyes – and we started for home.

When we arrived back, Tim said, "I'm sure we don't have to start getting ready right away."

"True," I said. "But I'll need at least a couple of hours. What else did you have in mind?"

"Well," Tim said, "there's one luxury this house has that I haven't shown you yet." He led me into the kitchen and through the far door.

"A garage," I teased, "Every home should have one."

"Very funny," he said. "Here." And he opened the next door and ushered me through.

"You can't really see it from the front of the house," he said.

I looked round, taking in the lounging area, the small pool, and the door beyond which I could see the wooden seating of a sauna room. A padded massage table stood by the far wall.

"It isn't very big," Tim said, "but it's got pretty much everything."

"Wow," I said, turning to him. "I'd better go and change."

I walked back through the house and up the stairs, quickly changing into my bright yellow two-piece. By the time I returned, Tim had donned his own trunks and was waiting for me.

"Come on," I said. "Last one in's a lemon." And I slipped into the pool.

Tim joined me, and we did a couple of lengths. "Now, how about the sauna room?" he suggested.

"Ok," I said. "I don't have much experience with those."

"It's not difficult," he said. "I'll show you."

He led me to the sauna and gave me a towel to sit on. He splashed some water on the brazier, and took his place next to me.

"Gosh," I said, "I'm sweating already."

"It's good for you," Tim replied. "The pool is warm enough not to be a shock if you dive in straight after being in here."

I nodded, and closed my eyes, lying back to enjoy the sensation of the heat. After a few minutes I said, "I think this is about as much as I can stand in one go."