A Safe Pair of Hands Ch. 15-16

"Oh to see the lights, and the grotto, to walk along the beach!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Absolutely yes I would love to!"

Nick grinned as he enjoyed her excitement.

"It should take us about two and a half hours to get there, longer if we stop for lunch, but we are not in a great rush - are we?"

"No," she smiled. "We have the whole weekend to enjoy - and so let's enjoy it."

*

Nick drove at a steady speed on the motorway, and he pulled off at dinner time so that they could enjoy a leisurely lunch.

The afternoon was almost gone by the time they got to Blackpool, and it took a little while to get to the rather grand looking hotel, where Nick had phoned earlier to confirm their reservation.

The room which they were shown to was actually a suite, with a small living area, and a separate bedroom, complete with king-size bed.

They dropped their bags in their room, and then Nick went back to the door.

"How about a nice little walk, before changing for dinner; just to stretch our legs?" he asked as he held his hand out to her.

"Yes, that does sound nice."

They walked along as the afternoon slowly gave way to evening, and as the light faded the famous illuminations slowly flickered into life.

The bustle of people was everywhere, and the smell of the sea air hung over everything and mixed with the aromas of cooking foods; of hotdogs and fried onions.

It was cold, but not biting, and as they walked along they were jostled occasionally by happy people going on their way.

There was an air of excitement around them, and as Nick took Sadie's hand and slipped it into his pocket, Sadie thought that life could never get any better than this.

They walked the length, and then stood looking across at the darkened sea, the sand brightened things up a bit, and you could hear the sound of the sea, over the general hub of the people.

It soothed Sadie and she smiled across at Nick.

"Thank you for bringing me here," she said softly.

"I cannot imagine doing this with anyone else." He smiled into her eyes and for a moment the rest of the world just shrank away.

"Photograph folks? To remember your visit?" the chirpy male voice broke into their moment, and Sadie blinked as she looked at the thickset man with laughing brown eyes; and a heavy duty looking camera hanging around his neck. "Five pounds a picture, but they are of the highest quality."

Nick paused for a moment and then grinned. "We would like that very much!"

For the first couple of photographs, Sadie felt self conscious as she looked up shyly at Nick, but as he leaned down to kiss her he smiled warmly, and they spent the next five minutes looking and touching and kissing, and Sadie was only half aware of the clicking of the camera, and the people walking by.

"Right then folks... if you would just come over here, you can take a look through the proofs and pick one or two out."

The little pictures that he showed on his computer screen looked lovely, and Sadie found it almost impossible to choose one from another. Finally she chose one of Nick standing behind her, with his arms around her waist, and she was looking up at him as they shared the humour of something that he had just said to her.

It sealed a moment in time for her that she never wanted to forget, and with the help of this picture, she knew that she wouldn't.

There were a couple of others that she liked as well, and so in the end - between the two of them they picked out ten photographs.

"That's great!" the photographer said handing Nick a little business card. "I'll get these printed up, and delivered to your hotel - where are you staying by the way?"

Nick told him and their room number and name, and the man nodded.

"Yes, I deliver to them quite a lot, so they know me there... I will drop them off at reception by..." he glanced at his watch. "Seven o'clock, and so if you ask them they will show them to you, and any that you want to keep, just pay reception and they will see that I get the money."

"That's great, thanks very much."

Sadie shook the man's hand and also thanked him, and then the two of them began to walk back to the hotel.

*

They had a delightful dinner in the hotel restaurant, but decided to retire early.

The photographs were everything that the little proofs had promised, and having paid reception they took the folder back up to their room, to look through them more leisurely.

Nick gently pushed them back into the folder, and looked up to see Sadie watching him.

The look in her eyes was enough to set his heart a racing, as she slowly stood up and allowed her dress to drop from her shoulders...