CHAPTER 6 (First visit to Sam's)

On the way back she finalised her plans and as Tim drove them back to Bayswater past the Surrey fields in the pale light of the evening, she phoned Sam, the lecturer, to arrange a meeting.

"Hello it's Sarah here. Do you remember we met at the Anglo French Business Forum last week." She kept her voice light and cheerful as if it was no big deal.

"You promised to show me round the College tomorrow lunch time at the end of term."

"I most certainly did," came the chuckling response from the other end "and I've been looking forward to it ever since."

He sounded animated - pleased to hear from her. Sarah chatted for a couple of minutes about nothing in particular and then rang off. Step one completed.

Tim's flat was on the first floor of and Edwardian block in Bayswater Road and was crammed full of antiques. There were two bedrooms and Tim deposited her case in the unoccupied one. Sarah watched the sun empty it's final rays over the horizon leaving the trees in Hyde Park to act as sentinels standing silently waiting for the joggers and walkers of the new day.

"Would you prefer an Indian takeaway or a pub evening ", said Tim.

"I really don't mind - you choose", said Sarah.

"I've always been good at making decisions …. let's toss for it. They tossed up whether to get an Indian takeaway or to eat in a nearby pub then cheated by deciding to go to the pub. Sarah selected a loose fitting patterned cotton dress, another gift from Michelle. Its soft low neckline was provocative but she guessed that Bayswater night life had few shrinking violets.

As she carefully made up her eyes, she justified the effort with the thought that it was best not to stand out too much these days. Final checks in front of the mirror revealed a good looking lady. Her natural fair hair fell almost to her shoulders in a healthy sheen and a slimmed down figure showed she'd lost weight recently. She twirled in front of the mirror, smiled at her reflection feeling good.