If The World Was Ending

Chapter 6

Elizabeth snaps shut her laptop and sighs in frustration. No matter how many times she goes over the report she cannot make any sense of it. The cottage has slowly darkened as the afternoon gave way to nightfall.

There were only the bedside lamps next to the bed and the kitchen light in the kitchen area, which Shane already had on. Elizabeth stands up and switches on the bed lamp closest to her and then walks over to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” she asks joining Shane at the counter.

“Making dinner,” he answers popping a raw carrot piece into his mouth. Elizabeth’s eyes wander over the vegetables in front of Shane, most which have already been chopped up into small pieces.

“Can I help?”

Shane stops chopping to look at her, “if I make dinner, can you do the dishes?”

“Okay, deal!” Elizabeth smiles, “what are you making?”

“Stir fry, I found some pork strips in the fridge, plus all these fresh veggies.”

“Great! I love stir fry” she grins.

Elizabeth rummages in the cupboards to find two plates and utensils and then squeals in delight when she finds some wine.

“Would you like some wine?” she asks, showing the bottle of red wine she has found to Shane.

“Sure.”

Elizabeth finds some glasses then proceeds to uncork the bottle and pour them some wine. She lifts the wine glass to take a sip and the smell that came floating out of the glass hit her first. It has an earthy woodsy smell but the semi-sweet wine tastes delicious.

Elizabeth hands Shane his glass, “cheers” she smiles holding her glass out towards him. He clinks his glass against hers and takes a sip.

“Wow, nice isn’t it?” Shane compliments and Elizabeth nods her agreement as she drinks hers.

Elizabeth takes the wine bottle with the utensils and places them on the table by the window, then returns to the kitchen to retrieve their glasses. When she comes back the second time Shane was dishing up the stir fry into their plates.

They sit down at the table and Elizabeth has to admit she is impressed, the food smells out of this world. She doubts she could have done better, she was not really a whizz in the kitchen. Shane can be glad she actually knew how to open the wine bottle.

“It looks and smells delicious, Shane”

Shane nods and he reaches for the wine bottle. After he has refilled their glasses, they tuck into the stir fry. Elizabeth could have sworn it was the best stir fry she has ever eaten, but she was not going to admit that to Shane.

They eat in silence both enjoying the food and wine. Elizabeth actually thinks how strange it was that they can be so comfortably quiet in each other’s company, neither of them pressing the other into a conversation.

Once their plates were empty, Elizabeth stands up to start the dishes. Lucky for her Shane cleans as he messes, this meant all she has to wash were their plates, utensils and the pan. It takes her only a few minutes before she was able to rejoin Shane.

Nightfall has now completed shrouded the cottage outside and inside was only illuminated by the bed lamp. Elizabeth had switched off the kitchen light after drying and packing away the dishes.

“Have you always been in security? A bodyguard? “ Elizabeth asks, looking over the brim of her glass at Shane. She has had two glasses of wine and was on her third, and Elizabeth knows it’s the wine enabling her to incite a conversation with Shane.

"No," he responds turning his attention away from the window to look at her, "I was in the military for awhile."

"How did you end up at Cure Cybertech?"

Shane's eyes narrows as he looks at Elizabeth. Her face was flushed which can only be the result from the wine and he was also certain it had contributed to her sudden new found voice.

"A friend," is all he says. Shane was not about to tell Elizabeth anything about himself except what was necessary.

"Oh," Elizabeth pouts, a little hurt that he was not going to elaborate, but she cannot blame him, they were strangers, why should he tell her anything.

"Maybe we should make it an early night," Shane suggests, "we both can use a proper night's sleep."

"Yes, of course," Elizabeth agrees and drains her wine glass.

"Thank you so much for dinner Shane. It was lovely," she smiles standing up. She sways slightly on her way to her suitcase, she should have stopped at her second glass of wine. She drags her suitcase into the bathroom and quickly gets ready for bed.

Shane shakes his head as he watches Elizabeth disappear into the bathroom. He was really trying to keep his distance, to not get comfortable. Dinner had been nice and it has really been a long time since he has shared a meal with anyone. But then Elizabeth started asking questions.

Just one night. He just had to get through one night alone with her. He had not really wanted to cut the evening so short, but it will be better for both of them just to go to sleep. Shane stands up and walks over to the wooden two door clothes cupboard and opens it. On the floor of the cupboard he finds extra bedding and a pillow.

When Elizabeth comes out of the bedroom he has just plopped the pillow down on the makeshift floor bed. He sees her stop for a second looking at it, and then scurries around him towards the queen bed. She was wearing a knee length sleeveless cotton white night shirt, sensible for the warm night, but the soft fabric was clinging to her body.

He sighs and goes into the bathroom.

Elizabeth's heart was pounding in her chest after seeing the bedding on the floor. This was stupid. The bed was large enough for both of them. Her mind set, she retrieves the pillow from the floor and places it vertical between the two pillows already on the bed. She quickly refolds the bedding on the floor and shoves it back into the clothes cupboard.

She packs away her laptop into her travel bag and places it onto the armchair she had previously occupied. Then when she hears the bathroom door opening she dives for the right side of the bed, crawling underneath the thin linen sheet.

And when she sees Shane standing in the spot where his bed had been, frowning, she throws open the sheet on the left side and simply says, “the bed is big enough," and then turns around to face away from him.

She could have sworn she heard him chuckle, before feeling the bed dip.