In Between Frames by Judy Lin

story, so Miles read the shortest one he could find, and then tiptoed back down the stairs, only to see Sam sitting at the table, a dreamy expression on her face as she swirled a half-finished glass of wine.   “You’re so good with children,” she said.  
     
    “Thanks,” Miles said. “I think something might be wrong with Stephan.”
     
    “You just figured that out?” Sam asked.   “I can tell you exactly what’s wrong with him and why—“
     
    “No, I don’t mean that.   I mean that he might…I don’t know, try something.”
     
    Sam shook her head.   “His father would kill him,” she said. “You don’t need to worry about me ending up dead— Loutraki is too small for that.   Anyway, what’s with you and Stephan all of a sudden?   He stopped giving us Greek lessons and tried to get Mabel onto a sailboat with no outboard as a backup—“
     
    “I know that,” Miles said.   “I’m just afraid that he might be in trouble.”
     
    Sam reached over and patted his hand.   “You’re a good man, Miles,” she said.   “But I’ve washed my hands of him.   Let him be.   I want to enjoy us.”
     
    Miles was surprised at how much he enjoyed her feathery touch on his hand, and at the sudden swell of desire racing in his blood, flooding out all of the other thoughts.   Part of him knew he had to press the matter of Stephan, but Sam’s fingers, light and airy as a cloud against his palm, sealed his lips with the tantalizing promise of more, elsewhere.
     
    “Are you sure?” Miles asked, his voice hoarse.  
     
    In response, she leaned over and kissed him.   She tasted of wine, and for a moment Miles was afraid that she was drunk and he would be accused of something untoward.   And then he decided what the hell, because if he was spending all of his working hours thinking about her, unable to stop imagining himself with her, driving forty miles each way to see her, he was the one besotted with her, so he might as well surrender to it.   Then she shifted, and slid into his lap, and that was the last thing he remembered of the night.
     
    ~~~
     
    Sam hadn’t had that many lovers—David was the only man she’d ever properly slept with, and in high school she’d let a few boys touch her breasts—so she couldn’t say whether Miles was a “good lover”.   He was attentive and gentle, which reminded her of David, but for some reason it didn’t feel creepy to think of him and David at the same time.   She supposed Mabel must have known, though Mabel said nothing about it over yoghurt and muesli the next morning.
     
    Miles said nothing about it, either.   He listened attentively to Mabel babbling about the dream she had last night, and asked her polite questions about the plants and birds. He would be a good father, Sam thought, as she watched him help her get her shoes on.
     
    “Did you want children?” Sam asked, as Mabel skipped outside to find her friends.  
     
    For a moment, Miles’s eyes went bleak with sadness as he remembered Nellie.   “We always spoke of it,” he said.   “But I was just starting out, and she was a paralegal, and it was just never the right time, and then she got cancer.”
     
    “You’re so good with Mabel,” Sam said.   “That’s why I asked.”
     
    Miles smiled.   “I was the oldest brother to three sisters,” he said.   “Little girls are easy.   Little boys, on the other hand, are mysteries to me.”
     
    Sam felt her smile widen even further.   “Do you have to go back to Athens today?” she asked.
     
    “I’m supposed to be on a plane in six hours,” he said.  
     
    “Oh.”
     
    “But I want to stay here,” he added.   “With you.   If you don’t mind.”
     
    A warm feeling began to spread in her gut.   Sam didn’t realize how nervous she’d been about his impending departure until she felt how relieved she was.   “That’s great,” she said.   Then her modesty came back and she amended, “If Mabel