Summer's Edge by Noël Cades

train driver." He saw her eyes widen. "When I was about seven, anyway. After that I wanted to be a top business executive, wear sharp suits like my Uncle Rex and have an office at the top of my own tower. Then when I was about fourteen or fifteen I realised I could make a go of the cricket, or my coach did, and that seemed more appealing than numbers."
    "You’re glad you chose that? No regrets?" She hoped it wasn’t a stupid question.
    "None at all. I still read Economics at university, thinking it might come in useful if I changed my mind. Or this happened." He indicated his shoulder where the injury was. "So it still might. It’s healing well but you can’t keep playing forever."
    "W G Grace played well into his sixties." Alice couldn’t remember how she knew this. Possibly Jules had told or there had been something about it at school once.
    Mr Walker laughed. "He was a local boy wasn’t he? Times are a bit different now."
    Alice didn’t think W G Grace, with his enormous Victorian beard, could fairly be described as a "boy" but she took his point.
    "I’m doing Economics A-level. It’s the last of them."
    "For veterinary science?"
    "You only need two sciences. I couldn’t face Physics, and I thought it might be a back up option if I didn’t get into a veterinary degree. I could do business studies or something," she explained.
    "Much like me then. I hope you get your first dream though."
    They were approaching the pavilion now and all she could think of was the time he had kissed her in there. He had been so angry. She wondered if he was thinking about it as well.
    He had fallen silent. Alice took a risk.
    "Do we need to clear up inside the pavilion?" She knew full well it was an outdoor clean up only.
    She saw him wavering. A muscle clenched in his jaw.
    "Do you think we have something to clear up?" he asked her.
    "I think that could be the case."
    She was so nervous she was amazed she could speak. He was only just hovering over the edge. At any time he might change his mind, step back.
    But he didn’t. He opened the door and ushered her in before him. Inside the light was dim as the shutters were drawn.
    He stood before her, still on the brink but increasingly resigned.
    "What do you want from me, Alice?"
    The answer was so easy. She reached up around his neck and his arms went around her and his lips were on hers. Their mouths opened, his tongue intertwined with hers. It was sweet, sensuous.
    She smelled his scent, she had grown to crave it. His skin, the faint soap or aftershave he used, the cotton of his shirt.
    Her hands felt the nape of his neck, the shape of it, how it tapered to his collar. His hair was cropped so short she could feel the gradient from hair to skin.
    "You," she said as he buried his face in her neck and her hair, breathing her in as well. "I want you."
    "God, Alice…" she loved how he said her name, his accent, the rasp in his voice that betrayed his desire for her. His need. He’s fighting it, she thought, but he needs this as much as I do.
    They knew they couldn’t stay in there for long, it would look suspicious if anyone saw them. Maddy might already be suspicious over Alice going off with him in the first place. She could always make something up about him wanting to talk about Becky and Brett or something. She started inventing a possible conversation in her head.
    He was telling her again how wrong it was.
    "I lack all self-control around you. It’s not a normal thing for me. I’ve usually got a better grip of myself. This really has to stop. I’d get sacked and it would be terrible for you. And you know I’m too old for you."
    He was rejecting her once again.
    "Let’s get back and we’ll just forget about this."
    Two steps forward, one step back. She would have to be patient again. At least he wasn’t angry any more.

    * * *

    Back at home Alice didn’t bother telling her mother or Richard about the clean-up. She didn’t want to worry them. She figured if a note was