On Monday morning, after the plane had settled from its initial take-off roar and juddering on the climb out of Lausanne, Valerie asked, "Are you serious about Cape Town?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I weren't." Lorne leaned and kissed her forehead. "If you can get away, it would be a fine time for the idea of us to be introduced to Chloe."

She nodded. "Yeah." Then she nodded again. "Yeah, it would."

"It's an eleven-and-a-half-hour flight, so we'll spend all but a few hours sleeping, arriving noonish on Wednesday. My meeting begins at two."

"And sleeping arrangements? The couches and the bed?"

Lorne leaned and took a laminated page from the slot beside the couch. "Here's a diagram of the seating and sleeping configurations."

He handed it to her, then pointed. "I had thought we'd use the aft double, and Chloe would use one of the forward singles."

"Do you always plan in such detail?"

"I haven't planned. I simply looked at the situation and the possibilities and thought about how it would best work." He chuckled. "The distance will keep our sounds from carrying to her ears."

"Hmmm." She giggled. "I must stop saying hmmm all the time."

"Why?"

"It's a bad habit."

"It's intriguing. I have fun trying to sense what you're thinking."

"Whatever. Some find it annoying. So, how long is your meeting?"

"Far shorter than the required break for the pilots. We're scheduled to depart at eleven and be back in London early morning Thursday."

"Let me check my calendar." She grimaced as she pulled her iPhone from her purse. "A thousand messages and emails, I'm sure. I've never left it off so long."

She waited as it cycled on, then she entered her password and clicked on the wifi symbol and then on Benton. "No password?"

"No need. The satellite connection is automatically switched off when the pilot shuts down."

Valerie nodded as she opened her appointments book and scrolled through it. After a couple of shrugs and pursings of lips, she said, "I can have Brad reschedule these or send regrets. Give me a few minutes."

She thumbed a long message to Brad, then after sending, she sat back smiling. " I feel like I'm a kid playing truant from school."

"Did you ever do that?"

"Dreamt about it but never dared." She looked up from her phone. "And you?"

"A few times when I was being bullied."

"Yeah, bullying can be tough to handle. Chloe went through a bit of it before Christmas."

"Physical, or only verbal?"

"Verbal only. But that can be very damaging. Thank goodness, she knows she can talk with me about anything." Valerie looked down at her phone. "I should text to let her know all is well."

Valerie's thumbs flew over the screen, and half a minute later, she set the phone down as she looked up into Lorne's eyes with a broad grin on her face. "That should pique her interest."

"Does she know about me?"

Valerie laughed. "I realised she sensed there was a man in my life a few weeks ago when she took a renewed interest in discussing relationships and sex."

"At ten?"

"Ten is the new thirteen, Lorne. The onset of puberty in girls aged ten is now considered normal; ten and a half is the new average. Youth are exposed to a steady diet of sexualised information, images and influences, and since we can't stop it, caring parents must begin discussing the explicit aspects of sex and relationships while their kids are still very young."

"Yeah. Mum admits now she was too embarrassed to discuss any of it with me." He chuckled. "But I likely would have ignored it if she had mustered the courage. I was so focused on computer programming that I didn't even notice my puberty happening."

Valerie nodded toward his lap. "Surely, you would have noticed this growing." She reached a hand across to cup him.

He trembled at her touch. "It was part of my growing spurt. At fourteen, I shot up in height, and I had passed six feet before I turned sixteen."

"And you're now what? Six-three?"

"In shoes, yes. But in bare feet, I'm six-two."

"And this?" She grinned as she fondled his package.

"A tad shy of six." He lifted his hips. "But if you continue doing that, beyond eight.

Valerie tilted her head toward the rear of the plane. "I thought the stiffer configuration would be useful as we test the comfort of the bed."

<><><>

Shortly before noon, in the lobby of the Four Seasons at Park Lane, Valerie pulled Lorne's face down for another kiss. "We're acting silly. We both have much to do. We'll see you at five o'clock." She released the hug and walked across the lobby toward the lifts.

After she had pressed the button, she turned to see Lorne still standing in the same spot, watching her. Oh, God. We've got it bad. Why does five hours seem like forever? The ding of the arriving car startled her back into action. She waved, then rolled her carry-on into the lift cabin.

As she pulled her luggage along the corridors, she thought, It'll be good to get out of here. Into something more homey. Hah! How do I know it'll be homey? We'll make it that way if it's not. She chuckled to herself.

In front of her door, she paused to find the key in her purse. How will Chloe take the change? Will she like him? She shook her head. How could she not?

She unlocked and opened the door, calling into the suite as soon as she entered. "I'm home, Sweetheart." Chloe bounded across and into a big hug as Valerie knelt to greet her.

"Do you still like him, Mummy?"

"Yes, I do, Sweetheart. More than ever."

"And does he like you?"

She nodded as she kissed Chloe's cheek. "Yeah, he does. A lot."

"Enough that he wants you to be his girlfriend?"

"Yes, and I want him as my boyfriend." Valerie stood and ruffled Chloe's hair. "So, were you a good girl?"

Chloe chuckled. "Mrs Forbes may not think so. But I thought I was pretty good."

A short, stocky woman with greying hair walked across the room, Valerie greeting her with a question, "What did she get up to this time, Grace?"

"Room service again. I don't know how she absorbs all that ice cream. And the pizzas." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "She needs some good healthy cooking again. We all do."

Valerie sighed and nodded. "I think that might be happening in the next short while. It appears we'll be moving out of here."

"Back home?" Chloe asked.

"No. To my new boyfriend's house."

"So, does this mean you like him enough to have sex with him? Did you already do it while you were away?"

"We'll talk about that in private, Sweetheart. It's not something polite people discuss when others are around."

Mrs Forbes rolled her eyes as she raised her hand to her mouth, trying to hide a smile.

Valerie shrugged, smiled and winked at her.