They may not mean to, but they do - 25. Twenty-Five

“How was the Spa?”

Alison smiled and extended her arms out, narrowly missing a waiter in the bar, “Blissful, can’t you tell, I’m completely rejuvenated! Seriously, it was lovely. All that relaxing and doing nothing, whilst whatever treatment they’ve applied works its magic; I think being forced to do nothing, in such luxurious circumstances, is a good idea. I can’t say I’d try every treatment again, but it was worth it. How about you, how was the massage?”

Both men clammed up and Keith went red, all they could think of was their embarrassing arousal at the end.

“That good eh, well you can’t win every time.”

“No, it was great we both enjoyed it didn’t we Keith”, Keith nodded in agreement, “It's just that a certain thing can happen to men during a massage, which becomes rather obvious when all you’re wearing is a small towel.”

Alison let out a hoot of laughter, “Don’t tell me you got a stiffie!”

“We both did, separately I may add.”

“How embarrassing”, but her eyes shone with delight rather than sympathy. “So, no more massages?”

Keith found his voice, “I’d like to do it again, my muscles felt great. It’s just…”

“You’d need a thicker towel!”

They all smiled, and Keith found that the potential embarrassment had somehow evaporated. They went on to talk about Tadcaster, and Keith mentioned the idea of walking round a town like that with Pevsner.

There was a pause as the waiter brought their drinks, and whilst Alison and Thomas had a G&T again, Keith had been adventurous and having read the cocktail list from cover to cover (something that amused Thomas who tended on such occasions to glance at the list and grab the first thing that appealed), Keith with much deliberation had chosen a cocktail, one that had white rum and lime juice in it. When it appeared there was much comment, Thomas said it looked like an extra from ‘Hawaii Five-O' whilst Alison simply rolled her eyes. But once he’d fought his way past the flowers and the umbrella, it tasted fab.

They returned (or at least Alison did) to the subject of Pevsner. Alison, it turned out, was somewhat knowledgeable, though she admitted that much of this was second hand, “The books are rather chunky, certainly not a pocketbook. I used to know someone who had the complete collection, all the counties and there are now two volumes for some of the bigger ones, and they never travelled without it. You need a big shoulder bag to carry it in and plenty of time, as sometimes the articles can be quite detailed. You can get them second-hand, though you’d need to make sure you get the most recent edition.”

Their conversation about Pevsner took them through choosing their meal and beyond. Keith’s professional comments about the pub in Tadcaster amused both Thomas and Alison. Keith was starting to learn that not everyone was as obsessed with detail as he; he found he could be amusing without worrying that he was being made fun of. Alison, however, was a good teacher and used to gauging reactions,

“Do you always notice this sort of detail, whenever you go out?”

Keith nodded, a bit embarrassed. Thomas answered for him, “He does, though he doesn’t always tell you. But if you ask, or comment, he can point out all sorts of detail, I’d never notice. Not just wiring, during the walk in Tadcaster he was seeing bits of construction that my eyes had simply slid over.”

“Too busy looking at the general picture.” Thomas nodded. “You should make a good pair”, and she patted Keith’s hand, “You should be proud of your eye for detail. Don’t be embarrassed, just think that us plebs only get the general impression, but you see a lot more.”

Keith was well and truly embarrassed now but knew that what Alison said was true. And then the mirror behind her came to his rescue, and he commented about it being hung out of true. Everyone laughed, and the evening turned perhaps a little silly but most enjoyable.

The next morning, they had a leisurely breakfast and then bid farewell to Alison. There had been talk of going somewhere for lunch, but Alison had work and so did Thomas. And if truth be told, there was paperwork that Keith had been putting off. Thomas suggested he might stay if Keith didn’t mind him commandeering the table and doing some work. So, it was agreed.

It was a grim day, there was little chance of Greg and Bart being by the pool and in danger of seducing them with the prospect of a drink and swim. So, the two settled down, surprisingly comfortably. Keith was still getting used to having his business on-line, but his accountants had insisted. So, his catching up on paperwork, actually involved lots of bills and invoices which never saw a printer and existed only in thin air. It was all very curious.

Keith worked with his tongue gripped between his teeth, concentrating hard, whereas Thomas seemed to take a more relaxed approach yet kept up a running commentary in an undertone which was a background buzz to Keith, at times a little annoying but at the same time rather comforting.

When Keith got stuck, cause of much annoyance, Thomas proved far more adept than Keith with the on-line accounting system, later explaining over a cup of tea that his life at work was full of coping with similar systems every day. Keith’s aghast expression was a picture. But by the end of the afternoon, there was hardly any paperwork left, real or imaginary.

The weather cheered up; it wasn’t swimming weather but was at least the ‘have a drink outside’ sort. Keith’s phone buzzed and it was Greg, was he around, did he fancy a drink in the garden? Keith responded, and soon the four of them were settled down by the pool, with that drink.

Greg was able to comment on the architecture of Tadcaster, as a student, he’d done a project about the development of towns centred on racing. And he also possessed several volumes of Pevsner, so he popped to get one and came back with the three covering Yorkshire. Each volume was indeed substantial, and he said that Keith could borrow them if he promised not to take them out of the flat. Keith agreed and started to open one, but Thomas laughed and said ‘not now’; if Keith got buried in the book he would be gone for the evening. It would be something to look forward to.

Keith remembered the conversation with Thomas, now would be a good time and he asked about the plans for the other spare buildings. Greg laughed and Bart made a stagey coughing noise. It was Greg who finally answered.

“All the basics are done; the rooms are habitable and usable. But we are having second thoughts about turning them into a business.”

“What Greg is too polite to say is that I said I couldn’t be arsed running a holiday and studio letting business all by myself. Greg’s work at the practice has really taken off, and now I have this book offer I’ll have less time as well. We are trying to work out what to do. We like having you around and want to continue that if you do”, Keith nodded, “But I don’t think we want this to be a commune.”

“How about adding one extra?” Greg and Bart looked at Thomas questioningly. “Basically, I need to move out of my brother’s vicarage, and Keith and I had talked about living together at some point”.

Greg’s eyes widened somewhat, and he smiled whilst Bart said “Oh, Wow.”

“We wondered whether, pro tem, I could rent one of the other units, or even two of them so that I had a decent amount of office space.”

“You work from home then”, Greg enquired.

“Not officially, but there’s been a lot of travel recently so it would make sense to have a proper office at my house, to minimise the miles. I certainly can’t do that at Nate’s.”

“I can see that”, Bart smiled. “So, you want to try out life with Keith by moving in next door. Makes sense. Why not? It will give us all a breathing space, you and Keith can decide what you want to do, and we can put off the decision about what to do with the spare units.”

Greg grinned, “Sounds good, and then if Thomas and Keith decide to get their own place, we can move my Mother in.” Bart exclaimed and the two had a mock argument, this was clearly an old topic.

There were details to be arranged, but it was agreed in principle. They would firm things up during the week, and next weekend Thomas could look over the other units. When they got back to the flat, Keith brought up something that was troubling him,

“Am I really annoying when I read and get absorbed in a book?”

Thomas was aghast, “Shit, I’m sorry. I love you because you are you and don’t want you to change.” Thomas came over and hugged Keith, who remained a bit stiff, “you go into detail with things so much more than I do, faced with those volumes of Pevsner you’d start reading them. You want to, don’t you?”

Despite himself, Keith laughed and nodded his head, he did.

‘All I meant was that it wasn’t the time, with Greg and Bart there. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was flippant because I didn’t want to make a big thing of it. And besides, I probably do annoying things as well.”

“Yes. I just don’t like the thought that I annoy you.”

“You don’t”, they kissed.

“You make a terrible noise when you are working, you mumble to yourself all the time.”

Thomas laughed, “There I told you I was annoying.” They exchanged a few more barbs about annoying habits, but both were laughing.

“There’s another thing”, Thomas looked worried at Keith’s intervention, “If you are moving out of your brother’s then you ought to thank him and Caroline properly. I’d been wondering. How about the hotel, you know the four of us, stay the night and dinner?”

“You mean similar to the trip with Alison?”

“Just one night though?”

Thomas looked thoughtful, “I’ll ask. They don’t go away much, which is more to do with money and logistics. It would probably have to be during the week. Would that be OK?”

Keith thought about it, “With notice, I can easily move jobs around.”

“I’ll ask. Thank you.” The thanks took some while.