An anti-climax

They arrived home still on good terms, and Leonard was crossing his fingers that maybe this time Leonora would not descend into one of her usual sulky moods. Whoever the awful Paul was, he seemed to have made Leonard look good by comparison so Leonard had something to thank him for.

Leonora sparkled throughout dinner. Helped of course by Mrs Leonard's excellent food. Mrs Leonard felt as though she had spent all afternoon in the kitchen, and had come up with lots of different tasty, hot, and spicy dishes plus the obligatory salad (garlic mayo in a separate dish for Leonard), but at least it kept the two of them happy.

Leonard and Leonora were chattering away quite happily, Tata was sitting very close to Leonora, having forgotten her earlier grievances with her, and the little crutches had dozed off.

The trouble was Leonard was dying to ask Leonora a bit more about the awful Paul. But Leonora didn't bring him up again, and he was too worried that if he mentioned him first, Leonora's good mood would rapidly disappear. Then he wondered how long she would be staying before she sulked off, but he didn't dare ask that either.

So they prattled on about nothing in particular. And after dinner Leonora made the usual offer to help with the washing up. Leonard opened his mouth to say yes, thinking perhaps they could chat together over the shared chore, but Mrs Leonard got in there first.

"Leonard is back to full washing-up duties now Leonora, he can stand perfectly well at the sink, so don't even think about it, although thank you for offering," she said.

Leonard shut his mouth again.

"Thanks Mrs Leonard, to be honest I wouldn't mind crawling into bed," said Leonora.

Thanks Mrs Leonard? Er, I'm the one doing the flippin' washing up. How about thanks Leonard? And Leonard scowled.

"Oh and thanks Leonard," said Leonora over her shoulder as she went off to her bedroom with the two little crutches.

Leonard wasn't sure what she was thanking him for. Picking her up at the railway station? Listening to her moan about awful Paul, washing up, or just a general thanks? He decided to ask when he went in to say good night to her after he had finished the washing up.

But he forgot. And settled down to look at the geocaching site to see if there were any more night caches he could look for this week after work.

Leonora read her book for a while, heard Leonard finish the washing up and walk into the sitting room. She wondered if he would come and speak to her so she kept the light on for some time longer but realised she wasn't reading any more.

Sadly she turned out the light.

Suddenly Leonard remembered he had been going to speak to Leonora, so he limped off to her bedroom. It was in darkness. He tapped on the door and gently pushed it open.

Leonora was asleep, breathing softly and regularly. Even Leonard decided it would not be a brilliant idea to wake her up and start asking her nosy personal questions.

He sighed. And then remembering Leonora's earlier kiss on his cheek, he walked towards the bed to kiss her goodnight.

But he stopped halfway. What on earth would he say if Leonora woke up and found him leaning over to kiss her? She might not even realise who it was and could end up screaming in fear of a burglar. How would he explain to Mrs Leonard that he was just about to give Leonora a friendly good night peck on the cheek?

Leonard sighed again. "Good night, girl," he said, and walked out of the room. Leonora slept on.