Chapter 1: James Comes Out of His Shell

James Hathaway hated parties. They were full of small talk, and he wasn't good at small talk. He usually avoided them, but this had been one invitation he could not decline. No, this party was to celebrate the cohabitation of Robbie Lewis and Laura Hobson and that was something he very much supported. Hathaway calculated he would need to spend at least one hour before he made his escape.

He remembered the last party he'd attended at this house, not long after he first started working with Lewis. That time he'd had Robbie to commiserate with as they drank out in the garden, both of them eager to escape the raucous group of Laura's doctor friends. But now, Lewis was co-host and though he might want to escape, he lived here now.

Tonight, the house was noisy and crowded with a drunken mix of doctors and cops. It was a smaller group than Laura's "significant but unnamed birthday" bash had been. Hathaway was on his second beer and had quite enough of the "so great about those two" discussions. Not that he didn't think it's great, but by the sixth iteration of the conversation, he was ready to chew through his restraints.

James had chatted with an elegantly dressed Chief Superintendent Innocent briefly before she left for a fancier event. He wondered if the elusive Mr. Innocent was attending or if he even actually existed.

As he was only ten minutes into his compulsory hour, he headed out into the garden. It was a bit chilly, so the garden wasn't nearly as crowded as the house and he could smoke. He was comfortable in a sweater and top coat, his collar turned up against the cool air.

Fairy lights were strung up around the perimeter with a few lanterns for added measure. Robbie and Laura had set up a few tables and chairs, most of which were in use. The glider was also occupied, unfortunately. A small bistro table at the edge of the patio was free. He sat down and lit a cigarette.

A woman walked through the back door of the house, a glass of wine in her hand. She glanced around the garden, maybe trying to decide if she wanted to join one of the other groups. Apparently not, as she walked through to stand at the end of the patio and look out into the darkened yard.

James stood up, indicating his chair, "Please. Take this table."

"I couldn't," she said. "But maybe we could pull over an empty chair."

She looked up at him, smiling. He was glad she didn't remark on his height. People always felt the need to comment, as if he had no idea how tall he was. James pulled over an empty chair from one of the other tables and they sat down. She was pretty, with straight dark hair brushing her shoulders; his age, or maybe a bit younger.

"James Hathaway," he introduced himself, extending a hand. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Not at all," she replied. "I'm Giulia Ferrante. People call me Lia." Her hand was warm and strong when she shook his. The smile remained in her eyes. "You're a policeman, right? Robbie's partner?"

"I'm his sergeant," he replied. "How do you know...?" he gestured toward the house with his now empty beer bottle.

"Laura and I are friends," she responded. "We met through a book club that neither of us enjoyed enough to stay with. Now we mostly walk around the neighborhood when we're both free in the evening." She rose, lifting up her empty glass. "Another beer?"

"Maybe wine, instead. Whatever you're having," he said. She went back into the house, returning in a few minutes with two wine glasses and a full bottle of wine.

"Pinched this from the drinks table. It's a particularly nice Tuscan wine. I wasn't sure anyone else would appreciate it."

She was right-it was very good. Lia told him her family had emigrated from Tuscany after the war and that she and her siblings had spent most summers there when they were growing up. James had traveled extensively in Italy during his college and seminary years, so they compared notes. He was careful not to mention the seminary. That subject tended to derail conversation and surprisingly, he was enjoying this one too much to send it off into a religion ditch.

They moved on from Italian cities to their favorite food and wine in Italy and after that to talk about his work (a heavily abridged version) and hers as a speech therapist for the local school system. She complimented him on his diction. Next topic was life in Oxford and what they each loved about it. He told her how he loved the bells signalling each hour. She said she loved how parts of the college area reminded her of town squares in Italy.

Hathaway was amazed later to realize that they'd knocked off the first bottle of wine and most of a second. Checking his watch, he found that he'd surpassed his one hour to the point that the garden had grown quite empty.

"I had no idea it was so late," Lia said as she stood swaying slightly. "Probably best to be off home."

"I should be leaving as well," he said. "We're both well over the limit, I'm afraid."

"I walked tonight. I'm only down the road and around the corner."

"Then please allow me to walk you home," James said.

"Thank you," she said, "I'd like that."

They went in to bid goodnight to Robbie and Laura who both looked at them with undisguised curiosity.

"The spare room is yours, James," Laura called out as she waved to them from the front door.

He hoped a brisk walk would clear his head, but oddly, he felt even more drunk. As they made their way down the street, Lia slipped a hand into the crook of his elbow. If she was looking for added stability, she was probably out of luck; they were weaving in unison and laughing over it. They made an exaggerated roundhouse turn at the corner, almost falling together as they moved onto the next street.

"This is me," she said as she pulled him up the brick walk to a tidy semi-detached house. She stood on the first step and turned to face him. He moved closer to steady her when she wobbled a bit. Lia put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Now I don't have to crane my neck."

She kissed him and he tasted the wine she'd been drinking and the chocolate biscuit she'd snagged from a tray on her way through the house. James was no expert on kissing given his limited experience, but this seemed like a very good one.

She smiled as they pulled apart, but her hands didn't leave his shoulders. Instead she linked her hands around his neck. Her coat was unbuttoned, and he let his hands slip in to span her waist. He tilted his head, smiled and returned her kiss.

"Would you like to come in? I have a bottle of that wine I told you about. Brought it back from my last trip."

Looking back, James realized it was probably not the smartest thing to drink even more wine, but good decisions seemed to have been left in Robbie and Laura's garden. Lia unlocked the door and they stumbled inside.

He didn't remember much after they finished that bottle of wine. He remembered they were sitting on her sofa and that there was a lot more kissing. He remembered Lia throwing a leg over him and straddling his lap and more kissing. He remembered becoming aroused as she moved against him. He remembered what her body felt like when reached under her sweater to cup her breasts.

He has a recollection of Lia leading him upstairs to her bedroom. He's pretty sure he had a moment of concern about his skinny arms and legs, but Lia didn't seem to find him overly storkish as he undressed. He did remember almost falling as his jeans caught around his ankles. And he remembers Lia's smooth skin very clearly, how golden it seemed in the lamp light.

At some point, he believed he said something about unprotected sex. He remembered laying naked on Lia's bed listening to drawers and cabinet doors being rather frantically opened and shut and Lia mumbling in the bathroom before she stumbled back to the bedroom holding aloft a condom package and saying "Ta da!" He only hoped they were able to deploy it successfully.

Hathaway only has impressions after that point, but they are all very good impressions. He recalls skin against skin, and the rhythm of movement as he entered her and her face as she threw her head back as she came.

His next awareness was waking in an unfamiliar bed with a massive headache. His cell phone vibrated somewhere in the twisted pile of his clothing. His hands felt clumsy as he dug through the pockets of his tangled jeans and pulled out the phone.

Hathaway ducked into the bathroom and closed the door to avoid waking Lia. Before he could answer, the call went to voicemail. Whatever it was, it would have to wait until he liberated a couple of paracetamol tablets from the medicine cabinet, downing them with several glassfuls of water.

He listened to the voicemail-a call out for a suspicious death along the Cherwell and calculated whether he would have time to stop home and change clothes. He didn't like the alternative of going to the scene in the jeans and sweater from last night and receiving the inevitable teasing from Robbie and Laura. No, he would go home to change and take the ribbing for being late instead. He washed his face and dressed quickly.

Hathaway looked over at Lia as she slept, her hair trailing across her pillow. In sunlight, he saw that it was actually light brown. He thought of waking her to say goodbye but that would only delay his arrival at the scene. James pulled a business card out of his coat pocket and wrote "Sorry. Had to leave-called in to to work." on the back. It seemed ridiculously blunt, but if he tried to put his feelings into words he would need a lot more time and a lot more paper. And first he'd have to figure out what those feelings actually were.

He brought over a full glass of water, the paracetamol and his card and put them on her bedside table. Then letting himself out of the house he walked back to his car, parked near Robbie and Laura's house. Their vehicles were gone. Oh yes, there was going to be a good deal of laughter at his expense.