She let herself be led into the kitchen.  Noodle sniffed around and then lay down beneath the table.  The dinner table was just as they had left it, with the bowl of Caesar salad, dirty dishes, the nearly-empty bottle of wine.  Katherine felt exhausted. 
     Rick picked up the wine glasses.  “Got any clean ones?”  Katherine went to the cupboard and took out two more, and Rick poured the rest of the wine into them.  “A little smoky, but still acceptable.  Come on,” he said, the glasses in his hands, inclining his head toward the living room.  “Let’s sit down here and relax a little.”
     Katherine sat down on the couch, her jacket still on, and silently took the glass he handed her.  “Drink it,” he said gently.  She sipped without pleasure.  “Put this blanket around you,” he said.  “You’re very pale.  Take a big drink this time.”
     Katherine took a swig from her glass and felt Rick tuck an afghan snugly around her before sitting next to her.  His arm came up along the top of the couch behind her.  “You know, they were blaming me at first.  They thought I was the husband and hadn’t cleaned the chimney.  I had to tell them it was your house.”
     “Isn’t that just typical,” she spat out.  “They go to the man first, assuming that you’re in charge.  These backward country people.”
     Rick took his arm off the couch.  “Yeah, well don’t think I liked being made to look foolish.  If I owned this house, the chimney would have been cleaned first.  Why didn’t your Douglas look after it?”
     “My Douglas?  What are you talking about?”
     “You said Douglas had your flashlight.  I just assumed - ”
     “Douglas is the husband of a very good friend of mine. Frieda, remember? He’s her husband, not that it’s any concern of yours.”  She drained her glass.  “The chimney was not his concern.  If anyone should have known about it, it was you.”
     “Me?  Your chimney is not my responsibility.”
     “Yeah, well you might have mentioned it to me.  I thought you knew all about stoves and fires, but you never said anything about cleaning a chimney.”  Her cheeks felt hot now.  She tossed off the afghan and shrugged off her jacket.
     “I never said anything because it’s basic knowledge.  It never occurred to me that you’d ask to have your stove lit before checking the chimney.”
     “Did we finish the wine?”  When Rick nodded, she said “I want something stronger, anyway.  I’m having a brandy.”  She moved to a cabinet and came back with a dark bottle.
     “Listen.  We’re both tired.  Maybe I should go.”
     “Fine.  Go if you want.  I’m having a drink anyway.”  She held out the bottle.  “Want one?”
     “Sure.”  He held out his glass.  “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t ask whether the chimney was clean.  Even though that was your responsibility.”
     “Who knew?” Katherine sat down with one knee on the couch, facing him.  “I’ve never had a stove or a fireplace before.  Nobody told me anything.  Not the real estate agent, nobody.”  She took a hard swallow of brandy and felt it warm her insides.  “So why would I expect you to say anything about the chimney, right?  Sorry for getting mad at you.”  She held up her glass in a silent toast.  He touched his glass to hers.  “You think I can really stay here tonight?  You don’t think I should go to a motel or something?”
     Rick drank.  “The firemen said it was fine.  It’s under control now.”
     “The fireman said he didn’t think it would break out again, but you never know.”  She started shivering again.
     “He said it was safe,” Rick said with emphasis, “but if something goes wrong, to call them back.”
     Katherine’s teeth started chattering and Rick set his glass down to put the afghan around her again.  “Come here,” he said moving close and putting both his arms around her.  She leaned her head against him, holding her glass with both hands.
     “If you like,” he said carefully, “I can stay here tonight.  Here, on the couch, just in case something goes wrong.”
     Katherine closed her eyes in thankfulness but said politely, “You don’t have to do that.  I’ll be fine.”  And she started shaking again.
     Rick started rubbing her back, then held her away to bend down and look into her eyes.  “If you want me to stay, I don’t mind.  It’s no problem.  Tell me the truth.  Should I stay?”
     Katherine took a deep breath and then nodded.  “That would really be great.  I’d feel a lot better.  Only if it’s really no bother.”
     “Hush.  I’m staying.”  He reached for his brandy and took another drink.  “You drink some more, too.  It’ll make us feel better.”  He touched her glass with his.
     Katherine held some brandy in her mouth and her chattering subsided.  Cautiously, she leaned against his chest, noticing that the sweater wasn’t very scratchy at all.  She started to feel very warm.
     “I feel bad that I didn’t make sure the chimney was clean,” he began.  “I should have asked.”
     “No, don’t.  It wasn’t your fault.”
     “This could all have been prevented if I’d just bothered to ask.  That was really stupid.  I should have known better.”
     Katherine looked up and touched his face.  “Never mind.  Forget about it.”  She lightly stroked his cheek. 
     He turned to look down at her and the next thing she knew her eyes were closed and he was kissing her, warming her even more than the brandy.  She was so surprised she parted her lips and then felt his tongue, tasting like brandy.  Her hand went to the back of his head and held the lovely brown hair.  He gathered her closer to him and then pulled back to take the glass out of her hand.  As his arms came around her, she slid her other arm around, gathering folds of the warm burgundy sweater in her hand as they swam in another kiss.
     When they broke apart she ran her fingers lightly over his nose and eyebrows.  Once he turned to kiss her fingers, and then she lightly kissed along his cheek.  He pulled away the afghan and felt for the skin beneath her sweater at the back, putting his lips on hers again, after observing “You’re warmer now, aren’t you?”  He pulled up his sweater roughly and put her hands on his bare skin.  Katherine spread her hands against the broad warm expanse of his back and closed her eyes.  She suddenly felt too warm, almost burning up really, and then the two of them were pulling at their clothes and tossing them onto the floor beside the couch.
     When he stopped kissing her lips to bend down to her bare breasts she realized with a shock that they were both half naked.  Didn’t realize we had gone this far already.  Maybe we should stop? But the heat of his mouth made her sink back and luxuriate, one hand stroking his head.  When he sat up and put his hands to his belt buckle, she put a hand on his and said “Wait.”  He froze and stared at her.  “Let’s go upstairs,” she said softly.  He exhaled and took the hand she held out to him.   Picking up her sweater from the floor, she covered her front with one hand, and led him to the stairs with the other.  She took a breath, realizing that she wasn’t taking things slowly, as she’d thought she should. I don’t care, I’m going through with it, she argued with herself. It’s been so long, and I don’t want to miss this chance. As she went up the stairs ahead of Rick, she felt his hands riding on her hips and felt a tremble in her legs.  In her bedroom, she closed the door, turned to him, dropped the sweater and reached for his belt.

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