“There’s not much to do in this berg,” Jim advised his new companion, “but there’s stuff to see if you’re interested.  We have a beautiful botanical garden just minutes from here.  Wanna go?”

She nodded and they headed for Jim’s C-5 and for the next few hours wandered along wooded paths filled with tropical flowers from all over the world.  Once their hands brushed and Jennifer thought to herself that if he was to take her hand she would not withdraw it.  He did not.  The carillon rang out six p.m.

“Gettin’ hungry?”  Jim asked.  ”I know a great little seafood joint with a deck right out over the lake and ambiance like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Let me make a call,” Jennifer replied, as she telephoned her hotel roommate to explain her absence.  “I don’t want my people to worry about me.”

Their eyes met more than once over dinner of broiled shrimp and crab cakes and the young woman from South Dakota was feeling something more than ambiance–something she had not felt for a long time. 

They slowly sipped an after dinner drink while listening to a girl sing Joan Baez folk ballads.  The mood could not have been more romantic and then it began to rain again.  Jim’s cabin was conveniently within walking distance.  Jennifer made another call.

The next morning dawned sunny and bright and Jim had breakfast nearly on the table as Jennifer came out of the shower.

“Mornin’ Sunshine,”  sleep well?”  Jim asked with a big southern grin.
“You know I did when you finally let me,” she replied, yawning and stretching.  “I know this is the oldest and corniest cliche’ in the world, but, was it good for you, too?He laughed.  “The old ones are the best ones.  Soups on.  Come and get it.”He didn’t answer, she noted, how odd.When they finished eating the couple drove back to town and walked hand in hand around the park’s lake.  They didn’t talk much except to say how quickly the weekend had sped along and how happy they were to have met one another.                                                    

Back near her hotel Jim and Jennifer embraced beneath the town clock, then a quick goodbye kiss.”Here’s the deal,” Jim told her.  “You folks make this trip every year, right?  So lets make a pact.  Next year on the fourth Saturday of August at 10 a.m. you and I will meet under this clock.  Promise?”"I promise,” she promised.It was an easy promise to make.  Each of them knew the other would not be there.