“Thanks,” he grinned at Ally with a wink.  “Not quite turtle-like this time, eh?”  Boots sloshing carelessly through the coffee, he sat down carefully on the same chair Sophie had just vacated, and to keep Sophie’s feet fastidiously off the floor, he kept her sitting on his lap.  “What happened? The coffee pipe burst or something?”  Of course, in a shop like Corner Sweets, he wouldn’t be surprised if the coffee had materialized out of some mural in the back, perhaps a java river overflowing its banks in Candyland.<br/><br/>Then he looked at Phaedra accusingly.  “What are you doing here?”<br/><br/>“What are<em>you</em>doing here?” she retorted, but she had the grace to blush as she rested her feet on her own chair, straightening the skirt of her dress as it had jerked up some distance above her knees, hinting at the length of creamy thighs.<br/><br/>“I just wanted some… coffee.”  Then, at the ludicrousness of his statement, he started laughing, and Phaedra couldn’t help joining too, gasping in giggles.<br/>