A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile....  It's not a bad pick up line. I'll give him that. There I was sitting at the dressing table in a floaty number whilst putting the finishing touches to my makeup, when there was a soft but firm knock upon my door. It's strange how little things can jolt your memory and make you feel a sudden surge of how it used to be. Back then.

Saturday night and you have a date. You spend all day getting ready and your Mum and Dad think you're mental. Every outfit you possess and all the possible looks that you can eke out of your meagre repertoire have been tried and discarded and you are back in the first dress you put on. Before the mirror you practice walking, sitting, smoking - unlit because you daren't in the house or your Dad will kill you- smiling, tossing your hair back seductively and of, course rehearsing clever retorts.

Then the door bell and you turn to jelly. Racing round the room you step into your shoes, scrabble around for your handbag, rake through the wardrobe for your coat and then pelt down the stairs hell- for- leather so that your Dad doesn't get to him first. And trying to breathe deeply to compose yourself, you open the door...

"Dino! On the dot!"  And there he is. This week's overall winner in the 'You have made a Stellar Impression on the Sisters" contest. He looks great- as well he might- leaning on the door frame, dressed in a tux and holding a chilled bottle of Moet and two flutes.

He smiles. Sort of slow and easy, looks very slowly up and down and then whistles. This boy is so smooth he could skate on water. And then he sang the line, sweet and low:

"A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile...."

Dino and I were going dancing. Our career as serial Fox-trotters goes back to way back when or, in other words, last March. I met Dino in Tecala...it's a long story if you don't know it already but we went dancing a couple of times and had a lot of fun. Ever since then, we have threatened to do it again- there was one a bit of dirty dancing in New Orleans in June but, I think we might not resurrect that incident, if you don't mind. A few weeks before the Temple Retreat, Dino mailed me and made me an offer. Calm down at the Mother Tree! It wasn't that kind of offer! He offered me a date. An old fashioned date for dinner and dancing - no strings attached. Hence the panic I had been in since getting back from the stomping. Purple feet do not look right in strappy peep-toed stilettos.

So, I had me a date with the man everyone most wants to get to know - could you see me being left out of that? There was an undertone of play in this, of course. Dino was pissed with a certain mate of his for several reasons and was keen to do a bit of winding up. I was amused by the idea and thought it was time a certain person realized that the way I behave is a matter of my morality not any that he imposes by strutting about and blustering- although, I must say, I do find him very sexy in that mode.

I was also eager to keep out of the way since my bust up with Maximus. My mood had improved significantly as the day had gone on- there is nothing like smacking a man across the face and then stomping grapes imagining that he is underneath them- to make a girl feel all sweetness and light again. Don't be fooled by my levity. It's largely fake. I still feel like shit warmed up, but Dino strikes me as a pretty good cure for the blues.

I invited him in and he accepted; we sat on the balcony and cracked the champagne. "I ordered out," he remarked and then there was another knock on the door and dinner was served from a trolley by a waiter in formal dress- it was just so classy that I felt like a starlet in an old movie. We had the works. Fine dining. Champagne. Coffee with amaretti and then cognac, swirled in giant balloons. He produced a pack of Sobranie cocktail cigarettes, real Fifties style and ...yes! ...lit two and gave me one.

"Why ask for the moon, when we have the stars," I whispered, all Bette Davis eyes.

He grinned. "Now, Voyager..." unfortunately ruining that great Moment from the Movies. I snorted and Dino raised an eyebrow.

"Something I said?" 

I choked back my giggles. "I think the word Voyager will forever have a new meaning for me now..."

The penny dropped and he laughed out loud. "Maybe later, honey? I think this may be just the night to dust it off?" I loved his clever acknowledgement of what this night was not about. That's Dino- he never puts a foot wrong or ever misreads a situation- unless he wishes to.

"Back to the Movies. Best movie moment pre- modern era?" I gave him an opener to slip back into Cool Customer.

Sipping his cognac, Dino gave that some thought. "From Here to Eternity. Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. Sexy as hell and they never got sand in their cracks."

I clapped my hands with glee. "I adore that scene! Don't you think that Burt Lancaster reminds you of..."

"No. Nothing like him. They just both have thick necks." I burst out laughing. "Your turn," he grinned

"Hmmmm. Gotta be Clark Gable....when he carries Scarlett up the stairs. And even with one foot on the floor. He looked like he was up for it..."

"They really knew how to do the romance thing in those old movies. That's what's wrong with today's film. No mystery. Nothing left to the imagination..."

"You sound like a right old geezer, Dino, but you've got a point. No one goes for all that glamour and formal courtship these days. I love it. It's like dancing. I mean dancing is so sexy and most couples these days have forgotten how. But you can make love on a dance floor. And the anticipation...don't you think?"

He nodded. "Top Hat. Fred and Ginger. You and me. That's what you said in Tecala- I  reminded you of Fred Astaire.  Let's do it!" And with that he jumped up, grabbed my arm and hustled me, just like in the old movies, out of the door, down the stairs onto the pool side patio. You might know Dino would have had things set up. I almost died. There was a small band and as soon as we skittered in, off they went.

Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek
Heaven, I'm in heaven
And the cares that hung about my through the week
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek
Oh, I'd love to climb a mountain
And to reach the highest peak
But it doesn't thrill me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek
Oh, I'd love to go out fishing
In a river or a creek
But I wouldn't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek
Dance with me!
I want my arms around you
The charms about you
Will carry me to...
Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

We danced. All over the patio, whirled and laughed and danced. Like Fred and Ginger. It was simply heaven. And the cares that had hung about me through the week, seemed to vanish as we danced cheek to cheek. It was as if every word had been written for me - Dino is the best medicine a girl can have for the blues; he simply danced them away.

Finally we fell in a heap on a bench and got our breath back. I lay back on his shoulder and he sat with his arm loosely round me, both of us still humming the song and smiling. Then he stood up and looked down across the valley, his hands in his pockets, suddenly pensive.

"Reckon he saw that?" he asked without turning round.

I gave a wry laugh. "You have to ask? When did anything ever escape his notice? I can't change the colour of my lipstick without him spotting it. Why can't he be like other men and observe nothing?"

Dino laughed and turned, leaning back against the low wall. "Comes with the territory. So when did you start using red gloss?" I giggled and raised my eyes. "Been noticing a few things myself this week."

"Oh yeah?" I replied, eyeing him up. He had on that look.

"You've been pretty quiet. Out of sorts."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah." He inclined his head knowingly.

I stood up and went to the table where there was a chilled bottle of wine, poured two glasses and lit a cigarette, blowing out the smoke slowly.

"Why did you agree to this meal? It isn't like you to hurt him." He spoke quietly but firmly.

"I didn't do it to hurt him. Just show him. That's all."

"Show him what?"

"That it's time to trust me."

"You mean, you aren't going to break any of his code of rules anymore? You're letting him win? Dangerous. He's not the kind of guy who will allow you to step back once you give him the reins. But you know that, don't you?"

I bit my lip and looked at him. "This is not about him. I am quite able to come to my own decisions about whom I see and what I do. Has it occurred to anyone that the position I take may be the result of the way I feel not the restrictions he tries to place on me? In fact, that is the point of tonight. To show him that what I do is my choice. I am not afraid of him. He does not intimidate me."

"So that's why you slugged Maximus this afternoon? Were you striking a blow for liberated women?" Dino grinned and tossed back his wine.

"Fuck you, Dino. Is anything secret in this place?" 

He shrugged but I didn't volunteer an explanation. I know that game; Terry plays it all the time. Annoy a woman just enough to make her spill the beans in spite. It wasn't going to work.

Walking over to where I was sitting, he took my hand and we began to sway to the soft music that was still being played by the combo. "If my opinion is worth anything at all, you're the best thing that's happened to him since he learnt how to tie his own boot laces. But he's hard work. There are sides to him that pull against his own best interests. He has a highly developed sense of guilt and a rather old-fashioned sense of honour. And he punishes himself if he thinks he's too happy."

"It's fortunate then that I  tend to give him hell most of the time. He will feel very comfortable given his masochistic traits then, won't he?" I grinned and he shook his head, laughing. "But enough of him. What about you? This week has been pretty important for you. You are the man of the hour."

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man, hey?" He shrugged. "I'm doing just fine. Don't worry about me, honey."

I slipped my arms tighter about his neck. "Oh, but I do. You think you're different from him, don't you? You think you don't have the needs he does. But I don't believe that. Strong men, men like you two, they need a solid foundation more than most. There is weakness in strength. It might be nigh on impossible to manage in your lifestyles but doesn't mean that you don't need to know that somewhere out there is someone who lives just for you."

I felt his cheek against mine and he whirled me round; it appeared he would not respond to my comment. But then: "Maybe you're right. Not something I used to think about. But things change. Maybe. Down the line. Who knows? You never know until it looks you in the face."

I let out a gentle sigh, knowing that he had made quite a disclosure even if it might have seemed a little thing. But I know Dino. This was as close as he would get to telling me what was really going on in his mind.

In a lightening change of mood, he called over to the band and they picked up the tempo. Another old song began and I knew that the old smoothie had selected it just for me.

"You stepped out of a dream...you were too wonderful to be what you seemed..." And we danced some more, smiled and looked into each other's eyes. He's my friend as well as Terry's mate. I felt this sense of complete wellbeing in his arms. Dino has been looking out for Terry in his way for a long time and now he was looking out for me, too. I'm a bloody lucky girl to have him at my back.

Midnight saw us strolling through the grounds and then back up the stairs to my room. We stopped and he picked up my right hand in his, raised it to his lips and kissed me softly. "Sweet dreams, Ginger. You'll be home soon."

He turned and walked away, hands in his pockets, whistling one of the tunes from this evening. I watched him go and as he reached the end of the corridor, I called him back. "Hey, Fred? What about the last dance?"

I ran down the corridor and into his arms, he swept me up with a wide grin and a cheeky boyish laugh. We began to move and I sang softly in his ear as we danced slowly up and down on the thick carpet, passed rooms where Goodness only knows what was going on. Thank God everyone seemed sufficiently preoccupied not to witness our crazy performance or hear us crooning together in the night.

You can dance
Every dance with the girl who gives you the eye
Let her hold you tight
You can smile
Every smile for the girl who'd like to treat you right
'Neath the pale moonlight
But don't forget who's takin' you home
And in who's arms you're gonna be
Oh, darlin' save the last dance for me

We parted back at my door and finished with a soft and gentle kiss. A kiss of friendship and appreciation. I squeezed his hand, he winked and then I opened my door.

"Night, Fred," I whispered as I slipped inside.

"Night, Ginge," he smiled back as I closed the door.