The next day Daniel walked through to her hotel in the other village, and then they went strolling in the meadow together.

“You won’t be able to bring me out here, once I’m a five year old again. My grandma wouldn’t let me go off with a high school girl next door,” said Daniel.

“It’s important that you never tell her about me, especially the time travelling thing. However, we COULD come here for a day, and then both of us time travel back to the start of the day, and your grandma would never know you were missing. We’d still remember it, but in the new timeline, to her it would never have happened,” said Trudi.

“I couldn’t put her through the worry of the first timeline, even if it would have effectively never happened after we’d time travelled,” said Daniel.

“Your thoughtfulness is ever bit as likeable as your creativity,” said Trudi.

“Let’s take off in the morning,” he said, “I’ve become eager than ever to leave this timeline, or at least my cheeks have.”

“We’d better go and get some sleep then, if we’re going to have our dance party for two tonight after a long morning of walking out here,” said Trudi.

“Why don’t you come all the way back to my place in my village first? Then you’ll have done all your walking before you get your afternoon’s rest. When we wake up, I’ll put dinner on, and we can dance the evening away on plenty of food and plenty of sleep,” said Daniel.

“That’ll be good. I think I’ll settle up with the hotel on my way back, so that I don’t leave any loose ends before I wind up this timeline. I doubt they’d catch up with me in the next, but I’d feel better,” said Trudi.

They walked back through the first village, and once Trudi was all sorted out, they made their way to the second village and his home. He gave her a bedroom and then got into his own bed. He woke up after two hours, and started work on preparing a gourmet dinner for them. He used all the best things in the house and the pantry, knowing that there was no point in leaving anything behind for future nights in a timeline that would come to an end the next morning.

Trudi came down the stairs with ten minutes to spare before he served up the meal, and then they sat at the dining room table and enjoyed it.

After that, he led her to the music cabinet in the living room, and took out several compact discs that were suitable for lengthy slow dancing.

“Since we’re only one night’s sleep away from leaving this timeline, would slow dancing be alright?” he asked.

“I think so,” said  Trudi.

He put the first disc in the CD player, and turned on the amplifier. When they were both comfortable with the volume, he took her in his arms and moved slowly around the floor with her.