Once again Doug is leaving Paris. For good this time. At least at home he had Renee, but shit there was Mandy, too. How could his nice peaceful life have turned into a soap opera? But first he had to straighten out the Renee-Mandy thing.
Chapter 10
Forgetting Paris
I stared out the window during the flight home. It was harder and harder to leave Paris. I just had one of the most exciting weekends of my life, yet I was miserable. Not just that the weekend was over, but that...
What the hell was I thinking? I was acting like a love-struck teenager. There was that 'L' word again. This time our parting had to be for good. We couldn't see each other again; it was tearing me apart every time we separated. While Miley was a lot of fun, Paris was special, a fact I couldn't deny. We had talked all around it, but I got the feeling she felt the same way. This was not going the way I hoped it would, not the way it had to be. How could I even consider such a thing? It was impossible.
Such was my state of mind as I pulled into my driveway. Once inside I sat alone in the darkening room, not even bothering to unpack my suitcase or turn on a light.
The phone jolted me back to reality. Tom welcomed me back and tried to weasel details of the weekend out of me. We arranged to meet as usual the coming Saturday.
Chris called Monday after he got off work at three. "Man, you were so right. That Mandy is something. I'm glad I took your advice and got a box of rubbers. Sheesh, I've already used a lot of them between Mandy and...oops."
I laughed softly. "Renee?"
"Hey man, I didn't mean to do anything with your..."
"Renee and I don't have anything serious. Frankly, I think it probably helped her to break out of her rigid box."
"Yeah, well...I guess you might have guessed we had a three way. I'm sorry. It just happened. Mandy was..."
"No explanation needed. That's the way it was when I was with them. It just happened. Mandy is a fox, in every sense of the word. She was the perpetrator."
"Yes! She was! It really was her! It wasn't my idea at all. I would have thought it would be..."
"Stop, Chris. You don't need to tell me everything. I can imagine it. I know it was probably surprising in many ways."
"Well, here's the thing. Mandy and I are getting together Friday night, and she sort of suggested that maybe you and Renee could...join us for dessert or something."
"Or something?"
"I don't know. She's the one who cooked it up."
"What does Renee think of it?"
"I haven't talked with her. I don't know if Mandy has or if she has just decided on her own. I think they may be interested in hearing whatever you can tell us about that masked ball thing, though."
I found it hard to concentrate on work during the week. It seemed that every time I took a break my thoughts wandered back to Paris. It didn't seem to be a healthy situation to me.
Friday rolled around and I forgot about Chris' call until the phone rang after I got home from work around six. On the one hand I didn't want to get involved in anything with them, but on the other hand I needed to quit moping around. I invited Chris, Mandy and Renee to come over to my place. I ran out to a local bakery that made French macarons like we had in Paris and picked some up to go with some cheese I had on hand.
At seven-thirty the doorbell rang and everyone poured in. Renee kissed me, which was unusual because I was always the one who initiated kissing. Maybe Renee was breaking out of her rigidness after all.
I poured some of the champagne Paris had bought for me and we all ate cheese and talked. They were delighted with the macarons. They tried to pry details out of me, and I did tell them about my trip up and how ridiculous I felt wearing a kilt and no underwear. Mandy said something like "Ooh la la!" I told about the dancing and that there was an auction of men, me included. Renee asked how much I went for. I didn't see any point in evading that. She gasped when she heard about the bidding between the two Maries and how much I went for. Mandy asked what the winner got to do with me, but I let them use their imaginations. Mandy seemed to get a gleam in her eye that I didn't consider good, what with her mother present.
Chris suggested we go downstairs and shoot some pool. Since Renee already knew how to shoot pool some, he thought Mandy should learn, too.
We informally formed teams. Since Mandy knew nothing about it but I was the best we were to be a team. Chris and Renee were fairly skilled opponents.
We played a couple of games until Mandy began to get the hang of it. Her form was awkward, but she had a good eye for angles, if she could hit them.
After another round of bubbly we began another game. Chris started hot. After sinking a couple of balls Mandy stood across the table from where he lined up his next shot and yanked her shirt up as Chris shot. The tactic worked, as Chris missed his shot. Renee began to laugh.
At my turn Renee said "You've said I had a nice rear. How about it?" She turned around and lifted the hem of her dress in the back as she bent over. I was so astonished that I missed my shot also.
"See how easy it is to distract them, Mom?"
Chris said "Oh, yeah? Is that how you want to play? How about this? Do your worst, but if I make the shot you have to take something off. And it will work for us, too. If you make one Doug or I have to take something off."
I added "And if the shot is missed that person has to take something off."
I knew that would be a deal breaker for Renee. But when Mandy said "You're on," Renee didn't protest. I was astounded.
I danced around in front of Renee, just a silly dance. She laughed but made the shot anyway. "Off with something, Doug! You guys came up with the rules. This could be fun."