This is the twentieth episode of my unreliable memoirs and the second part of a tale. Each episode can be read individually but it helps a bit with names to have read the previous ones, particularly episode nineteen in this case.
I hope you have enjoyed it so far.
M4bloke
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In the morning Sophie and Pierre were still fast asleep in the adjacent hotel room, exhausted from the previous week's shift. Not wanting to wake them we organised a late checkout for their room and left them a note. On the way back to Carole and Fabien's house we stopped at a café for breakfast, Lesley, in the dress she'd worn last night and me, in a smart shirt and trousers. We looked like a right pair of dirty stop outs.
We got back to Carole and Fabien's and they were also still in bed, but for what was probably a different reason to Sophie and Pierre. Donald and Mickey barked at the front door when we arrived but once they heard our voices they went into welcome mode.
"We didn't expect to see you back so soon," Carole said hugging us after she and Fabien had got up.
Lesley explained the previous night's disappointing outcome in the sort of detail that is only necessary when girls discuss things like this.
"Poor Sophie," said Carole after Lesley had told them about the flat Sophie and Pierre lived in. "I didn't know where they lived, but I know that's not a great area."
Fabien agreed.
"You know the state employs a lot of people in France," Carole explained, "It doesn't pay them well but they get good holidays and a decent pension when they retire. If Sophie and Pierre are trying to save up for a house then it's probably why they can't afford to pay much rent."
Donald looked up at us wagging his tail.
"I'm afraid we may have neglected Donald and Mickey this morning?" said Carole smiling at Fabien.
"Do they like swimming?" I asked.
"They love it."
"Could we borrow the Land Rover to take them out?"
"Of course you can."
"In that case we'll just go and change out of these clothes then we'll let you two lovebirds get back to your nest."
In Lesley's hands the Land Rover made light work of the dirt track leading up to the reservoir in the hills and when we reached its dam we parked up and found a path that followed the contour. The path was probably popular with walkers at weekends but we had the place all to ourselves that day. The dogs mooched along with us until we found a little cove at the far side of the reservoir. When they saw the water they went wild, splashing about in the shallows like puppies. At Carole's suggestion Lesley had brought a couple of tennis balls with her and we threw them in the lake so that the two dogs could swim after them. To be honest I'm not sure who was enjoying things the most, Lesley or the dogs.
After half an hour we carried on walking and the dogs walked with us but more sedately now.
"Are you disappointed about last night?" Lesley asked.
"Yes, I guess I am," I said, "but I'm not complaining. We probably wouldn't be here now if it had gone well."
"This is nice, isn't it? It's like we're a real couple."
"We are a real couple."
"You know what I mean," she said.
"I do," I conceded. "But less than six months to go now."
"I can't wait."
"You know, I was thinking," I told Lesley. "If we bought a place here we could let Sophie and Pierre live in it. Then we'd know it was being looked after."
"Do you think they'd want to?"
"Did you see where they were living?"
"It was awful wasn't it?"
We walked back to the Land Rover, stopping to throw the balls in the lake for the dogs again then Lesley piloted the car back down the track. We hadn't had anything to eat since we'd stopped at the café that morning so we found a bar that was open in one of the larger villages and the owner made us a toasted sandwich to go with our beer. At first he wasn't keen about having Donald and Mickey in the bar but he relented when he saw they were friendly and even brought out some dog biscuits and a bowl of water for them.
It was dark when we got back and the dogs rushed into the house to see what they had missed. I heard a woof as they encountered something unexpected then Carole and Fabien appeared with Sophie and Pierre behind them.
"They look like they had a good time," Carole said nodding towards the dogs.
"So did we," Lesley added. "It was nice to get some fresh air."
"I've invited Sophie and Pierre over for a few days. I hope you don't mind," Carole added.
"Of course we don't mind, thank you," Lesley responded hugging each of them.
When Sophie finished hugging Lesley, she hugged me. She didn't look me in the eye but squeezed me tightly and kissed my neck.
"I'm sorry about last night," she whispered.
"Don't be," I told her.
The dogs were hungry and looking for their food.
"We need to feed these two," Lesley suggested. "You should have seen them in the water, they were like puppies, but they were ever so good when we took them in the bar."
"You took them into a bar?" Fabien asked incredulously.
"Yes," said Lesley uncertain of what the problem was.
"In France only old people take their dogs into bars and usually they're poodles or little ratty terriers. Nobody takes two fully grown guard dogs into a bar."
"Well we weren't going to leave them in the car, poor things," Lesley replied without the tiniest acknowledgement that our actions may have appeared unusual. "But now that you mention it the owner did look at us a bit oddly at first."
"Probably until he realised you were English," Fabien laughed. "Only the English take their dogs into a bar."
"Well we had a good time," Lesley said addressing the dogs. "The owner even gave you some biscuits, didn't he?"
The two dogs stared up at Lesley, probably wondering what they had to do to get fed, but Carole came to their rescue and filled their bowls with food. Once Donald and Mickey had eaten they took themselves to their beds and promptly fell asleep, probably to dream about the day's adventures.
The six of us sat in the lounge and thoughts turned to what we were going to eat tonight.
"Why don't we just get some pizzas?" Fabien suggested.
"If you let me know what you want I don't mind getting them," I offered.
After much debate I got a list of the pizzas everyone wanted and directions to where I needed to go. As I got my jacket Sophie suggested that she should go with me, in case I had problems with communicating or finding the place. I glanced at Lesley and she smiled so I accepted Sophie's offer.
It was getting cold as we set off and I had the heater turned up in the hire car to try and take the chill out of the air. Sophie was quiet to begin with and she seemed a bit on edge.
"How are you feeling," I asked her.
"Like an idiot," she replied.
