This is the twenty-seventh episode of my unreliable memoirs. Each episode is self-contained, so you can read them without having read the previous ones (although sometimes it helps with the context and names a bit).
The year is 1983 and this episode focuses on the second part of our summer holiday following my graduation.
I hope you enjoy it.
M4bloke
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We sat in the shade at a French roadside cafΓ© and I watched Lesley sip her Coke through a straw. I couldn't have told you exactly where we were. We'd left Carole's house in Aix that morning and were about half way to Annecy, which meant we probably still had another two or three hours riding to do.
"Stop looking at me like that," Lesley giggled. "You're making me self-conscious."
"I'm just admiring you," I told her.
"Well that's OK then," she said smiling.
Lesley looked happy. She usually did, but she wasn't one for hiding her emotions and today I could see she was excited too.
"Are you looking forward to seeing Daniel?" I teased her.
"And Kate," she replied. Then, knowing she'd been rumbled, she added "But yes I am looking forward to seeing Daniel. Does it bother you?"
"You know it doesn't," I told her.
In my last year at university Lesley had lived with Daniel and Kate at their London house. During that time she'd shared their bed most weekday nights and Lesley and Daniel had become very attached to each other. She and Kate were also best friends but, even so, it was trusting of Kate to let Lesley be with her older, but still attractive, multi-millionaire husband.
"You're my warrior Steven. It's your mark I've got tattooed on me and it's you I belong to. You know that, don't you?" Lesley said reaching across the table to hold my hand
Her words reminded me of the tattoos we'd got to mark her as my property. She'd insisted on having them done when we'd got engaged, the idea having come from David's series of Sci-fi books that meant so much to her.
"Besides," Lesley continued. "It's not as if you come out of this empty handed. You do get Kate in return."
Kate had to be the most attractive woman I'd ever actually spoken to. She was almost twenty years younger than Daniel and definitely fell into the category of trophy wife. She could have had pretty much any man she wanted and she'd chosen Daniel. He'd given her a lifestyle few could match but I felt sorry for her in a way. Being married to Daniel meant they were both in the public eye and this severely limited who they could have fun with. Unlike Daniel, Kate didn't have a lover but since I'd finished university we'd been seeing a lot more of each other.
"I tell you what," I said. "Why don't we swap for the week?"
"What do you mean?"
"You shack up with Daniel and I'll shack up with Kate."
"Are you serious?"
"I am. I've no idea if Daniel and Kate would want to do it though."
"Oh I think they would," Lesley replied. "Kate would really like to spend some time with you. And you know Daniel will want to spend time with me."
"My only condition is that next week when we go to Greece, we sleep in the same bed."
"Is that an order," Lesley asked, teasing me. "Because you know I'll obey you if it is."
"It is."
"I like it when you're all dominant," she giggled. "But we will be able to invite other people to share our bed with us, won't we?"
"We will."
"Good. What about Markus and Heike?"
Daniel had invited Markus and Heike to join us in Annecy for the first part of our holiday. It was going to be a bit of a reunion for us all, as we'd first met them there a year ago. Since then Markus had become a significant investor in Daniel's company, Durolitum.
Heike was another trophy wife, although the age gap between her and her Banker husband was much smaller than that between Daniel and Kate. Heike wasn't quite as stunning as Kate but there really wasn't much in it.
"We can share them," I said. "I don't think they'll mind."
"It would be nice to have more group sex," Lesley confided. "Rather than splitting up into pairs I mean."
"I think you're right."
"Listen to us," said Lesley. "We're a right pair of tarts aren't we."
We arrived in the small village of Talloires, at the far end of the lake from Annecy at just after four in the afternoon. The place looked exactly the same as it had a year before, right down to the white panel van outside, containing Peters, Daniel's driver, and his wife Cathy.
"Stevie boy," said Peters getting out of the van. "Good to see you."
"And you Ian," I said shaking his hand firmly. "Good journey?"
"Can't complain."
The girls came around from the other side of the van and we finished off the re-union.
"Mrs Carter," Peters said deferentially.
"It's good to see you Peters," Lesley said, giving him no choice but to accept a hug from her while I hugged Cathy.
Peters and Cathy had driven from London with Daniel's Harley Davidson in the back of the van, along with Daniel and Kate's luggage and ours too. They were staying in a hotel nearby to act as support if we had trouble with the bikes and would be taking both mine and Daniel's back to London at the end of the week when we flew on to Greece.
Peters and I unloaded the van, taking care to ensure that we didn't damage Daniel's Harley, while Lesley checked us in at the hotel. A bellboy came out with a trolley to take the suitcases up to the suite but there were so many he needed to make two trips.
After we'd sorted everything out, the four of us sat drinking cold lager in the shade and chatted.
"Are you staying at the same hotel as last year," Lesley asked them.
"Yes," said Cathy. "I'm looking forward to spending a week sunbathing."
"I don't know how much riding the boys will be doing this year," Lesley continued. "But I'll let you know on the days that they aren't."
"Thank you, Mrs Carter, but we're here if they need us," Peters said.
"Is there anything you need?" Lesley asked.
"We're fine," said Cathy. "But if you find an English paper anywhere I know Ian would love one."
"We'll keep an eye out."
"I hear you're going to Greece next week," Cathy asked.
Peters flashed his wife a look that suggested she shouldn't pry, but Lesley was happy to answer.
"That's right," she said. "We're going on Daniel's boat. Carole, his ex-wife and her husband Fabien are coming too. Oh and our lodger, Suzy."
"I've always wanted to go to Greece but I couldn't go on a boat," said Cathy. "I think I'd get sea sick."
"I went on one for the first time last weekend," Lesley said. "It was great, but I didn't think about getting sea sick until you just mentioned it though."
After a couple of beers, Peters and Cathy left to check in to their own hotel. Lesley and I decided to take a walk along the shore and wait for Daniel and Kate to arrive. The village had a couple of hotels by the waterfront, the other one being an old converted monastery. So we checked it out then strolled back to our own hotel just in time to meet Daniel and Kate as they arrived.
Kate and Lesley hugged each other like long lost friends while Daniel and I shook hands, then Daniel gave Lesley an extra-long hug while I did the same to Kate, who gave me a kiss too.
"Have you eaten?" asked Daniel.
"No," we replied.
"Good. Because I'm starving, and the two things I really fancy doing are riding my bike and eating a pizza."
We rode along the shore to a Pizza restaurant we'd discovered the year before. It was nothing fancy but the Pizzas had been great. On a Saturday night in August we were lucky to get a table for four and we sat down on the balcony of the restaurant overlooking the lake. Lesley and I hadn't eaten much that day and we were starving, but I'd already had a few beers that afternoon so stayed off the wine while the rest of them finished off a bottle.
Lesley sat next to Daniel and it wasn't long before, quite obviously, they were holding hands under the table. When I put my hand on Kate's thigh she grabbed it immediately, keen not to be left out, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Actually," Lesley said mischievously. "We wondered if you might like to swap partners for the week."
"What, you mean like, you move in with Daniel and me move in with Steven?" Kate asked.
"Yes," Lesley confirmed.
"What do you think, darling?" Kate asked her husband.
"I think it could be fun," Daniel replied cautiously for fear of offending Kate.
"So do I," Kate agreed, squeezing my hand again.
"Only for this week though," Lesley clarified. "Steven's demanded that I sleep with him next week," she said giving a mock sigh.
"We need to make sure we look after Markus and Heike while they're here though," Daniel added. "They're our guests and big investors in Durolitum. I don't want them paying for anything so don't be afraid to use your company credit card this week, Steven."
"I wasn't sure if you'd deactivated it," I joked.
Daniel's face adopted a pained expression, like someone had poked him in the side with a stick and I instantly regretted taking such a cheap shot at him.
"Of course I haven't deactivated it," he replied. "I stopped you from going to the office because, in my opinion, you were a bit frazzled and you needed to spend some time with Lesley after finishing university. It's only been for a couple of months and in three weeks' time you'll be back there permanently. So it's not been long in the global scale of things and most people would have thanked me for the time off."
"I know," I admitted. "I'm sorry, I appreciate it. It's just been a bit frustrating, that's all."
"I understand," he said in a conciliatory tone. "I guess that now is as good a time as any to tell you what I've got planned. If the girls don't mind that is."