Finally ready ladies! Enjoy! And crossed your fingers...always ;)
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Previously on December/December:
10 March 2010
“Don’t toi dare thinking you’ve gotten yourself out of what you’ve promised me…” she a dit stifling a chuckle but beaming widely with her eyes.
A brilliant smile erupted on his face but this time he bit his lower lip to hold himself back. He had promised himself.
“I would never…”
“You haven’t forgotten right?” she asked teasingly and half-menacing, lifting her gaze up to look at him over her eyelashes.
Someone would have to have brainwashed him to make him forget that he had a chance to spend an evening alone with Lisa tonight, especially now that she was looking at him with those eyes. If she kept doing that it would be very hard on him tonight to get rid of the impulse of hugging her or…even worse. But, once again, he surprisingly didn’t care. He just wanted to be with her…feel her closer.
He put one hand on the doorjamb, forcing himself to get ready to leave. He softened his eyes, and told her simply “I always remember everything…”And then, he was gone.
Lisa stared at her face in the mirror, studying it. Her eyes were glittering now and a faint blush was colouring her cheeks.
The glow was back.
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December/December - Chapter 15
10 March 2010
“What are toi up to tonight, then?” John asked curious, as Lisa cradled the phone on her shoulder, having both hands busy in getting a baking tray out of the oven.
“Ehm…tonight?” Lisa repeated distractedly, as she looked closely at the French pastry, checking that it was cooked until just to the right point - golden brown. She began to clear the table, tableau of all the pomme peels.
John was still waiting for an answer “Yes…do toi have plans?”
Now she just had to prepare the custard cream. She opened the cupboard over the sink and got down a little metal bowl, which bumped against some pots on the drainer, causing a deafening, banging noise.
“Ouch…my hearing Lisa!! What was that?!”
“Sorry….” she apologized clenching her teeth “…I just banged into a pot…”
“You cooking?”
“Ehm yeah…well, not exactly, I mean it’s just a Strudel, nothing special…” she a dit dismissively, bending down to rummage among the pots and pans in the cabinet, looking for a whisk. She wondered par virtue of what cosmic law she never found something when she really needed it and had to hurry up. Another mystery was why on earth she had let herself get Raiponce up with this pastry-making, but then the face Hugh had made the last time she had cooked this for him came to her mind and she remembered.
“Can toi please just stop for one minute, Liz…I mean, I can barely hear what you’re saying with all this rumble in the background…”
She lifted her head up, having finally found the whisk.
“Ehm…yeah, sure. Sorry. I am all yours…”
Sort of…
She was just running dreadfully late after all: it was 8 o’clock already and she still had to prepare this cream, hop in the shower, get dressed and possibly cook something substantial before Hugh showed up. She pressed her lips together waiting for John to say something, as she mentally went through her wardrobe when after a bunch of secondes it crossed her mind that maybe he was expecting for her to say something.
Oh…
“Is someone coming over, par any chance?” John asked finally “I mean if you’re busy sweetheart…if I am bothering toi right now…”
“No, no…I mean, yes…but no…you’re not bothering me…” she answered unable to restrain from glancing at the clock on the mur one plus time. She had been feeling a strange kind of unease all jour long, some sort of dangerous mix of anxiety and hyper-excitement stirring inside her chest uncontrollably and she couldn’t just find a way to relax.
John still sounded confused “So, is someone coming over ou not?”
Hugh turned the lights on, throwing his keys on the counter. He reached for one of the apples in the bowl on the table, as he turned to Robert with a questioning expression on his face. “What are toi doing outside my house at this hour, anyway? It’s past 8…We finished hours ago. I know you’ve been missing me, but….couldn’t toi wait anymore?” he teased collapsing lazily on the canapé as he eagerly grabbed a bite out of his pomme and smirked with his eyes. It has been a long busy jour for him and he was completely spent, as usual, but there had been a particular thought that had kept him going through this never-ending jour as nothing else could have. He just had to grab a bite of something before rushing to get ready. He was starving.
Robert stared at him with a mixture of anxiety and relief. For one thing, it didn’t look like he had sunk into depression once again, so maybe his last words to him hadn’t had that devastating effect he had been fearing. On the other hand, Hugh looked weirdly peaceful, almost glowing he’d dare to say, which for him stands for a conclusive proof that something different was up for sure. He knew it. He had had a gut feeling all jour long since the minute Lisa had shown up at the make-up this morning.
He took a siège in front of him, deciding to beat around the buisson, bush for now.
“I just drove par to see how toi were doing. toi know, we didn’t get any…chance to talk after toi left Friday…”
Originally, he had really just wanted to make sure his little outburst of the other night hadn’t been counter-productive, but after observing the little mood balançoire, swing dynamic that had been going on between him and Lisa this morning, he felt he had a little plus to be concerned about. He couldn’t help it. He kept telling himself he had to get himself out of all of this, mind his own business and let them work things out on their own, but each time he wasn’t able to stick to his intentions and ended up like this.
Robert outstretched one arm to grab an pomme too “I just figured you’d be sleeping here tonight…” he added shrugging. He started to turn the pomme over in his hands, gazing at it meditatively. He didn’t know how to start this, since he didn’t want to give Hugh the impression he was jumping at him one plus time. He had never wanted that: he was just concerned.
Suddenly, Hugh sprang up on his feet, tossing the apple-core away, and kicked his shoes off. He glanced briefly at his watch before turning to Robert with an odd expression on his face. “Actually toi got lucky, ‘cause I am just here to change my clothes…..I am seeing Lisa tonight” he a dit straight out, without even looking at him.
Robert gaped at him, while all of his be-reasonable-do-not-jump-to-conclusion-let-him-explain-intentions fizzled out in a flash. But, if he connected the dots…
“Hugh! What did I tell you? toi are not saying toi two are…” he a dit leaving his sentence pending as if concluding it would have been too much for his mental balance.
Hugh cut him off right away, quite resolutely “No, no, no, no, no it’s not what this is about…” he a dit as he peeled his sweater off, heading to the bedroom.
Robert stood up and followed him. If it wasn’t what he thought it was, then…
Ok, he was lost.
“I am not following you, Hugh…” he admitted. Certainly, this was a relief - for a moment he had feared they were back in limbo: being together, without him having sorted anything out at all and he had just wasted his breath “…what’s the deal between the two of toi then? Nothing’s changed?!”.
Hugh sprung his wardrobe open, singling out a pair of brown pants “Not really…” he a dit vaguely, sifting through his shirts, apparently quite focused on picking out one that might go with the pants. Robert wrinkled his lips, puzzled, wondering since when Hugh spent any thinking over shirts, exactly.
He finally took out a couple. “Which one? White ou navy blue?” Hugh asked.
Robert’s mouth fell open for a divisé, split second, as Hugh didn’t seem like he was pulling his leg but quiet the opposite instead: he looked like he was waiting for a serious answer but from the way he was gazing at him, it almost felt like he just wanted to prove a point.
Robert rolled eyes at the ceiling “Whatever…White” he answered.
Hugh darted his eyes between the two shirts “Mmm…exactly what I was thinking…” he a dit stifling a chuckle “well, we don’t know a thing, so….navy blue one it is”. It wouldn’t probably have made any difference, since it wasn’t like he thought a chemise could magically awaken Lisa’s feelings for him, but stupidly as it might sound, the mere thought that she believed navy-blue went better with his eyes had the power boost him like a teenager.
Robert arched his eyebrows at the slightly smug smile that was lighting up Hugh’s face with no apparent reason. We don’t know a thing? About what
What the hell was going on here? Could someone please fill him in?!
Lisa hesitated for a seconde before answering John’s question. After all, why shouldn’t she tell him the truth? She had nothing to hide…had she?
“Actually...” she started off, but then she paused for a divisé, split seconde and bit her lips instead, sighing “…yeah, some Friends are coming over…just a little reunion, toi know…old friends, toi know…we…we just thought about watch….I mean, hanging out…hanging out for a while….having dinner, nothing special”. She took a deep breath, telling herself to cut this sudden fumbling off “…you know, get out of the rut for one night…nothing special”. There was something awfully off about this whole sentence….she had just being repeating the same words over and over again.
“Oh well…good” John sounded a little surprised “Then maybe I should let toi get ready…” he a dit “I was just wondering whether toi wanted me to keep toi company on the phone tonight…”
Lisa frowned “Company? Why?”
“Well you’ve been sounding a little down in the dumps in the last few days…”
Lisa dropped her mouth slightly open, taken unawares “When? I mean….did I?”
John laughed “Well yeah….didn’t toi know that?”
“I guess…well, no actually…I didn’t notice…” But she wasn’t sure she hadn’t. Maybe she had just pretended she wasn’t.
“Well, I am happy to hear you’re back…” he a dit softening his tone “I missed toi these days….and to tell toi the truth I can’t wait for toi to be here…”
Her cœur, coeur skipped a beat. Right. Three weeks. She would be in Londres in just three weeks. Funny, her leaving hadn’t sounded so impending this morning. She inhaled deeply as her eyes slipped on the clock once again.
John realized she wasn’t really listening to him tonight. “Liz I am telling you…if toi have to go…”
“No, I mean, yeah…it’s just that…I’m sorry, it’s getting really late for me…” It seemed she couldn’t really help herself: the plus she tried to block the thought of him out of her mind, the plus it kept constantly floating around her head.
“Sure….I get it, no problem. I’ll call toi tomorrow. Have fun sweetheart. Good night.”
“Good night…” she a dit in a whisper. She moved the receiver away from her ear and put it down on the counter, feeling terrible. She did like John. She did….didn’t she? So, why wasn’t she feeling like talking to him tonight? She would be in Londres in three weeks. To spend her summer with him – at least part of it – wouldn’t she? She had no other reason to go to Londres and get away from the States, so why did she feel like she was caught between a rock and a hard place? She began to pick her nails, pursing her lips in a pensive sulk, exhaling as if something was oppressing her and didn’t let her breathe.
At times it felt like one part of her desperately wanted to run away, whereas the other one tugged her into staying; one would believe she was perfectly in control and overconfident, as the other told her she was being a fool because she’s never been plus fragile. Now that very same part of her being – the one that was reasonable, questioning, pensive and prudent – was still wondering why - if she really had any intention to go there once again - WHY then she was making it so complicated – with John, Londres and everything else. At the moment, the other part - the one that was perfectly conscious that the truth was that she wasn’t ready to hear the answer to this question yet - was still consigned in to silence.
“So? How is it?” Robert pressed on.
“How is it what?” Hugh asked as he kept moving around the room, as someone who’s in such a hurry that doesn’t really have time for you.
“You a dit not really…how are things then?”
Hugh gave a confused look around.
“I meant toi were right…” he a dit distractedly, stretching his whole body over the lit to seize the ceinture hanging on the doorknob of the bathroom.
Robert leaned sideways against the doorjamb “About?”
Hugh opened the drawer of his nightstand to put his watch on “I did it. I asked Fred to file for divorce….” he a dit with nonchalance.
Robert’s mouth dropped open. This was definitely something he hadn’t foreseen. One of those unforeseen twists that might blow your mind if toi were not prepared for them, and he was definitely not. He must have stood like that for plus than just a few seconds, because Hugh’s voice reached him with a hint of alarming amusement.
“Robert? Robert, do toi hear me? Say something…” a faint smirk curled on Hugh’s lips as he passed par him to enter his bathroom. He began to wash his face in the basin.
Robert shook his head lightly “I’m…I’m sorry…this is not really was I was expecting. I mean…that’s…” but he stopped midsentence wondering what the conventional response to something like this was supposed to be, either congratulations ou condolences. They were always talking about the shipwreck of his marriage.
Hugh reached blindly for the towel and helped him out of his embarrassment. “The point is Robert…” he a dit drying his face “I should thank you, ‘cause…you were right. Turns out toi were completely right and I wished I didn’t need to bang my head hard against it to see toi were….” There was some sort of peaceful, new kind of firm, pondered resolution in his voice, just as much as in his words and gestures that was completely new to Robert “Now, I really feel like I finally truly did something just for me….”
“Well…I am glad toi feel better…” he a dit still quite astounded “I was thinking you...” but he stopped midsentence one plus time. He was trying to put all the pieces together but, apparently, he was failing at it “Wait…then why haven’t toi …I mean…I mean, Lisa told me she hadn’t heard from you.…”
“Well…I needed time to sort things out on my own…” Hugh’s a dit rubbing his jaw with one hand and peering at his face. His beard tickled insufferably already but it wasn’t too long after all and then if had shaved it might have donné her the wrong impression, as if he was thinking of tonight as a rendez-vous amoureux, date ou anyway as if he done that for her. He always had a hard time at drawing a line between what he couldn't suggest ou she might regard as out of line. Problem was he was maybe too comfortable at being with her so everything came naturally to him; although so far, so good, because apparently he got very lucky since she had never backed off ou donné him the impression she was feeling uncomfortable at something.
Robert was still revising Hugh’s last words trying to make some sense of them. Sort things out…on his own? Wait a minute…
“Does Lisa know about it?” he suddenly asked bewildered.
Hugh lifted his eyes up, looking at him in the mirror. He rested his weight on his forearms. “Actually I didn’t tell her…”
Robert took a step closer, goggling “Wh…why? I mean….have toi thought she might…”
“What reconsider?!” Hugh cut him off almost scoffing.
“Well….I thought that was what toi wanted…”
The funny thing was that if someone had asked him just a few days ago, he would have sworn to it that all he wanted was just for her to reconsider. Hugh dropped his head down, shaking it.
“It was….but not like this…”
“What do toi mean not like this?” Robert had worked under the assumption the two things had been linked together. How come they weren’t anymore? Of course he was glad he was took the plunge on his own but Lisa…wasn’t she what he had wanted all along?
Hugh turned around and passed par him once again, heading to the lounge room “I am still scared Robert. I mean…” he shook his head ever so slightly trying to explain himself “I DO have made up my mind, don’t get me wrong…” he a dit putting his leather veste on “What I mean is that….THIS situation I find myself in at the moment…this isn’t going to be a piece of cake. I am going through this divorce, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, what it’s going be like…for me, for the show…my kids…” he sighed pointing his eyes at him “…I don’t want her to feel that way Robert. I don’t want her to be scared with me…this is about me and noone else. I don’t want to drag her into this…”
Robert was still trying to follow his logic “Hugh, that’s wonderful of you, really…but…”
Hugh tossed his head backwards. Maybe noone could understand how had been feeling about how he had handled it in the past. How he felt about Lisa right now.
“Rob…don’t toi see? Just for once, FOR ONE DAMN TIME” he a dit gesticulating with his index “I want her to feel safe. She always felt chased when she was with me, and it’s all my fault…what do toi think it’s going to be like this time, if I dragged her into this?” he paused briefly but Robert knew he wasn’t really expecting an answer and maybe he finally started to see where all of this was coming from.
Hugh pressed on, pinching his voice a little higher “One thousand time worse, THAT is what it is going to be like? This time, I want to be TRULY able to take care of her…”
He spaced the words as if he was regretting himself for not having been capable of doing so in the past and there was so much bitterness in his tone, that Robert actually felt like he had never truly realized how much plus harshly Hugh had probably been blaming himself for everything.
“Hugh…you don’t have to be so hard on yourself, have toi thought she might…still wanted to be…a part of it? Have toi asked her?”
Hugh’s eyes darkened a little, but he was already reaching for the knob. It didn’t look like he was willing to compromise with the decision he had made.
“Listen to me Rob…if Lisa still wanted me in her life, just as badly as I still want her – I mean if we were in the same place in this relationship - she would have gone for it already. She’s not like me, toi see…” he a dit smiling unconsciously at the thought of her “…she’s just as breakable as the two of us, but she’s fearless for sure. And she knows what she wants…”
They stepped out of the trailer and Robert followed him just feeling like listening for once, but even if it sounded like Hugh was quietly resigned to all he was telling him, he could still sense a dense nuage of gloom floating over his head.
Hugh kept on “If I had gotten the feeling she was still…somehow...interested in me, I would have gone for it myself already, believe me…but things had changed and I have just missed the boat….”
Robert watched him with a scowl on his face. He wasn’t sure Hugh had nailed Lisa so well, but it wasn’t his place to argue on that either, was it?
“So you’ll just…let her go like this?”
Maybe it was really better this way, letting them sort things out on their own, with their own time. Once again, he wasn’t supposed to get in the middle.
Hugh took a deep breath. It wasn’t easy for him acknowledge this.
“She’s happy for now. And I am not going to change that…”
Robert peered sideways at him as they walked through the parking lot, thinking that giving her time might be a wise thing to do, actually.
“So this is what you’re planning to do…nothing, right?” He just hoped at some point one of them wouldn’t end up regretting something.
Hugh got his bike keys out, glancing at his watch “I’ll do what she needs…” And he needed to go, ‘cause it was getting dreadfully late.
Robert pressed his lips together, watching him climbing on his bike. Yeah, he wasn’t supposed to get in the middle, this was what he kept repeating to himself since jour one, and yet here he was unable to take sides, as usual, but at the same time ridiculously incapable to turn his back at them for real. Because there was just something deep down inside him that kept telling him they were meant for each other; it was just their timing the one that sucked epically.
“I just hope toi know what you’re doing Hugh…” he a dit lowering his gaze “...‘cause sometimes we don’t really know what we need until it’s too late to have it back….but I am not really sure that time has come for the two of you”. He waved at him with his hand and Hugh watched him heading to his car with a pensive look, just tapping absentmindedly with his fingers on the handlebar.
Lisa opened the fridge and bent down to look inside it, trying to figure out what Hugh could be possibly in the mood for. It wasn’t like she had really thought he would come over tonight, over the last days she had barely heard from him. She hadn’t thought about it this morning, now what could she arrange to feed a non-vegan person?
She snapped the fridge shut and started to chew her lips, brainstorming for ideas when she heard her phone ringing from the other room. She sighed and rushed to her bedroom, crossing Shazam who was playing with his ball in the hallway.
“Why do toi think I always end up forgetting to take my phone with me when Hugh has to call me?” she asked to him. Well, probably because he made her head go off, but again this was a question she didn’t feel like answering yet.
She tossed herself on the bed, lying on her stomach but before picking up, she paused briefly to check on the caller ID. She looked down at the letters for moment, for no other reason actually than to see his name written on the screen, although she would have probably never admitted it to herself either.
She smiled and her cœur, coeur skipped a beat again, but for a very different reason this time.
“Hey” she sighed.
Hugh was straddling on his bike, with one foot on the ground whereas his left hand was still on the handlebar. He peered sideways at Lisa’s house. Funnily enough, he was barely capable of holding himself back until a moment before seeing her, but then when the time actually came he feared she might think he was being to…free in his manners and so, even this time, he had hurried through the traffic to get here as soon as possible, but then had thought better calling her to be sure she was still waiting for him. It happened like this all the times.
“Hey…hi…”
He had to do something about this lack of breath he found himself in every time he heard her voice, though…
Lisa waited for him to speak, feeling nervous already. It sounded like a lifetime since she had last spoken to him par phone and she alarmingly realized how much she had missed this.
“How are toi doing?” he asked.
“I’m good….” she a dit drawing circles in the blanket with her fingers “You?” nevertheless, she felt some sort of peacefulness descending upon her at hearing his voice, as if the anxiety she had been feeling all jour long had just suddenly gone. On to the way her face felt suddenly red-hot when it came to him, she had just learned to ignore it.
“Tired, but happy my working-day is finally over….How was your day? Are toi tired?” Hugh asked gently. He didn’t even know why he felt this need for some casual, small talk before asking her about tonight. Somehow it helped him to lose the tension he felt growing inside, every time he knew the moment he would finally see her out of work was approaching. It was like a procrastinating game that maybe had also something to do with some sort of unspoken embarrassment that, even so, neither of them wanted to put an end to. It secretly made them both savour that moment even more.
“I had a nice normal day…nothing special…”
She had just being restless all jour for no apparent reason…
She rolled on her back, rubbing one hand through her hair. Sometimes she would have just liked to allow herself to tell him how she actually felt, plain and simple, even if she knew that would have probably exposed her to herself once again, which was why she tended to weigh her words very carefully, holding herself safely back.
Hugh glanced at her house, wondering where was she while she was talking to him “So…what are toi doing? toi still feel like…?” he asked tentatively, hoping for her answer to be a yes. At least, over time he had finally learned lesson number one: do not sound panicked ou too much impatient when talking to her.
But Lisa wouldn’t ever even notice if he had been, because as in this case, sometimes words would simply get out of her mouth on their own, before she could carefully think them through. They were just triggered par this utterly, melting way would tiptoe around her, as if he always feared she might have changed her mind and wanted to make one hundred percent sure he wasn’t forcing her into anything.
She smiled warmly, lowering her tone softly without even realizing it “…I was waiting for toi actually”.
Slowly, a radiant smile erupted on his face but he thought he’d better chill out right away, because that probably didn’t mean for her what it could mean for him. All the same, though, he was back feeling a little bit plus confident now.
“Well…then, can I come in?” he a dit nonchalantly, stifling a smirk as he imagined the puzzled expression on her face, with those faint dimples that appeared at the corners of her mouth when she was slightly taken par surprise and dropped her mouth open a little.
Lisa lifted her torso up at once “What do toi mean can I come in?”
He was here?! She slid down off the bed, rushing to the mirror and flipped her hair backwards with one hand to push it up a little.
He chuckled “I mean I am in front of your house already silly…” he teased dismounting “…you sound surprised…” he started climbing up to the front door. It was quite stupid keep talking par phone when he was already there, but he couldn’t talk himself into hanging up.
“Yeah well…actually…” Lisa managed to say as she applied some plus gloss over her lips and rubbed them rapidly together “…I didn’t think toi would end the shooting so soon…”
He stopped walking “Oh…I am sorry…maybe I should have called toi sooner, I just wanted to get here as soon as possible…” he rolled eyes at himself, clenching his teeth together in frustration: and here his just-act-cool-as-if-you-had-not-been-waiting-for-tonight-all-day-long cover faded away just like that.
Lisa froze in front of the mirror wondering how many sentences like this one a woman could possibly take during one single evening before melting down. Although he probably hadn’t meant it in the sense she got.
She managed to recover.
“No, no...I didn’t mean that…I just…ehm…I still had to prepare something. toi must be hungry…”
He sighed relived. Good, she hadn’t paid attention to his ill-chosen words selection “Oh, no, please Liz…do not go through any trouble…I’ll go get something somewhere…”
“No Hugh wait…” she breathed in deeply and looked at herself in the mirror one last time. Apparently, that side of her that usually struggled to fight back the prickling enthusiasm that she had felt growing back inside her, as weeks had passed by, wasn’t so much in control right now. It was the other side that was winning this time, the one who couldn’t secretly wait any longer to see him.
“No seriously…I’ll be back in a minute….” he a dit ready to retrace his steps up to his bike.
“Wait up, really…I’m coming with you…” she a dit already rushing out of the room grabbing her veste and keys on her way.
This time, it was Hugh’s cœur, coeur the one that skipped a beat “You sure?
She opened the door, smiling widely at the sight him standing with his back at her, still talking to the phone. She hung up, took a step vers l'avant, vers l’avant and leaned over on her tiptoes to talk into his ear “I definitely am…” she a dit playfully. She probably had no idea of what she was doing, but she couldn’t help herself. She had just missed him too much these days…
Hugh startled a little but then turning his head he beamed at her in such a engaging way that her face in turn lit up with one of those stunning smiles that dazzled him like nothing in the world.
“Hi…” she whispered again. She was always faster than him in recovering from these moments “So….what kind of take out are toi up for?” she a dit starting to walk towards his bike. He followed smirking: she still had her leather veste over her arm and she was wearing a sleeveless wool grey dress today, with a large black ceinture that tightened around her waist, boots and black leggings. She turned, glancing at him smiling over her back as her long, dark, shiny curls tumbled over her shoulders moving gracefully around her as she walked ahead of him.
He smiled crookedly. It was in moment such as these – when she beamed at him like that, with that gleam in her eyes - that he felt like he had nearly won his sun back -although it was still darkened par some clouds – and like he had almost gotten his breath back…his gleaming breeze that he had been missing so much – although he knew she wasn’t really back…
It almost felt like he had never woken up from that dream of a mois ago, always wondering whether they were real ou just a memory floating hopelessly around his head.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t resist. “Your wish my command…”
She slowed down ever so slightly to wait for him, giving in to that juvenile part of her that was still even too crazy about those chivalrous ways he displayed so often.
“Chinese then?” she asked softening her eyes.
Hugh beamed at her “Chinese is perfect…”
She looked up into his eyes as soon as he caught up with her, but she immediately wondered whether he was conscious of the effect a look like that might have on a woman. On the other hand the real question was why she couldn’t just resist the impulse of staring right into that ocean for once.
He climbed on his bike, offering his hand to her with the very same knowing smirk he had donné her that night, last time she’d been driving with him to go to the Observatory. The memory made her smile.
“What are toi smiling at?” Hugh asked as she sat behind him and he handed her the helmet. She bit her lower lip “Nothing….I just think I might come to like bikes, after all…” She a dit rubbing her hands over the leather siège at the sides of her thighs. She was starting to miss too many things lately. Even bikes now.
Hugh started the engine “I told you…they have a compelling charm toi can’t just resist for long…as much as toi try, they’ll win toi irremediably over in the end. And then, you’re Ma Sorcière Bien Aimée for ever” he a dit as his eyes sparkled at her from the review mirror.
She sighed looking at him and then just leaned over to rest her chin on his back, whispering “Yeah…”
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Previously on December/December:
10 March 2010
“Don’t toi dare thinking you’ve gotten yourself out of what you’ve promised me…” she a dit stifling a chuckle but beaming widely with her eyes.
A brilliant smile erupted on his face but this time he bit his lower lip to hold himself back. He had promised himself.
“I would never…”
“You haven’t forgotten right?” she asked teasingly and half-menacing, lifting her gaze up to look at him over her eyelashes.
Someone would have to have brainwashed him to make him forget that he had a chance to spend an evening alone with Lisa tonight, especially now that she was looking at him with those eyes. If she kept doing that it would be very hard on him tonight to get rid of the impulse of hugging her or…even worse. But, once again, he surprisingly didn’t care. He just wanted to be with her…feel her closer.
He put one hand on the doorjamb, forcing himself to get ready to leave. He softened his eyes, and told her simply “I always remember everything…”And then, he was gone.
Lisa stared at her face in the mirror, studying it. Her eyes were glittering now and a faint blush was colouring her cheeks.
The glow was back.
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December/December - Chapter 15
10 March 2010
“What are toi up to tonight, then?” John asked curious, as Lisa cradled the phone on her shoulder, having both hands busy in getting a baking tray out of the oven.
“Ehm…tonight?” Lisa repeated distractedly, as she looked closely at the French pastry, checking that it was cooked until just to the right point - golden brown. She began to clear the table, tableau of all the pomme peels.
John was still waiting for an answer “Yes…do toi have plans?”
Now she just had to prepare the custard cream. She opened the cupboard over the sink and got down a little metal bowl, which bumped against some pots on the drainer, causing a deafening, banging noise.
“Ouch…my hearing Lisa!! What was that?!”
“Sorry….” she apologized clenching her teeth “…I just banged into a pot…”
“You cooking?”
“Ehm yeah…well, not exactly, I mean it’s just a Strudel, nothing special…” she a dit dismissively, bending down to rummage among the pots and pans in the cabinet, looking for a whisk. She wondered par virtue of what cosmic law she never found something when she really needed it and had to hurry up. Another mystery was why on earth she had let herself get Raiponce up with this pastry-making, but then the face Hugh had made the last time she had cooked this for him came to her mind and she remembered.
“Can toi please just stop for one minute, Liz…I mean, I can barely hear what you’re saying with all this rumble in the background…”
She lifted her head up, having finally found the whisk.
“Ehm…yeah, sure. Sorry. I am all yours…”
Sort of…
She was just running dreadfully late after all: it was 8 o’clock already and she still had to prepare this cream, hop in the shower, get dressed and possibly cook something substantial before Hugh showed up. She pressed her lips together waiting for John to say something, as she mentally went through her wardrobe when after a bunch of secondes it crossed her mind that maybe he was expecting for her to say something.
Oh…
“Is someone coming over, par any chance?” John asked finally “I mean if you’re busy sweetheart…if I am bothering toi right now…”
“No, no…I mean, yes…but no…you’re not bothering me…” she answered unable to restrain from glancing at the clock on the mur one plus time. She had been feeling a strange kind of unease all jour long, some sort of dangerous mix of anxiety and hyper-excitement stirring inside her chest uncontrollably and she couldn’t just find a way to relax.
John still sounded confused “So, is someone coming over ou not?”
Hugh turned the lights on, throwing his keys on the counter. He reached for one of the apples in the bowl on the table, as he turned to Robert with a questioning expression on his face. “What are toi doing outside my house at this hour, anyway? It’s past 8…We finished hours ago. I know you’ve been missing me, but….couldn’t toi wait anymore?” he teased collapsing lazily on the canapé as he eagerly grabbed a bite out of his pomme and smirked with his eyes. It has been a long busy jour for him and he was completely spent, as usual, but there had been a particular thought that had kept him going through this never-ending jour as nothing else could have. He just had to grab a bite of something before rushing to get ready. He was starving.
Robert stared at him with a mixture of anxiety and relief. For one thing, it didn’t look like he had sunk into depression once again, so maybe his last words to him hadn’t had that devastating effect he had been fearing. On the other hand, Hugh looked weirdly peaceful, almost glowing he’d dare to say, which for him stands for a conclusive proof that something different was up for sure. He knew it. He had had a gut feeling all jour long since the minute Lisa had shown up at the make-up this morning.
He took a siège in front of him, deciding to beat around the buisson, bush for now.
“I just drove par to see how toi were doing. toi know, we didn’t get any…chance to talk after toi left Friday…”
Originally, he had really just wanted to make sure his little outburst of the other night hadn’t been counter-productive, but after observing the little mood balançoire, swing dynamic that had been going on between him and Lisa this morning, he felt he had a little plus to be concerned about. He couldn’t help it. He kept telling himself he had to get himself out of all of this, mind his own business and let them work things out on their own, but each time he wasn’t able to stick to his intentions and ended up like this.
Robert outstretched one arm to grab an pomme too “I just figured you’d be sleeping here tonight…” he added shrugging. He started to turn the pomme over in his hands, gazing at it meditatively. He didn’t know how to start this, since he didn’t want to give Hugh the impression he was jumping at him one plus time. He had never wanted that: he was just concerned.
Suddenly, Hugh sprang up on his feet, tossing the apple-core away, and kicked his shoes off. He glanced briefly at his watch before turning to Robert with an odd expression on his face. “Actually toi got lucky, ‘cause I am just here to change my clothes…..I am seeing Lisa tonight” he a dit straight out, without even looking at him.
Robert gaped at him, while all of his be-reasonable-do-not-jump-to-conclusion-let-him-explain-intentions fizzled out in a flash. But, if he connected the dots…
“Hugh! What did I tell you? toi are not saying toi two are…” he a dit leaving his sentence pending as if concluding it would have been too much for his mental balance.
Hugh cut him off right away, quite resolutely “No, no, no, no, no it’s not what this is about…” he a dit as he peeled his sweater off, heading to the bedroom.
Robert stood up and followed him. If it wasn’t what he thought it was, then…
Ok, he was lost.
“I am not following you, Hugh…” he admitted. Certainly, this was a relief - for a moment he had feared they were back in limbo: being together, without him having sorted anything out at all and he had just wasted his breath “…what’s the deal between the two of toi then? Nothing’s changed?!”.
Hugh sprung his wardrobe open, singling out a pair of brown pants “Not really…” he a dit vaguely, sifting through his shirts, apparently quite focused on picking out one that might go with the pants. Robert wrinkled his lips, puzzled, wondering since when Hugh spent any thinking over shirts, exactly.
He finally took out a couple. “Which one? White ou navy blue?” Hugh asked.
Robert’s mouth fell open for a divisé, split second, as Hugh didn’t seem like he was pulling his leg but quiet the opposite instead: he looked like he was waiting for a serious answer but from the way he was gazing at him, it almost felt like he just wanted to prove a point.
Robert rolled eyes at the ceiling “Whatever…White” he answered.
Hugh darted his eyes between the two shirts “Mmm…exactly what I was thinking…” he a dit stifling a chuckle “well, we don’t know a thing, so….navy blue one it is”. It wouldn’t probably have made any difference, since it wasn’t like he thought a chemise could magically awaken Lisa’s feelings for him, but stupidly as it might sound, the mere thought that she believed navy-blue went better with his eyes had the power boost him like a teenager.
Robert arched his eyebrows at the slightly smug smile that was lighting up Hugh’s face with no apparent reason. We don’t know a thing? About what
What the hell was going on here? Could someone please fill him in?!
Lisa hesitated for a seconde before answering John’s question. After all, why shouldn’t she tell him the truth? She had nothing to hide…had she?
“Actually...” she started off, but then she paused for a divisé, split seconde and bit her lips instead, sighing “…yeah, some Friends are coming over…just a little reunion, toi know…old friends, toi know…we…we just thought about watch….I mean, hanging out…hanging out for a while….having dinner, nothing special”. She took a deep breath, telling herself to cut this sudden fumbling off “…you know, get out of the rut for one night…nothing special”. There was something awfully off about this whole sentence….she had just being repeating the same words over and over again.
“Oh well…good” John sounded a little surprised “Then maybe I should let toi get ready…” he a dit “I was just wondering whether toi wanted me to keep toi company on the phone tonight…”
Lisa frowned “Company? Why?”
“Well you’ve been sounding a little down in the dumps in the last few days…”
Lisa dropped her mouth slightly open, taken unawares “When? I mean….did I?”
John laughed “Well yeah….didn’t toi know that?”
“I guess…well, no actually…I didn’t notice…” But she wasn’t sure she hadn’t. Maybe she had just pretended she wasn’t.
“Well, I am happy to hear you’re back…” he a dit softening his tone “I missed toi these days….and to tell toi the truth I can’t wait for toi to be here…”
Her cœur, coeur skipped a beat. Right. Three weeks. She would be in Londres in just three weeks. Funny, her leaving hadn’t sounded so impending this morning. She inhaled deeply as her eyes slipped on the clock once again.
John realized she wasn’t really listening to him tonight. “Liz I am telling you…if toi have to go…”
“No, I mean, yeah…it’s just that…I’m sorry, it’s getting really late for me…” It seemed she couldn’t really help herself: the plus she tried to block the thought of him out of her mind, the plus it kept constantly floating around her head.
“Sure….I get it, no problem. I’ll call toi tomorrow. Have fun sweetheart. Good night.”
“Good night…” she a dit in a whisper. She moved the receiver away from her ear and put it down on the counter, feeling terrible. She did like John. She did….didn’t she? So, why wasn’t she feeling like talking to him tonight? She would be in Londres in three weeks. To spend her summer with him – at least part of it – wouldn’t she? She had no other reason to go to Londres and get away from the States, so why did she feel like she was caught between a rock and a hard place? She began to pick her nails, pursing her lips in a pensive sulk, exhaling as if something was oppressing her and didn’t let her breathe.
At times it felt like one part of her desperately wanted to run away, whereas the other one tugged her into staying; one would believe she was perfectly in control and overconfident, as the other told her she was being a fool because she’s never been plus fragile. Now that very same part of her being – the one that was reasonable, questioning, pensive and prudent – was still wondering why - if she really had any intention to go there once again - WHY then she was making it so complicated – with John, Londres and everything else. At the moment, the other part - the one that was perfectly conscious that the truth was that she wasn’t ready to hear the answer to this question yet - was still consigned in to silence.
“So? How is it?” Robert pressed on.
“How is it what?” Hugh asked as he kept moving around the room, as someone who’s in such a hurry that doesn’t really have time for you.
“You a dit not really…how are things then?”
Hugh gave a confused look around.
“I meant toi were right…” he a dit distractedly, stretching his whole body over the lit to seize the ceinture hanging on the doorknob of the bathroom.
Robert leaned sideways against the doorjamb “About?”
Hugh opened the drawer of his nightstand to put his watch on “I did it. I asked Fred to file for divorce….” he a dit with nonchalance.
Robert’s mouth dropped open. This was definitely something he hadn’t foreseen. One of those unforeseen twists that might blow your mind if toi were not prepared for them, and he was definitely not. He must have stood like that for plus than just a few seconds, because Hugh’s voice reached him with a hint of alarming amusement.
“Robert? Robert, do toi hear me? Say something…” a faint smirk curled on Hugh’s lips as he passed par him to enter his bathroom. He began to wash his face in the basin.
Robert shook his head lightly “I’m…I’m sorry…this is not really was I was expecting. I mean…that’s…” but he stopped midsentence wondering what the conventional response to something like this was supposed to be, either congratulations ou condolences. They were always talking about the shipwreck of his marriage.
Hugh reached blindly for the towel and helped him out of his embarrassment. “The point is Robert…” he a dit drying his face “I should thank you, ‘cause…you were right. Turns out toi were completely right and I wished I didn’t need to bang my head hard against it to see toi were….” There was some sort of peaceful, new kind of firm, pondered resolution in his voice, just as much as in his words and gestures that was completely new to Robert “Now, I really feel like I finally truly did something just for me….”
“Well…I am glad toi feel better…” he a dit still quite astounded “I was thinking you...” but he stopped midsentence one plus time. He was trying to put all the pieces together but, apparently, he was failing at it “Wait…then why haven’t toi …I mean…I mean, Lisa told me she hadn’t heard from you.…”
“Well…I needed time to sort things out on my own…” Hugh’s a dit rubbing his jaw with one hand and peering at his face. His beard tickled insufferably already but it wasn’t too long after all and then if had shaved it might have donné her the wrong impression, as if he was thinking of tonight as a rendez-vous amoureux, date ou anyway as if he done that for her. He always had a hard time at drawing a line between what he couldn't suggest ou she might regard as out of line. Problem was he was maybe too comfortable at being with her so everything came naturally to him; although so far, so good, because apparently he got very lucky since she had never backed off ou donné him the impression she was feeling uncomfortable at something.
Robert was still revising Hugh’s last words trying to make some sense of them. Sort things out…on his own? Wait a minute…
“Does Lisa know about it?” he suddenly asked bewildered.
Hugh lifted his eyes up, looking at him in the mirror. He rested his weight on his forearms. “Actually I didn’t tell her…”
Robert took a step closer, goggling “Wh…why? I mean….have toi thought she might…”
“What reconsider?!” Hugh cut him off almost scoffing.
“Well….I thought that was what toi wanted…”
The funny thing was that if someone had asked him just a few days ago, he would have sworn to it that all he wanted was just for her to reconsider. Hugh dropped his head down, shaking it.
“It was….but not like this…”
“What do toi mean not like this?” Robert had worked under the assumption the two things had been linked together. How come they weren’t anymore? Of course he was glad he was took the plunge on his own but Lisa…wasn’t she what he had wanted all along?
Hugh turned around and passed par him once again, heading to the lounge room “I am still scared Robert. I mean…” he shook his head ever so slightly trying to explain himself “I DO have made up my mind, don’t get me wrong…” he a dit putting his leather veste on “What I mean is that….THIS situation I find myself in at the moment…this isn’t going to be a piece of cake. I am going through this divorce, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, what it’s going be like…for me, for the show…my kids…” he sighed pointing his eyes at him “…I don’t want her to feel that way Robert. I don’t want her to be scared with me…this is about me and noone else. I don’t want to drag her into this…”
Robert was still trying to follow his logic “Hugh, that’s wonderful of you, really…but…”
Hugh tossed his head backwards. Maybe noone could understand how had been feeling about how he had handled it in the past. How he felt about Lisa right now.
“Rob…don’t toi see? Just for once, FOR ONE DAMN TIME” he a dit gesticulating with his index “I want her to feel safe. She always felt chased when she was with me, and it’s all my fault…what do toi think it’s going to be like this time, if I dragged her into this?” he paused briefly but Robert knew he wasn’t really expecting an answer and maybe he finally started to see where all of this was coming from.
Hugh pressed on, pinching his voice a little higher “One thousand time worse, THAT is what it is going to be like? This time, I want to be TRULY able to take care of her…”
He spaced the words as if he was regretting himself for not having been capable of doing so in the past and there was so much bitterness in his tone, that Robert actually felt like he had never truly realized how much plus harshly Hugh had probably been blaming himself for everything.
“Hugh…you don’t have to be so hard on yourself, have toi thought she might…still wanted to be…a part of it? Have toi asked her?”
Hugh’s eyes darkened a little, but he was already reaching for the knob. It didn’t look like he was willing to compromise with the decision he had made.
“Listen to me Rob…if Lisa still wanted me in her life, just as badly as I still want her – I mean if we were in the same place in this relationship - she would have gone for it already. She’s not like me, toi see…” he a dit smiling unconsciously at the thought of her “…she’s just as breakable as the two of us, but she’s fearless for sure. And she knows what she wants…”
They stepped out of the trailer and Robert followed him just feeling like listening for once, but even if it sounded like Hugh was quietly resigned to all he was telling him, he could still sense a dense nuage of gloom floating over his head.
Hugh kept on “If I had gotten the feeling she was still…somehow...interested in me, I would have gone for it myself already, believe me…but things had changed and I have just missed the boat….”
Robert watched him with a scowl on his face. He wasn’t sure Hugh had nailed Lisa so well, but it wasn’t his place to argue on that either, was it?
“So you’ll just…let her go like this?”
Maybe it was really better this way, letting them sort things out on their own, with their own time. Once again, he wasn’t supposed to get in the middle.
Hugh took a deep breath. It wasn’t easy for him acknowledge this.
“She’s happy for now. And I am not going to change that…”
Robert peered sideways at him as they walked through the parking lot, thinking that giving her time might be a wise thing to do, actually.
“So this is what you’re planning to do…nothing, right?” He just hoped at some point one of them wouldn’t end up regretting something.
Hugh got his bike keys out, glancing at his watch “I’ll do what she needs…” And he needed to go, ‘cause it was getting dreadfully late.
Robert pressed his lips together, watching him climbing on his bike. Yeah, he wasn’t supposed to get in the middle, this was what he kept repeating to himself since jour one, and yet here he was unable to take sides, as usual, but at the same time ridiculously incapable to turn his back at them for real. Because there was just something deep down inside him that kept telling him they were meant for each other; it was just their timing the one that sucked epically.
“I just hope toi know what you’re doing Hugh…” he a dit lowering his gaze “...‘cause sometimes we don’t really know what we need until it’s too late to have it back….but I am not really sure that time has come for the two of you”. He waved at him with his hand and Hugh watched him heading to his car with a pensive look, just tapping absentmindedly with his fingers on the handlebar.
Lisa opened the fridge and bent down to look inside it, trying to figure out what Hugh could be possibly in the mood for. It wasn’t like she had really thought he would come over tonight, over the last days she had barely heard from him. She hadn’t thought about it this morning, now what could she arrange to feed a non-vegan person?
She snapped the fridge shut and started to chew her lips, brainstorming for ideas when she heard her phone ringing from the other room. She sighed and rushed to her bedroom, crossing Shazam who was playing with his ball in the hallway.
“Why do toi think I always end up forgetting to take my phone with me when Hugh has to call me?” she asked to him. Well, probably because he made her head go off, but again this was a question she didn’t feel like answering yet.
She tossed herself on the bed, lying on her stomach but before picking up, she paused briefly to check on the caller ID. She looked down at the letters for moment, for no other reason actually than to see his name written on the screen, although she would have probably never admitted it to herself either.
She smiled and her cœur, coeur skipped a beat again, but for a very different reason this time.
“Hey” she sighed.
Hugh was straddling on his bike, with one foot on the ground whereas his left hand was still on the handlebar. He peered sideways at Lisa’s house. Funnily enough, he was barely capable of holding himself back until a moment before seeing her, but then when the time actually came he feared she might think he was being to…free in his manners and so, even this time, he had hurried through the traffic to get here as soon as possible, but then had thought better calling her to be sure she was still waiting for him. It happened like this all the times.
“Hey…hi…”
He had to do something about this lack of breath he found himself in every time he heard her voice, though…
Lisa waited for him to speak, feeling nervous already. It sounded like a lifetime since she had last spoken to him par phone and she alarmingly realized how much she had missed this.
“How are toi doing?” he asked.
“I’m good….” she a dit drawing circles in the blanket with her fingers “You?” nevertheless, she felt some sort of peacefulness descending upon her at hearing his voice, as if the anxiety she had been feeling all jour long had just suddenly gone. On to the way her face felt suddenly red-hot when it came to him, she had just learned to ignore it.
“Tired, but happy my working-day is finally over….How was your day? Are toi tired?” Hugh asked gently. He didn’t even know why he felt this need for some casual, small talk before asking her about tonight. Somehow it helped him to lose the tension he felt growing inside, every time he knew the moment he would finally see her out of work was approaching. It was like a procrastinating game that maybe had also something to do with some sort of unspoken embarrassment that, even so, neither of them wanted to put an end to. It secretly made them both savour that moment even more.
“I had a nice normal day…nothing special…”
She had just being restless all jour for no apparent reason…
She rolled on her back, rubbing one hand through her hair. Sometimes she would have just liked to allow herself to tell him how she actually felt, plain and simple, even if she knew that would have probably exposed her to herself once again, which was why she tended to weigh her words very carefully, holding herself safely back.
Hugh glanced at her house, wondering where was she while she was talking to him “So…what are toi doing? toi still feel like…?” he asked tentatively, hoping for her answer to be a yes. At least, over time he had finally learned lesson number one: do not sound panicked ou too much impatient when talking to her.
But Lisa wouldn’t ever even notice if he had been, because as in this case, sometimes words would simply get out of her mouth on their own, before she could carefully think them through. They were just triggered par this utterly, melting way would tiptoe around her, as if he always feared she might have changed her mind and wanted to make one hundred percent sure he wasn’t forcing her into anything.
She smiled warmly, lowering her tone softly without even realizing it “…I was waiting for toi actually”.
Slowly, a radiant smile erupted on his face but he thought he’d better chill out right away, because that probably didn’t mean for her what it could mean for him. All the same, though, he was back feeling a little bit plus confident now.
“Well…then, can I come in?” he a dit nonchalantly, stifling a smirk as he imagined the puzzled expression on her face, with those faint dimples that appeared at the corners of her mouth when she was slightly taken par surprise and dropped her mouth open a little.
Lisa lifted her torso up at once “What do toi mean can I come in?”
He was here?! She slid down off the bed, rushing to the mirror and flipped her hair backwards with one hand to push it up a little.
He chuckled “I mean I am in front of your house already silly…” he teased dismounting “…you sound surprised…” he started climbing up to the front door. It was quite stupid keep talking par phone when he was already there, but he couldn’t talk himself into hanging up.
“Yeah well…actually…” Lisa managed to say as she applied some plus gloss over her lips and rubbed them rapidly together “…I didn’t think toi would end the shooting so soon…”
He stopped walking “Oh…I am sorry…maybe I should have called toi sooner, I just wanted to get here as soon as possible…” he rolled eyes at himself, clenching his teeth together in frustration: and here his just-act-cool-as-if-you-had-not-been-waiting-for-tonight-all-day-long cover faded away just like that.
Lisa froze in front of the mirror wondering how many sentences like this one a woman could possibly take during one single evening before melting down. Although he probably hadn’t meant it in the sense she got.
She managed to recover.
“No, no...I didn’t mean that…I just…ehm…I still had to prepare something. toi must be hungry…”
He sighed relived. Good, she hadn’t paid attention to his ill-chosen words selection “Oh, no, please Liz…do not go through any trouble…I’ll go get something somewhere…”
“No Hugh wait…” she breathed in deeply and looked at herself in the mirror one last time. Apparently, that side of her that usually struggled to fight back the prickling enthusiasm that she had felt growing back inside her, as weeks had passed by, wasn’t so much in control right now. It was the other side that was winning this time, the one who couldn’t secretly wait any longer to see him.
“No seriously…I’ll be back in a minute….” he a dit ready to retrace his steps up to his bike.
“Wait up, really…I’m coming with you…” she a dit already rushing out of the room grabbing her veste and keys on her way.
This time, it was Hugh’s cœur, coeur the one that skipped a beat “You sure?
She opened the door, smiling widely at the sight him standing with his back at her, still talking to the phone. She hung up, took a step vers l'avant, vers l’avant and leaned over on her tiptoes to talk into his ear “I definitely am…” she a dit playfully. She probably had no idea of what she was doing, but she couldn’t help herself. She had just missed him too much these days…
Hugh startled a little but then turning his head he beamed at her in such a engaging way that her face in turn lit up with one of those stunning smiles that dazzled him like nothing in the world.
“Hi…” she whispered again. She was always faster than him in recovering from these moments “So….what kind of take out are toi up for?” she a dit starting to walk towards his bike. He followed smirking: she still had her leather veste over her arm and she was wearing a sleeveless wool grey dress today, with a large black ceinture that tightened around her waist, boots and black leggings. She turned, glancing at him smiling over her back as her long, dark, shiny curls tumbled over her shoulders moving gracefully around her as she walked ahead of him.
He smiled crookedly. It was in moment such as these – when she beamed at him like that, with that gleam in her eyes - that he felt like he had nearly won his sun back -although it was still darkened par some clouds – and like he had almost gotten his breath back…his gleaming breeze that he had been missing so much – although he knew she wasn’t really back…
It almost felt like he had never woken up from that dream of a mois ago, always wondering whether they were real ou just a memory floating hopelessly around his head.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t resist. “Your wish my command…”
She slowed down ever so slightly to wait for him, giving in to that juvenile part of her that was still even too crazy about those chivalrous ways he displayed so often.
“Chinese then?” she asked softening her eyes.
Hugh beamed at her “Chinese is perfect…”
She looked up into his eyes as soon as he caught up with her, but she immediately wondered whether he was conscious of the effect a look like that might have on a woman. On the other hand the real question was why she couldn’t just resist the impulse of staring right into that ocean for once.
He climbed on his bike, offering his hand to her with the very same knowing smirk he had donné her that night, last time she’d been driving with him to go to the Observatory. The memory made her smile.
“What are toi smiling at?” Hugh asked as she sat behind him and he handed her the helmet. She bit her lower lip “Nothing….I just think I might come to like bikes, after all…” She a dit rubbing her hands over the leather siège at the sides of her thighs. She was starting to miss too many things lately. Even bikes now.
Hugh started the engine “I told you…they have a compelling charm toi can’t just resist for long…as much as toi try, they’ll win toi irremediably over in the end. And then, you’re Ma Sorcière Bien Aimée for ever” he a dit as his eyes sparkled at her from the review mirror.
She sighed looking at him and then just leaned over to rest her chin on his back, whispering “Yeah…”
Huli shares a laugh.
