La Suite Read Free Page B

appreciated it all right, for you
and for me, as well as for himself. Would you like to see a photo
of him?”
    “I’d love
to.”
    Gaëlle stood
and went into the bedroom. She had very few photos of Jérôme,
preferring to keep the images in her head. She dug out a close-up
of him coming off the tennis court after a match. He was sweating
and pink, and grinning.
    “Here you are,”
she said. “Disappointed? He isn’t…wasn’t a pinup.”
    “You took this
photo, didn’t you?”
    “Yes, why?”
    “Because I can
see the love in his eyes. Such beautiful grey eyes!”
    Gaëlle broke
down. Gabi came to sit beside her, but Gaëlle waved her hand. “I’ll
be all right in a moment,” she said. “But you’re so right. All his
intelligence and caring and love is there in his eyes.”
    They sat in
silence for a moment. Gabi looked at the photo again.
    “Not a
lifeguard, agreed, but he was very fit. An attractive man.”
    “I thought
so.”
    “Any woman with
taste would think so,” Gabi retorted. “Just as anyone with taste
would notice how attractive you are.”
    “Not at this
moment, though,” Gaëlle said. “I tell you what, give me a week for
the hairdresser and some personal care, and I’ll take you out to
lunch. You’ve made me feel more positive in a few short meetings
than anybody but my closest friends. And they must be fed up with
me by now.”
    “I’m sure
they’re not, or they wouldn’t be real friends. And I’ve a better
idea. I’ll take you to lunch instead. I’ll come and collect you. I
know the best Italian places. I’m even related to some of
them.”
    “Only if I can
buy the wine. Is that a deal?”
    “It’s a deal,
once you tell me what excited you about me all those years
ago.”
    “You don’t give
up, do you?” Gaëlle said. “Very well. As I said, I was turned on,
and you were very pretty. You were sitting in my low chair and I
was wondering what underwear you had on.”
    “My
knickers?”
    “Yes. I was
wondering what sort they were, what colour and so on. Don’t worry,
it didn’t happen every day! Just that once. Anyway, as you were
getting up, I saw them. Little red ones, and with thigh high
stockings, too. I never wear tights, and I know how sexy stockings
feel. Just the sight of that tipped me over the edge and I had to
pretend I’d swallowed the wrong way. What was more, I knocked the
remote onto the floor and when you picked it up, you turned it to
full blast.”
    “I did? That
was a total accident.”
    “The result was
the same. All I wanted to do was to writhe on the floor and moan.
I’ve never had to exercise so much self-control in my life.”
    “I wish I’d
known. But I’d have had to be older to appreciate it, so maybe it’s
better I didn’t. Will you tell me some more about your sex life? If
that was a minor incident, the rest must be fascinating.”
    “Not just now,
Gabi. Maybe some time in the future. But I make no promises.”
    “I’ll keep
asking, don’t worry! See you next Wednesday. I’ll pick you up at
one. Just jeans and that sort of thing. Don’t dress up.”
    With that final
instruction, Gabi left.

Chapter
Three
     
     
    Gaëlle knew if
she didn’t want to be shamed by how she looked when she went to
lunch with Gabi, she would have to make an effort. She booked at
her usual hairdresser’s.
    “I want a
massage, too,” she said.
    “We have a new
girl doing massage and beauty treatments. She’s very good, and
she’s free just after your wash and cut, if you want.”
    A little later,
clearing the last bits of hair clipping from her shoulders, Gaëlle
went through to the treatment rooms.
    “It’s Gaëlle,
isn’t it? How lovely to see you!”
    Gaëlle looked
more closely at the young woman and her heart sank. It was
Isabelle, whom she knew from another salon, and who, in the past,
had waxed her pubic hair and expressed admiration for the gold ring
through Gaëlle’s clitoris hood. Fortunately, the beautician was too
full of her