Back to Paris

The house in Normandy needed more work. More cleaning, more preparation for the family dinner coming up at the end of the week, more fixing. But Simone, her father, her stepmother and B had been invited to Paris to visit a well-loved couple of friends and, by Jove, Simone was going. Even if it meant an overnight trip, she was going. Given the parking situation in Paris, the group made an executive decision to take one car instead of two and Simone opted out of driving her car because, well, she's a wimp. They made their way to a hotel near their friends' apartment, found a parking spot miraculously nearby and checked into the hotel. They then trooped over to their friends' home where they drank the obligatory champagne, ate marvellously rich food followed by a melt in your mouth dessert. In the end, somewhat tipsy, they walked by to the hotel where Simone sank into her bed, grateful that her husband had had the foresight to reserve her a room so close. "I love you, baby," she sighed, missing her husband. "I love you too," B replied sleepily from his bed.