Gemini Rain (28 page)

Then
Debbie
hugged her whispering, ‘We know about you and David…’ Lauren froze and as
Debbie
fixed her with a friendly stare she blushed.

‘Your children like to tell tales and did you honestly think you could hide that fresh flush of love when you came back from your so called
jog
?’ she laughed adding, ‘but Lauren honey it’s okay with all of us, your life doesn’t stop just because Peter’s did. We all wish you both every happiness.’

Lauren could see tears welling up in
Debbie
’s eyes and hugged her again, ‘y
ou don’t know how much I appreciate you saying that to me, thank you. I’ll never, never forget this,’ looking at the others Lauren understood why
Debbie
held back until last, she was the official spokesperson for them all, as
Debbie
walked through the boarding gate everybody smiled and waved approval. Lau
ren waved once more
turning
away the
tears
were
welling up in her eyes she
quickly
walked away.

Arriving back at her house, she could see David lying on the grass, taking in the summer sun, he rose as soon as he heard the car.

‘It’s only 10am David, what are you doing here?’ she enquired, ‘we’re not leaving until 4pm, I said I’d get down to you as soon as I could.’

Ignoring her comments he asked his own question, ‘Have you packed yet?’  Lauren responded no, ‘Oh good, I can help.’

‘I can pack my own clothes, you know!’ she said indignantly.

‘Yep, I know. Now temper, temper,’ he corrected her, ‘I just want to make sure you bring no black clothes with you, you
still
wear too much black it’s time for a change in style.’ Putting his arms around her waist he swung her around, ‘Paris is full of bright colours and joy, time to change!’

Lauren screamed with delight
‘a
nd romance!’ she added.

‘But of course,
Mon
Amie
,’ as he kissed her.

As the plane took off from the runway each couple held hands, silent in their own thoughts of what lay ahead for the coming week. Helene easily changed Lauren’s
Dublin
flight next week from Marseille to Paris so there was no need for her to return, thankfully she didn’t have that hassle to look forward to. Helene and Claude only had eyes for each other and David kept jesting with them every time an airhostess interrupted them with food or drinks. Turning to Lauren he noticed how quiet she was asking if she was okay, Lauren smiled but her stomach was killing her she forgot to take some painkillers, why the hell did she have to get her periods to
day, just her luck. David fully understood
when she told him, but of course he’s been married before.  Sometimes it’s only married or attached men who can understand and be patient with that monthly terror, she felt. Rarely keeping track of them these days, she didn’t realise she was due until yesterday, typically getting back into her old routine she noted the date in her diary,
‘
must keep track of my dates now,
’
she smiled.

David’s apartment was beautiful with a unique combination of old and new furniture, Helene and Lauren were impressed how he combined both worlds so tastefully. As they unpacked, David noticed Lauren sneaked in a few black items, her leather trousers that she wore at her birthday party, one black blouse and some underwear. He grabbed the underwear starting to tease but she became miffed at
his teasing so he hugged her, ‘d
on’t be annoyed, they won’t last forever and then…’ he kissed her.

Paris was as enchanting as David and Claude said it would be, for both Helene and Lauren it was their first visit and the men took delight in showing the sights to them. Lauren couldn’t believe how she had missed one of the most romantic cities in the world, when she was a teenager she vowed that she would touch every corner of the world nearly achieving that ambition but to miss this one, how? The only thing Lauren didn’t like was the traffic; crazy was putting it mildly. When David found out he decided to drive around the Arc de Triomphe at rush hour, Lauren nearly had a heart attack wanting to get out of the car in the middle of driving around it, Claude and Helene were howling with excitement. Stopping the car at a park by the river Seine, the Eiffel Tower was in full view, Lauren quickly got out walking away. David and Claude looked at each other; maybe they went too far this time.

‘Go out to her, David,’ Helene was concerned, suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore. They watched as David casually walked after Lauren and put his arm around her shoulders, they were still walking. Unexpectedly Lauren tripped David up he landed on the ground, laughing she sat on his stomach managing to get his arms stuck under her legs, he couldn’t move so she started to tickle him, poking and prodding, making him promise never to do that again. Claude and Helene relaxed quickly getting out of the car, running to join in the fun and help Lauren as David was starting to win the battle.

Chapter 27

Dublin -
Sitting in his car, Paul
eyed the small corner second-hand
phone
shop, with the telecom sign clearly marked in its window. Knowing he couldn’t make his call on his mobile or in his office,
he needed to get a pay as you go cell phone
, ‘Christ, Paul you’ve purchased things before, what the hell is the problem?’ But he knew what the problem was, if there’s anybody’
s in the shop that recognizes him
, they’ll be wondering what on earth was a Minister d
oing buying a cheap cell phone
in a back st
reet corner shop.
He laughed, ‘but then maybe they won’t even think twice about it.’

Nervously w
alking into the small shop
Paul kept his head down, but the expected typically happened, he accidentally bumped into an exiting elderly customer, their newspaper falling from under their arm to the ground, ‘Sorry, here I’ve got it,’ he bent down.

‘Be janie, ye think with the size of ye, ye’d notice someone as small as me even when ye’re walking around as if ye’re heads fallin’ off mister!’ the old woman softly smiled as she mocked him the
n recognition shined in her small
ancient eyes, ‘don’t I know ye from somewhere?’

‘No I don’t think so,’ Paul could feel himself beginning to blush, wanting to get on with being served and get the hell out of the shop, sometimes he hated the fact he could be easily recognised no matter where he visited in Ireland.

‘Ah Jasus, I do!’ she stated, ‘Hey Bridie, ye’ve got a good’un here!’ she shouted to the shop assistant even though they were less than four feet away from the counter, the shop itself was probably only 200 square feet in total. Then she winked to him, showing extreme pride on her knowledge of government ministers, ‘Dey’ll be talking about dis for weeks, Mr. Minister.’

‘I don’t think
so,’ he smiled while thinking,
‘
C
hrist I hope not.
’

‘Ah sure they’ve nutting else to talk about ‘round here,’ she loudly laughed deciding to stay and see what a government minister would be buy
ing in a small second hand phone
shop
such as this. As she folded her
arms and leaned back on one of the counters
Paul knew immediately that she wasn’t going to budge. He laughed both at himself and at the silliness of it all, turning to the shop assistant who looked as amused and delighted to have such a customer in her shop, she was in the middle of f
i
xing the loose strands of red
hair back into place. Explaining that the battery on his mobile was run down, ‘would you possibl
y have a cheap second hand phone for sale
please.’

‘Sure of course she has dem,’ the old woman perked up again before the assistant could get a word in,
‘sure isn’t dis a phone shop and it
saying dat in de shop window,’ she quickly turned to the assistant throwing her eyes up to heaven stating indignantly, ‘a government minister an’ he misses a big sign like dat!’

‘
Get me out of here,
’
Paul thought he was going to burst out laughing because of the old woman’s flat Dublin accent and straightforwardness that only the old Dubs seemed to possess nowadays.

The assistant was starting to get embarrassed with the
cheekiness of her regular visitor
and quic
kly pointed to some cell phone
s hanging behind h
er, ‘sim card free
’ then she realised that that was probably the wrong question to ask a minister. ‘I mea
n, what type of phone would you like
?’ blushing even more.

‘Just a simple basic phone to send texts and make calls,
’ Paul tried to make her feel at ease seeing how uncomfortable the middle-aged woman was becoming
, ‘and I need a new sim card too
.
’ Sliding a list
across the
counter she stated, ‘I think an old Nokia would suit ye, that one is
€60
, Minister.’

‘What!’ Paul couldn’t help but sounding shocked. The old woman in the background guffawed, ‘now you know the cost of living, Mr. Minister,’ the delight in her voice even made the assistant snigger, Paul turned back to the old woman, ‘I walk
ed into that one, didn’t I?’

‘No, I’d say jumped, with ye’re two big feet.’

Returning his attention back to the shop assistant, he laughed, ‘I think I can just about afford it.’ He was beginning to enjoy the little banter, since becoming a minister he found he was losing contact with the people on the street and felt the need to resume and increase his clinics that he usually held in his constituency.

Unfortunately for Paul it was short-lived as another customer entered, he decided the best thing to do was leave, the small shop was suddenly becoming too crowded. As he walked passed the old woman, she still possessed a fixed coy smile to her face, Paul nudged her copying her accent as he whispered, ‘Now ye wouldn’t know
where dere be somewhere private
, would ye? I need to make a top-secret phone call.’

She chuckled, ‘Ah ge ou
tta here, would ye,
I’d say’ tis the girlfriend ye’d be calling, she’s pro
bably, now how does dat song go -
Ah yeah Lost in France or sum
ting like dat!’

Paul couldn’t help but look surprised by the woman’s words, his voice trailed away as he replied, ‘maybe you’re right, maybe you’re right.’

Chapter 28

Paris -
On Wednesday evening Lauren and company were relaxing before they got ready to go to one of David’s favourite restauran
t and nightclub. Lauren’s cell phone
rang, she was surprised as it was her turn to phone th
e children but when she didn’t recognise the number
she
answered and
sat up straight when recognising the voice. It was Paul, her friendly Minister for Justice, ‘Just one moment,’ she said solemnly as she headed for the bedroom, David gazed after her then looked at Claude and Helene shrugging. The bedroom door closed tightly.

‘What the hell do you w
ant!’ expressing her annoyance
he was the last person she wanted to receive a call from.

‘Lauren don’t be that way, please,’ Paul sounded nervous and she could hear traffic noise in the background, ‘you’re coming to Dublin next week, I wondered if we could meet to talk.’

‘No, Paul I don’t want to talk to you now or meet with you
ever again
,’ Lauren was in no mood to meet with old friends, especially him.

‘Lauren, I need a decision from you, what are you going to do, have you found or remembered any more information for us?’

‘No,’ she stated being as blunt as possible.

‘I could force you when you come home next week, we won’t let you or the children leave Ireland,’ he hesitated wondering if she would respond the way he wanted her to, ‘I have the power to do that.’

Lauren was vehement, ‘And I have the power to destroy your career Paul. Don’t you dare threaten my children or me ever!’ controlling her voice, she was amazed at what both he and she were saying, ‘how could you even threaten
Emma
like that?’