Best Maid Plans

by Klaire, Jody

  Doug and I had used this play countless times when we wanted something.

  “If you want it, I’ll get it for you.” Doug rubbed over my shoulders, a confident smile on his face. He turned to the man. “Anything we can do to make it run?”

  “Not unless you can find a specialist.” He shook his head. “We couldn’t afford the upkeep on it.”

  Doug grinned. “Then sell it to me and I’ll get it fixed.”

  I gazed up at him, trying not to stare.

  “Always liked the style on them.” Doug tapped the bonnet, winking at me. “Nothing better than giving a lady you love the luxury she deserves.”

  Who said only the French had charm? I couldn’t help but beam at him.

  “I can’t sell you a car that doesn’t work.” The man sounded like he really wanted to. I didn’t blame him. No one sane turned down Doug Fletcher. The man gazed at the car. I could see the heartbreak that they couldn’t fix it in his eyes.

  “My wonderful wife-to-be is one of the finest mechanics around.” He kissed my hand. “It’ll keep her busy until the baby arrives.”

  He patted my backside with a cheeky wink.

  I would have pinched him if we’d been anywhere else and he knew it; Instead, I narrowed my eyes. I’d been surrounded by innuendo for a year, I’d have him. I’d learned some tactics.

  “He really enjoys my hands under the bonnet,” I purred up at him. I even managed it Babs-style. She’d have been proud.

  Doug spluttered.

  The man’s face lit up. “You know what you’re doing?” He was focused on the car, clueless to my tone.

  “Oh yes. Years of practice.” Again, I managed Babs-style. Doug’s cheeks glowed with colour.

  “As long as you can and you’re happy.” The man pulled out his mobile. “I’ll call the manager and tell him.”

  Doug nodded. His cheeks as pink as Rebecca’s in the sun.

  I tapped him on the nose. “Marie may get you all hot and bothered, Mr Fletcher, but don’t forget I know you.”

  He cleared his throat. “Haven’t heard that talk from you before.”

  I winked at him and pecked him on the cheek. “Berne hasn’t in a while either.”

  “She hasn’t?” He shuddered out a breath.

  “No. I lost my confidence.” Although I was clawing some of it back, there was a lot to reclaim. “I’m working on it.”

  He rubbed at his neck. “You’ve definitely still got it, babe.”

  “Thank you.” I pulled out my phone as Doug strode over to the manager.

  Hmmm. I hoped Berne was going to feel I still had it too.

  Chapter 31

  Berne pushed her plate back and grinned at Erique. They were in Pippa’s—no, their—house and had been very busy. He’d helped her to move in and with her project; they’d spent time with their parents, and had completed two of the three local jobs. A productive week.

  “Bebe, I will go back to work for a break, oui?” He rubbed at his stomach and grinned at her. “No wonder your back aches.”

  “It is not the work.” Why had she told him so? He knew. He knew everything about the accident and... it felt... good not to hide it.

  “Should you be working on the stone?” His tone was cautious.

  She tensed but he was only asking what she had asked herself many times. “It is my job. If Stephanie cannot get her business back, she will help. I hope maybe that Fabrice will too.”

  Erique laughed.

  “You do not think they can?” she asked.

  “I am laughing at Stephanie chipping a nail.” He sniggered between sips of wine. “She likes to look good since she meets Emilie, non?”

  “Was she not always so?” Berne had remembered Stephanie being a highly experienced gendarme. She was a good five years younger but had joined at the minimum age.

  “Non, when we meet, she was always scruffy, always happy to get muddy.” He grinned. “I miss that.”

  “Do you think Emilie or her changes this?” Berne rubbed her stomach as it gurgled. They’d eaten too much. They’d drank too much also. Her fuzzy feeling told her as much.

  “Maybe both. I do not know.” He sipped at his wine. “You say she is learning to plaster, to render... in the rain?”

  Berne sighed. He’d been probing at her all day. “She is as enthusiastic as always.” She rubbed her sore back. “She is happy to experience the country.”

  “And?” He smiled around his glass.

  “She has not met him yet.” She sighed and ran her thumb over her glass, then pulled out her phone to text Pippa. “And Pepe goes with him to most things.”

  Erique eyed her with a sly smile. “So you are not worried Doug wishes for Pippa to return to him?”

  She waved it off. “He is a good man. He cares much for her as you do for Stephanie.”

  “Mais?” He sipped at his wine, watching her.

  She sighed and put the phone down. Was she checking on her or just missing her? “I love Pepe. I trust her.”

  “This is so?” He took the phone from the table and tapped away, then his mouth fell open.

  “Ça va?” Her stomach clenched.

  He cleared his throat, cocked his head and his eyes twinkled—A laugh that Rebecca would have appreciated fell from his lips.

  “What is it?” She frowned. It must be Babs. Only she would make him laugh this way.

  “Pepe... she...” He cleared his throat again and held up the phone for her to read.

  Her mouth fell open, her heart launched into a heavy sprint, along with the rest of her, and she rubbed her hand over her mouth. Pippa hadn’t spoken like that to her since... since she was young.

  “Oui.” Erique chuckled. “I like her style mais I think we can match her demands.”

  Berne shuddered out her breath, trying not to drift into the picture Pippa had placed in her mind. “She feels that she has to battle. Rebecca feels that they do not hold up their challenge.” She hummed as he watched her. They’d always been open. Their parents were open. It was more how to phrase it. “She urges Pippa to challenge... for England, oui?”

  His chuckle got smuttier. “Then we show them that they cannot keep up with us, non?”

  She sighed as he tapped out a text message. Pippa would know it wasn’t from her. She censored her playful side now. Pippa got so flustered when she let it out. Not like before. Pippa loved it before.

  Berne lay on the sofa. She’d been training with Stephanie all day and yet somehow Pippa had kept her riveted. She knew the effect she was having, Berne was sure of it. She flitted around the apartment, her bathrobe falling open, showing her soft, supple body.

  They’d been—How could she explain it? Together? Maybe—They’d been lovers for a month or so. Pippa would tear her clothes off one minute and ignore her the next. Oui, she would reassure her that she was trying to process it all, process the new ground in their relationship but it created an effect that Berne had never known; A pull she could not break; a feeling she could not ignore. It made it hard to think of anything else.

  Pippa ignored her as she strolled around—and had been all week. Berne’s desire rocketed with it.

  Maybe it would be fun to see how much she was being ignored? She grinned and flicked her feet onto the floor. She pulled off her top.

  Pippa wandered in and over to the fridge—She would raid it for chocolate. She liked to do that when studying. By the headphones and her repeating grammatical terms—it was French homework.

  Pippa glanced up. Her gaze flicked over Berne. Hunger ignited in her eyes. She sucked in a breath and wandered out, mumbling.

  Hmm... not so ignored.

  Berne strolled into the kitchen and opened the fridge: A chocolate box, half empty.

  She closed it and smiled, removing her bra as she wandered over to the coffee machine. She leaned against the counter and made herself a coffee.

  Pippa would be out for more chocolate.

  On cue, she wandered out and smack into the side of th
e counter. She stared at Berne’s chest, rubbed at her hip, limped over to the fridge and fumbled for a chocolate, eyes still locked on her. Then she turned, mumbled something about tenses and wandered back out.

  Berne grinned. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out the box of chocolates, returning to her position by the counter with them. She placed them behind her back.

  Pippa wandered out, mumbling away to her recording. She walked into the fridge as she gazed at Berne. She rubbed at her nose and pulled it open, gaze riveted to Berne’s chest. Her headphones fell off as she reached inside, feeling for the chocolate box.

  She frowned. “Hey.”

  Berne picked out a chocolate from behind her and popped it into her mouth.

  “I’m trying to revise,” Pippa mumbled, eyes locked on Berne’s lips. “It’s supposed to help you retain information if you exercise.”

  Berne licked her fingertips free of chocolate.

  Pippa licked her own lips in response. “I’m giving myself a treat when I get a section right.” She wandered over and tried reaching around Berne. “I’m working hard to pass.”

  Berne brushed her lips over hers. Pippa sank into it, as if searching for any chocolate she could find. Berne responded and was rewarded with a whimper.

  Pippa pushed back, wheezed out a breath and put her headphones back in.

  “You miss a bit.” Berne let every ounce of her accent through the English, knowing how much Pippa loved to hear it.

  Pippa stumbled off.

  She smiled, unbuttoned the top button of her jeans and balanced a chocolate there. She sipped on her coffee, waiting.

  Pippa came back in, this time ignoring the fridge. She scoured over Berne, looking for the chocolate... she spotted it, sighed; Ripped out her headphones and let her gown drop to the floor.

  Berne grinned and met her halfway—

  An olive smacked her in the head and Berne blinked away the memory. Erique held up the phone with raised eyebrows. “She is keeping up.”

  Berne took it, reading through the texts. “It is Rebecca.” She laughed. Rebecca suited Babs very much.

  “Perhaps I just bring out the sexy side?” He said chomping on an olive. He couldn’t care less who he was texting by the smug grin.

  Berne pressed call. Pippa, or Rebecca, picked up. Muttering and protesting went on in the background.

  “Hello?” Pippa said, clearing her throat.

  “You wish to try this?” She kept her tone low, at a level she knew Pippa would respond to.

  A shuddering breath confirmed it. “What?”

  “You tease me with such desires and you cannot remember?” She threw an olive back at Erique who sniggered.

  “Um...” Pippa’s phone beeped. Berne knew she was checking. She gasped and Berne held in her chuckle. “I... um... well... you...”

  “Rebecca gets you into trouble, oui?” She tried to keep the laughter out of her voice.

  “Yes.” Pippa sighed.

  “Then she and Erique will have much fun.”

  Erique howled with laughter. Pippa told Rebecca who snorted in the background.

  “The first message was mine but I got a bit... well... I got confused with the response.” She sounded so cute, so sweet, so very sexy.

  “You text me how you feel?” It was a surprise that it was Pippa at all.

  “Yes.” Her tone sounded like that of the teenager not the woman. “I was attempting sexy.”

  She did not need to try. “I am with Erique for now but I will call, oui?”

  Pippa laughed a nervous laugh. “I look forward to it.”

  Berne could hear the hint of freedom in Pippa’s voice and smiled. She was finding herself inch by inch. It was beautiful to watch. She hung up and stretched out her back.

  Erique lifted his glass. “To a woman who eases out of her shell.”

  Berne raised her own glass, tapping it to his. “You feel she was in a shell too?”

  He nodded, downing his glass. “Oui, it is good to see her trying.”

  Berne cocked her head.

  “I know you. I know when you feel insecure.” He wagged his finger at her. “This was not so before she leaves. You both heal.” He poured another glass and topped up hers. “This is something to drink to.”

  Berne smiled and enjoyed the taste of the wine as it rolled over her taste buds. She would happily toast to Pippa.

  ◆◆◆

  Babs stared at me. She hadn’t even taken her coat off; Her bags were still on the floor; Rebecca and Stephanie had recounted the text message exchange, and I was relieved it had been Erique texting back. Really relieved.

  I’d panicked but Rebecca had only been too happy to step in and help.

  Babs cocked her head. “Mais... you send this first message?”

  I shrugged.

  We sat around the dinner table in the glass communal space. Stephanie burst into giggles and I did the same. It was official, I was a girl.

  “You text her this?” Babs had demanded to see the proof, taking the phone and blinking at it.

  I nodded.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Pepe, I hear much of this adventurous side. You hide it from me?”

  She sounded quite upset.

  Rebecca patted her on the hand. “It was mildly saucy.” She winked at me. “Very impressive, Pip.”

  I smiled, blushed and Stephanie and I giggled again.

  “I told her it was Erique,” Stephanie managed through her laughter. She already seemed so much happier in Wales. She and Fabrice had picked up Babs during the text session but Rebecca had needed to ask for translations.

  “You know him this well?” Babs asked Stephanie with a blank expression. Either she was mad or we’d stunned her.

  “He talks to me this way all the time.” Stephanie tutted, waving it off. “He likes to make me laugh.”

  Babs narrowed her eyes. “Hmm.” She turned to me. “Pepe, I am not sure I am happy you wriggle from your shell or if I should check any work has been done.”

  Her eyes intense, she clicked her tongue.

  More giggles burst from my mouth. I was over exhausted. I’d been working; wedding shopping with Doug; working; sleeping and eating; sending saucy texts; confusing Babs, and... oh yes, working.

  “I texted you. You don’t worry about me,” Rebecca said, pecking Babs on the cheek.

  “You can multi-task.” She pecked her back, then sniffed. Maybe multi-tasking moved her?

  “Who says I can’t?” I folded my arms. “I daydream and work a lot.”

  Babs sneezed.

  “Explains why you smile, Pepe.” Stephanie handed Babs a tissue—She’d already gone through half the box.

  Stephanie’s gaze flicked to the door and her eyes twinkled.

  I turned to see Doug as he ushered Fabrice in. “Found this one tinkering with cars outside.”

  “It is my car. I buy it.” Fabrice held up his hands, worry in his eyes. “My sister, she can—”

  “I knew it had to be your influence, Pippa.” Doug’s smile widened as he patted Fabrice on the back.

  “Wait until you see him polish off the chocolate.” I couldn’t deny it. I loved helping Fabrice get covered in oil or even just wash Gladys. We’d waxed her, we’d polished her inside and we’d even given her an oil change.

  Doug chuckled and took a seat beside me at the table. Fabrice glanced at Babs for support and she nodded. He shrugged and scurried for the door.

  “Do not forget to eat,” Babs called after him. She blew out a breath.

  Doug pinched a crisp from my bowl—Technically bowls of crisps weren’t healthy but they were made of potatoes so that counted... Sort of.

  “Berne’s shrunk a bit, hasn’t she?” he asked.

  Stephanie and I laughed; Rebecca snorted but Babs narrowed her eyes. “He is not small.”

  Doug eyed her as she sneezed at him. “If it makes you feel better...” He turned to me. “Berne has gone blonde?”

  Stephanie and I laughed again;
Rebecca sniggered but Babs pulled a fetching grimace that carved lines down from the corners of her mouth.

  “You’re very serious,” I mumbled, reaching for a spare pack of tissues as she sneezed again. “It’s a bit off-putting.”

  She sighed, sniffed, and coughed. “Pardon, Pepe. I think I have a cold. I am a big baby.”

  Rebecca touched her hand to Babs’s forehead. “You’re a bit hot.” She clapped her hands. “Whiskey, tissues, vapour rub and bed.” She helped Babs up in full “nurse Whitely” mode. “Wipe and wash. You know the drill, Pip.”

  Stephanie raised her eyebrows.

  “British thing,” Doug and I mumbled. “Colds are always a battle.”

  “I think this is very much with us also.” She smiled at Doug, laughter in her eyes. “We sneeze too.”

  He grinned. “Ah yes, but in French so we wouldn’t understand.”

  She giggled, patting him on the arm.

  “Does Marie get a lot of colds?” I asked, wondering how Stephanie had thought he was funny.

  “Not really.” He shrugged and I got up, pouring him a cup of tea from the pot. “Babs is very busy, she’s bound to get run-down now and again.”

  “I thought Marie was busy?” I offered a cup to Stephanie. She glanced at the door to Rebecca’s room then to Doug who nodded.

  She shrugged, a twinkle in her eye. “Just do not tell Babs, oui?”

  “She has something against tea?” He asked, smiling around his cup. Doug loved tea.

  “She loves her coffee, oui? She will think I forget I am French.” A cheeky smile filled her eyes.

  She was teasing. I knew that but Doug scowled. “There is nothing wrong with liking both.”

  Stephanie’s eyebrows shot up.

  Doug glanced at her and chuckled. “Pip will vouch that I am open with beverages.” He shrugged. “I, however, will stick to tea, thank you.”

  “Ah so you do not mind that Pepe likes coffee when you are together?” She sipped at her cup and swilled the tea around as if sampling a fine wine.

  “I didn’t know but not really.” He flicked one leg over the other. “As long as she only was interested in me, I wouldn’t have cared less.”