Sunset
He finishes the cooking, everything is ready. He makes sure the bottle of MetternichSekt he’d brought from Berlin is safe in the freezer, and goes to the downstairs bathroom for a shower. He shaves and puts on a smart pair of chinos, a white shirt, slightly tight for him now, and joins Sarah in the dining room as the first signs of sunset appear in the sky.
She stands up, she’s wearing a dark green low cut cocktail dress, which reveals her classical shoulders and her breasts, the necklace he brought her, high heel fine Italian shoes. She’s applied a light make up with dark lipstick which makes her mouth extremely sensuous. Paul is stunned by her beauty and sensual appeal. Every time they have met, since that holiday in Italy, here in her house or in his pad in Berlin, they have lived the enchantment.
Light jazz
Sarah has put on some quiet dance music, some old melancholic tunes: he takes her in his arm and they start dancing, slowly, tightly embraced. She’s put on a French scent he knows his dad loved. He knows now with absolute clarity that his challenge is to convince her to look beyond him, so that in between their meetings she does not live like a nun, swallowing her frustration until she sees him, as that afternoon, at the airport.
He pours the Sekt in two flute glasses
– To you, my beautiful mother, he says in a whisper
– To my protector and handsome hero, she replies, and leaving her glass on the table comes round to him to kiss him again.
– Its’ a light dish which you may remember from our holiday…
The sound system purrs light jazz, Sarah has lit several candles.
Paul explains he wants them to be together. He suggests four months here, four months in Berlin. He will look for a larger apartment, so that she has space for her clothes, her computer, space to work, to work out. She looks at him, smiling, and says she wants to be independent. Later she says, let’s talk about your thesis.
Second thesis
During the day Paul has received a message from a candidate sponsor, a robotics firm that may be Chinese. He shows the message to Sarah.
– I know of them, it’s a Dutch-Chinese conglomerate, a big outfit.
– This would fulfil my need for funding the second thesis. The catch is that they want me to work on one of their projects for four years after getting the doctorate. I am not yet sure which project.
– Take your time to find out more about what they want.
– About my idea of time sharing, what do you think?
– I want you to be sure. What about your girlfriends, with me camping at your place?
Kaliningrad
Paul reflects and thinks of the French girl he met in Kaliningrad…
– There is no-one in my life yet, bar you, I have colleagues, my tutor, and yes, I had plenty of girls there and elsewhere, nothing durable or captivating.
Sarah expects, wants, nothing else than the Paul’s proximity. After all, she sacrificed everything to her son, teaching him, getting him to the best schools, letting him know women through her, explaining how things work, what to do and not to do. Her business is her way to secure their future, to keep them free.
Presently she says she would like to go bak to Italy, and what about this strip to France?
Paul knows this is dangerous ground: he’s reading slowly through the mass of writing left for him by Julian. He’s requested to speak with Gabrielle, who he doesn’t otherwise really know much about, as part of his investigation.
– I want to visit the town dad lived in when he was a youngster. He wrote quite a lot about it, his memories of school, the people he knew then… I will also go and see a girl I met when I visited Königsberg, Kaliningrad, last year. She’s a medical student in Reims. I don’t really know these towns, old French towns with lots of history. And yes I’d love to go back to Italy with you…
Half moon
They dance again. Sarah then says she’s tired and wants to go to bed and sleep. Paul clears the table and goes to the kitchen to tidy the dishes. When everything is sparkling clean, he checks the windows and doors, goes to the downstairs bathroom and clean his face and teeth. He undresses and takes the stairs to the first floor.
Sarah bedroom is open, he walks carefully in, the window is open, a half moon shines in the dark sky. Sarah’s asleep, he shuts the door carefully and goes to the little room. He falls asleep quickly, and does not dream.
He wakes up, the sun shining already. Downstairs Sarah’s working out, wearing an old T-shirt and a small lose short which does not hide much. Paul joins her, next to her mat in the living room, pausing to admire her skills and supple body. Sarah continues to train, then stops, come over to him: they kiss long and hard, as Paul holds her tight.
Later, from her shower room upstairs, she says she accepts his offer of four months here and there, and says it makes her very, very happy. Then Paul asks her to come with him to France, and she accepts.
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