Saturday, August 2nd, 2076
Alyce enjoys the ride much more than she had liked the boat trip, but that is probably something that she will never tell Al. She admits several times to being envious of Grace’s ability to sit a horse and she encourages the others to go on ahead when she realizes that both Al and Grace are holding back because of her. Of course, both refuse to do that. How typical. When finished and back at the stable, Alyce rubs her butt. “I guess I need more practice at doing this, too. Maybe I can find someone to give me some private lessons?”
Grace laughs. “You got it. Call me whenever you get the urge and I can come over to see about a lesson.”
Back at the hotel, the girls share a shower and freshen up for Al. Hands and lips are busy for a few minutes and the shower probably lasts a bit longer than it needs to to get them clean, but who is going to begrudge them a bit of private time? After showering, they get dressed. They still really only have the sundresses, but they look quite fine in them. While waiting in the room for Al to come through the connecting door, Alyce moves closer to Grace. “You are an amazing woman. I intend to call you so please answer when I do.”
Grace melts into Alyce and replies, “I don’t think it is possible for me to ignore you. I…..I…..well, let’s just say I will always be available, even if just to talk. I have a feeling that you need that sometimes and I will be there when you call.”
The two lean in for a kiss and are still at it when Al comes through. Grace breaks the kiss as Al asks about the dinner plans. “Be patient, Al. All in its time. I think that you will be pleased.”
At that moment, someone knocks at the door. Alyce looks at her drone feed and sees that there are seven hotel bellmen with three large food carts waiting in the corridor. She turns to Grace, but the other woman is already headed for the door, opening it to stand aside for an older gentleman who must be one of the senior bell staff. “Just in time, Francois, thank you. You may set up over there, please.”
The man bows to Grace. “Oui, mademoiselle. Merci.” The man moves into the room and guides the other men and the carts to various locations as one of the men unfolds a fancy linen tablecloth and places it on the table in the room. Another places candlesticks on the cloth and lights the long candles as others place two settings of fine china and silverware on the table. Confused, Alyce turns to Grace and finds her standing in the open door leading from the room. “Grace?”
The woman smiles a bit crookedly and gives a small wave before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. The bell captain bows to Alyce. “Mademoiselle, my name is Fancois. I am the captain of the serving staff here and I have been asked to provide you with the most romantic dinner you can have outside of Paris. It will be my pleasure to make that happen for you. I was told that mademoiselle has a particular style of dress that she prefers for occasions such as this?”
Alyce is still partly looking at the room door, expecting Grace to pop back in but knowing that she will not. She turns her attention to the bell captain and nods before stripping her dress off over her head. The men in the room would need to be statues to not look at her…………and they are not statues. Alyce is treated to many long looks of appreciation and desire as she is escorted to the table and seated across from Al. Francois offers her a bottle of wine for her approval and places a beer at Al’s arm. Alyce’s meal is some sort of French masterpiece that really is hard to get unless the chef has trained under certain masters, and Al’s steak and potatoes is perfectly done to his taste. The men remain in the room to provide refills on the drinks and switch courses of the meal. Soft music is playing in the background and the men remain as unobtrusive as possible, but Al certainly notices where their eyes are every time one of them comes to the table for something.
Downstairs in the car park, Grace is sitting alone in the driver’s seat of the hire car. Her head is bent over and tears are freely falling onto her legs. “Damn you, Al Guthrie. Damn you to all the hells for not seeing what is in front of you. Can’t you see the pain you are causing her? Can’t you see how much she loves you? If she would love me like that I would be grabbing on and never letting her go. Frag me, too. God damn it. What happened to me? How could I fall so far so fast? This was supposed to be a simple two-day drive and now look at me. Frag it.” She places her hands in front of her face and just sobs uncontrollably. Her ‘link goes off with Alyce’s fifth attempt to call her but it goes to voice mail like the other ones.
Grace finally receives a call she does take. It is from Francois to let her know that the meal is nearly done and Grace sends the acknowledgment and climbs out of the car to go into the hotel to use the bathroom off the lobby. It will not do to show up at the room in the state she is in now. Some cold water later and she looks into a mirror to see that her face is a wreck from the crying. The woman using the next sink over smiles at her. “Man troubles, dear?”
Grace looks at her and laughs. “Sort of. That obvious, huh?”
“Dear, you have enough tracks on your face to let him know he got to you. And your eyes tell your story. Mind if I say something?”
Grace shakes her head and the woman continues. “Never let ‘em see you down like that. It just shows that they won. Some men can be moved by tears but it will only change them for a few minutes and then they are back to being men again. Here, I have something in my purse that will help. Trust me, even us old hags have man problems once in a while.” Grace gives her an odd look and sees that the woman is certainly not a hag nor is she really that old. Her face is a bit careworn, but there is a sadly youthful glint in her eye. A simple but expensive looking dress adorned her slender form, topped by a tiny silver A as a pendant high on her throat. A small cluster of tiny black-eyed Susans served as a modest boutonniere. She nods at the question and her new companion smiles, removing a small sprayer from her purse and holding it out.
“Nothing dangerous here, dear, but it works wonders on faces like yours. Clears up those tear tracks and red eyes and he will never know. May I?”
Grace nods again and the woman spritzes her a few times and tells her to let it stay there for a minute before wiping it off. Once done, the woman motions to the mirror and Grace looks, only to see that her face looks pristine. If she had not known, she would say she had not been crying for the past hour and some minutes. She smiles and thanks the woman, who hands her the bottle. “Keep it, dear. You might need it again and I can always get more. I hope that he is worth it.”
Grace nods and smiles as the woman winks at her and leaves the bathroom. Looking again at her reflection, Grace smiles and thinks, “Fragging right, she is worth it. I guess I will be just as she is and wait.” She gets a message from Francois that he is leaving the room and she lets him know that she will be right up. She looks at the bill he has sent her and transfers the balance owed after the down payment and pales a bit at what the cost of the meal has done to her bank balance. Still, she tells herself that it was worth every fragging nuyen, even if she will have to take care what she eats during the next term. And no new shoes. She smiles at the reflection again and leaves the room, taking the lift up and heading to the door to Alyce’s room.
