Geoff and Marie’s Good Life: Part 9

Lucy's Turn

Geoff finally gets more quality time with Lucy.

Based on posts by Only In My Mind, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.

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I
was bringing in the bedsheets from the washing line when my lovelies
got home. Colin was inside doing his art homework alone as I'm afraid
that art isn't my forté. From the way Angie bounced up the path like a
tall, supple Tigger, I assumed that their mission had been successful.
Marie followed behind at a more stately pace, but I could tell by her
expression that she was pleased.

"Geoff! It's perfect," Angie enthused. "Show him, Marie!"

Marie
finally caught up with our friend. "She's not wrong, Geoffrey," she
admitted. "The moment we saw it, we knew that was the one." She felt
into her handbag and took out a small square box.

"Just like you and me then," I reminded her, kissing the top of her head.

"You'll get anywhere saying things like that, you smooth devil," my wife smiled as she showed me our purchase.

"So
what happens now?" I asked. It appeared that they were in the dark too.
Did we give her it now, like an engagement ring? Or wait until the
ceremony, like a wedding ring?

I
decided. I took Angie's left hand and dropped to one knee. "Angela, you
have added a new thread to the tapestry of our lives. Will you agree to
be my betrothed?"

Marie
was quick to respond. She took her friend's hand from me and turned
Angie towards her. "Angela, you have been my closest friend for decades,
will you now be my betrothed?"

"Oh! God! Yes! Thank you. I love you both so much," wailed Angie, hopping up and down in floods of happy tears.

Marie
held out the ring they had chosen and bought together and together my
wife and I slipped it onto the fourth finger of Angie's left hand. As
I'd suggested, they had chosen something called a Russian Ring, made of
three interwoven strands of different shades of gold. It was perfect. I
resolved to get my little Mediterranean goddess a matching necklace.

There
was the sound of applause from behind us and we turned, rather
startled, truth to be told, to find Colin beaming at us, the drawing in
his hand forgotten.

"I
think you're supposed to kiss her now, Grandma, Grandad," he observed.
We couldn't fault his grasp of etiquette so we did; very chastely and
properly with no tongues.

"Mum's
gonna go proper monkey poo this time," he predicted, quite astutely.
"Glad I'm not the one that has to tell her." He smiled, congratulated us
all and then asked for our opinions of his drawing. We were all
impressed, both by his artwork and his attitude and told him so. He
disappeared happily back inside to put his drawing safely in his bag.

"He's
not wrong about Linda," I pointed out. "I was thinking about this while
I was running and I think I should take her out for tea tomorrow and
tell her about our, er; does 'new situation' sound about right?"

"Thank
God!" Marie breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't think she'd accept this
updated version of 'the talk' from me. Anyway, I did the one about
boys, boobs and periods, now it's your turn."

I
went and switched the oven on and chose a bottle of wine as I waited
for it to reach 180°C. I'd picked up a bottle of Ribeiro in our local
supermarket and a Spanish white seemed to fit nicely with the
ingredients so I parked it in the fridge to chill.

I
got the tray with the onions, tomatoes, garlic cloves and potatoes and
glugged over a little olive oil before putting it all in the oven for
twenty minutes and then went off to see my girls. Angie had calmed down
and they were trying to decide her outfit for our ceremony.

"What
about Padme's rainbow dress?" I suggested. I'd had nothing urgent after
lunch and had done some research. Angie gave me a long appraising look
and typed 'padme rainbow' into the search engine on her phone. She
selected 'images' and then studied the screen intently for longer than I
expected. Still silent, she showed Marie the dress. "He's a clever old
sod, really, isn't he?" My beloved observed. "That's beautiful, and it's
perfect for your body shape."

Angie agreed. "That's it. I was considering Rey's outfit but this is better. This is the one I want."

"You can actually buy these on-line," I offered.

"Not
a chance!" Retorted Angie. Marie looked as puzzled as me at how
emphatic Angie's response was. "I'm sure that some are okay," Angie
conceded. "But I've seen too many instances on Facebook where the seller
shows an image of the original but what actually arrives looks like it
was sewn in the dark from old curtains by an arthritic chimp. I want it
to look just like that picture."

"But
at least you'll know how much it is going to cost, dear," Marie said.
"Who knows how much your student friends will have to pay to find a
fabric like that?"

"Don't care," Said a defiant Angie. "I can afford whatever I want and it's my money after all."

Marie leaned in for a kiss. "We'll contribute too. We always intended to."

"No.
Thank you, but no." Angie was adamant. "You bought me that beautiful
ring. I realize that it would be rude to offer to pay for that, but
everything else; everything," she stressed that last word, "is on me."

My wife and I shared another look of surprise at our friend's determined outburst. "But Ange," Marie began.

"Everything,
Marie. You've been so kind to me for so long. And these last few
weeks;” She teared up again. "You really don't know, do you?"

I
shrugged. We were into Donald Rumsfeld territory here with 'unknown
unknowns' and I didn't think that this was the moment to dive down that
particular rabbit hole.

"You
know that apartment I live in?" Angie asked. We did. It was in a
massive, tastefully converted, Victorian building near the university.
"Don't you think it's rather large and expensive for just one person?"
We both just did some head wobbles, shoulder shakes and comme ci, comme
ça, hand gestures to indicate that we had wondered but.

"It's
not that expensive," she continued, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Not
for me, anyway. You see." She paused for effect. "I own the entire
building. A lettings management company deals with renting the other
apartments; I just live off the income. I only do the consultancy work
for you know who," she tapped the side of her nose. "to stop me getting
bored and my brain shutting down." She was winding me up because she
knew I suspected that she was some kind of spook.

"Don't
worry about the cost," she said cheerfully. "I can afford it. Last time
I checked I had over two million pounds just in my savings accounts."

She
looked gleefully at the expressions on our faces. "And, once we're
officially joined, I'm changing my will to leave it all to you and your
kids. Colin certainly won't need a student loan when he goes to Uni."

"Angie, darling. There's no need," Marie protested.

"Who
else then?" Angie challenged her. "You two are the closest I've had to a
family since I ditched that last useless waste of DNA. I've had more
fun, romance, sex and affection from you two lunatics in the last six
weeks than from both my husbands combined over two decades."

Marie looked helplessly at me. I knew exactly what to do. I leaned forward. "Angie?" I said softly, taking her hand in mine.

"Yes, Geoff?" She replied, returning my loving gaze.

"Please can I have an Aston Martin DB12?"

We
collapsed in each other’s arms in fits of giggles. Marie swiped me
fondly across the head. "You nutcase. Get back in the kitchen and get
our tea ready."

I
checked, and the potatoes were starting to cook, so I laid the chicken
and chorizo slices on top, added the herbs and spices and put the tray
back in the oven. "Alexa, set a timer for twenty minutes." Then I went
off in search of Colin.

I told him that I needed a private chat with his mum. "You think?" Was his smart-ass response. Sometimes he makes me so proud.

Anyway,
he texted one of his friends and persuaded her to wangle an invite to
go over straight from school the following evening to do their homework
together. Linda would collect him around seven.

"So Colin. Mia. Is she nice?"

"Yes
Grandad. She's nice. No Grandad, she's not my girlfriend. We're only
thirteen but we get on just fine as friends." Hell. The kid's more
mature than half of the lads I used to play rugby with.

We
chatted some more u