Going Off Piste

Chapter Nine

Following Simon and Felix's return to the UK, Frankie's life settled into what was to temporarily become her new routine. She awoke early each morning to marvel afresh at the beauty of the person slumbering next to her. At rest, the lithe, line-free body was completely un-self-conscious in its nakedness. Stretched out across her bed, each muscle was defined, his skin glowing and golden, the effect leonine. There was certainly something animalistic in his endless enthusiasm for finding ways for them to indulge in and share the pleasure of their couplings. Each morning Frankie slipped from her bed, brushed her teeth and slid back under the sheets before Reuben stirred.

"You're staring at me again," he would eventually growl in a sleep-heavy voice before reaching for her. A languorous build then explosion of pleasure followed, leaving Frankie with a frisson that stayed with her through the rest of the day, sustaining her until Reuben could sneak silently through Bruno and Jules' apartment in the dead of night to wake her again with his need. Reuben's youthful vigour came as no surprise to Frankie but the cause of great amazement was her own seemingly endless appetite for him. She felt like a teenager in the throes of her first grown-up love affair.

After an early breakfast with Jules and Bruno, Frankie would climb into the old Golf and set off for Geneva whilst Bruno, Jules and Reuben went about their daily duties, entertaining and catering for every need of the guests of la Vieille Grange. The first group had arrived on Saturday, an extended family party in les Monts for the Christmas week. Grandparents, Michael and Valerie had brought with them their two grown-up children and spouses as well as three grand children. The two eldest, girls in their late teens, privately educated with long, swishy hair, perfect skin and identikit wardrobes by Hollister and Jack Wills, possessed the kind of self-assurance that only privilege and the best schooling could nurture. The fourteen year old grandson, Tom, was surgically attached to his mobile phone and blankly refused to change out of the 'onesie' he had worn to travel in, under his ski gear, for sleeping in and to eat his meals since he arrived. A kind of oversized babygro, complete with low-slung crotch, he teamed it with a grubby looking baseball cap and an extensive vocabulary of grunts. Bruno and Jules were professional, polite and impeccable in their customer service but it was Reuben who, of course, quickly established himself as the essential ingredient in la Vieille Grange's recipe for success. Navigating with graceful ease the choppy undercurrents of the family gathering, he was attentive and respectful to Mike and Val who, after all, were generously funding the holiday for the rest of the family, charming and obliging to the frazzled parents and fun and matey with the younger generation. No request was too much trouble, problems were smoothed and over enthusiastic flirtations gently rebuffed in a way that left no uncomfortable feelings.

Frankie had managed to negotiate herself an extension to the normal two-hour limit to visiting hours and so spent the whole morning at the hospital with Betty, chatting, using Jules' iPad to watch videos and listen to music and reading magazines. After lunch Frankie was politely but firmly required to leave so that Betty could focus properly on her afternoon physio session, and would drive back up to les Monts, setting her phone to hands-free so she could update Simon on Betty's progress en route.

"She's doing well," Frankie had reported as she inched her way slowly along the busy streets that ran next to lake Geneva on her route home. "The doctors seem very happy with her progress."

"Is she walking okay?"

"Not yet. The feeling's returned to her leg but she can't put any weight on it. She gets tired really quickly still and they're struggling to get her to reduce her reliance on the painkillers. But the doctors say the operation was a complete success and they think that as long as the physiotherapy goes to plan, she should be able to go home in the next week or so. So that's good." Frankie struggled to inject any kind of enthusiasm into her voice. Once Betty was allowed home, Frankie would really have no reason to stay on in les Monts which would almost certainly mean the end of her happy interlude with Reuben.