Page 37 of Be Less Panda

‘No, it’s not necessary. You’re my guest.’

‘I don’t mind.’

‘I do. Shall I put some music on? Perhaps we can dance like we should’ve done last night?’

‘I’d like that. I’ve been wondering how good a dancer you are.’

He smiled. ‘I expect you’re a much better dancer than me. What would you like to dance to?’

‘Surprise me,’ she said, thinking his song choice should give her a clue how he felt.

He started flicking through his record collection. ‘Before I forget, I have to return to Berlin tomorrow.’

‘Oh.’ What did he mean by return? Surely not forever?

He must have noticed her expression. ‘Only for a few days,’ he added. ‘I have to sort something out with my manager. But it means we’ll have to cancel next week’s English lessons.’

‘Of course.’ Nancy did a lousy job of hiding her disappointment.

‘I only found out yesterday. I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ he reassured her.

‘Good,’ she said.

He started putting a record on the player. ‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘As I’ll ever be,’ she smiled.

He looked puzzled.

‘It means yes.’

‘Excellent,’ he said, pulling back the lever that made the arm of the player move across to the disc.

But before the needle touched the vinyl, there was a loud banging on the door. ‘Herr Schmidt, Herr Schmidt,’ a voice called out. It sounded like Madame Morceau.

Hans put the record player arm back on its rest and opened the flat door.

‘Thank God you are in.’ Madame Morceau let out a sigh. ‘There is water pouring down the wall of the flat below. Madame Chastain is most distressed.’

‘Pierre gave me some hot chocolate,’ Olivia said when she returned home that evening.

‘That’s an unusual present.’ Nancy looked at the jar.

’Yes, I’m not sure what it says about our relationship. Either it’s a subtle way of telling me I’m not hot enough, or we’ve got to the point where he’ll be buying me slippers and a bed jacket next. Which is a shame because he seems to have skipped the gold and diamonds stage. I was looking forward to that. We may as well drink it, though.’

‘Hmm,’ Nancy said.

‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’

‘It’s not that. I was just thinking it was the only thing that was going to warm me up today.’

‘You’re going to have to elaborate on that one. I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about.’

Nancy brought Olivia up to speed about the afternoon’s events.

‘So Madame Chastain’s plumbing got in the way of a romantic afternoon?’ Olivia said.

‘It was Hans’ plumbing, actually. We eventually established the water running down her wall was coming from a leaky cold water pipe under his bath. It’s all turned off now, and the plumber’s coming to fix it tomorrow. But by the time we reached that point, the moment had gone. He needed to pack for his Berlin trip. He’ll have left France now.’

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