Page 38 of Be Less Panda

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Nancy was home early. She’d gone to the café in the Bois de Boulogne without Hans yesterday, but it felt odd sitting at their usual table on her own, so this afternoon, she’d headed straight for the flat.

When she arrived at their apartment building, she checked their postbox. There were two envelopes for Olivia and just one letter for her. It was postmarked Portsmouth and looked like Patty’s writing, which sprawled across the envelope, giving the impression that she’d written it in a hurry. Hopefully, all was still going well with Patty’s round-the-world sailing plans. Nancy put Olivia’s letters in her bag and ripped open Patty’s so she could read it as she climbed the stairs:

Dear Nancy

Hope you’re having an amazing time in Paris. It’s still all systems go here on the good ship Boadicea. (Did I tell you that’s what we’ve decided to call her now? We can’t have a bunch of women setting a world record in a vessel called King Henry VIII!!!)

Nancy grinned at the new name. Good job she wasn’t superstitious - she could picture some of the old sailors in the harbour at Dashford sucking disapprovingly on their pipes atthe idea of renaming a boat. Patty, of course, had already thought of that:

Don’t worry! I threw a shilling in the sea so Neptune won’t plague us with bad luck. (Not sure shillings are real silver now, but I can’t see how an old sea god is going to test that underwater.)

Anyway, slight problem: the refit was more expensive than I expected. So sorry, but we’re £300 short, which means I need every crew member to stump up an extra £30. Trust that won’t be a problem.

Much love,

P xx

Bugger! Nancy did a quick calculation in her head. £30 was over three weeks’ wages. How was she going to find that between now and June?

She reached the top of the stairs and let herself into their apartment. She needed to find the notebook that held all her savings plans.

Half an hour later, Nancy was referring to her notes and scribbling sums on scrap paper. No matter what she did, she couldn’t work out how to save another £30. £10 maybe, but certainly not £30. She could write to her mother to see if she could give her a loan, but if her father intercepted it, he would find a way to stop her from going on the trip. He was even more annoyed with her after seeing her with Hans at the party.

A knock at the door interrupted her train of thought. Olivia was meant to be seeing Pierre this evening. They must have had yet another row. She sighed and got up. ‘Have you forgotten your keys?’ she said as she opened the door.

‘No, I never had any.’ Hans said, smiling back at her. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d missed that smile even though he’d only been gone for two days.

‘Sorry, I thought you were Olivia.’ She welcomed him in.

‘I hope I’m not too much of a disappointment.’

‘Of course not. It’s a lovely surprise. You said you weren’t going to be back until Friday.’

‘I got my work done early.’

‘Is your manager happy with you again?’

‘It would seem so, yes.’

She noticed he was dressed more casually than usual. ‘New jumper?’

‘Sweater?’ Hans said.

‘No - it’s a jumper. “Sweater” sounds very American. I would call that a navy blue polo-necked jumper.’

Hans nodded. ‘I’ll remember that. Do you like it?’

‘Yes, it suits you.’ It really did. The blue enhanced his eyes, and it fitted well, reminding her of the decent physique he had underneath. Nancy looked away quickly before he realised she was mentally undressing him.

‘Have you taken up accountancy?’ he asked, looking at the sheets of paper covered in numbers that were spread out on the dining table.’

‘No, though I will have to take up a new profession to afford everything.’

Hans looked puzzled.

‘I need an extra 400 francs for my sailing trip,’ she explained.

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