Free Anything Considered by Peter Mayle Page A

search of companionship.
    His history with women had followed a pattern familiar to many single men who prefer to stay single—a series of relationships brought to an end, sometimes amicably,sometimes not, by the increasingly insistent ticking of the biological clock. Entirely natural, Bennett had to admit, but even so, hints and midnight whispers about marriage, the joys of nesting, and baby Bennetts had the same effect on him as a bucket of cold water thrown over an ardent dog.
    He realized, sometimes hoped, that one day this might change, but it would take a woman he had yet to meet. Until then, it would probably be the mixture as before, lust and affection. Not that there was too much wrong with that, while it lasted. He looked through the names in the address book, remembering, sometimes with difficulty, the circumstances of his various departures. Chantal had been tearful but brave. Karine had accused him of being a closet misogynist and had told him to grow up. Marie-Pierre had hurled a vase of flowers at his head. Or was that Rachel? Finding playmates for the summer wasn’t going to be quite as easy as he had thought.
    His finger stopped at the letter
S
, and he was reminded of a week he had spent in London on a job two years ago, a girl with hair like sunshine, dinner at the Caprice, tangled sheets, promises to call from Paris. Why hadn’t he? Probably too busy dodging missiles from Marie-Pierre. He hesitated. Was late better than never? He decided it was, and called the office number she had given him
    “Good morning. Redeeming Features.”
    “Hello. Could I speak to Susie Barber, please?” Bennett sipped his coffee, half expecting to be told that she’d left. Two years in the film production business, where jobhopping is almost as popular as lunch, is a long time. She might have had an offer to go and work in L.A. She might have a lover, a husband, a baby. She might not even remember him. His pessimistic train of thought was interrupted by a businesslike hello, followed by the sound of a cigarette being lit and inhaled. He remembered that she’d told him she could never make or take a phone call without smoking.
    “Susie? It’s Bennett. How are you?”
    A silence. Exhale. “Surprised, if you must know.”
    “Look, I’m sorry. I know I said I’d call from Paris …”
    “Did you?”
    “Yes. Well, no. I mean, I didn’t call. All hell broke loose when I got back, one of the directors got busted the night before a shoot, and I was up to my ears in crap …”
    “Bennett?”
    “Yes?”
    “That was two years ago.”
    “I know, I know. What can I say? I was a slave to my job, Suze, a thoughtless brute, driven by ambition, days and nights at the desk, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep, no time for the finer things in life, like you—God, I was a mess. Not fit to be with.”
    “Are you finished? I’ve got a busy morning.”
    But she didn’t hang up, and Bennett rushed on. “That’s all changed now. I’ve reformed. Actually, I’ve retired.” There was no response, but Bennett sensed curiosity at the other end of the line and took advantage of it. “In fact, I’m sort of working out what to do next. I’m inMonaco. You’d like Monaco, Suze—warm and sunny, terrace overlooking the sea, polite policemen, wonderful food, friendly natives. We could have a terrific time.”
    “We?”
    “My treat, Suze. I’ll pay for the ticket, bring you champagne in bed, rub your back with Ambre Solaire, run your bath, peel your grapes, take you on nature rambles in the casino gardens, anything you like. There’s a lovable side to me, I promise. Thoughtful and kind. Housetrained. You’ll see.”
    “Creep.”
    “Great. When can you come?”
    “I didn’t say I would. How do you know I’m not with someone else?”
    “Ah. I was rather hoping you might be saving yourself for me, prepared to bring comfort and joy to the heart of a lonely man. You’d be doing a good deed, Suze. And you’d get a tan. How’s