Island girl

The morning after the night before

PART TWO - PAUL

Paul Moratti was in the place he liked to be best lately, in a dreamless sleep unaware of anything going on around him, and blissfully not feeling anything, or having to think about what the lay ahead of him for the rest of the day.

And as much as he would have preferred to stay that way, in cold reality as the morning dawned. it was just not meant to be.

He became aware of noises in the distance, not particularly loud noises, but as it seeped into his consciousness, making him aware of them

He forced his reluctant eyes to open. It was just starting to get light outside, and the sounds were not in his imagination or dreams, but very real, and they seem to be coming from the next room

His last memory of the night before had been just falling into the unmade bed and going to sleep Then he recalled a black Labrador seem to play some part in the picture, but his head hurt, so it was hard to think on it too much.

He was still fully clothed, though they were in a bit of a state. Now he recalled rocks and waves, whilst noticing the bottom of his denim jeans seemed stiff and covered in grains of sand, making him wonder what the hell he had been getting up to the night before.

He now sat up trying to recollect the bits and pieces, but he was distracted by the sounds of someone moving about in the next room, making him get up of the bed to go and investigate

Opening the door that led into the living room, the first thing he noticed was that there was a fire blazing in the grate, and a lot of the stuff had been cleared up from the sofa and floor.

He was still assimilating all this when caught sight of Alison, who had just come out from the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks when she realised he was standing there

"Oh, you are awake, did I disturb you? I was trying to be as quiet as possible, but then I kicked over one of your stupid empty bottles lying on the floor," she looked a little vexed with herself

The sound of her soft Irish brogue, brought back some memories of the night before, yet he was nearly a hundred per cent sure that he had sent Alison packing before he had went to bed.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded with frown of bewilderment.

"Well I let myself in with the spare key, just to check you were ok this morning, and as this is Sunday and the bakery is closed, I thought I would tidy the place up a bit, and get a good fire going to and get some heat in the place" she informed him

Paul stood, just staring at her, wondering how anyone could be so bright and chirpy first thing in the morning, when it was barely light outside.

"I am sorry I woke you up though, I am sure you really needed a lie in after last night. I was actually hoping to have this all done and sorted out for you before you woke up...You are not annoyed at me are you?" she then queried cautiously, as she stopped to take a breath and noted how he was still frowning at her

Paul opened his mouth and at first no words would come out, he wasn't sure what way he was feeling at that moment, he was still too hung over to register any real emotion.

"No" he finally replied, "I am not annoyed with you exactly, it's just- well, you didn't have to do all this, I don't expect you to" he said, trying his hardest not to sound irritated, as he begrudgingly realised she was full of good intentions.

"Well the place needed a good clean, you couldn't possibly go on living in it the state it is in" Alison pointed out sensibly, " And you, supposedly being such a big time celebrity Chef," she shot him a look of reproach," I thought you would have at least understood about cleanliness, after all, I am sure kitchen would never be in this bad, or you would have been shut down and out of business long ago"