Unknown Diners

Chapter Twenty

Pierre pointed to the screen. "This was at Molly's yesterday. That's the dame he was with at La Luce — There, you can see him in the background."

Samir leaned closer to the screen and nodded. "For when have they been scheduled?"

"Dinner Tuesday evening."

Samir pursed his lips as he paused to think. "You carry on with your pen plant at the tasting. I'll have George arrange a backup in case you fuck it up again." He peered into Pierre's eyes as he raised his hand like a cleaver. "But you won't fuck-up again, will you?"

<><><>

"But Walsh isn't Jewish. I thought your father was Jewish."

"No, he's Irish. It's Mum who's Jewish. At first, she didn't want me playing with you, which made it more exciting... Isn't that the way. Prohibit something, and it becomes more attractive."

Lorne laughed. "Yeah, think of marijuana. Since it's been legalised, its consumption has declined — I know mine has," he said as he set the anchor alarm.

"You toke? Yeah, I guess everyone does, or did before it became legal." Catherine laughed. "Strange, that... I rarely touch it now."

"I wonder where the drug pushers have gone, now even more with the new hard drug legislation."

"Could be into the corrupt restaurant business. That manager at Molly's seemed more like a Hell's Angel than anything."

Lorne paused from writing the log. "Did you see he was missing half of both his pinkies? Appeared to be either punishments or some depraved ritual."

He watched her do a finger gag imitation. "Lighter things. You should phone your folks."

She headed below to get her phone and was talking on it as she returned to the cockpit. "That would be great, Daddy, we can meet you at the head of the pier." She paused to listen. "Yes, Chemainus... Half an hour... Great."

She smiled at him. "Dad's coming to pick us up."

"This is so funny. You know all the glowing reviews I've written for your folks' wines. Always among my favourites. You never let on. I love your integrity." They merged in a tight hug.

"I have a great model of integrity right here." She squeezed him tighter and lifted her face for his kiss. "We should get ready."

She watched as he unplugged and unlashed the tender. "How long will a charge last?"

"The battery will last six or seven hours of slow motoring. Way more than needed, but the tops of the inflatable's tubes are photovoltaic. On a sunny day, the charge never drops. Nice system."

"Why are so many still using gasoline outboards? Noisy, stinky and polluting."

"Afraid of change, I guess."

She again watched the process as he lifted the tender from its deck chocks, flipped it over, swung it over the side and lowered it to the water. "Three button pushes and a hand manoeuvre, so simple and elegant. A child could do that." She snickered. "Even a woman."

"There are manual overrides on the whole system in case there's ever an electrical problem. I like simple. I'll let you do the recovery when we get back. We should be going."

He swung the accommodation ladder over the side and lowered it, undid the pelican hooks in the lifelines and led her down the gentle steps to the tender. "Do you want to drive?"

He set the boat alarms with his iPhone as she headed them toward the pier. She manoeuvred up to the dinghy dock on its far side, and he turned a mooring line to a cleat. He showed her the combination on the chain lock as he secured the tender to the float. "Easy to remember, it's the year we were both born."

He smiled up at her. She has that sublime face again. I must tell her I love her. I wouldn't want her to think I don't. "I love you, Catherine. Just thought I should remind you."

"Lorne, Lorne, sweet, sweet Lorne. You remind me every moment of your existence. You exude love. Your pores ooze it. Fuck, I love you. Come here, hug me, lick my joyous tears."

"When you two finish down there..."

She broke from the kiss and laughed, turned her head to look up. "Hi, Daddy. You know Lorne."

"Appears you know him far better than I do." He chuckled. "Come on up, I haven't seen you in months. We were worrying about how you were holding up. Seems to be extremely well from this angle."

He walked along the pier beside them as they mounted the ramp, carrying on with their greetings. They paused at the top for a hug, a kiss and a handshake. "You've gone back to that pretty-girl figure, so good to see you happy again. Come. Your mother is dying to see you."

They carried on a three-way banter during the quarter-hour drive. As they turned up the lane to the winery, Lorne asked, "Michael, I was wondering... Maybe I should say Sir or Mister Walsh, but would you mind if I married your daughter?"

Catherine screamed. She put her hands to her face and looked around at Lorne in the back seat, her mouth wide open, her wet eyes staring, her head nodding vigorously.

"I gather he just proposed to you."

"And I just accepted. Oh... My... God. Oh, my my."