Fragment #18 - Sunday breakfast

"Hey girls I’m home!" It’s noon, the day is sunny, I like Sundays, quiet days to chill out before the week starting over again. I frown, trying to get what’s different. I hear Claire’s music. And the flat smells of bacon, eggs, sausages… Claire made breakfast!

I come into the living room and see Claire and Sarah sitting at the dining table with a whole bunch of food. Sarah is facing the room’s door. She is so blond, more than I am. And Claire is just the opposite with her short dark hair. The table is set for two. The plates, orange juice and glasses, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, pieces of toast, butter… Sarah seems a bit amazed by this meal. Just as any French girl she is used to pieces of toast and strawberry jam… Milk with chocolate in a bowl… And she’s got the traditional mug of tea with milk. Claire turns to me, smiling.

“Hey Amy I knew you would make it, get a plate, I’ve prepared enough food for six people I guess… You could have brought Mike” she adds with a bigger and encouraging smile.

“Qui c’est Mike?”

I think my own smile went off a bit. I don’t want her to mess up in my house with a language Claire doesn’t understand and things I don’t really want to explain. I can’t communicate separately with those two… But Claire got this natural sense of what you’ve got to do to make people comfortable, maybe the barmaid thing. Somehow she understood what the point of the question was, it was quite obvious.

“Mike is Amy’s boyfriend” she says, with the most natural smile. Is he? Yeah I guess… This sounds nice in Claire’s mouth. Actually, she knew about both of the reasons I couldn’t answer to my sister.

Sarah looks at me, I know she wants to ask why I didn’t tell her, but doesn’t: she knows that we are not that close and that I won’t answer anything in French in front of Claire. I leave my bag and my coat on the couch, go to the kitchen, get a plate, a glass, cutlery, and come back to the table. The room is full of light, which is a bit unusual for winters in Glasgow. I guess this is a sign to enjoy the day… Carpe Diem. And I help myself with sausages and eggs. I purr some orange juice in my glass. And we start talking about our Saturday nights. This is just the best Sunday breakfast ever.