Chapter 44
Angela frowned, for she knew that her mom and dad's problems outweighed anything that could possibly be troubling April at the moment.
And the moment their older sister arrived, they would all need to get together as soon as possible to make plans, so that their parents remaining years would be as comfortable and stress-free as possible.
She allowed her sister the time it would take to make the twins favourite 'comfort drink', IE. hot chocolate with the addition of a small measure of Southern Comfort.
Then she carried the tray bearing the two large mugs of steaming hot chocolate upstairs and knocked on the bedroom door. "Hi, can I come in", Angela asked through the door. "Yes, come in," Aprils strained voice came back in reply. Then. On catching sight of the two mugs on the tray as Angela entered, "have you made our comfort drink?" April asked hopefully before adding, "I could really really do with it right now,"
Angela smiled as she handed her sister her drink.
April took a sip from her mug and gave a now happy sigh of chocolate flavoured bliss.
"So, I guess Bob's upset you again?."
So, what's he done now?", Angela asked.
"He quit his job", April told her sister, as she cradled her mug with both hands.
"Did the Nutritionist change the menu again, or something?" Angela pressed.
"Nope. Not this time, All she did was to walk into the kitchen. Bob took one look at her, took off his apron and hat and walked out."
"I'm so sorry to hear that. What are you going to do now?" Angela asked.
April took another sip from her mug and stared blankly at the wall.
"I don't know. I just do not know," April replied sadly.
If April didn't know. Then Angela did.
She knew that Angela and Chloe often went on girls nights out together so, maybe Chloe can help.
XXXXXXX
Angela left April with her drink and closing the door behind her she tiptoed downstairs and rung Chloe.
"Hi, Chloe. It's me, Angela, Yeah hi. Look April's in a God awful mess over Bob and I was wondering if you knew how we could help them?" Angela asked hopefully.
Chloe revealed that a friend of April's would sometimes join them. Maria was an undergraduate who April had helped to get her PhD. I remember Maria did mention that her husband owned a bistro or something, perhaps she can help?. Here I'll give you her number."
Angela brightened as she quickly scribbled down Maria's number. Thinking as she did so, that if her brother-in-law can get a job at this bistro, then at least he'll be in work. At least until he finds a position as a chef somewhere.
Then she dialed Maria's number, while nervously keeping a look-out for April.
"Hi Maria, hi it's Angela. April's sister. I wonder if you could help me?…."
XXXXXXX
Bob could not believe his luck, finally, after a dozen calls to various restaurants, He had received a request for him to go for an interview to 'Les Pont du Pegasus' on the fourth of this month.
Although it seemed a peculiar name for a restaurant, it was certainly one of the more favoured diners among the many celebrities in L A.
And Bob could not remember for the life of him ever applying for a position of Chef at that particular restaurant. But then again he had made dozens of applications.
On the morning of the fourth, Monsieur Alexandre Fournier sighed with resignation. He just did not have time for this foolishness. He needed an experienced Chef who would need to be stepping up to the position of Soux chef in three months, as Georges would be retiring then. But Alexandre loved his wife Marie, and he knew quite well that April had bent over backwards to help Marie successfully achieve her PhD.
On the other hand, Bertrand, his head Chef will certainly not be happy at this delay, as Bertrand and himself had planned to discuss some alterations to the menu that Morning.
Alexandre decided to make this interview short, and then he considered what convenient reason could he possibly come up with that sounded plausible to his wife, as to why he did not hire this guy.
(Usually, a Soux-Chef would be selected from among the Chefs that were already employed at the restaurant, but though experienced, none were quite yet ready to step up to the plate.)
Bob briefly stopped outside Les Pont du Pegasus and checked his CV and references were all present in his folder, then he mentally gave himself a pep talk before entering the restaurant.
"Bonjour Monsieur, Ça va?" Alexandre warmly greeted him, shaking his hand after Bob had been shown to the restaurant office.
"Oui, Ça va Bien", Bob replied as he extracted his papers from his folder and handed them over to Monsieur Fournier.
Monsieur Fournier carefully scanned Bob's curriculum vitae for some minutes. Then suddenly! "C'est Incredible!. Les Jardin du Paradis?", Monsieur Fournier cried out in surprise.
"You worked there?, in Paris, Oui?" Monsieur Fournier questioned in English.
"Yes I was there for three years, it was very hard work but also very rewarding", Bob informed him.
"But that is my uncle's restaurant., Tell me? How did you get on with old Claude the Soux-Chef?"
Bob smiled as he remembered. Well, At first I thought he was incredibly hard to please. Nearly impossible to tell you the truth. But you very quickly learned from Claude of the need to always keep high standards. A dish would have to be absolutely perfect before Claude would ever let it reach the pass."
"In fact, in among those references is one that was kindly written for me by Claude himself," Bob revealed.
Monsieur Fournier quickly found it and began reading. Then he chuckled as he referred to a previous incident he had experienced while he himself was working in his uncle's restaurant
"You know I once managed to overcook some scallops, and Claude made me prepare vegetables for a whole month before he would let me cook in his kitchen again," Monsieur Fournier confessed.
Then he asked why had Bob left the restaurant considering the excellent reference that Claude had provided Bob, which clearly showed that Bob was a good, hard-working chef?.
"My mom became ill, and so I had to return to the States, with every intention of returning to the restaurant as soon as she had recovered. But sadly, Mom succumbed to her illness and the funeral costs took all the money I had. So I had to call the restaurant to explain, so Claude sent me that reference in the mail."
"I'm so sorry for your loss", Alexandre sympathized as he stood up and shook Bob's hand...
"Okay Bob, look, how about I give you a three-month trial and then we will see how you get on.
"That's very generous of you, Monsieur Fournier," Bob said, hardly believing his luck.
"Please, call me Alexandre," Monsieur Fournier told him, "After all, there are very few men who would receive such a fine reference as that from Claude. Now then, any questions before I show you around my kitchen?" Alexandre asked.
"Yes, please tell me. Why is this restaurant so named?" Bob asked politely.
Alexandre beamed proudly as he revealed the origin of the restaurant's name. My great grandfather at only fifteen years of age had been arrested by the Nazis and was being held in Ranville, under suspicion of helping the Maquis. And the Gestapo were coming to collect him in the morning. But fortunately for him, and indeed also for me, the British arrived before the Gestapo did and my grandfather was freed.
So, if it was not for the British I would not have been here, So I named the restaurant in memory of that day, June 6th 1944."
XXXXXX
Two days later, Leonard and Penny's three daughters all met at their brother's house in Tarzana.
For an anxious discussion on how they could help their Mom and dad live relatively comfortably in their twilight years.
It had been agreed that Astrid, who had earlier in the year had achieved the grade of RN as a nurse.
And she would, for the time being, be moving to her grandparent's house to ensure that a trained health worker could be able to be in constant attendance, should they need it.
April, Angela, Honey Marie and Wyatt and his wife, Chloe. Would, alternately, get any supplies the aged couple would need. IE, Supermarket, Pharmacy and other necessary requirements etc.
And now that a vitally needed care plan was in place, all those present at the meeting were then satisfied that at least some of their worries had been alleviated.
Angela even felt able to start looking around Pasadena for a nice condo
Two weeks later. At 02:17 in the morning, Penny awoke with some degree of annoyance, at knowing she will now be awake for half the night before she could possibly get to sleep.
She plumped her pillow and tried to get comfortable again which only succeeded to disturb Leonard who asked if she was OK.
Penny smiled as she felt her beloved husband's arm move over her midriff and began cuddling her, which had the magical effect of making her feel much calmer as a result.
"Thanks, Sweetie, I needed that," she told him before asking him, "Just what did I do to get such a wonderful husband as you?"
"Easy, I wore you down, didn't I?" Leonard replied.
"No Leonard, you did not," Penny admitted, then confessed, "Do you remember when we all went to that Spa, Then things got too crazy and that ex-boyfriend of Bernadette's gave me a ride back to Pasadena?"
"Wasn't that Glenn?", Leonard asked before Penny continued to explain.
"Yes, and there I was, riding in a car with a giant-sized piece of gorgeous man-flesh. but I all I could think about was the thought that it was you I really wanted to take me home.
And I was so disgusted that everyone assumed that I would be sure to hook up with Glenn. And that was so annoying. For I knew very well just who it was that I wanted by my side," Penny revealed.
"Not everyone, I didn't," Leonard lied.
"Don't you lie to me!, Leonard you were driving so fast to get to me that you got a ticket for speeding. Amy told me when you all got back," Penny disclosed.
Leonard's only reply was to move towards his wife, apologize and kiss her cheek.
Penny smiled at his touch and her memories of her past life flooded through her thoughts, and as they turned to her marriage to Leonard, Penny was reminded of how incredibly happy being married to Leonard had made her.
This moved Penny to want to tell her Leonard that she loved him before she went to sleep. Penny struggled to turn round and by the time she had succeeded in facing Leonard. She had forgotten what she was going to say, then she said the first thought that came to mind.
"Leonard? Can you remind me to sweep the front yard, I can't remember the last time I swept it?"
Leonard smiled at his wife then kissed her.
"Sure, you've got it," he replied.
And with a 'thank you Sweetie'. Penny turned back around, took hold of Leonard's hand, holding it against her tummy and fell asleep.
And just 14 minutes later, Penny fell asleep in death.