Alphabet Soup

by Crinklybrownleaves

This is an A to Z of tiny stories and drabbles, all too short to stand alone. Involving lots of Dr Blake characters, but most will have Lucien and / or Jean in (well, what else would you expect from me!). All different times and moods, the only thing that holds them together is that there is one for each letter of the alphabet.

4. Date

Thank you you for the lovely reviews. Some of these little bits may end up in bigger stories one day, who knows?

He should have realised when he overheard her on the phone in his study. Or when she asked if he was home for dinner that evening. But he hadn't seen it coming at all.

So the first sign was a strange hat on his peg. Annoying, but no more. They must have a visitor. The second clue was an unfamiliar voice talking with Jean, and she sounded relaxed and flirtatious. But he didn't really understand till he saw her fixing a drink for someone, and that someone wasn't him.

Too stunned to be subtle, he found himself running his eyes from her pinned up hair to her high heels, with interesting detours on the way, via a dress he had never seen her wear before. A jolt of something he didn't want to name shot through him. Jean had a date. His Jean. He hastily rethought. Not his Jean. So very obviously not his...

And her date was sitting in Lucien's place at the table.

Good manners forced them all to a show of friendliness, but Lucien felt unexpectedly bereft. After he said goodnight to them he went to seek solace in a whisky bottle. Was this feeling of emptiness just the prospect (albeit distant as yet) of losing his housekeeper, or was it the uneasiness of jealousy?