Chapter 263: Euro Trash and Drugstores

Since Eve just turns off and stays turned off until I start moving around, and Leon had the operatives trick of sleeping like the dead, when he felt safe, I was the one who showered first. When I came out my hair was soaked and laying flat against my head in clumps.

I wore my morning outfit just as if I were home alone. I wore grey sweat pants and a red sweat shirt. The were shapeless but they were warm and easy to maintain. I could wear them an hour or two in the morning for a week before I needed to take them to Susu the washer woman.

"Aren't you the beauty queen?" Leon asked rhetorically.

"Why yes, thank you Mr Gable," I replied sarcastically.

"It is true that my clothes are crumpled, and I probably smell bad, but all that can be fixed. You, Ms. Stone. will still look the same more or less, when you get cleaned up." he said with a smile.

"I am cleaned up asshole. I'm not so sure I want or need this much honesty in the mornings," I replied.

Eve showed up only after everyone else had finished in the bathroom. Leon had used my leg shaving razor to shave his beard which completely wrecked the razor. While Eve ran the water in the bathroom, as if she were showering and doing other morning things, I decided to speak to Leon.

"So, Leon you used my shower and my razor. I'm going to have to run you around this morning so you my friend can buy breakfast," I said.

"Of course, can we go somewhere they serve crepes?" he asked.

"Not unless you came up with a car over night. If you are dependant on me, it is breakfast at Helen's, then a walk in the mall. After that we can start deciding whether you will stay or not. If you stay, you are going to need to build a life quickly." I suggested. "I assume you have access to cash or a credit card, because I do not loan spies money."

"I can get cash love, and yes I have decided to stay for a while at least," he suggested.

It was almost nine by the time we got to Helen's. I had the spicy eggs on a biscuit bag. Eve had a plain bagel with cream cheese and jelly, just to keep up appearances. Leon decided that he would try the eggs with bacon and cheese on a French roll.

Since we were late and there were three of us, I chose a small picnic table for breakfast. "This actually isn't bad to have come from a bag. It isn't a four star restaurant, but the food is good and the coffee is wonderful for a side of the road restaurant," Leon admitted.

"If you drive twenty miles to Tryon, there are many good restaurants. Some of them are rated, but most aren't. Just like you would find in any other town its size," I volunteered.

"I am going to need a car for sure. Even if I don't settle here, I am going to settle in the states. A car is the only way to get around. Why don't you sell me one of the cruisers?" he asked.

"Because we have gotten along so far, the quickest way to have hard feeling is to sell you a car. I have no idea why, but if I sell anything to a friend it is garbage in a month and we blame each other for it. So. the answer is no on the sale, but you can borrow it or rent it for a couple of weeks, if you need it for more than a quick trip somewhere." It was the best I was going to do for him, otherwise I would take him to Hertz or one of the other rent shops.

After breakfast I drove the three of us to the mall where we began to walk. After lap two, the dancer showed up. I never quite figured her out, so I wasn't surprised when she and Leon took an instant dislike to each other.

"Phony bitch," Leon said as we walked away from her. "She dresses and acts like she is European, but she is just Euro-trash wanna be. You would be surprised how much of that I see in the states."

"I'm gonna have to take your word for it. I have no experience with Euro-trash real or fake," I admitted with a grin.

"Then you are indeed fortunate." Leon suggested turning his attention to a mens store which had just opened it's grill. "You two continue on, I'm going shopping."

"I am surprised that you are willing to shop in our little mall," I admitted.

"Good clothes are good clothes, poorly made clothes are the same everywhere. At the moment I expect everything to be trash, so one trash heap is the same as another," he informed me.

After a few yards into that next lap the dancer came up behind us just booking it. "Who is that dreadful man?" she asked.

"Friend of a friend, I am entertaining him for a few days," I lied.

"Well he is so damned arrogant," she said. "I don't think I have ever met anyone so arrogant."

"Actually I find him not quite so arrogant as most of the French people I have met. Still you would know better than me." I admitted.

"How long is he going to be in town?" she asked. She didn't seem near as frosty as she had when they met.

"He is likely to be around either a few days, or maybe move here permanently," I replied vaguely. "He is looked for a place to retire."

"Ah well, Aster is a good place for that," she said without much conviction.

You have no idea, I thought. "I like it here, so his friend thought he might as well."

While Leon was shopping the estimator for 'His Laboring Few' ministry called me. He informed me that he had arranged with Billy Ames to get into the two buildings. The Laundromat was open, so it was first. After he did an estimate to bring it up to code and made measurements for other things he would meet us at the drugstore. He figured it would be lunch before he could get Billy out there.