#interlude in appaloosa

[treason-and-plot]

[enkisstories]

Let’s Investigate - Another Interlude

Connor’s sick leave coincided with a new mod trend coming to Detroit: Archery.

Since he was only contagious to computers and androids, Connor invited his human neighbors to try the new hobby out. His best friend, Chris, and Jim, Newcrest’s passionate hunter, quickly accepted - as did Daniel!

Connor: “But the doc said “no computers”...”

Daniel: “As if WE were in danger of hugging or sharing thoughts wirelessly! We aren’t that close.”

Just close enough to immediately come running when your not-friend is sick with a new virus-variant...

Jim’s turn...

Looks like the turkeys are save this fall.

The results of the first little contest (at skill level 2): If I read that right, Daniel scored 9 points alone, Jim and Chris 6 together and Connor didn’t get a single point.

In-story this isn’t surprising. Daniel and Gavin already learned archery during their weekend trips to Appaloosa Plains (in Sims 3).

[treason-and-plot]

Bunty is relieved that Georgina is looking a lot happier when she returns from the bathroom; she was worried earlier that she may have overstepped the mark and that Georgina was going to lose her cool and berate her in front of Sophie, (or forbid her from attending the wedding, as she had threatened to do last week!) but it seems that common sense has finally prevailed and Georgina has realised that Bunty only has her best interests at heart!

“Oh, you should have started without me,” Georgina says, seeing that their food has arrived. “Yum, your bouillabaisse smells absolutely delicious, Sophie! I must try that next time.”

“Have you and Vincent given any thought to your wedding catering?” Sophie asks as they eat.

“Not yet,” says Georgina, pausing in her chewing to give Sophie a friendly smile. “What are the most popular choices these days?”

“Well, of course, the traditional plated three-course meal option will never go out of style,” says Sophie earnestly. “But something a bit more casual like passed canapes and appetizers are increasingly popular, particularly when you combine them with cocktails! And a lot of couples these days are also choosing food trucks, which can be really fun and quirky-“

“We will most definitely not be having food trucks at Georgina and Vincent’s wedding, thank you Sophie,“ says Bunty with a short bark of shocked laughter. “It will be formal, served, plated meals. And we’ll be engaging a top-notch caterer. That goes without saying!”

“I couldn’t agree more, Mother,” says Georgina. ”Anything else would be just unthinkable.”

Twenty minutes later Sophie says regretfully that she has to leave because she has an appointment with a client; she gives her business card to Georgina and says with touching sincerity that she hopes to be able to meet with she and Vincent very soon, and that she cannot wait to help them get started on their wedding journey!

“Thank you,” says Georgina. “Vinnie- Vincent and I just need to sort out a couple of things first, and then we’ll definitely be in touch!”

“What kind of things do you have to sort out?” frowns Bunty after Sophie has left.   

“Nothing that you need to be concerned about, Mother,” says Georgina. "My goodness, is that the time? I'd love to stay and chat some more but I have to get back home and help Vinnie shovel manure!"

[treason-and-plot]

[previous- naughty version]

[previous- nice version]

“Thank you, my darling,” says Georgina. “I’m in a much better mood now. The prospect of having lunch with Mother is much more bearable after multiple orgasms!”

“You’re welcome,” says Vinnie, his eyes crinkling with love and amusement.  

“I just hope she’s finally gotten the message that we don’t want her interfering in any of the wedding planning.”

“I think she might have, after you threw all those magazines she’d bought in the bin and told her that you’d rather get married in a piggery,” says Vinnie with a gruff rumble of laughter. “The look on her face was worth bottling.”

Bunty had dropped round last weekend with an armful of Bridal magazines and had breathlessly announced to Georgina and Vinnie that friends of hers from tennis owned a gorgeous wedding venue surrounded by olive groves that could cater for over two hundred people, and she had arranged for them all to go and have a look at it that very afternoon! This was a few days after Georgina had told her firmly that she and Vinnie just wanted a simple garden wedding at home with no more than twenty guests. Bunty also refused to believe that Georgina didn’t want a designer wedding gown, nor a honeymoon, and all week she had been spamming Georgina’s email with pictures of wedding dresses and links to various exotic travel destinations. So it really wasn’t any wonder that Georgina had finally snapped. Bunty had told her that she was selfish and ungrateful and that she would never try to help her with anything ever again! Then she had flounced out, slamming the front door behind her, gravel flying under her tyres as she sped away up the driveway. A few days later she had phoned Georgina and invited her to lunch at the Golf Club today as if nothing had happened.

“You know what would make lunch with Mother even more bearable?” says Georgina now to Vinnie. ”If you came along too.”

“I’ve got too much to do here, Girl. The whole vineyard floor needs composting.“

“So you’d literally rather shovel shit than have lunch with my mother,” says Georgina.

“Those are your words, not mine,” says Vinnie, another deep growl of laughter escaping from his granite-like jaw.

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“Did you see how flustered Pat was when I asked him about Océane?” says Georgina to Vinnie once they have finished energetically waving goodbye, and Patrick’s Jaguar has disappeared from view down the long winding driveway. Vinnie grunts a non-committal reply, his huge rough hands inching his way down the front of her top, his stubble grazing her neck. ”Do you think they've finally done the deed? Oh my God, one can only hope…”

“I don’t care who Patrick's fucking,” growls Vinnie into her ear. "All I care about is taking his ex-wife wife inside and fucking her senseless on the kitchen table."

[treason-and-plot]

When Georgina walks into The Golf Club café she sees Bunty immediately, seated at a table at the rear of the room. Also seated at the table is a younger woman wearing a preppy headband in her long dark hair that is colour-coordinated to her outfit. She and Bunty appear deep in conversation. There are a number of folders on the table between them. Georgina slowly crosses the room, her eyes narrowed.

“Oh, hello darling!” says Bunty. “I’d like to introduce you to Sophie. Sophie, this is my daughter Georgina!”

“It’s so lovely to meet you, Georgina!” says Sophie.  

“I didn’t know you were bringing a friend to lunch, Mother,” says Georgina.

“Please sit down, darling,” says Bunty.

Georgina sits, refusing to smile at Sophie who is beaming at her with disconcerting intensity.

“Sophie is actually here in her professional capacity,” says Bunty.

“Professional capacity?” says Georgina. Sophie nods energetically.

“Sophie is a wedding planner,” says Bunty. “One of the most sought-after in the entire district, I might add! She’s brought along her portfolio so you can see for yourself some of the amazing events she’s organised.”

“Your mother has told me so much about you, Georgina! “ says Sophie. “I can’t wait to meet Vincent as well, and to sit down with you both and listen to all the exciting ideas you have for your special day! I just know this is going to be the start of a truly unique and beautiful creative collaboration!”

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“Is that all their stuff?” says Patrick, surveying the suitcases and backpacks sitting on the black and white tiled floor. “They're not bringing much.”

“They’re just going to be swimming and going to the beach every day, aren’t they?” says Georgina. “They don’t need much more than their swimsuits.”

“I suppose so,” says Patrick.

Patrick is taking Alistair and Philippa to his parents’ holiday home in Vista Beach for the school holidays, and the children haven’t been able to talk about anything else for days.

“So, Pat…will Océane be joining you on this trip?” Georgina asks with a wide and innocuous smile. Océane is the children’s former au pair, who apparently has been given the status of Patrick’s personal assistant now that the children spend the majority of their time with Georgina and Vinnie. A pink tinge crawls under Patrick’s skin while he rubs the back of his neck.

“Ah yes, she will,” he says. “She’s working today, just finishing up some things for me. She’ll be arriving tomorrow. “

“Oh, that's lovely," says Georgina. “She's such a sweetheart. The children are so fond of her."

Patrick clears his throat and mumbles that he will take the cases to the car.

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Vinnie hums and sings as he spreads fertilizer around the grape vines, the midday sunshine warm on his back, his nostrils filled with the rich earthy scent of fresh manure. ‘My Cherie amour, lovely as a summer day My Cherie amour, distant as the Milky Way, My Cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore…’ he croons to the grapes in his flat, gravelly baritone. His performance is tragically cut short by the ringing of his phone, and of course it’s Georgina.

“Oh my God,” she says, her voice shrill with fury. “You will never guess what Mother has done now!”

“Where are you?” Vinnie asks.

“I’m still at the Golf Club, in the bathroom. We haven’t even eaten yet. I just had to ring you before I exploded.”

“Take a deep breath and tell me everything,” says Vinnie.

“She ambushed me! She invited a Wedding Planner to lunch without telling me! Her name’s Sophie and she brought along her portfolio and of course she specialises in these hugely glamorous event-style weddings and Mother’s just sitting there drooling, fantasizing about how impressed all her snobby friends would be by you and me getting married in a Medieval Castle or on a luxury yacht or whatever. The worst thing though is that Sophie’s really, really nice! I’m too embarrassed to tell her that this is all a terrible mistake, and that Mother has gone against our wishes, and that we don’t want this type of a wedding! And of course Mother was counting on that too, because she knows what a wuss I am, and that makes it so much worse and makes me even angrier! Help me, Vinnie! What do I do?"

"Girl," says Vinnie, after a sonorous pause that seems to reverberate with thrilling finality through Georgina's phone and around the tiled walls of the golf club bathroom, "There's only one thing that we can do."

[treason-and-plot]

[previous]

“The fastest we can do it is in Isla Paradiso,” says Vinnie. “Everywhere else the paperwork takes at least a couple of weeks. But in Isla Paradiso you just rock up to the Town Hall, sign a form, and pay a fee. Then you’re legally able to get married. You can book the wedding ceremony at the Town Hall as well.”

“Isla Paradiso?” says Georgina. “Goodness. I’ve never been to Isla Paradiso.”

“Me either,” says Vinnie. “We could spend a couple of days there, have a mini-honeymoon-“

“What about the vineyard?” says Georgina.

“It’s not harvest time for another month or so,” says Vinnie. “The grapes can look after themselves for three or four days.”

"Four days in Isla Paradiso sounds lovely," says Georgina. Her chest feels fluttery, her mouth dry. "Can...can you book the flights?"

Vinnie turns towards her, and Georgina thinks that his face with its granite features and scars and crevices looks more beautiful than ever because it is the face of the man who is soon going to be her husband.

“Are you sure?” he says. “You don't need more time to think about it?"

“No," she says. “I want to do this. I'm a bit scared of Mother's reaction, but I know she's brought it on herself with her ridiculous behaviour. I just...I just can't help feeling a bit guilty that you're going to be missing out on a proper wedding. I mean, I've done the whole white wedding thing before, but you haven't-"

Vinnie moves with ursine grace to balance on his haunches at her feet, clasping her hand tightly between his.

"I couldn't give a flying crap about the wedding," he says. "All I want is to be married. To you."

[treason-and-plot]

Meanwhile, 900 kms away in Appaloosa Plains...

Philippa: Yay, Daddy's here!

Patrick: Aww, I've missed you two so much! Come and give me a big hug!