Frankie’s Choice

Chapter 2, part II

For readers coming to Frankie’s story for the first time, Chapter One parts I and II can be found here and here, while Chapter Two part I can be found here.

Frankie sat low in the sports seat, gazing out through the windscreen at the road ahead. She’d never been in a car like Alberic’s before. It was, he’d told her, a Maserati Gran Tourismo S, which meant nothing to her. But the car was, she had to admit, sexy as hell and she felt very special being whisked along inside it. What Alberic hadn’t told her was that he’d had to replace virtually every electronic component in the car in order to make it reliable, and that he’d also had to replace a great many mechanical components as well. It had been a vanity project and he was still embarrassed to have sunk so much money into what was intrinsically a very badly-made car. But thanks to all the money spent on repairs and modifications it transported them flawlessly to Oxford, where Alberic parked it at significant expense just outside St John’s College.

It took less than an hour for Frankie to fall hopelessly in love with Oxford. The Radcliff Camera stood rotund and proud, flanked by All Souls on one side, St Mary’s on another, the old Bodleian on the third, and Alberic’s own Brasenose College on the fourth with the sunlight turning the stones golden-yellow. They were fortunate that the weather was…