Ritual
The Dandoy Saga – 3
This summer, Maison Dandoy takes you to sunny Marseille for a saga in four episodes.
Sweet summer memories
In the distance, Léa sees a familiar figure. No way, she thinks. Over the years, she has learned to measure her hopes. Too high, it’s running the risk of being disappointed. Too low, the danger of getting bored. She smiles, decides to believe and starts running.
The closer she gets, the more confident she is. She didn't know that cookies could give such pleasant surprises.
‘Lola!’
Léa throws herself into her friend's arms, who bursts out laughing, trying not to fall backwards. They hug for a moment. Lola's hair smells of salt.
‘I brought the sun from Brussels, right?’ Lola jokes, looking up.
‘You're the sun,’ Léa laughs.
She looks at Lola, as if she can't believe it. Her great friend who, because of work, had not been able to come along, is there. She couldn't resist joining them for the weekend. Léa has a thousand questions; how long has this been planned? Who knew?
The rest of the group joins them. They greet Lola, and all start talking at the same time. A lot has happened this summer.
‘And then the little boy told me, 'You can make your own sand hole,'’ Hélène finishes telling her.
‘Ok, if you see him today, you tell me, and we'll go and talk to him about it,’ Lola says in front of a half-amused, half-exasperated Noah.
‘I can't wait for the moment you're going to mess with a 4-year-old, Lola.’
‘Look, you're either a serious godmother, or you're not.’
Everyone goes for a swim. Léa stays on her towel and enjoys the excitement from afar. At the water's edge, Diego does the splits in front of Hélène, who tries, with relative success, to imitate him. Jean, his arm around Lola's shoulders, laughs while talking to her. Noémie and Noah play ball in the water.
Léa takes her time to record every detail in her memory.
‘You went to get a bottle of natural sparkling wine from a small local producer?’ Jean teases her.
‘To celebrate my presence,’ Lola ignores him, raising her glass.
The feast is ending, and Lea takes out the box of shortbread for dessert. She whispers to Lola:
‘By the way, who did you give the mission to?’ ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘The shortbreads in my bag, with the note for the surprise.’
Lola looks at her with a blank look. She has never seen these shortbread biscuits in her life.
‘They're delicious though!’
Good spots:
In this episode, part of the picnic is from L'IDÉAL grocery store. Lola picked up a bottle of wine at Les Buvards. As for the mysterious shortbreads, they are from a Maison in Brussels that we probably don't need to name...