Chapter 3Though he tried with everything that he had, Alain finally broke at the fifth knock at his door.
“You were serious about going out this early?” Leaning against the edge of the door in order to stay upright, Alain blinked down at Simon, trying to clear his bleary vision. For his part, Simon looked as alert and collected as he had the previous night at dinner, smiling broadly and in great amusement at Alain’s obvious dishevelment. “Why would someone who spent their entire professional career having to cater to a nine-to-five existence voluntarily choose to continue such an awful schedule once you no longer had the obligation?”
“I don’t want to use retirement as an excuse to get lazy. Come now, you should be accustomed to waking this early. Aren’t you usually at your restaurant by
