One Summer in Paris(63)

“Darn?” Etienne yawned. “‘Shit’ I know, and also ‘fuck,’ but what is this darn?”

“Darn. You know—oh, never mind.” She scrambled out of bed, grabbing her clothes.

Etienne levered himself up on his elbows, watching her from the bed with sleepy eyes. “You can use my shower if you like.”

“No time. I’m already late. I’m going to lose my job. If I lose my job, I lose my apartment.” How could she have been so stupid?

“You could move in here, with me.”

“Don’t let’s get ahead of ourselves.” She dragged on her dress. She’d felt pretty in it the night before. Now it felt wrinkled and wrong. Her heels were too high to suffer a walk over the cobbled streets. How could she have lost track of the time? How long would it take her to get back to the bookshop from here? She didn’t even know exactly where she was.

She didn’t have time to look in the mirror but she knew most of her makeup had settled under her eyes.

She found her purse and glanced back toward him. “Thanks.” Was that the wrong thing to say? She had no idea.

He grinned that sexy, lopsided smile that she found impossible to resist. “One of my friends is having a party tomorrow night. Come with me?”

She paused with her hand on the door. A party in someone’s house was different from a drink in a bar. But Etienne was nice, and the friends she’d met the night before had seemed nice, too.

“Sure,” she said. “What time?”

“I’ll pick you up at eight.”

Audrey blew her budget and took a cab back to the bookshop, fidgeting in the back seat the whole way.

She saw the driver glance at her in his rear-view mirror and read disapproval in his expression.

When he pulled up outside the bookshop she shoved a few notes at him and raced inside.

Please, please don’t let Elodie be there.

There was no sign of Elodie. Just Grace, talking to the white-haired old man who was fast becoming Audrey’s favorite customer. His name was Toni, and he arrived at the bookshop at the same time every day, chose a shelf and flicked through every book one by one. Audrey still hadn’t figured out what he was doing. Surely no one could read a book that fast?

Right now, he had his hand on Grace’s shoulder in a soothing way. He seemed to be reassuring her about something.

“Hi, Toni.” Audrey beamed at him, trying to look as if it was normal to show up wearing last night’s crumpled dress and high heels. “How are you doing?”

“I’m well, thank you.” He let his hand drop and smiled at Grace, as if he’d been proved right about something.

Grace sat down hard on the chair. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?” She saw Grace scan her dress and wished she’d stopped to buy a new outfit on her way home.

Usually Grace smiled a lot, but today her mouth was set in a tight line.

Crap.

Normally Audrey didn’t give a damn what people thought of her, but for some reason she really didn’t want Grace to think badly of her. “I’m sorry I’m late—”

“Go and take a shower and change. I’ll hold the fort.” Grace stood up and picked up a stack of postcards from the desk. “Let’s carry on going through these, Toni. This one must have been taken from across the street, don’t you think?”

Toni took it from her and peered at it. “Yes. There used to be a café right there.”

Audrey hesitated. She wanted to redeem herself, but didn’t know what to say. The best thing she could do was get out of last night’s clothes. She shot upstairs to her apartment, showered in two minutes flat and pulled on jeans and a clean T-shirt. If she took the time to dry her hair, would Elodie appear and notice she was missing? Knowing her luck, probably.

She scooped it into a knot and secured it at the back of her head, flung open the window to let in some air and clattered back downstairs.

She pushed open the door and froze.

Elodie was standing there.

Her stomach lurched.

Goodbye, apartment. Probably goodbye Paris, too, because she couldn’t afford anything else on what she earned at the salon. Goodbye, Etienne.

That part bothered her more than anything.

Audrey braced herself to be fired and publicly humiliated, but instead of exploding as she had the time before, Elodie beamed at her.

“Thank you!” She reached out her hands to Audrey. “Grace was telling me that you have spent half the morning clearing out the boxes of books in the back. They’ve been there forever. I never seem to have time to sort them. No wonder you were covered in dust and needed a shower. I’m so grateful.”

Grace stood stiffly. “I was telling Elodie how you sorted them into fiction and nonfiction, and then into categories. We’re going to shelve them together later.”

Audrey stared at her.

Grace had lied for her? Grace?

Was she even capable of telling a lie?

It must have half killed her, but she’d done it for Audrey.

“Yeah, those books were—pretty dirty.”

Elodie waved her hand. “It is a job I have been meaning to do for at least two years, so I’m pleased that finally you have made a start. Thank you, Audrey.”

Audrey felt color flood into her cheeks. She felt like a total fraud, probably because she was a fraud. She was never going to be late again. “You’re welcome.” She waited until Elodie bustled out of the shop, and turned to Grace.