One Summer in Paris(98)

“Take your time. I’ve got this. I’ll get down there now so that Elodie doesn’t try to fire you. I don’t mind saving your butt again—” Audrey winked at her “—but this is your final warning.” She kept it light, but she didn’t like the way Grace looked. Lost and vulnerable. “Why don’t you forget about him for the rest of the day? Come and sort some dusty books, have a cup of tea with Toni and give yourself a day off from thinking.”

“Philippe asked me to dinner tonight. At his apartment.”

“Great. I’ll do your hair and makeup.”

“It feels wrong all of a sudden.”

“It’s not wrong, Grace. David walked away. You picked up the pieces of your life. Are you supposed to just drop them again because he’s changed his mind?”

“Maybe I should go and see Philippe as planned. You don’t think I’m awful?”

“I think you’re brilliant in every way.” She hugged Grace and was hugged back.

“Thank you. You are a wonderful person and a great friend.”

Audrey felt her throat thicken. Grace was so smart, wise and kind. To be loved by someone like her made her feel like she’d got top grades in everything. And Grace was an inspiration. She’d been badly hurt, but she still didn’t hold anything back. “Hey,” she said as she patted Grace on the back, “what’s all this talking in English? That’s not allowed.”

Grace pulled away. “I didn’t even ask you about Etienne! What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Tell me now. You look happy, so I assume you had a good talk.”

“We did. I told him everything. Turns out his family isn’t all perfect, either.” She didn’t say more because that would have been betraying a confidence. “We went for a long walk along the river and bought a baguette and some cheese. It was cool. Then we went back to his place. But I set three alarms so I wasn’t late this morning.”

“You came here to tell me all about it, and all I’ve done is talk about myself.”

“Yeah, well, the friend who gets priority is the one whose crisis is bigger, right? And yours is bigger. Next time my life falls apart, I’m shoving you right to the bottom of the pile. Now I have to go or Elodie will give me her frowning look.”

Audrey kissed Grace on the cheek, picked up her bag and clomped down the stairs to open up the bookshop.

Although she was worried about Grace, Audrey was also relieved that David obviously hadn’t found it easy to throw away twenty-five years of marriage. She didn’t know why she kept linking it to her own situation, but she did. It was all about hope. If you could see something existed for someone else, then you could believe it might exist for you.

There was no sign of Elodie, and Grace joined her thirty minutes later, her hair freshly washed and her makeup immaculate. She was wearing a cool linen dress and her arms were bare.

“You look great.” Audrey handed her a glass of iced water. “Much too good to mess around with dusty books.”

“We’ve made good progress. Let’s go and see what needs to be done today.”

They walked into the back room. The number of boxes piled high was slowly reducing.

Grace picked up a book and gasped. “Oh!”

“What?”

“When I was sorting through the books, I found a photograph of my grandmother. I intended to show Mimi, but I totally forgot all about it when I was there yesterday. It’s still in my bag.”

“You found a photo of her in a book?”

“Yes.”

“That is weird and a little spooky, frankly. Not sure I want to think about it. Maybe a ghost put it there or something.”

Audrey knelt down and finished emptying the box open on the floor.

The doorbell clanged, making them both jump out of their skin.

“That darn bell is a health and safety risk.” Audrey levered herself to her feet. “It’s going to give someone a heart attack. Or maybe you’re carrying hot tea and you scald yourself and all your skin peels off. Or maybe you jump and bang your head on a beam. There are any number of ways to die in this store, and none of them are glamorous. You stay here. I’ll go and do the whole customer service thing and if I need you, I’ll call.”

She walked into the shop.

The man standing in front of the desk was a stranger.

The touches of gray at his temples suggested he was nudging fifty, but that didn’t stop him being handsome. He had intense blue eyes and a few lines that suggested he smiled a lot.

She delivered her warmest French greeting. “Bonjour. Je peux vous aidez, monsieur?”

“I’m looking for Grace.”

David.

Shit. What was she supposed to do? Should she pretend Grace was out? Would Grace want to see him? Why hadn’t they planned for this scenario?

“Er—”

“Do you speak English?”

Audrey tried to look vacant and French and in the meantime David gave her a warm friendly smile. His smile was so compelling and attractive, Audrey almost smiled back and then she remembered he’d been a total shit to Grace and that she absolutely wasn’t on his side.

She gave him a cool look, modeling it on the look Elodie had given her when she’d fired her. To tell the truth, she was a little shaken.