Sleeping With Paris (42 page)

“Hello?” I answered.

“Charlotte! Hey, it’s Fiona.”

“Hey, Fiona, what’s going on?”

“Well, I have some news,” she said, sounding much more excited than she had during our last few conversations.

“Ooh, do tell.” I really hoped she wasn’t engaged or pregnant, or both.

“I’m coming to France!” she yelled into the phone.

Whew, thank God. “You are? When?”

“Next week!”

“What? Why? I mean, I’m so excited you’re coming, but what prompted the last minute visit?” I had just talked to Fiona a week before, and she hadn’t mentioned anything about flying over here, so I wasn’t sure what she had up her sleeve.

“You’re not going to believe this, but I broke up with Andrew, and Marc bought me a plane ticket to France.”

“Whoa, back it up! You broke up with Andrew? And you’re with Marc now? And I’m going to get to see you? How did all of this happen? Why did you break up with Andrew?” I was filled with questions, but
so
excited that she had taken charge of her life. I never thought it would really happen though. She was always so passive that I never thought she’d stand up for herself and get over him.

“Remember your last night in Paris, how Marc and I kind of . . .” she trailed off.

“Yeah, I remember. How you were kind of making out in the bar?”

She giggled. “Yeah, that. Well, we also kind of spent the night together.”

“Oh my gosh, you didn’t!” I shrieked.

“We did.”

“And?” I urged her, not believing my ears. Since Fiona had never mentioned it again, I always just assumed that she had gone home alone that night. I really didn’t think she would’ve taken things all the way since she was still with Andrew.

“Charlotte, it was amazing. He’s just so sweet and so handsome. After that night, we spent practically every day together before I left. But, I was still with Andrew, and I didn’t know what to do. You know I never do anything like that.”

Ain’t that the truth. “I know. So then what happened?”

“I went home and tried to make things work with Andrew. But after being with Marc, I really started to see through Andrew, and I
finally
realized what a selfish jerk he is. You were right about him all along. Marc and I were emailing every day, and I was leaving the flat as much as I could to sneak in phone calls to him. After a little while, I started to feel kind of scummy about the whole thing, but I knew that I wasn’t in love with Andrew anymore. So, a couple of days ago, I broke it off, moved back in with my parents, and Marc and I are officially together now.” I could hear her beaming over the phone.

“Oh my gosh, congratulations! You have no
idea how happy I am that you’re with Marc and you’re done with Andrew.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get the impression that you cared for him too much. But now I see why.”

“So how long are you staying in France?”

“I have a one-way ticket, and I’m already looking for jobs!”

“Seriously? Oh my gosh, that’s so exciting. I’m so glad I stayed now. And Marc’s dad is in Lyon, so you guys will be coming down here a lot, right?”

“That’s the other part of my news. Marc just finished medical school you know, and he found out that he’s going to be working in Lyon.”

“So you’re both moving here?” I asked, ready to jump out of my chair.

“Mmhmm . . . I’ll be in Lyon in less than a week, and hopefully, if it all works out, I’ll be there to stay!”

“Fiona . . . I can’t even believe this. This is seriously the best news I’ve had all year.” I smiled to myself and took a huge sip of wine in celebration. “I don’t know if you’ve heard from Lexi recently, but she’s doing a lot better and moving back to Paris this month too. And she’s bringing Dylan with her, the guy she’s been in love with for years.”

“That’s fabulous. We’re all going to be back together again. You have no idea how excited I am. I can’t even stand to wait another week. I’m just dying to be with Marc again.” Fiona then lowered her voice and said, “Charlotte, I think I’m in love with him.”

“Whoa . . . using the L word already,” I chuckled. “I’m so happy for you, Fiona. Marc is such a sweet guy, and you two make a perfect couple.” The thought did cross my mind that if she and Marc were to get married, Madame Rousseau would be her
mother-in-law
. The thought was too awful to think about. Plus I didn’t want to rain on her parade.

“There’s actually more good news,” she sang into the phone.

“Seriously? Did he propose or something?” Did Madame Rousseau get hit by a bus? God, I was awful.

“No, this is about you.”

“Me?”

“Oh, shoot, my phone is dying. Charlotte, are you . . .”

“Fiona? Fiona, are you there?” Just then, I lost the call. But what was she going to tell me? I had to call her back. I was about to dial her number when my phone rang again. I answered it without even checking the number because I just assumed it was her.

“Hey,” I answered. “So, what’s this good news you were about to tell me?”

“Charlotte?” a man’s deep voice said on the other line.

I almost dropped my wine glass—it was Luc.

“Luc?”

“Bonjour, Charlotte, how are you?” he asked, sounding way more excited to talk to me than I ever thought he’d be.

I didn’t know what to do. How to react. I’d imagined this scenario hundreds and hundreds of times since we last spoke, but I never actually thought I’d get the chance to talk to him again. I couldn’t believe he was calling me after all this time. My heart almost jumped out of my chest.
Calm it down girl
, I told myself.
Try to act normal.

“I’m doing great, how are you?” I wanted to ask a thousand more questions, like
where in the hell are you?
for starters, but I decided to keep it simple for now. No need to scare him away—it had taken him over four months to make this call.

“I’m alright, but . . .” he paused for a second. I could hear a lot of background chatter wherever he was, but amidst the chatter, he said softly, “I miss you.”

I had a hard time realizing this was actually happening. That Luc was really on the other end of the phone telling me that he missed me. That horrible feeling that had eaten away at me for so long finally lifted, and now to replace it was pure excitement.

“I miss you too Luc, so much.”

“You look beautiful,” he said, sounding out of breath.

“What?” I perked up in my chair, totally caught off guard. “Where are you? How do you—”

He cut me off. “
À droite
,” he said.
To your right.

This couldn’t be happening. I jerked my head around so fast I practically gave myself whiplash. I combed the old cobblestone street frantically. Was he here? Where was he? There were so many tourists walking up and down the street, I wanted to yell to everyone,
Stop moving! The love of my life is here, and I can’t find him!

Suddenly, the crowd parted, and there he was. He stood there showing off his nice tan in a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, with his messy light brown hair strewn about on his head and just a little bit of scruff on his chin and cheeks, just like the day I met him. We locked eyes for a second before we both broke into huge smiles.

“Hello,” he said into the phone as he picked up his pace, grinning the whole way.

“Hello,” I answered back, unable to take my eyes off of him. I couldn’t believe he was here. He was really here!

The world moved in slow motion as he walked up to my table, kissed me on the cheeks like he always had, and sat down next to me. I was speechless.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just that I . . . I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Me? I live here,” he responded matter-of-factly.

Oh my gosh. I couldn’t believe my ears.
This
is where he had moved to be with his daughter? I’d been living in the same city as Luc all summer and hadn’t even realized it? Then I remembered that he had told me he had family in Lyon. But it had never even crossed my mind that he might be here. When he left me that letter, it felt more like he had disappeared off the face of the earth, not moved two hours away from Paris in the exact same city that I had decided to move to.

“I live here too,” I responded, unable to wipe the dumfounded look off my face.

“I know, Lexi wrote to me and told me.”

“Lexi got in touch with you?”

He nodded. “She sent me your article, Charlotte. The second one.”

“She did?” I couldn’t believe Lexi had done that for me. Turned out she was a romantic, after all.

Luc smiled gently. “Yes, after I read it, I had to find you. So I contacted Fiona, and she told me you were here and that you hang out in Old Lyon. As soon as I got her email, I ran over here as fast as I could.” Luc paused as he gazed into my eyes. “And here you are, looking as beautiful as always.”

He reached across the table and covered my hand with his. I thought my heart was going to melt into a puddle right there on the cobblestones.

“Charlotte, I haven’t stopped thinking about you. I thought you had probably moved on, and were with another man now.”

“No, I haven’t wanted to be with anyone since you. I haven’t stopped thinking of you either. I’m so sorry for—”

Luc placed his finger over my lips. “Shhh. I know. I am sorry too. I am sorry for not telling you where I was going. And for not telling you about my daughter sooner. It wasn’t all your fault, you know. Just like you, I wasn’t ready for a relationship when we first met. I had a lot of processing to do after my divorce. But things are different now.”

“Things are different for me now too, Luc. And I’m just so happy your daughter is back. So, she’s here with you in Lyon?”

Luc beamed from ear to ear. “Yes, Adeline is here. I want you to meet her. You will love her.”

“I can’t wait,” I said, squeezing his hand, still not believing this was real.

My cheeks blushed as Luc’s eyes flirted with mine from across the table.

“Would you like a glass of wine? Do you have to be anywhere?” I asked, hoping we could make this moment last forever.

“No, not for a couple of hours. Adeline is at nursery. I’d love some wine.” He motioned for the waiter to bring over another wine glass while I admired his incredibly sexy physique and tried to wrap my head around all of this.

“So, why did you choose Lyon?” he asked as the waiter poured him a glass.

I told him the whole story, from my trip to Lyon with the girls to visiting my host family and meeting Jean-Sébastien, to moving into my apartment and now reading at cafés by myself and drinking wine every afternoon. He told me all about his new job and about his summer here with Adeline.

As the alcohol went straight to my head, my four month sex-drought started to catch up with me, and suddenly, I wanted him—badly. Not just physically—although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t fantasizing about ripping his clothes off and having my way with him—but in every way possible. I wanted to be with him and only him. I wanted the chance to love him again.

 “I want to take you somewhere,” he said as he leaned across the table and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Where?” I asked, knowing that I didn’t care where he was taking me. I would go anywhere with this man.

“You’ll see.” He insisted on paying the bill, then took my hand as he led me through the winding cobblestone streets of Old Lyon. We arrived at the river, where the sun was just beginning to set. Luc stood behind me, and as the fiery orange sun disappeared behind the deep violet waters, he wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, “
Je t’aime, Charlotte.
”

I turned around, took his face in my hands and gazed into his warm chestnut eyes. “I love you too.”

He gave me a flirty grin as he leaned down and gently placed his soft lips on mine. Then he whispered something else in my ear as his hands roamed over my body.

“
J’ai envie de toi
.”
I want you
.

It was as if he had just let a lion out of her cage. I was ravenous for his body. In true dying couple fashion, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other as we strolled back to his apartment a few blocks away and kissed each other on the couch as we waited for Adeline to come home.

Not long after, we heard a teeny knock on the door.

Luc ran to the door, swung it open, and there stood his little girl with her auburn hair pulled back into a pony-tail and her big green eyes looking up at her father like there was no one she loved more in the whole world. Luc thanked the other parent who’d dropped her off, then picked Adeline up and swung her around in his arms.

“
Papa
,” she cried. “
Tu m’as manqué.
”

“I missed you too,” he said as he set her down and led her over to me.

“Adeline, this is Charlotte, the woman I’ve been telling you about.”

As she batted her long eye lashes and swung her little pink purse from side to side, I knew that Luc wasn’t the only person I was falling in love with. I knelt down to greet her, feeling my heart bubble over with warmth as she leaned in and gave me two mini-bisous.