The Paris Time Capsule (8 page)

Cat stood up and walked towards the door, just as she reached it, she turned.
“Loic, I’m going out for lunch.”

“
Think about it Cat.”

Cat shook her head and picked up her coat.

The art experts moved quickly once Boldini’s letter had been found. When Cat returned
to the apartment, having lunched on a bowl of French onion soup and a warm baguette, Pascale Colbert was there too. He and Anouk communicated all afternoon with their counterparts back at the Musee d’Orsay who were reading through Boldini’s papers, letters, his wife’s memoirs and anything else they could find.

Loic
continued reading the letters while Cat helped Anouk, dusting individual pieces, admiring them, watching Anouk catalogue them all.

At four o’clock, Anouk surveyed what she had done in the living room and the kitchen.
“Tomorrow, I will bring in another person. We will continue to work through all of this, catalogue it for you, and value it all for the estate. I think this will be done in the next two weeks.”

Loic
came into the room. “I’ve read the rest of the letters,” he said, handing them to Anouk. “Nothing more about Boldini. But, you take them. Read them yourself.”

Anouk simpered up at
Loic. “And were you moved by these beautiful love letters, Loic?” she asked, her dark head on one side.

“
Not at all,” Loic grinned at her. “But my mother will be. I want Cat to come and meet her.”

“
Madame Jordan,” Anouk said. “If you will allow, me, I will organize our cleaners to come in tomorrow as well. It would be best for you to keep away while it is done. It will be a messy job, to say the least … and, well.” She shot a flirty glance at Loic. “You would be mad to pass up the opportunity to see Provence.”

“
I see,” Cat said.

“
So?” Loic had his head on one side.

“
Only if I can convince your mother to do the right thing. Only if you promise not to convince her otherwise.”

Loic
held her gaze.

She had only taken one week off work. There was so much to do. The wedding … the idea had not quite taken hold in her mind yet. Paris could be sorted out long distance. Once the apartment was inventoried, and valued, she could get Monsieur
Lapointe to write to Loic’s mother since she had to refuse the inheritance under French law. It would be so much simpler.

“
Maman won’t accept what wasn’t left to her.”

“
So there’s no chance, then.”

“
If you never try - ” Loic began.

Anouk’s phone rang; she answered it on the first ring. Cat couldn’t understand a word. But
Loic moved closer to her. He talked quietly, rapid English, just as Anouk went on in French.

“
They’ve done it,” he said. “The painting’s a Boldini. His wife mentions the painting of Marthe in her memoirs. Marthe de Florian was twenty-four when Boldini painted her.”

Anouk hung up. She turned to face them. And then, she stumbled across the room to Cat. With her hands, she clutched at Cat’s arms and twirled her around and around.

“This is incredible!” she said. “This painting is once in lifetime discovery! It will be worth fortune!”

It was impossible to know what to say.

Finally, Anouk let go of Cat’s arms. “Do you understand what this means? Everyone goes crazy for this painting if you sell! You need to consult with Loic’s family as to what do with it! You have masterpiece on your hands!”

Anouk turned to include
Loic. “Monsieur, Madame, the team, all of us, we are going out to a wine bar tonight to celebrate! You must come with us! You helped us by finding the wonderful letter. Please?”

Loic
looked at Cat. “I’m in, if you’ll come too, Cat?”

Cat shrugged.

“I’ll translate for you,” Loic chuckled.

“
Oh, I may as well!” Cat laughed. “A night alone in the hotel isn’t much fun, after all.”

“
You definitely need a night out.”

Anouk was packing up.
“I cannot concentrate any more,” she said. “I am going home to my bath and to get all dressed up!” She picked up her bags. She told Loic in rapid French where they would all meet in a few hours.

Loic
turned to Cat. “Shall I pick you up from your hotel at eight?” he asked, as Anouk walked out the door.

Cat picked up her thin
gs. She needed some time alone to digest this. Finding out that the painting really was a Boldini changed everything. All she wanted to do was go home, to New York, to Christian, but the guilt of this thing was spiraling out of control. The contents and the apartment had to go back to the family. She turned to Loic.

“
This is getting serious. There’s a lot … involved here.”

“
I know.”

“
You have to see reason. It’s nothing to do with me.”

Loic
reached out and placed a tendril of Cat’s hair back in place.

She took a step back.

“It’s everything to do with you,” he said, his eyes still on her.

Cat bustled about in her bag.
“The key. It should be somewhere in here.”

“
You left it in the door.”

“
Did I?”

Loic
was there before her. He took the key out and handed it to her. “Stay in France for a little while, Cat,” he said. “Help me sort it out. There has to be a way.”

“
But what about your work? It’s not going to be easy sorting all of this out.” Cat knew this was lame.

“
I work for myself. I have good people running the vineyard.” Loic held the door open for her and waited while she walked out through it.

The wine bar was full and noisy. Anouk, Pascale and several other people sat around a table in the corner of the room.

“
Bonsoir!” they called, the men all kissing Cat on both cheeks, shaking Loic’s hand.

When they were all settled, Pascale turned to Cat and
Loic.

“
So,” he said. “What is next for you two discoverers of this great treasure?”

Cat waited for
Loic to speak. It was his family. His history.

“
I’m hoping to take Cat down to Provence, there are still … things to work out.”

Pascale leaned across the table. He held his wine glass up to
Loic. “Here’s for the very best,” he said.

“
Cat will want to get back to her fiancé, her lover in New York, for certain.” Anouk’s smoky voice cut through the rest of the chat. The noisy group suddenly fell quiet.

Cat was sure her face had turned magenta. Everyone seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
“I … got engaged on the weekend.”

“
Congratulations,” Loic said.

Pascale made a comic face.

Loic got up and went to the bar.

After a beat, the conversation started up again around Cat. She stood up herself, then sat back down, then stood up again, and walked over to where
Loic was.

He stood next to her at the bar, but he didn’t turn to face her.
“I didn’t realize you were engaged,” he said, still facing straight ahead. “I didn’t notice the ring today.” He glanced at Christian’s diamond, then waved at a waiter.

Cat waited a beat.

“Do you like wine, Cat?” He sat down, sudden, on the stool in front of him.

Cat sat down next to him.
“I’m no expert.”

He handed her his glass.
“Tell me what you think of this one.”

“
Oh, sure!” Suddenly, it seemed imperative that the mood stayed light. She took a sip of the wine.

“
Any good?” Loic slid the glass back along the bar towards himself, rolling the stem around with his fingers.

“
Divine.” Was that the right answer?

“
Okay. Try this one.” Loic took another glass from one of the bartenders, who appeared right in front of them.

Cat watched him, and took a deep sip.

“Is it as good?”

“
Oh,” she murmured. “Easily.” She turned to Loic. “Tell me, why is it that you French make the best chocolate, the best wine, and the best patisseries on the planet?”

“
Probably because we are idiot perfectionists,” Loic said. A twinkle had crept into his eyes. “And we know exactly when to stop.”

Cat took another sip of the divine wine and held the glass towards
Loic. “Your elegance is in what you don’t do, then?”

“
Or what we don’t say,” Loic muttered, taking a sip out of the glass Cat had tried earlier.

“
So … which of the two wines did you make?”

“
Both.”

Cat knew that if she didn’t have something to eat soon, she’d be floating. The combination of the excitement of the last few days, the wine, everything, appeared to have hit her all of a sudden.

“Well, that’s great. Well done. You’ve obviously built a business up on your own.” Why could she not say something sensible?

“
Look, Cat, if you’re coming with me, I think we should get an early start tomorrow.” Loic stood up, all of a sudden. “I’m going to say goodbye to the others.” He stood there, looking at her.

Cat blew out a breath.
“Look, Loic, I just think …”

“
At least, meet her. Come and see where we live. You’re involved in this, Cat. You can’t just leave it.”

“
The only reason I would come is to convince your mother to take her apartment.” The music in the bar had softened. Cat dropped her voice to a whisper. “That would be my only reason.”

“
Good.” He leaned forward, kissed her on the cheek.

Cat took a step backwards and nearly fell over the
barstool behind her.

“
I’m glad we’ve got that clear,” he said. Loic tossed his jacket over his shoulder. “I’ll pick you up at nine from your hotel.” He marched off towards the rest of the party.

Cat sat down again on her stool with a thump. She watched him walk back to the table of art experts, shake their hands, kiss Anouk on the cheek. Of course. That was what French men did. To everyone including her, it seemed. She sat up a bit taller. Of course it was what they did.

Cat waited until he was well out of the building. Then she went over to the group at the table, and sat down with them. If Loic wouldn’t see sense, she would convince his mother to do so and quickly.

As soon as she was in the taxi, Cat grabbed her phone and rang Christian.

“
Hey!” she said, beaming into the darkness.

“
Cat.” The sounds of tapping on a computer resonated down the phone as if he were in the next room, not across the ocean.

“
How was your flight?” Cat kept her voice deliberately loud.

“
Fine. The flight was fine,” Christian said. “Are you almost done over there, now?”

“
Oh, well … are you back at home now?”

“
I’m at home.”

“
And, working, by the sound of it? So dedicated.”

“
What?”

“
Dedicated. To your work! And, is everyone okay at home?”

“
I was only gone three days, honey.”

“
Great. Excellent.” The taxi pulled up outside the hotel. Cat paid, climbed out and stepped into the old caged lift. “So … have you told people about the engagement then? Your mom?”

“
My mom?”

Cat winced.
“Your … mother, I mean. And father.” She couldn’t let him go, needed to talk to him as if he were a life raft in the ocean.

“
I haven’t seen them yet.”

“
Oh! Tell them in person when you next see them, of course you should, what a surprise, hey! I hope it’s not a shock!”

“
What?”

“
I wanted to hear your voice.” Cat threw herself down on her bed, stared up at the ceiling.

“
Well, here I am.”

“
So, you want to know when I’ll be back?”

“
Absolutely, Cat.”

“
Oh, good.” Cat closed her eyes. After this, she would go out and buy some food. That was what she would do. “Well, you see -”

“
Still working on this same damned job. That business I mentioned earlier. It’s blown up while I was on the damned plane.”

Cat spoke in a rush.
“Look, I’m just going down to the south of France for a couple of days, so no problems? Just to … sort some stuff out. I want to convince the rightful heir that the apartment is, well, hers. And … we discovered the painting was a Boldini. I texted you! Did you get my text?”