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“I hate to bring up your ex,” I say. “But I need to know more about this ski pole incident.”
“Noooo!” she cries. She buries her head in her hands. “It’s so embarrassing.”
“You sound like a hero to me,” I say.
She uncovers her face, looking at me with narrowed eyes. “You have a very broad definition of hero then.”
“Maybe,” I reply. “But come on. I need details. Did he run and hide?”
“I’m glad he didn’t,” she says. “In the state I was in, I probably would have given chase. Thankfully I realized I needed to get out of there before I put the other pole through one of them.” She bites her lip. “So I guess I was the one who ran.”
“You did the smart thing,” I say. When she doesn’t answer, looking instead at the carpet, deep in the memory of the worst day of her life, I use a finger to turn her chin up so that she’s looking at me. “Hey. If it makes you feel better, we can lure the two of them to the top of the Eiffel Tower and push them off.”
She rolls her eyes and bats me away. “Be serious,” she says.
“Oh I’m completely serious,” I say. “Come on. We can dodge the cops for a week. Once we’re back in New York, we’re in the clear.”
“I think the US extradites to France, Nick.”
I twist my mouth. “Oh yeah, you’re probably right. Well then I guess we’ll have to hightail it somewhere else that doesn’t. How’s North Korea sound?”
“Bad,” she says.
“Saudi Arabia?”
“Not much better.”
I snap my fingers. “Vietnam. I doubt there’s much love lost for the French there.”
She grins. “That does sound promising. The beaches look amazing.”
“The question is how we’ll get there though.”
“Duh, you have a giant ass ship we can take!”
“Oh god, I can just picture the Coast Guard in hot pursuit.”
“It’ll be like the OJ car chase meets Speed 2.”
The visual is hilarious and I burst out laughing. She joins me and we laugh together until we’re both wheezing.
“It’s a beautiful dream,” she says at last. “But I think Brent and Cheryl will have to survive this trip.”
“Your wish is my command,” I say. “But let me know if you change your mind.”
Evie rests her head back against my shoulder. “Don’t try me,” she says. “I’ve barely convinced myself.”
Before long I feel her soft and steady breaths once again, and beyond all reason I drift off too. We stay asleep until the wheels touch down in Paris and jolt us out of our rest.
If I had the choice I would have happily spent the next two weeks locked away in this cozy little room. But we have a job to do. Our private bliss is over.
Now we have to rejoin the world.
Between the time change and the unrelenting city traffic, by the time we reach the hotel it’s almost 11 o’clock.
Even though Evie and I take a private car, we arrive pretty much exactly when Kara’s limo pulls up. It’s bad timing. I can’t think of a group of people I want to see less right now. An image of Jack and my father pop into my head, and I hastily discard it. The old man might be in prison but I’ve long since learned it’s not wise to tempt fate.
Kara and Dax get out of the car, followed shortly by Dalton and a smaller collection of VIPs which includes the girl with the rose tattoo who’d spoken to us on the plane.
