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“What?”
“Hush now,” she says with a glint in her eye. “Don't you dare mention that in front of the boys.”
“Grandmama!” Olivier arrives, delicately taking her in his arms. “Mais qu’est-ce qui s’est passe? Comment tu vas? Tu es tombée?”
“I'm fine, I'm fine,” she replies in English as the others arrive. “I told the American girl that I was going for a walk this morning, but she must have forgotten. You know how these Americans can be.”
“Excuse me?” I declare, my jaw-dropping even further than it was before.
“Natalie,” Olivier runs his hand nervously through his hair. “You can't permit her to go for walks. How could you forget such a thing?”
A squeak escapes my lips as Grandmama gets lifted by two of the groundskeepers.
That little old lady has stories to spare, and by golly, I’m going to find them out. Madame wears a demure smile as she twists in the arms of the strapping young men to meet my eye.
And winks.
CHAPTER 21
Olivier
Sebastien’s hot breath on my neck is doing nothing to relieve my anxiety.
“Seb, can you give me a little bit of space, please?” I ask him. “I can’t save the Bouchon Noir with you watching over my shoulder.”
“The wine event you planned was good,” he says, ignoring my request altogether. “But you know we can only do that in the seasons where the varieties come in and we need something now. I know you can do this, mon frère. But we need a big idea, a great idea. Every idea you've written on this list in front of you is useless, already done, old fashioned. Nul, mon frère.” He paces the room, wringing his hands. “It’s not going to be in the big, flashy marketing stunts that we will change the path of the business. We have to change the model, adapt the menu—”
“Change the model, change the model.” It's the same story with Seb, and I don’t have the patience for it. “You want me to change it into a fast food chain? A ‘Mom and Pop Shop’? Or maybe we serve granola and veggie burgers?”
“You know that’s not what I’m saying. Just because Father couldn’t see a different way of doing things doesn’t mean we have to be beholden to that history.”
“That way of thinking is exactly why Father won’t let you near the restaurant.”
His mouth is open and his shoulders curl in, but no more words emerge.
“It's been a difficult morning, Sebastien. Go for a walk.”
He sighs and bows dramatically “I wouldn’t want to prevent genius from coming to fruition.”
He marches out, his footsteps echoing down the hall until I hear the door close behind him. I slam my fist on the table, the pain gently rising through my wrist but it’s nothing compared to the task of preserving the essence of the Bouchon Noir in the face of this changing landscape. I’m swimming in quicksand of Father’s expectations, Sebastien’s contempt, and a very real budget that is not being met by our current clientele.
Despite my dismissal, Seb is on to something. I feel like I'm on the edge of a breakthrough, that there is an idea percolating just below the surface… but I can't find it. Just as I close in, my brain hits a dead end.
Is it because Grandmama went wandering this morning, nearly giving us all a collective heart attack?
Or is it because of the feeling of Natalie in my arms is still alive on my skin. Her arms wound tightly around my neck, her body pressed into me like we were the only two people left in the world…
Snap out of it, Olivier.
With so much on the line—the future of the restaurant into which I have poured my heart and soul, all for the sake of my family—now is not the time to get lost in silly, romantic daydreams.
If I could just get a bit of peace and quiet.
“Olivier!” The screech of a woman-shaped hawk reverberates throughout the house. “OLIVIER!”
Simone. I close my notebook and stand from the chair, tucking it in behind me as though for a military inspection. The less she has to criticize, the sooner she’ll leave me alone. No wonder she’s become the top biologist in her field; anyone standing in her way noticed their wounds only after she galloped over them.
“Olivier, goodness. Look at this.” She thrusts her fingertips in my face. “Do you see this?”
