AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Bye, Natalie!" they all sing.
"Bye, girls."
I feel more alone than ever. If only we could go back to that moment in the garden, the moment just before things got all tense and backward. The moment before he said he couldn't be with me…
Gosh, that was a good moment. His arms around me, mine wrapped around his neck, the way he swung me around in circles before his warm lips found mine.The way we fit together in that kiss like it was meant to be all along.
How could I have been so stupid?
Of course it could never work out between Olivier and me. Reason number one—no matter what Laura says, I am not French enough. He needs a woman who understands his way of life, his culture.
He literally speaks a different language.
And just imagine, for a second, if IwasFrench? Reason number two—we come from two polar-opposite backgrounds. He grew up in these incredible estates, while Dad could barely keep the roof from leaking on our two-bedroom farmhouse. Olivier takes his pick of Paris or the French countryside, while the first time I left the land of casseroles was for this very trip.
And he's my boss, for goodness sake. There's reason number three—we are totally crossing professional lines. I am indebted to this man, and I am paying off my debt. And when I’m done, we’ll just go back to being employer and employee. Something he had no trouble doing when Simone set a table for everyone but me. I may have felt like I was a part of the family—just another misstep by the backwoods farm girl. It was my fault for dreaming I belonged here.
The best I can hope for is that the family worked out their differences last night and that this time can end peacefully.
The door to my bedroom flies open as someone knocks on it.
"Oh my good mother and heaven above!"
"I knocked." Olivier opens his hands to show his innocence.
"That doesn't change the fact that this door needs a lock!"I'm more wound up than I thought I was.
But however tired I am, Olivier looks worse.
"Oh gosh, Olivier. Rough night?"
Do not touch him, donottouch him. Oh, but I want to so badly. Just to reach out an arm, to reassure him.
But I don't.
"Very rough." He rubs his eyes like a little kid who’s trying to wake up. "Seeking agreement about the best way forward is proving harder than I thought. I can't believe the Opera is the way to go."
"The Opera?"
"Never mind." He shakes his head as if intending to change the subject. "Let me just say that it's a challenging time in the family. I’m trying to change course, but with Father back everything is more complicated,” —there it is again, complicated— “and with Simone, it's just…"
He looks up over my head and I could swear I see tears building in his eyes. But he blinks and looks me straight in the eye.
"You have to go back to Paris, Natalie."
"Of course. In four days, I think Grandmama will be close to able to manage entirely on her own with a cane. I was thinking, actually, if she moved temporarily into the room on the ground floor—"
"No, Natalie. You need to go today. Now."
Someone just tossed an anvil into my stomach.
"But Grandmama—I mean, Madame—she's not ready. She still needs help and support."
"Andrée will do it for these few days."
He's making a mistake. They all are. Grandmama is getting stronger, yes, but she's going to need close support. And haven't I seen how she's come out of her shell these last few days? What a gift. Everyone thinks she's this cantankerous, dictatorial woman, but now I understand there's so much underneath the surface. So much no one sees. The whole story with Henry...shelostthe love of her life. She's had to keep massive secrets. That's got to wear on a woman. I can't help but think of her as a friend.
And now it feels like I'm losing her.
