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Grabbinga pastry and sitting back again,Elodiesaid, ‘Iteach fourth grade at anAmericanSchoolhere inParis.’
AtJess’sconfused look,Elodieclarified, ‘Nine-year-olds.’
Gabrielplaced a wide white mug full of cappuccino in front ofJessand took a seat across from them. ‘You’rea teacher?’Hetore into apain au chocolat.
‘Ican’t believeIhaven’t told you that,’ saidJess.Itreminded her that he was still technically a stranger.
Elodiesnorted and said, ‘It’shard to talk when your mouth is full.’
Gabrieltossed his remaining croissant at her head and rebuked her inFrench.Elodiereplied with something short and sharp and stroked her jawline twice with her knuckles in some sort ofGallicgesture.Inreturn, he threw his hands in the air.Jesswished the floor would open up and swallow her.Inthe five minutes she’d been around this brother and sister duo, they’d argued more than her parents had in the twenty-eight years since she’d been born.
‘Sorry,’Gabrielsaid, his expression resigned. ‘Mysister is an interfering busybody with no filter between her head and her mouth.’
‘Andmy brother is a sad, boring hermit, so thank you for sleeping with him,’ saidElodie. ‘Seriously, you’ve done a great service to humanity.’
Jess’seyes bugged wide, and she didn’t know where to look.TheFrenchwere way less repressed about discussing sex openly.Sheseriously contemplated grabbing her bag and running away.Afoot tapped against hers under the table, and she immediately knew it wasGabriel.Hereyes found his.Withhis usual dry-humour, he explained. ‘Sorry, she isn’t very well trained.’ToElodie: ‘Ican’t believe you’re responsible for teaching children.’
Shesnapped her tongue dismissively and said, ‘Whatever.Anyway, what are you two doing today?’
‘Um…Ihave no plans,’ saidJess, assuming thatGabrielmight not want to spend more time with her, but by the same token, leaving herself open to an invitation.
Gabriel’ssmile dropped, his expression turning almost angry and his eyes darkening.Tohis sister, he said, ‘YouknowwhatI’mdoing today.’
Sheactually winced and looked contrite for the first time. ‘Shit, sorry,G.Iforgot…’Themood shifted, andJesscouldn’t follow what was happening.Allshe knew was that she was back to feeling like an interloper again.
Notwanting to outstay her welcome,Jesspushed away from the table and stood up.Sherefused to be that last guest at the party who didn’t know when it was time to leave. ‘It’sokay.IthinkI’mgoing to just walk around today.’
‘Nope,’ saidElodie, standing to join her. ‘You’recoming with me.It’sthe summer picnic at my school.’
‘Oh,Icouldn’t?—’
‘Please!Itwill be about a trillion times more fun with you there.Freefood…’Shesang it as though free food might be the best reason to do anything, andJesshailed from the workhouse inOliverTwist.
‘Um…’Jesswasn’t sure.Shedidn’t knowElodie, and she didn’t wantGabrielto think she was expecting anything from him or schmoozing with his sister to crawl deeper into his life.Jesshadn’t read the rule book for one-night stands, but hanging out with the sister of the guy you’d slept with probably wasn’t a recommended move.
Gabrielrecovered from his dark cloud.Hestood and gathered their empty mugs. ‘Whatabout your spontaneityscience fair project?’Hesaid it over his shoulder as he carried the items to the sink—both a challenge and permission for her to accept his sister’s invitation.
Shepursed her lips to the side.Whatcould it hurt?Shedidn’t knowParisat all, and it would be interesting to see what theAmericanSchoollooked like.Callit professional curiosity.
Witha smile, she shrugged and said, ‘Okay.Iguess so.Whynot?’
Elodieshrieked and did a funny dance.Whenshe recovered,Elodiesuggested they meet in front of the building in thirty minutes’ time.Sheexcused herself and went to the toilet—Jessassumed, to give her andGabriela chance to say goodbye.
Pickingup her bag,Jessstrolled to the door.Gabrielstood at the sink, busily washing out mugs and lost in thought.Hedidn’t seem to notice that she was leaving.
Unsurewhat to say, she cleared her throat. ‘Um.So…IguessI’llsee you around?’Shedidn’t want to make any assumptions about whether he wanted to get together again before she left onThursday.Hedidn’t reply. ‘Gabriel?’
Hishead snapped up and, for a fleeting moment, she caught the tail end of a helpless, ravaged expression on his face.Whateverhe had going through his mind, it wasn’t future assignations withJess.
Shedug her nails into her palm to stop herself from rushing over to comfort him.Althoughhe appeared like he could use a hug, his manner conveyed it wouldn’t be welcome.Heturned off the tap and came towards her, stuffing his hands into his pockets—as though he wanted to avoid touching her.
Takingher cue from him, she wrapped her hands around her bag’s strap. ‘Iguess this is it,’ she said, wanting to set the bar first: no expectations.
Heremoved his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms instead. ‘I’mpretty busy over the next few days?—’
‘Oh, of course, you are.Imean, why wouldn’t you be?’Sheforced the corners of her lips to stay pointing up and avoided his eyes. ‘Don’tworry about me.There’splenty to?—’
‘IfIfind some free time,I’llcall you.I’vegot your number on your booking.’
