Chapter 10
“Bonjour,” he said without the played-up accent.
“Bonjour, mon ami.” The woman looked up at him with dark brown innocent eyes and he was instantly smitten by her.
She tried to keep her eyes on him, but quickly looked at her friend and laughed.
“My apologies but my French is rather rusty. Do you by chance speak English?”
“We do, quite well actually.”
“Oh, thank God.” He smiled at her and stood up straight. “I seem to be having a problem with it.”
“I… noticed,” she said pointing to the counter where his latest failure occurred.
“You witnessed that, did you?”
She nodded, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she let out another chuckle matching her friend’s laugh. “It’s not very often that we over hear a good-looking man ask a woman if she wanted to see his monkey.”
Edward cringed, making a face and covering his eyes. “Oh, God. I didn’t say that, did I?”
“I’m afraid you did.”
“Well, it’s no wonder she slapped me.”
“You don’t get to France very often do you?”
“No. No I don’t, and even though I did take classes back in my college days, my french isn’t so good.” He motioned to an empty seat and lowered his head. “You aren’t, going to slap me if I ask to join you, are you?”
She laughed again and silently checked with her friend. Upon receiving an approved nod, she pushed the seat out toward him. “I promise I won’t slap you. Please, sit down.”
He held his hand out toward her and smiled. “I’m Edw….” He stopped in mid-sentence. “Eddie.” He smiled, remembering the day he changed his name from Eddie, the college boy to Edward, the successful business man.
“Hello, Eddie. I’m Eva and this is my friend Monica.”
“Hello,” she nodded.
“It’s nice to meet someone who is actually civil,” he said, sitting down.
After some small talk, Monica politely and apologetically excused herself after throwing her friend a glance and a grin, leaving Edward and Eva alone to get to know each other. She sat just to the right of him at the small round table, her eyes bright and her smile mesmerizing. He had to fight the thoughts he had about thrusting his hands deep into that thick, chocolate brown hair of hers, grabbing handfuls of it and pulling her to him, his mouth covering hers and stealing her breath away. He had to concentrate on what she had to say rather than what she must look like in his bed next to him after making love to her.
“So, Eddie. What brings you to Paris?”
Her attempt at making conversation caused Edward to scatter his thoughts away and helped him concentrate on her. “Just getting away from everyday life.”
“It’s nice to get away, for sure.”
“I needed a break, maybe to find out who I really am or to just take a deep breath and open my eyes to what is around me.”
“That’s a very sober reason,” she said, entranced with his words.
He was good at holding a woman’s attention but this time was different. He didn’t have to lay it on thick or talk about his success to impress. He was more true in his words to his new friend than he had ever been with anyone in his life, not that he didn’t try to be true in the past. The women in his life were not interested in what he had to say. This time was different.
“What do you do?” she asked, tilting her head.
And this was where he had to fabricate again. He didn’t want to be truthful. He couldn’t be. Truth was his downfall. If he talked about his success, his money, his attire, she would see him as a player or someone who might have thought she was beneath him. She would walk away and he would never see her again. It was everything about him that told a woman he was stereotypically a player and he wasn’t relationship worthy.
“I am a teacher… a professor.”
“Nice,” she nodded, raising her eyebrows. “What do you teach?”
“Business and economics.” He knew more about the subjects than most professors.
“So, a professor… at a college I presume?”
“Yes.” He was answering questions he didn’t know the answers to. Flying off the cuff and hoping it worked out for him. He was good at creating as he went.
“And where is that?”
“I am sort of a traveling professor. I go where I am needed.”
“That’s so nice if you don’t have any tie downs. Family, girlfriend, you know.” She looked up at him as if researching the statement rather than just chatting about it.
“No tie downs.” He caught the hint of a smile on her lips before she continued.
“I’m jealous.”
“Of what?”
She clasped her hands together on the table and toyed with the rings on her fingers. “You get to travel.”
“And you don’t? You are young, no tie-downs, I’m betting.”
“But I can’t. Not right now. I’m working through college, studying for my masters, saving everything I earn, which isn’t much these days.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes. So,” he continued, quickly moving on from his lies “What are you studying?”
“History and Social Sciences,” she said as if it were difficult to admit.
“Wow, and what is your career choice after your degree?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m weighing my options.”
“Sounds pretty deep.”
“Maybe one day it will give me the opportunity to travel and study as I do.”
“Maybe it will.” He couldn’t stop looking at her eyes. He easily got lost in them several times while talking with her.
“Where have you taught? Maybe you were close to my school.”
“Mostly England and Scotland. My last position was at Cardiff University in Whales, but I wasn’t there only a couple of months. I have never been in one place too long. Makes it hard to get close to the students, but I suppose it keeps me from getting too attached.”
“You love what you do, don’t you?”
“I do. I like to make a difference.”
“I can tell.” She hesitated as she seemed to study his face, her eyes cascading down his neck and to his arms. “Um,” she said, blinking and taking a drink of her coffee. “I grew up in Bristol, right across the Bristol Channel. So, I guess we weren’t too far from each other at one point. Small world, huh?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Do you make a good living as a traveling professor?”
“I get by,” he shrugged.
His phone interrupted them and without a second thought, he pulled it out of his pocket. After looking at the screen, he hit a button and slid it back into his pocket. When he looked back at Eva, her eyes were on his pocket.
“Was that a Black Diamond smartphone?” she asked, cocking her head.
“Oh.” He was completely caught off guard and knew she was smart enough to read the hints. He pulled it back out and looked at it before sliding it back in. “No. It’s a knock off.” He leaned toward her and whispered, “but don’t tell my father.”
“Your father?”
“He thought he was doing a hell of a stroke of business when he bought it for me, thinking he was getting a heck of a deal.”
“Oh, well that was sweet,” she said, buying his story with a smile and dismissing the idea of such an expensive cell phone in the hands of a man who worked to just get by.
“I don’t like carrying it around, honestly, but they hate not being able to get a hold of me.”
“Well, I think it’s a nice gesture that they care so much for you. I hardly carry mine. They are more of a nuisance than anything else.”
“I agree.”
“I walk into a café or anywhere actually. Look around and see virtually everyone on their phones. No one talks anymore. Couples out to dinner not communicating because they are playing a game or on a social website. It’s so sad.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It keeps you from living life.”
“Yes!” she said, eyes wide. “I want no part of it.”
“Speaking of having dinner, would you like to accompany me this evening?”
“Yeah?” She grinned a shy grin and leaned back in her chair.
“Yeah. Have dinner with me.”
“I’d love to.”
“Beautiful. Would you like to recommend a good place to go?”
“Actually, there is a small restaurant around the corner that is really good. They aren’t terribly expensive either. Do you like beef bourguignon? They make it the best.”
“Sounds perfect. Let’s go.”
He escorted her out of the coffee shop and they walked arm in arm down the street and around the corner toward Le Petite Rose des Sables.
“Here it is,” she said, stopping in front of a small shop with two small windows and a door.
Edward had to look twice as he didn’t think the place was big enough for a full kitchen and dining area. Keeping an open mind and trying to trust his new friend, he smiled and opened the door. “After you.”
They walked into the tiny shop and took a seat at an available table. The walls were bare rock and cement and the tables were lined with red and white checkered tablecloths that matched the curtains on the windows. It reminded him of a cozy kitchen belonging to an old farmer woman. Each place he looked represented a different part of the world as if the owners traveled and brought back souvenirs with them to display in their little shop.
“Do you like it?”
“It seems to have a lot of character. Yes, I think I do.”
When an old man came out from the kitchen and greeted them, they each ordered the beef bourguignon and red wine. The evening moved swiftly as they talked about their lives and politics and Eva’s dreams and Eddie’s aspirations. He found it very easy to talk to Eva and he didn’t want the night to end but the wine diminished and the night grew late. When the bill came, Edward pulled his wallet out and pulled his American Express Gold card out, setting it on top of the bill. Before Eva could see it, he quickly picked it up and shoved it back in, pulling the most basic credit card out and setting it down.
“You don’t have to pay for mine,” she said.
“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel obligated.
“I just grabbed the wrong debit card, that’s all.” He hated lying to her, but he needed to keep her thinking he wasn’t disgustingly rich.
He poured the rest of the wine from the bottle into each of their glasses and dismissed the issue by changing the subject.
They were made to go after the old man shooed them out the door so he could lock up and go home. As they walked out the door, the old man stopped them and nodded. “Vous avez quelque chose de rare. Je peux le sentir et je ne me trompe jamais. Cherish ce que vous avez entre vous et la vie amoureuse.” He spoke slowly but Edward could tell he was a wise old man.
Eva smiled at the man and took his hand, patted it and hugged him. “Merci Monsieur. Bonne soirée.” She couldn’t stop smiling as they left the little shop and walked back toward the coffee shop.
“What did he say that has you all smiles?” asked Edward.
“He said we have something rare. He senses things like that and he is never wrong.”
“Wow, no kidding.”
“He told us to cherish what we have and love life together.”
“Do you know him?”
“I’ve been in his shop a few times, made small talk with him, but nothing too deep.”
“Well, I think we should take his advice. We wouldn’t want to piss off the old man.”
Eva giggled but didn’t say anything.
“Meet with me tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” She lost her smile and looked down at the sidewalk.
“We can go roller blading in the park.”
“I’d like that,” she said, her smile returning.
He walked her back to the café and they parted ways from there with a light kiss on his cheek and a promise to meet him in Parc des Buttes Chaumont at one.