Paris Love Match - By Nigel Blackwell Page 0,29
blaring. He pulled the umbrella in closer to make sure their faces were obscured. The sounds diminished and he risked looking out. “They’re gone.”
Sidney slid from him. He let his arms fall away slowly. He breathed out, stifling a sigh, and didn’t breathe back in. Her leaving him felt like a physical blow. It took all his willpower not to reach out for her. The rain had made her tousled curls a vague memory, but her eyes were bright and, even in the cold, her high cheekbones had a natural tint to them, the slightest of pinks, just enough to accentuate the flawless white of her skin.
He watched, mesmerized, as she opened her mouth. “Now what?”
“Huh?”
“I said now what? I did my bit by phoning from the pee-box. What’s next?”
He shook his head and took a gulp of cold air. The adrenaline and tension returned to his muscles. “Right, we have to go.”
He turned the corner and headed toward where the throng of police had been. There were only a couple left on guard.
Sidney tugged at his sleeve. “Is this a good idea?”
Piers took her hand. “No. Start crying.”
She looked at him.
“Start crying. Like before, on the steps. When we get there, just act like we’re breaking up. Then come back over here and wait for me. Just don’t give up easily.”
She shrugged and started sniffing. Her tears built as they crossed the road and by the time they reached the guards she was balling her eyes out.
Piers shook himself free of Sidney’s hand. “I’ve told you. It is not possible. We cannot continue like this.”
She looked at him through eyes that were gaining bloodshot rings. “Why not?”
“My wife. Your husband. Not to mention the friends you bring to the parties. Non, non, it is all too much.”
“So this is it?”
Piers bent his head down. “I am sorry, ma chérie.” Then he turned, stepped to the police officer and tried to push past.
The officer didn’t move. “This building has been secured, monsieur.”
Piers look indignantly at the man. “Non, non. I live here.”
Sidney grabbed Piers hand. “Please. You can’t leave me. No one else uses leather like you.”
Piers shook himself free and re-addressed the officer. “Monsieur, really, I must go inside.”
The officer shook his head.
Sidney grabbed Piers by the shoulders and pulled him a step backward. Piers wrestled himself free, colliding with the officer and pushing past.
“Sir, I—” said the officer, but Sidney crashed into him, her arms flailing.
The officer fought her back.
Piers paced backward into the entranceway of the building. “I have to go. We need to make a clean break of it, for her sake.”
Sidney struggled with the officer. “No! Don’t leave me, don’t leave me.”
Piers stepped inside building and headed straight up the stairs. When he reached the first landing, he started checking the nameplates beside each apartment. On the fourth floor, he found he needn’t have bothered. A door hung off its hinges and yellow crime scene tape had been draped across the entranceway.
He listened for movement before stepping over the tape. He found a bedroom, bathroom, and a small kitchen/living room with threadbare rugs over wooden floors. The furniture looked old but well-cared-for. Pictures of April adorned the walls of the bedroom. In the entrance hall, a large color poster showed a panoramic view of a beach, busy with people. Piers guessed it to be in the south of France.
The living area had practically nothing in it. An old TV, a coffee table, and a paisley loveseat. Perhaps the police had already removed everything from the apartment?
From the window, he saw Sidney walking back to the corner where they had stood and hugged. No, he reminded himself with a deep sigh, where they had acted.
Only, he hadn’t acted.
The feel of her body against his had been a shock at first, and her breath on his neck had been intoxicating. He’d had to tell himself to keep his hands on her back and nowhere else, but then she had embraced him, and the whole world seemed to go quiet. The cars, the trains, the voices—it was as if Paris had come to stop, holding its breath to see what would happen.
Only, nothing happened. They’d been acting. It had been a wonderful moment. A moment when she had washed away all his doubts. A moment when she had calmed all his fears. A moment he wished had never ended. But it had, and now he felt guilty standing in the dry apartment while she stood in the rain.