A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,110

two words hung in the air, somehow contrasting firmly with the delicious fragrant food, the air of joy to the world coming from the light conversation around them and the festive music being played by the pianist near the bar. Not everyone. How many times had Ethan been excluded in his lifetime? You never forgot how that felt.

‘I can change that,’ Ethan whispered.

‘What?’ Jeanne almost missed her mouth with the fork.

‘This year,’ Ethan continued. ‘We can make Christmas for everyone.’

He didn’t wait any longer. Digging his fork into the meal, he heaped up chicken, sausage and all the other flavours and brought it to his mouth. Closing his eyes, as well as his lips, he experienced all the textures and tastes, the nuances of herbs on his tongue, mixing so perfectly with the thick yet tender chunks of meat. It might have been based on a poor man’s meal, but it really did taste like it was fit for a king.

This was going to work. He was going to make it work.

Fifty-Nine

L’Hotel Paris Parfait, Tour Eiffel, Paris

‘The bread’s got better. Have you noticed? All the time we’ve been here it’s been fine, you know, white thin sliced and a few rustic baguettes, but now it’s like they went out and bought a bakery,’ Rach remarked the next morning as they sat eating breakfast.

‘Mmm,’ Keeley answered. She had been saying ‘mmm’ quite a lot in response to Rach’s questions since last night. Last night, when she had returned to the dining room at the Durands and a chocolate bombe, she just kept seeing that photo in her mind’s eye. Those grey soulful eyes. Did someone else have that same intense look? Or was it… could it really be… Ethan? And then Keeley’s mind started galloping away with that idea. If it was Ethan, why would Ferne have a photo of him? Inside a book. At the side of her bed. The obvious explanation was that they had been together. Ethan and Ferne. Ferne her kidney donor. Together. A couple. Ferne in a relationship with the only man ever to bring her out in goose bumps just from thinking about him… but that was crazy! Until, that was, you started thinking about the ‘hotel’ connection. Ethan said he part-owned hotels. The Durands owned the Perfect Paris chain. What if the two things were connected? That would make the photo fall into perfect place. And why, oh why, hadn’t Keeley asked Silvie any of this last night? One question, one answer, would have provided her with clarity. She could have thought about the ‘what then?’ afterwards.

‘Do you think Antonie looks hot today?’

‘Mmm.’

‘That’s it. You really aren’t listening, are you?’ Rach exclaimed, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

‘Mmm.’

‘Keeley!’ Rach shouted.

The bellow had Keeley jumping in her chair and connecting her elbow with her bowl of healthy fruit she had known she wasn’t going to eat from the moment she ladeled it in there. ‘What?’ She took a breath. ‘Sorry. What did you say?’

‘I said Antonie looked hot and you said “mmm” which means you weren’t listening to me.’ Rach explained. ‘You haven’t been listening to me since last night. What happened upstairs with Silvie? Did it get a bit creepy being in Ferne’s bedroom?’ Rach gasped. ‘She didn’t get out that puppet, did she?’

Keeley shook her head. ‘No.’

Should she ask Rach’s opinion? Tell her about the photograph? How sure was she that it could have been a picture of Ethan?

‘Louis asked me out again last night,’ Rach announced, sipping at her juice.

‘Oh,’ Keeley answered. ‘And what did you say?’

Rach took a breath. ‘I said no.’

‘You did?’

Rach nodded firmly with a big smile on her face. ‘Well, it would have been easy to say yes, wouldn’t it? He’s cute now the allergy’s worn off a bit. I’m hot. But… he would have been another “for now” not a “forever”.’ Rach sighed. ‘And, you know, I might not exactly be looking for my “forever” yet, but I am, I think, looking for my “for more than a fortnight”.’

Was that what Keeley was looking for too? Or was this connection with Ethan only going to last as long as their stay in the French capital? Did it matter? She hadn’t exactly been rife with romance this past year, unlike Rach.

‘Please tell me I didn’t just say no to something I should have said yes to!’ Rach begged. ‘I mean he’s good-looking and he’s rich and he’s into me and he has that slight vulnerable edge of