A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,113
of practice.’
And then he kissed her. Firm and intentional, leaving no doubt about the depth of his feelings. Right away her lips responded and the glow that reappeared around his heart whenever their mouths met in a kiss, brightened to a new level.
Jeanne cleared her throat like perhaps she had caught the annoyance of hairballs from Bo-Bo and Keeley backed away from him, her cheeks a little flushed.
‘I believe it is a family show,’ Jeanne said, sitting high and proud in her chair, hat as far pulled back from her face as it had ever been.
Family. Settling down in his seat next to Keeley, Ethan thought about the fact that family had always seemed such an unlikely scenario in his life, until Ferne. And now, with Ferne gone, with Louis uncomfortable with Ferne’s last wishes regarding the hotels, he had thought it unlikely the universe was going to reach out to him for a second time. But as the lights around them dimmed and the spotlight focused on the circle of sawdust, the ringmaster approaching, Ethan took Keeley’s hand in his. Maybe the world could be on hold for a time and, perhaps, the reaching out did not, after all, have to be commenced by fate.
‘Horses!’ Jeanne breathed louder than Ethan suspected she had expected. ‘And… acrobats!’
Keeley turned to look at him and as their eyes met there it was again, loud and clear, a cluster bomb of internal reactions Ethan wasn’t at all familiar with. It was demanding loud, screaming, this was right! And then Keeley whispered to him, ‘I’m almost as excited as Jeanne.’
He smiled, squeezing her hand. ‘Moi aussi.’ He let out a breath of content. ‘Me too.’
Fifty-One
‘The bikes were the best… no, the clowns… no, the acrobats on the horses… no, wait, ses furets! Oui, ses furets!’
Yes, there had been performing ferrets that had brought back all the Mr Peterson vibes and had Keeley wondering exactly how big the squirrels that had attacked her mum had been. The performing ferrets were certainly bigger than any stoat-like creature she had come across before, on a nature documentary or once in the closet of a particularly wealthy estate agent customer.
‘You have named almost every act that performed,’ Ethan said laughing.
‘Apart from the ringmaster,’ Keeley told Jeanne. ‘And he was very good too.’
Jeanne was chomping on a hot dog now as they walked away from the big top over the grass and towards the area where the car was going to collect them from. It was freezing, the snow cracking with every foot laid upon it, breath visible as they chattered. The circus had been amazing and, as it was near to Christmas there had been some lovely festive touches to add to all the hair-raising feats and slapstick from the clowns. Ethan had laughed hard at the clowns, their stupidity off the scale, with most of the endings to their sketches predictable but hilarious all the same. And his laughter had warmed Keeley right the way through. To her it was the sweetest sound, because it felt somehow like that slight tenseness he tended to carry was relieved in that moment. Ethan laughed openly and genuinely, always with a whoosh of stress expelled along with that laughter.
‘Bo-Bo would have liked it,’ Jeanne carried on.
‘Bo-Bo would have tried to eat the ferrets,’ Ethan said.
‘He’s a good dog!’ Jeanne exclaimed.
‘I can vouch he knows how to play dead very well,’ Keeley answered.
‘He will be pleased to see you,’ Jeanne said, a smudge of tomato ketchup on her cheek.
‘Where is he?’ Keeley asked, ‘Is someone watching him?’
‘He is at my apartment,’ Ethan said. ‘He has the entire, yet small, lounge to himself, together with water, too much food and I hope no unexpected accidents on the floorboards. I was also instructed to leave on the TV because he may get lonely.’ He paused then and looked to Keeley, his expression giving the impression he thought he had said something wrong. ‘That is… you do not have to come… to my apartment… I was not saying that was a firm plan. We can always… go somewhere else or… nowhere at all.’
‘Mon Dieu,’ Jeanne said shaking her head as she stopped walking and stared at Ethan. ‘You always do far too much talking!’ She chewed up her mouthful and then started talking again. ‘You have hot chocolate. You have red wine. Offer one of those and Keeley will come.’ She looked to Keeley then. ‘Won’t you?’