A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,43
France and now she’s wondering whether meeting you is gonna be too hard. It’s gotta be hard. Bringing it all back that she lost her kid.’
Stupidly, Keeley hadn’t really thought about that. She had presumed the email exchange they had shared meant Silvie was definite about her intentions. That smart, strong and sassy power-woman she had envisaged wouldn’t be fazed by anything. Surely, if Silvie had had doubts, was having doubts, she would have called or messaged, said something. Keeley, if she was truthful, had the jitters about it too, but she was going to meet her. She had done all her pros and cons before she got on the Eurostar.
‘You could call her,’ Erica said. ‘Arrange a time to meet.’
‘No,’ Keeley said swiftly. She couldn’t, could she? Take control of this situation herself and drive things? It somehow seemed safer if someone else was calling the shots. She hadn’t really done taking ownership of much lately.
‘Well, if you don’t do that then you have to play to her rules and she can take her own sweet time about things.’
‘OK,’ Keeley replied. She looked sincerely at Erica and nodded. ‘You’re right. I need to stop worrying. She might be taking her time because she feels a little unsettled about it all. Or she might think I’m feeling a little unsettled about it all and—’
‘And now you can tell me what’s really got the colour into your cheeks if it isn’t the donor-mum.’
It was as if Erica had got hold of a window into Keeley’s time here and knew there was something she wasn’t telling her about. Except it wasn’t anything really, was it? A chance meeting with a hot guy she had chased a penguin for. Everyday stuff…
‘I… met a penguin called Pepe,’ Keeley blurted out, turning her back on the area Rach was standing in. She hadn’t told Rach about Ethan yet. She didn’t know why. Probably because there wasn’t really anything to tell. Or the fact Rach would latch on to this potential mating opportunity and order fireworks and cheerleaders or perhaps courier over discount party poppers from Price Squash.
‘Right…’
‘And… Pepe’s owner was quite, you know… good-looking.’ She could feel herself blushing. Did anyone say ‘good-looking’ anymore? She sounded like Grandma Joan referring to Monty Don as ‘dishy’.
Keeley laughed at Erica’s reaction. He had been terribly handsome. Almost too handsome. But somehow different. Quirky. A little rough around the edges despite his smart attire…
‘Well, what’s his name? Where’s he from? And is he single?’
‘Ethan,’ Keeley whispered. ‘I don’t know anything about him. We just… met on the street and I helped him and…’ She paused before carrying on. ‘He said he would give me a map of Paris with undiscovered gems on. Things tourists might miss because they don’t know they exist.’ And there had been precisely nothing waiting for her at reception this morning. He hadn’t made a map. Meaning, she probably hadn’t made an impression on him at all. Perhaps he offered off-the-beaten-track Paris to everyone he bumped into.
‘But he hasn’t left me anything so it’s unlikely I’m ever going to see him again.’
‘Love your confidence for someone promising to be all in.’ Erica’s tone was pure scalding. It sounded just like the time when Keeley told Erica she was never going to be able to eat popcorn again because it reminded her too much of Bea. Erica had ordered her to ‘take a look herself’ and the next time they saw each other Erica was accompanied by half a dozen multi-flavoured bags of popcorn and a Blu-Ray of Boyz n the Hood. Popcorn still reminded her of Bea but now it also reminded her of gangsters, Erica’s celebrity crushes before Nick Jonas and feeling sick to her stomach.
‘I’m working on “all in”,’ Keeley answered. ‘Slowly.’
‘Why didn’t you ask for his number, man?’
‘I… don’t do that.’
‘What d’you mean you don’t do that?! How do you and Rach meet men?’
‘At the pub. Badly.’
The last time Rach had struck up conversation with two guys in the pub and plonked one of them down in front of Keeley, the very first thing Keeley had said after a weak ‘hello’ was ‘nice nuts’. Not even pushing the small bowl of pistachios towards him helped with the shame factor…
‘So, you’re gonna let a sexier-than-a-Jonas-brother walk out of your life?’ Erica queried really really loudly.
Keeley turned around, checking to see if Rach had heard anything. Rach was looking at her