A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,82

good news. And the thought of her grabbing onto her favourite Jonas brother and being bolshy was comforting. Keeley opened her mouth to say something else but the nurse beat her to it.

‘Maybe try her a little later. Once she’s settled into the new surroundings. I’ll let her know you’ve called.’

‘It’s Keeley,’ she said. ‘Tell her it was Keeley.’

‘I will,’ Nurse Walters answered.

‘Bye,’ Keeley said, ending the call and slipping the phone into her pocket.

Rach put an arm around her shoulder and drew her close. ‘I’m guessing room nine isn’t good.’

Keeley shook her head. ‘No.’ She took a breath. ‘Room nine is where… people go to die.’

Rach drew her closer still and Keeley took a moment to enjoy the comfort of her friend beside her. And then her phone began to ring again. She drew it out.

‘Ethan?’ Rach exclaimed, eyes on the screen. ‘Who is Ethan, Keeley?’

Thirty-Six

La Barbouquin, Rue Denoyez, Paris

‘You cannot still be hungry.’

‘It is not for me. It is for Bo-Bo.’

Ethan still could not believe that the dog was behaving as if nothing had happened to it. The call from Antoine had been almost as shocking as the news that the ownership of the hotels was now shared with an animal charity. When Ethan had arrived at the hotel it was to find Antoine and members of his housekeeping staff attempting to corral the frightened rampaging canine in the underground carpark with mops, brooms and large cardboard rolls of Christmas gift wrap. The dog remained terrified until Ethan had fetched Jeanne from the hotel room and straightaway, her presence had calmed the dog and turned the violent yapping into uncertain whining. Then Jeanne had managed to launch herself at Bo-Bo and bearhug him to the ground while deftly snapping on a new lead Antoine had acquired from somewhere.

‘Bo-Bo should not even be in here,’ Ethan reminded.

He had needed to get out of the Tour Eiffel hotel earlier. He didn’t want the questions about the dog or Jeanne from anyone and he definitely didn’t want Silvie or Louis to find out and make a big issue about it. Louis’s shock over Ferne’s change in wishes would not last long. Ethan knew how the man responded to things. It was all immediate knee-jerks followed by simmering in the juices of rage, then finally a coming to a boil with renewed vigour. Just like he had when they were children when he would protest about something Ethan and Ferne wanted to do that he didn’t agree with. He had lost a man-at-arms when Pierre had passed away but today’s Louis would still try to find a way to push his idea through, maybe attempt to coerce the animal shelter somehow. Ethan now had to ensure that Perfect Paris was worth more to the charity going forward and looking at growth, than it would be as one quick financial fix in a sale. And he already had the beginnings of an idea forming…

‘Bo-Bo has been through a trauma,’ Jeanne responded, dropping a piece of cake into the dog’s mouth. ‘It is not every day that you almost die and then come to life again. It is like Jesus being reborn.’

Ethan looked at the still-slightly-grubby-looking girl, the beanie hat low on her head, her clothes baggy and loose on what he knew would be the tiniest of frames.

‘Is your girlfriend coming to see Bo-Bo?’ Jeanne asked then, sneaking another slice of cake from the whole of one Ethan had bought to share.

‘My girlfriend?’ he asked.

‘She promised to come for the Survivor Party,’ Jeanne stated. ‘Bo-Bo survived. She would want to celebrate with us, no?’

Celebrate with us? What was that sentence? There was no ‘us’, not with him and this scrap of a child and a dog with more lives than it was supposed to have. Not with Keeley. Was there? He had never really ever been part of an ‘us’. He had always kept things casual in his relationships, lightweight. He told himself it was living for the moment, but in reality he suspected it was more a case of not living for an undiscernible future. With life taking unexpected turns every single day, it was better not to hold on too tight to anything.

‘She is not my girlfriend,’ Ethan answered. ‘We have only just met.’

‘But you like her,’ Jeanne said, mouth moving around the cake. ‘I can tell.’

‘Well, I can tell that you have been eating a lot of room service while you were in the room I gave you. There is