wanted to hang out with his friends, without being with his parents all the time.
She sent Nadia a text that night, which Nadia found when she woke up in the morning. “Count me in. Arriving Thursday morning, leaving Sunday night. Sisters rule! Love, O.”
Athena called Nadia in the morning, which was midnight for Athena in California. She and Joe had discussed it when he came home from the restaurant. He had agreed in four seconds flat.
“Of course. You know I love your sister. She needs you guys right now. You should go. I’m going to work that weekend anyway. We’re shorthanded in the kitchen at the restaurant.” He was a hands-on owner, and pitched in to help in the kitchen whenever needed. He enjoyed it.
“So I’m in,” Athena said, sounding delighted. At her end, Nadia was beaming.
“I can’t wait to see you all,” Nadia said, relieved. “Wait till I tell the girls!” It was the best thing that had happened to her since the bomb that had exploded in her life after the Cannes Film Festival. She couldn’t think of anything better than four days with her sisters. For the first time in a month, she left for work with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. She could hardly wait for the Fourth of July weekend, and she was grateful for their willingness to leave their respective partners and children. She laughed out loud as she drove to the office, knowing that Nicolas would be panicked if he knew about it, because Nadia and her sisters were a force to be reckoned with. If their mother showed up for the weekend, even more so. Watch out, Nicolas Bateau! The McCarthy women were coming! And anything could happen after that.
Chapter 5
Venetia kissed Ben and her children before she left for work on Wednesday. Ben was going to drive them out to Southampton before lunch. Venetia was planning to leave for the airport straight from the office. She was hoping to beat the holiday traffic to Long Island, and catch a flight that would land her in Paris at six a.m. on Thursday. She had a car and driver set to meet her in Paris and drive her on the two-hour trip to the château. By the time she got her luggage and made it to Normandy, she figured she’d be there in time for breakfast. She had tried to pair up with Olivia, who was flying that day too, but Olivia had canceled her court calendar for that afternoon and was taking an earlier flight. Nadia had already gotten to the château two days earlier to get everything ready for her sisters, and the day before they were to arrive, Sylvie and Laure had helped her cut flowers in the garden and put them in their rooms. Athena was planning to arrive at noon, since the L.A. flight arrived later than the ones from New York. It was a ten-hour flight from L.A., as opposed to six from JFK.
“Don’t go falling in love with some handsome Frenchman on the flight,” Ben whispered to Venetia when he kissed her goodbye. They lingered for a moment, while the children went upstairs to pack their tote bags with favorite toys and treasures to take with them to the Hamptons for the weekend. They were sorry their mother wasn’t coming, but Venetia had suggested that maybe they could all go to visit Nadia and the girls for a week in August.
“You’re the best-looking, sexiest man I know,” Venetia answered as he held her, and she meant it. She was even more in love with him than she had been when they got married. It was a relationship that worked well. They enjoyed doing the same things, liked similar people, and respected each other profoundly. And they were crazy about their kids. “Thank you for letting me go.”
He knew how worried she’d been about her sister, and he was planning to have fun with the children at various activities and friends’ picnics over the holiday weekend. He loved Nadia too, and was sorry she was going through such a hard time. He had no idea what had gotten into Nicolas. He liked his brother-in-law. They always enjoyed being together, and Ben thought that Nicolas genuinely loved his wife. Ben had never expected him to pull something like this. He’d seen the photos of Pascale in the press, and she was undeniably spectacular looking and very young, but beyond the