sight of him, waving at her from beside the bar. She continued down the stairs, the skirt of her dress gathered in one hand, oblivious to the admiring glances that a number of men shot her way.
‘You came!’ he exclaimed, pulling her to him. ‘And may I say how proud I am to be keeping company tonight with the most beautiful girl in the room?’
‘Thank you, Ernst.’ Claire blushed, unused to receiving compliments. ‘You look very nice yourself. It took me a moment to recognise you without your uniform on.’ She ran her fingertips down the sleeve of his dinner jacket.
He gave a little bow from the waist, bending over to kiss her hand in a mock-formal manner, his blue eyes gleaming with amusement. ‘Yes, a rare night off duty. It’s good to get the glad-rags out for once.’
He turned to the barman with a wink and a nod and the man summoned a passing waiter, saying, ‘Take good care of this gentleman. Champagne. And a table near the band.’
‘Oui, m’sieur. Please, follow me.’
Ernst and Claire picked their way between the crowded tables that skirted the dance floor, and the waiter pulled out chairs for them at one which sat in a section that had been cordoned off with a red velvet rope. They sat, and few moments later the waiter returned, smoothing the linen cloth as he set down an ice bucket and glasses. With a flourish of a white damask napkin, he opened the bottle of Krug and poured, pausing expertly to allow the foam to settle before topping the glasses up and then settling the bottle into its silver bucket and draping the damask cloth around its neck.
Light as a bubble in a golden glass, Claire floated through that evening on a wave of euphoria. At last! This was the life she’d always dreamed of, and for a few hours she could forget the chill of the draughty atelier, the headaches and the hunger, as she danced beneath a gilded ceiling, held in the arms of a handsome young man, breathing air which was heady with the smell of perfume and cigarette smoke. They drank more champagne and ordered oysters and Ernst talked and joked with the other Germans who joined them at the nearby tables behind the red velvet rope while she sat and smiled and watched the other women watching her with envy.
‘Come,’ said Ernst at last, consulting his watch. ‘One last dance and then I must escort you home before the curfew.’
On the way out, he retrieved her coat for her from the hat-check woman and casually tossed a couple of francs into the plate, causing the woman to crack a smile of thanks and wish them both a Happy New Year.
They walked back across the river, and she felt as if her feet hardly touched the ground in her borrowed shoes as they joined the flow of revellers hurrying homewards now, even though midnight and the new year were still a few hours off. He held her hand as they walked beneath the soaring buttresses of Notre-Dame and then drew her to one side, down the steps to the riverside quai just before they crossed the Pont au Double to the rive gauche. There, where the dark waters of the river lapped at the stones by their feet, he took her in his arms and kissed her.
Her eyes shone as she smiled at him, seeming to reflect the starlight above them, and he stroked back her fair hair, tucking a strand of it behind her ear and kissing her again.
In that moment, on a dark night beside the Seine, she imagined what it would be like to fall in love with him. And suddenly she realised that all the things she’d thought she wanted before – the beautiful clothes, the champagne, the envy of others – didn’t matter after all. All that mattered was to be loved and to be able to love in return. That was what she desired, more than anything else.
On the Rue Cardinale he took his leave, kissing her again and whispering, ‘Happy New Year, Claire. I think it will be a good one for us both, don’t you?’
Holding tight to that promise of a future involving ‘us both’, she ran up the stairs to the apartment.
Humming a dance tune under her breath, she fished her key out of her evening bag and unlocked the door. Closing it quietly behind her, she slipped off her shoes – suddenly aware