“I’ve tried. He won’t listen to my reasons.”
She finally let go of me. “Well, can I video chat with you when you’re not here? I do that with my grandmas and granddads. It’s almost as good as talking in real life.”
I nodded. “If your parents say you can. And if it won’t make Nick uncomfortable.” The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
Nick cleared his throat. “It won’t.” He didn’t look at me.
I followed Madame Dupuy out of the elevator, looking back when Sophie yelled, “Bye.” I waved, she waved, and then Nick was leading her away.
Madame Dupuy and I stopped at all her usual vendors: the primeur, who supervised his tween son as he selected scallions, tomatoes, and baby potatoes for us; the poissonière in her chest waders who greeted Madame Dupuy by name and told her that the dorade was freshly caught; the scary fromagière who always glared like she’d prefer to hack awedge off me instead of the wheel of Brie de Meaux. Our last stop was a tiny stand selling fresh apricots, and then we headed home. As we waited to cross the street, Madame Dupuy turned to me. “How much do you want to stay here, Mademoiselle Tosh?”
“More than anything. When we moved here, it felt like coming home in a way that Portland never made me feel. It felt like Paris was the true home of my heart. It sounds super dramatic, but this feels like the place where I’ll make a difference. If I go back to Portland, I know I won’t be where I should be, and I’ll lose the life I should have had.”
The light changed, and we started across the street. “Have you thought that you have already made that difference? With what you did the other night?”
“But it’s not finished, is it? I’ve been thinking about that man—the one I left Nick with. He’s probably infected, and he’ll probably infect others. I have no idea how to clean that mess up, but it is my mess, and I want to try to fix what I’ve done.”
“So what would you do to stay here?”
I shook my head. “After I ran away like that, Dad’s not going to reconsider. I’ll have to go back to Portland and follow his rules for another year, until I turn eighteen. Then I’ll work my way back here somehow. Take a gap year and get a job and save up. Find a study-abroad program. Get a job here as an au pair. Whatever I can do, because I belong here.”
I don’t know what Madame Dupuy said to Dad that evening, but when the EU needs a new trade negotiator, itshould hire her. She got him to agree to stay in Paris for the school year if I agreed to let him track my phone, maintained an A equivalent in all my classes, hung out with my friends only at school or at our apartment, and saw a counselor. I didn’t love the conditions, especially the tracking, but she got me friend time, and in any case, staying here was worth the compromise. When I texted Noor the news, she was packing for her family’s August vacation to Turkey.
Noor:I am so happy!
Me:I wish you weren’t going on vacation. You could come over and we could hang out
Me:Dad could glare suspiciously at you
Noor:Hahaha
Me:Fun times
Me:Actually, I’m glad you’re going on vacation. You don’t need the dad glare
Noor:Tell that to my father, please. He will be glaring at me for a long time
Noor:I will bring you back a souvenir from Turkey
Me:Oooh, yes please! The gaudiest one you can find
Noor:Of course
I texted Martine to tell her that Dad had relaxed the friend rules. Slightly. She sent me a beach selfie from the Île de Ré with a string of heart emojis. I knew she’d tell Youssef. I didn’t bother texting Nick, because after our encounter in the elevator, it was pretty clear that he didn’t want to talk to me. So I was surprised a couple of days later to see a text from him as I was packing for our Alps hiking trip. Dad had forgotten to cancel the reservations when he decided we were moving back to the US. So we were having an August vacation along with the rest of France. I hoped that a couple of weeks of pounding trails would get him back to himself, because he was still acting stiff and strange with me. My heart fluttered as I clicked on Nick’s text, and then it fell when I saw the words “Hi from Sophie. She says she hopes you’re having fun in Portland” under a photo of her in a kayak. I replied that Dad had changed his mind, and we were staying in Paris. I stared at the screen, hoping Nick would reply, would say something so that I knew he’d forgiven me. Finally, I read, “She says yay.” The speech bubble pulsed for a moment, then disappeared.
Epilogue
Now
Dad’s walking me to my first day of school at École Jarret. We talk about my classes and the gorgeous early-September weather. He asks me, once again, if I’m sure I can handle this. I don’t roll my eyes. I don’t tell him I killed a vampire, bathed in his blood, ashed his heart, and ate his grave dirt, so going to school in French holds no terrors for me. Instead, I say yes, I can handle this. And I thank him, again, for letting me stay in Paris.
“Madame Dupuy will meet you right here after school,” he says when we get to the school gate. He’s told me this like five times.
“Okay,” I say. That’s also part of our bargain. Madame Dupuy walks me to and from school. And I get to stay in Paris, where I belong.
“Be careful,” he says, because he still wants to protect me. I say I will, and he hugs me, then watches me go into theschoolyard. I turn around once I’m inside and wave. He waves back, then starts down the street, and I relax, the weight of his worry slipping off my shoulders.
The school’s courtyard is filled with students, their voices bouncing off the stone walls of the buildings in a clamor of shouts and laughter. I see Noor standing near the entry doors, and I hurry over and hug her. What with vacations and getting me reenrolled in school after Dad had unenrolled me, we haven’t seen each other since we cured ourselves. “I got you something from Turkey,” she singsongs, and pulls a palm-sized box out of her backpack.
