“Did Carla mention that we ran into each other in Paris?” Lindsay asked.
“You run into Carla in Paris?” Falcon asked.
He was confused. Carla hadn’t mentioned anything about it. The last time they were there was when he brought her to the Palais Garnier and the Louvre. They were together the whole day. He would never forget that. He always thought of that day as the day their romance began.
“She hasn’t mentioned it?” Lindsay insisted. “She told me she was staying in some cheap hotel somewhere.”
“The last time Carla and I were together in Paris, we stayed at the Athenee,” Falcon informed her.
“See,” Lindsay reacted quickly. “She never mentioned running into me. She lied about staying in some cheap hotel. Don’t you ever wonder what other secrets she might be keeping,” Lindsay insinuated. “Be at the Four Seasons on Saturday. I’ll be there. I’ll tell you all about it.”
The line went dead.
“Shit,” Falcon muttered angrily.
Lindsay was like a dark cloud that rolled in on an otherwise sunny day. An unwanted plant that sprouted in a neat row of grapevines. The one that needed to be pruned and tossed into the fire before she could take over the whole vineyard.
He didn’t want to believe any of her insinuations. Carla would never deliberately lie to him, he knew that. But if what Lindsay claimed was true and they did bump into each other, she merely withheld the information from him. But why? And when did that happen?
He racked his brain remembering the event of that short trip. He couldn’t remember them not being together. The next morning, Carla was in the shower when he woke up and said she wanted to return to Riquewihr. He was surprised. He thought another day in Paris would make her happy. Could she have sneaked out while he was sleeping and run into Lindsay by accident? And why was Carla in such a sudden rush to leave Paris?
Falcon’s mood had turned dark as he stared out the window. He hated it that Lindsay could plant seeds of doubt in his mind. He felt it was a betrayal to Carla. He wanted to erase Lindsay out of his mind and out of their lives.
“To hell with her. She can wait in Paris till the sun freezes over,” Falcon decided even as he resented the seed of doubt that Lindsay planted.
