“Poor kids.” I smile through the lump in my throat.
“On the contrary, fortunate ones. Like me and like you.”
* Ladies and gentlemen (French)
* Permit me to present Tara Gayarre, the woman I love. (French)
* Darling, male (Spanish)
* Of course
CHAPTER 34
Gustave
Paris glows on Valentine’s night, that strange, indulgent light that makes the city seem both eternal and fleeting.
The Seine glimmers like liquid pewter, bridges draped in soft gold.
It has beenexactlyone year since I first saw Tara Gayarre drinking alone at a bar in Paris.
A year since she walked into my life and changed it for the better.
Tonight, I intend to return the favor and irrevocably change her life.Ourlife.
She doesn’t know where we’re going. She thinks it’s just dinner. But I’ve planned every detail down to the last flicker of candlelight.
Our driver winds through Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the streets still wet from a light rain. Whenwe stop outside the Prescription Cocktail Club, I catch her smile.
“You’re sentimental.”
“Coupable?*.” I offer my hand and help her out of the car. “After all, this is where I first saw you drinking alone. I couldn’t let that happen again.”
Tara looks around, eyes brilliant with memory.
The bar hasn’t changed.
Low ceiling, amber light, jazz humming from an old turntable. The same mix of perfume, gin, and ghosts of a thousand conversations. The bartender knows me, gives a small nod. He’s in the know about my plan.
We take our seats at the bar—the same ones as that first night.
The place is empty, silent but for the low hum of Edith Piaf spilling from hidden speakers. I arranged it this way, of course—renting out the entire bar for the evening.
Privacy, after all, is a luxury I can afford.
But soon, we’ll have company.
The bartender serves her a champagne cocktail with absinthe, as he did the last time, and I get a whiskey as I did that first night.
We clink our glasses.
“Are we repeating history,querido?” sheasks, amused.
“I thought it would be poetic.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “Look at you, turning our anniversary into something out of Balzac.”
“Balzac would have adored you.”
