Delphine shifted her weight from one foot to the other. They had been looking for somewhere to stop and eat, but she knew that it would be very improper to have a meal with a complete stranger, especially when that stranger was a man. Even if they had ruined his day and already let him buy them ice cream.
‘The soup is particularly good at the restaurant I was going to. If you’re partial to soup, that is?’
She realised she was holding her breath and she slowly let it go before answering him. ‘That does sound very appealing, but I’d better keep the children moving. But thank you, for the ice cream. It was most unexpected.’
Florian nodded. ‘I understand. But just in case you’re in the area tomorrow at this time, perhaps without your children, I’ll be at the Beau-Rivage. It’s just a stone’s throw from the ice cream vendor.’
Delphine stared at him for a second, wondering if she’d misheard, because it sounded awfully like he’d just invited her on a date. His gaze didn’t waver, which told her he was most definitely serious.I’m married. I have a husband. I cannot have lunch with you. They were all things she should have said, but nothing came out of her mouth.
‘It’s been a pleasure meeting you today, Delphine,’ Florian said, holding out his hand.
She lifted hers and let him take it, finding that she was holding her breath again until he finally let it go. There was something about his palm being pressed to hers that made her want to hold on and not let go.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured. ‘It’s been a pleasure meeting you, too.’
As he nodded and began to walk away, she found herself staring after him, wondering what had just happened. The onlything she knew for certain was that she absolutely shouldn’t go to the restaurant the following day, no matter how badly she wanted to.
I’m a married woman.
Yet here she was, in Geneva, alone with her children, without a husband.
And Delphine had the strangest feeling that, for evermore, her life would be divided into before she met Florian Lengacher and after.
11
GENEVA, JULY 1951
Delphine knew she shouldn’t go. All morning she’d told herself that she wouldn’t, that she would stay home and forget all about the alluring man she’d met the day before. But the closer the time came, the more she knew that she couldn’t abide by her own rules. Giovanni had made her feel small their entire marriage, had made her think something was wrong with her, but Florian…Florian had made her feel alive in the short time they’d spent together. So, despite her guilt, despite knowing better, she decided to go back to the restaurant by the lake where she knew she would find him.
Leaving the house was simple enough; she had no one to explain herself to. She told her children she was meeting a friend, and for the first time in her life, she lied to Martina. She might have been her closest friend in Geneva, but she wasn’t ready to tell anyone about Florian yet. Besides, she didn’t even know if there was anything to tell.
Delphine went to her room and closed the door behind her, touching up her make-up and going through her entire wardrobe before settling on a pretty summer dress. She glanced down at her ring finger, at the diamond band there, but refused to feel guilty. She could only imagine that Giovanni wasn’tthinking twice about whatever he was doing, or with whom, and she needed to learn to do the same.
By the time she was ready to leave the house, and had kissed both her children goodbye, she was beginning to feel less and less guilt, and more and more excitement. Her heart raced as she stepped down the path to the waiting car, and she thought she might explode as she sat in the back seat on the short drive, back towards the lake, back towards where she’d met Florian the day before. Something about the way he’d looked at her, the way he'd spoken to her, had been impossible to forget.
She’d gone to sleep the night before thinking about him, and she’d woken with him on her mind, and all she could think of was that he’d told her where he’d be, that he would be at his favourite restaurant at the same time as they’d met the day before, and that he very much wished they would cross paths again. Delphine had half a mind to think that she’d made a mistake, that he was only being polite when he’d said that to her, but something about the way he’d held her eye, the way he’d smiled at her, told her that it was more than just politeness. He’d looked at her in the way she’d waited her entire life for a man to look at her—there had been no mistaking his intention.
Which was how she found herself walking alone in her pretty summer dress, looking out at the water and wondering whether she had the courage to stop, or whether she’d simply end up going home without seeing him at all. In the end, she hesitated outside the restaurant and then kept walking, her nerves getting the better of her.
I can’t do it. What if he’s not there? What if he doesn’t want to see me?
‘I was starting to think you’d stayed home today,’ Florian said. ‘But now I’ve seen you walk past the restaurant without going in, I’m wondering if you’ve decided to have ice cream again first?’
Delphine’s body flooded with relief when she heard his deep, warm voice, although she didn’t look up immediately, letting his words wash over her as she stood. ‘Something like that,’ she eventually said, turning to look at him. ‘And you? You came back for the soup again?’
He laughed, and she found herself glancing up and catching his eye. ‘Something like that,’ he said, repeating her words back to her. ‘Although there was something about the view yesterday that I was particularly fond of, too. I very much hoped that I would be seeing it again.’
Their eyes met, her stomach fluttering and her hands trembling.What am I doing? I should never have come, I should have stayed home and forgotten all about him, not come back looking for trouble.
‘Will you be joining me for lunch?’ Florian asked, although he obviously saw the look on her face and thought better of his invitation. ‘Or perhaps we could just walk.’
She hesitated. ‘I’m cautious of being seen. I wouldn’t want to…’ She wasn’t quite certain how to tell him that she wasn’t used to having lunch dates with men.
‘It would only be lunch,’ he said. ‘And in plain sight. Friends sharing a meal.’ He smiled. ‘You do have to eat, after all.’
It seemed he was very good at twisting her arm, because only minutes later she found herself being ushered to an outside table and being seated across from Florian. She was careful to keep her seat well away from his, and when he asked what wine she liked, she was quick to shake her head.
‘I couldn’t,’ Delphine said. ‘Water will be fine.’
