The garage doors opened, and the van pulled onto the street before the door shut again. It was on its way to the Old Republic Bank—not a real bank at all, at least not to the public. The place where the tariffs were dropped off to be processed accordingly by the government.
“We’re going to Maxine’s.” Carvel came up to my side, a cigar already in his mouth after a long night. He turned away and headed toward the main doors, and when he realized I wasn’t with him, he turned back to me, an eyebrow cocked. “What’s the holdup?”
Maxine’s was a brothel in Paris. A subtle, but not so subtle, place that was frequented by men like us. “I’ve got shit to do, Carvel.”
He came back to me. “What shit? Tariffs are paid for the month. We’re paid for the month.”
“You need me to tell you where to put it or what?” I snapped.
“I just don’t understand why you don’t want to go.”
“And I don’t understand why I need to give you an answer.”
The confusion spread across his face like a bad infection, but then it quickly disappeared. “Ah…Aliénor.”
I wouldn’t deny it, but I wouldn’t talk about it either.
“So, this is pretty serious, huh?”
I turned my back on him and grabbed my laptop from the desk before I shoved it into my bag.
“It’s okay to be seeing someone, Luca.”
“Never said it wasn’t.”
“Then why don’t you just say that.”
“Because we aren’t two girls gossiping in the bathroom. My business is my own. I don’t ask about Irene or whatever the fuck her name is.”
“Irene—you got it right.”
I pulled my bag over my shoulder and walked out. “Goodnight, Carvel.”
17
ALIÉNOR
I arrived at Diamant for another interview. It was my third one, so I assumed I was a finalist for the unpaid position. Luca’s money would get me by for a while, but if this internship didn’t turn into a full-time gig within six months, it might not work out.
I entered the building and waited in the lobby until someone came to retrieve me. We entered the elevator and rose to the third floor before I was escorted into Mrs. Bernard’s office. She was the office supervisor, someone who maintained the flow of the business so everyone could focus on their tasks. I wasn’t sure who I would work for or what my job details would be if I were hired. All they did was ask me questions, but I didn’t get to ask questions of my own.
I was seated across the desk from Mrs. Bernard, a middle-aged woman who showed the fashion and flair of Diamant. In a low-cut black blouse tucked into her black pencil skirt, she looked like she could be a model rather than a boss.
She sat across from me and made small talk, asking me how my week had been and talking about all the rain we’d been receiving this season. I went along with it, but showing up to threeinterviews for a job with no pay made me wish we could cut the shit.
“So unfortunately, I think we’re going to go with someone else for the position.” She said it point-blank because that’s how French women were.
I blinked several times, shocked that I’d invested all this time and they’d just strung me along. Who made someone come to the office just to be told they didn’t get the job? “Oh…I see.” But I took the rejection like a good sport because losing my cool wouldn’t change anything.
“We actually found a different position for you. Our fashion merchandiser is relocating to Milan, so the position will be vacant in the next week. We think you’d be a good fit for it.”
“Why?” I blurted without thinking. A fashion merchandiser was a high position in a company like this, someone who analyzed trends and behaviors in fashion, looked at sales data for all the different departments where specific items were sold. Planned for seasonal changes and foresaw demands based on consumer behaviors. It was abigjob.
She smiled at my candor. “You’re obviously intelligent and motivated.”
I didn’t have an education or experience of any kind. If tragedy hadn’t struck, I would have moved to Milan for university. Maybe I wouldn’t have come back. I could be there right now, eating a big bowl of pasta and drinking a glass of wine. But I’d stayed in Paris because this beautiful city had replaced the family I lost. She had been there for me in her own way, with a framboise croissant in the morning, with the lights guiding me home late at night, with the rain that washed away my despairevery day. “That’s nice of you to say.” I still couldn’t believe that this was real, that they would select me for such a prominent position for which I was grossly underqualified. But I’d bust my ass to match my predecessor, to make sure they didn’t regret entrusting something so important to a novice like me. “Thank you so much for the opportunity.”
She smiled. “Can you start tomorrow? You should take advantage of Mia’s final week and learn what you can.”
