“You are the one they asked.” The waiter brought our meals, and when he left, Luc said to me, “Will you agree?”
I wanted to say yes without hesitation—but I needed to speak to Grace and see if she would come with me. I didn’t want to make the trip to California without her.
“I will let you know after I speak to Grace.”
At the sound of my sister’s name, he looked down at his plate. “Ah, oui.” He sighed. “Grace.”
“You said—” I paused, confused. Hadn’t he suggested that she should come along? “Do you still not like her?”
He looked up quickly, frowning.
I was surprised to realize that part of me wanted him to agree and tell me he did not like her. But I remembered the way he had regarded her on the train to Paris and how he had watched her leave in the taxicab tonight. I wanted to be mistaken about those looks. After all, he hadn’t told Grace he cared for her—hadn’t pursued her or sought out her company since we’d returned to New York.
“Why do you think I dislike her?” he asked.
“You’ve been at odds with her from the beginning.”
Luc shook his head as he stared down at his plate. “Just because we’ve been at odds does not mean I dislike her.”
“Then why do you seem upset that I want to talk to her before committing to this trip? Isn’t that what you suggested from the beginning? That she come along to listen to the offer?”
“Oui.” He nodded as he smiled—though there was something in his gaze that I couldn’t identify. “Do not mind me. Ask Grace and then let me know what you decide.”
I worried my bottom lip as he began to eat his filet mignon.
Did I really want Grace on the trip, after all?
It wasn’t quite midnight as I walked through the door of the stylish Hotel Victoria in the heart of the theater district with both excitement and trepidation. The hotel boasted two entrances, one on Fifth Avenue and one on Twenty-Seventh Street. It had recently been redecorated and advertised rooms with and without private baths. With our combined incomes,we’d been able to afford a room—but there was little left this week for the rent. Something foremost on my mind.
I took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked down the hall to our apartment, wanting to talk to Grace about the flight—and not wanting to tell her at the same time.
I opened the door into our apartment and took off my coat and hat. The main room was both a sitting room and a dining room with a little kitchenette. Three doors fanned out from the main room. Two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Grace appeared, wearing a nightgown and hugging her robe around her middle. “Well? What’s the good news?”
She looked so excited and happy for me—and I knew that even if Luc cared for her, I had nothing to worry about. She would never return his affection. Not only because she hadn’t liked him from the start, but because she knew I loved him.
There was no reason not to invite her.
“I was offered a sponsorship, with the possibility of making fifty thousand dollars.”
Grace’s mouth fell open as she stared at me. “Fifty thousand dollars?”
It was an extraordinary amount of money—enough to retire on and live comfortably for the rest of my life even after giving a portion of it to Mama and Daddy for the orphanage.
“What do you have to do for fifty thousand?” she asked.
“That’s the hard part—but I can do it.” I quickly laid out the stipulations for the prize money.
Grace didn’t speak for a moment, her frown deepening. “A cross-country flight would be dangerous, Hope.”
“No more dangerous than any other flying.”
She pursed her lips, and I knew that look. She was formulating her argument.
“And I want you and Mama and Daddy to come, too,” I said. “You can come as aGlobecorrespondent. You’ll travel in style on the train, and we can spend time in California. Youcan write articles about my flight and about the states we travel through. The opportunities are endless.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know...”
