“I’m in aboy band. If I cared what people thought of me, then I’ve clearly entered the wrong line of work.
“Seriously, Solène, why do you care? I mean I want to protect your privacy because I don’t think Isabelle should find out this way. But if there’s another reason you feel uncomfortable being seen with me, then I need to know what that is.”
I was quiet as the taxi snaked past the Hôtel de Ville and into the Marais. Parisians out on the streets in droves.
I so wished I could not care, about the million and one things that were holding me back from completely falling for him. “I don’t know where to start,” I said.
“Start from the beginning.”
Just then the cab pulled to a halt, and our Arab driver announced, “Trente, Rue du Bourg Tibourg.”
“Oui, merci, monsieur,” Hayes said, pulling out his wallet. His British-accented French, oh so charming.
We stepped out of the taxi and into the narrow street before Mariage Frères, the renowned teahouse. Of course he was taking me to tea. It was four o’clock, after all.
“Mariage Frères!”
“You know this place?”
“Ilovethis place. My dad’s mom used to bring me here. And lecture me about being French. A hundred years ago… before you were born.”
He smiled wide, taking my hand and leading me inside. “I knew there was a reason I picked you.”
“Youpickedme?”
He nodded. We made our way back to the restaurant area of the shop and waited to be seated. Hayes gave his name. Apparently, he’d made reservations, which I found amusing, that all along he’d had the audacity to believe he was going to pull off this quasi-kidnapping.
“Why did you pick me, Hayes?”
“Because you looked like you wanted to be picked.”
I laughed, uneasily. Our fingers were still entwined. “What does that mean?”
“That means exactly what you think it means.”
He let that sit there for a while, saying nothing else.
The host seated us quickly, a small table toward the back. But the room was well lit, and there was no hiding who my date was. It might have been his height, his hat, his sunglasses, but heads were turning. Again.
“The best part,” Hayes said, leaning into me, after we were seated and given our menus, “was that you had all these adorable little rules that were completely arbitrary.”
“You don’t forget anything, do you?”
“I don’t. So don’t make me any promises you don’t plan on keeping.”
I wasn’t sure if he was saying it to be clever, but it stayed with me for a long time.
“So tell me,” he continued, “tell me why you don’t want to be seen with me. Is it the group? Is it the age difference? Is it the fame thing? Is it not having gone to university? Is it all of them combined? What is it?”
I smiled at the list he’d imagined in his pretty head. “Not having gone to university?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how your mind works. Arbitrary, remember?”
I took a moment to drink him in. His hair sticking in twenty-one directions since he’d yanked off his beanie. His Botticelli face.
“I am entirely too old for you, Hayes.”
“I don’t think you truly believe that. I mean, do you like me? Do you not have fun when we’re together? Do you feel like I have a problem following the conversation?”
