Falling in Luck by Mary Ann Marlowe

Author:Mary Ann Marlowe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary Ann Marlowe
Published: 2021-01-31T18:17:52+00:00

At first I didn’t recognize the nagging bleep-bleep that woke me. I lay still for a moment trying to make sense in my fugue state. I retraced the lingering panic of wondering where Benji had gone, and if I’d ever find him again. I laid the back of my hand on my forehead and wiped off the sweat. My heart beat a mile a minute.

The sound continued, and I remembered where I was. My memory connected the bleeping to the wireless phone next to the bed. I sat up to investigate though I wasn’t sure what I could do with an incoming call in France. Still, habit made me stand by and watch it ring, charmed that Jean-Luc still had a landline.

When it flipped over to an outgoing message, Jean-Luc’s voice alerted the caller to his absence. Then the caller began talking.

“Allô. Je cherche Mallory Pech.”

The caller continued to talk while I frantically grabbed the receiver and hit the connect button. Suddenly the caller’s voice transferred from the machine to the handset.

“Hello? Hello?”

“Allô?”

“Hello? This is Mallory Pech.”

“Bonsoir Thees ees Sabina airlines. We have your luggage. We need to confirm the address.”

“Um.” I dug around looking for some piece of mail. Crap, what was the address?

“I have a card here. Jean-Luc Chevalier.”

“Yes, yes. One second.”

I took the handset with me into the hallway outside the apartment door for a clue to the number. Nothing was marked on the door or the wall. I hesitated, thinking I might run down to the lobby and look on the mailboxes in the entry, but decided it might be better to grab a jacket before running around in public half naked.

When I turned the knob, the door wouldn’t open. I slumped down on the floor and dropped my head in my hands.

“Allô?” the voice on the phone asked.

I looked up at Rémy’s door. I had no other choice. I sucked up my nerves and walked across the hall. I knocked ever so lightly.

The eighth time Jean-Luc had come to New York, I’d run through a sudden spring downpour from the subway to the building. I’d raced into the lobby and realized from all the stares that my white shirt, now wet, was also see-through. I’d gritted my teeth and walked toward the elevator hoping that I could hide upstairs until I dried off. I’d turned a corner, and there he stood, of course. He took one look at me and swung his trench coat off his own shoulders and over me. That was the day I fell hopelessly in love with Jean-Luc Chevalier.

“Allô?”

I spoke into the receiver. “Yes! One minute. I’m going to find out.”

Gathering my courage, I knocked a little louder. I could hear the echo of tennis balls rhythmically moving back and forth, back and forth. Maybe I needed a battering ram.

I hammered at the door, and it opened immediately. Rémy stood in the doorway looking down at me. I had the presence to put my hand across my chest. It felt a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.