Paris, He Said by Christine Sneed

Author:Christine Sneed
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781620406946
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

Later, as Jayne walked home from rue Merlin, the subway too crowded and claustrophobic for her unsettled mind, she worried that she’d behaved tactlessly in the kitchen with Jeanne-Lucie, and again during dessert when Anne-Claire asked her daughter if Laurent had been to his family’s vineyard since he’d come back from New York. Jeanne-Lucie said no.

“I’m sure it’s beautiful,” said Jayne. “I don’t know why he wouldn’t want to go.”

“What has he told you about it?” asked Anne-Claire, turning from her daughter to meet Jayne’s inquisitive gaze.

Jayne took a bite of the apricot tart Jeanne-Lucie had served her a large slice of, bigger even than Martin’s. She didn’t know if she could eat it all, but it was as delicious as everything else Jeanne-Lucie had already set before her. “That Vie Bohème keeps him too busy for much leisure travel,” she said, “and that his sister comes up to Paris a couple of times a year. He said that he usually sees her then.”

“That’s partially true. They have a—” She paused. “I suppose you would call it a complicated relationship. Perhaps he will tell you more if you ask.”

Jayne had asked him, but he had never spoken at real length about his sister or their family’s winemaking business.

Martin poured more dessert wine into Jeanne-Lucie’s glass and offered to refill Jayne’s glass too. She shook her head. “Thank you, but I’d better not,” she said. She wanted to be clearheaded enough to defend herself against Anne-Claire’s insinuations.

Laurent’s ex-wife only unsheathed her sword one more time, but it was then that she delivered the deepest cut of the day. Jayne was at the door saying good-bye and exchanging cheek kisses with Jeanne-Lucie when Anne-Claire said, “You might not want to hear this, but it is my nature to offer help to other people, especially to women. You should not expect much from my ex-husband, beyond his financial support. You can enjoy his home and his money, but other than that, I wouldn’t be—”

“Maman,” said Jeanne-Lucie, quietly fierce. “Leave Jayne alone.”

Jayne stared at Anne-Claire, awed by her rudeness. She opened her mouth to reply, but only a brittle laugh of affront emerged. Probably sensing that the luncheon was about to plunge at last into disaster, Martin thrust his hand toward her and said, “Jayne, it was so good to meet you.”

She could feel everyone looking at her. “Thank you, Martin,” she said, smiling mechanically. “Nice to meet you too.” She needed to escape into the fresh air and quell her angry, bewildered thoughts.

As Jayne descended the stairs toward the hazy sunlight of midafternoon, the apparently indomitable Anne-Claire called down with her final parry: “Mind your step, ma chérie!”

What she meant by this, Jayne could not bring herself to speculate.

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