The Currency of Love by Jill Dodd

Author:Jill Dodd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria/Enliven Books

Ruby and me in Halkidiki, Greece, summer 1980

QUEEN JEWELRY

September 1980, Paris and Greece

Paris is cold and rainy, and I force myself back into work mode. Memories of the pirate party, our intense conversations, dinner on the boat, his beautiful skin and eyes . . . Adnan is distracting me from my work! I have a fifth interview for a magazine shoot in Greece. Really? They need to see me five times for one job?

Adnan calls a few days later, inviting me to lunch at his home in Paris. He lives at 8 Avenue Montaigne, not far from Dior. A guard takes me upstairs to Adnan and Dominic. I wonder why Dominic is here. Adnan rushes over and gives me a big warm hug. Dominic kisses my cheeks, then Adnan gives me a tour of the house—mansion actually. He takes me through the exquisitely decorated bedrooms, bathrooms, and sitting rooms. I’ll never forget the massive bathroom with the Turkish tub covered in green-and-gold mosaic, with the solid gold faucet. We pass through room after room, but his favorite things are always tech gadgets. Somehow, he has access to products that I’ve never even seen on the market. He demonstrates how his laser-disc player plays movies and music videos.

We join Dominic in the dining room, where his chef has prepared an informal lunch. Adnan sits at the end of a long dining table with me on one side and Dominic on the other. During lunch Adnan peruses divorce documents. He talks about Soraya, his ex-wife, wanting a community property settlement through California law. I don’t understand these legal terms, and am surprised he’s sharing this private document with me. The fact that he’s so open makes me feel closer to him.

He then pulls out several jewelry catalogs from Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, and Cartier, filled with jewels a queen would wear. A necklace that looks like a ribbon is set with hundreds of emeralds and surrounded by diamonds. There are chandelier earrings dripping with sparkling diamonds that look like drops of water. He turns the pages and he asks me, “What do you think of this? Do you like this one? Emeralds or sapphires? Rubies or diamonds?” I never would have assumed he could be shopping for me. He hands me the booklets. “Tell me which ones you like.” I sit in my ripped T-shirt, jeans, and white moccasins, flipping through the “queen jewelry.”

“I don’t know. They’re all pretty. But I do like this one more than that one.” Was he seriously gonna buy this stuff?

He continues to read over his divorce documents. I’m sure the whole thing has got to be painful. I’m sorry for his pain, but glad he’s divorced, because how could I be with him otherwise? I love spending time with him above just about anything. After lunch, I’m driven home in a Rolls-Royce limo.

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