The Lifeline by Tom Ellen

Author:Tom Ellen [Ellen, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2024-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

26th February, five years ago

Paris, France

‘This isn’t weird, is it? Me tagging along with you? You can just tell me if it’s weird. Honestly, I won’t mind. Is it weird?’

Annie laughs. ‘No, Will, for the thousandth time: it is not weird.’

They are walking over the Pont Alexandre III, heading to the north side of the city. The sunlight bounces off the Seine, and Annie sneaks a glimpse at Will as he strides along next to her. She feels a little light-headed. Because, truth be told, this is a bit weird.

The very hot lead singer of a sort-of-famous indie band has just run down the street after her and shoehorned himself into her day. And rather than acting all arrogant and swaggering, like he was in the hotel, he now seems sort of sweet and nervous. This is the kind of thing that happens in Richard Curtis films, not in real life. Annie wishes she could have five minutes to call Maya and formulate some kind of plan.

‘Good to get out of that hotel room,’ Will says as they pause to admire the view of the Eiffel Tower across the river. ‘It was just getting a bit …’ In lieu of an adjective, he puffs out his cheeks.

‘Right, yeah.’ Annie is very interested to know what exactly it was in that room he was so eager to escape. Maybe Jess? But she keeps the question to herself for the time being.

‘So.’ Will transfers his gaze from the tower to Annie. ‘Shall we get a drink or something?’

Annie hesitates. As delighted as she is about the Richard Curtis-esque U-turn this day has taken, there is something she’d been planning to do here in Paris. A funny little surprise for her dad. But it’s going to sound extremely uncool and weird when she explains it to Will.

Oh, get a grip, she tells herself. After all, who means more to her: her father or some random hot boy?

‘OK, this is going to sound strange …’ she starts.

‘Strange is good.’ Will grins. ‘I like strange.’

‘So, my dad is a big fan of this French writer from the early 1900s, Alphonse Carnet …’

‘Ah, Alphonse Carnet!’ Will cries. ‘I love his work.’

‘I’m assuming this is sarcasm?’

‘It is. Never heard of the guy.’

Annie laughs. ‘Right. Well, when I told my dad which part of Paris we were doing the interview in, he mentioned that Alphonse Carnet had lived really near here. So I looked up his address, and I was thinking I’d go and visit his house to take a picture for my dad.’ She pauses, concerned about sounding geeky and odd. But Will is still grinning so she continues. ‘See, he lived in quite a weird apartment block. My dad was telling me about it – the landlord tried to increase his profit by building another floor in between the third and fourth floors. The third-and-a-half floor. Because Alphonse Carnet was quite short – about five foot – he could just about stand up in his apartment, but all his other visitors would have to stoop about with their heads bent.

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.