Forgiving Paris by Karen Kingsbury

Author:Karen Kingsbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2021-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

14

Cole Blake was walking back to the dorm from a meeting with the other resident assistants when he got the call from his grandpa Baxter. This was the summer before Cole’s junior year, and classes hadn’t started yet.

It would be months before he’d be home to see his family. He smiled and took the call. “Hey, there.”

“Cole, my boy!” His grandpa’s smile was practically visible over the phone line. “It’s good to hear your voice!”

“You, too.” Night had fallen, and fireflies danced on either side of the path. “Everything okay? With you and Grandma Elaine?” It wasn’t often that he got a call from his grandfather. Texts came every few days. But not phone calls.

And not this late in the evening.

“Well.” His grandpa laughed. “I have a wild idea. I thought I’d share it with you.”

Cole reached his dorm. He sat on the outdoor stairs. “Okay… tell me.”

“All right. So you know your parents are in Paris for the week.”

“My mom’s show.” Cole stared at the starry sky. He would’ve given anything to be there. “I wanted to go. Maybe next time.”

His grandpa hesitated. “Actually… maybe this time.”

For the next few minutes his grandfather explained how he had checked flights, and if Cole could get home by Tuesday, then they could fly to Paris the next day. “We would get there in time for her show. If everything goes just right we would check into a hotel near the gallery, and when the show starts, we walk through the door and surprise her!” He sounded like a kid, he was so excited. “What do you think?”

Cole’s mind raced. He didn’t have more meetings till next week. “You know what… I think I could do it.”

“We’d stay another day and see the sights. Then we’d come home. You could be back at school a week from today.”

“Hold on.” Cole put the call on speaker and checked his calendar. “My next appointment is on that Monday. That would work!”

“So you’ll join me?” Grandpa Baxter laughed. “Come on, Cole. Let’s go surprise her. It’ll be the greatest gift.”

Cole was laughing, too, now. “I love that about you, Papa. You always have the best ideas.”

“This one’s crazy, I know. But why not? Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, right?”

“Definitely. Let’s do it!” Cole talked specifics with his grandpa and after a few minutes the call ended. He couldn’t believe it! He was actually going to Paris!

Cole didn’t know all the details about his mother’s time in the City of Love, except for what everyone in the family knew. She’d had a brief relationship with a married man and come home pregnant with him.

But now he was twenty-two, and he’d never been to the city where he came from. The place where his birth father had lived. No, the man wasn’t a good guy. And he was dead now, anyway. But Cole had always wanted to visit Paris. He had long wondered if a part of him would feel at home there.

Of course, he had always pictured taking the trip with his mother.

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