Page 8 of The Paris Chapter

I told Carly about walking in to find Ethan here.

‘That is awful,’ Carly squeaked when I had finished. ‘Joe just gets worse! His best friend must be horrible. Can’t you find somewhere else to stay? No, hang on, make him leave! You paid. Tell him to bugger off.’

‘I did try but it’s Fashion Week; the whole city is bursting at the seams. And he’s here for a French cookery course with some famous chef; it’s for work. He said he has some friends coming back to the city soon so it won’t be for my whole trip. And I don’t know, I feel bad. Joe lied to him. Made him think he’d paid for this place and told him it would be empty. Without checking with me. It’s not Ethan’s fault.’

‘I suppose not, but then maybe you should just come home. You can’t stay there with him,’ Carly said firmly.

‘I can’t leave now though. Stevie and Gita just ambushed me with a double phone call and Gita wants a synopsis for the new book. So to give her something, I told her I was writing a book set in Paris and I’m here on a research trip.’

‘Oh, Jesus.’

‘Yup,’ I agreed. ‘Listen, maybe it’ll be okay, Ethan will be out at this course, I will be around the city getting inspiration and he’s sleeping on the sofa. I bet we’ll hardly see each other and?—’

‘Hang on,’ Carly interrupted me. ‘There’s only one bedroom? Tessa, are you sure you can handle this?’

‘Handle what? Staying in a tiny apartment with my selfish, cheating, vile ex-boyfriend’s best friend while desperately trying to come up with an idea for my next novel due in just three weeks, which I haven’t written a word of? And I’ve already spent most of the advance thanks to said dickhead ex cheating on meand forcing me to move out alone into a ridiculously expensive flat at Christmas!’

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

I spun around, spilling my tea and just managing not to send my iPhone over the balcony. My phone case might claim to be drop-resistant, but I didn’t think it could handle that.

‘Uh, sorry,’ Ethan said, stepping back awkwardly. ‘I didn’t realise you were on the phone until…’ He trailed off, indicating he’d heard the last part of the conversation. The one where I’d slagged off his best mate and admitted my career was in trouble.

Why did things keep getting worse?

‘I just came to say I’m heading off to my course,’ he continued. He was a lot smarter today – wearing black trousers and a shirt and shiny shoes. His hair was still mussed up. It looked like it was similar to mine – always wanting to do its own thing.

I imagined my face was lobster red. I nodded tightly. ‘Sure, okay.’

‘I’ll see you later then.’ Ethan looked like he might say something else but then he turned and quickly left.

Once the apartment door had closed, I slumped against the balcony railing. ‘Awesome. He heard all that and will probably be phoning Joe right now to tell him his crazy ex is here and falling apart!’

‘Well, if he does then he’s just as much of a douchebag as Joe. You’re bloody entitled to be angry with someone who’s cheated on you and then subjected you to sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his best friend.’

‘You’re right.’ I sucked in a breath. ‘I don’t really care what Ethan thinks. I’m just stressing about this book, Carly. I need Paris to inspire me, and fast.’

‘Get out into the city and I’m sure it will. And don’t worryabout Ethan or Joe. You won’t have to even think about either of them ever again after these few days.’

‘Good plan. And I’ll stay out of Ethan’s way. Because on top of our meeting yesterday and everything this morning, I can’t bear any more embarrassing encounters with the bloke.’

‘What happened when you met?’

‘He walked out of the bathroom half-naked when I arrived, and I attacked him with my suitcase!’

She giggled.

‘There’s more: his towel slipped down, and I got a glimpse of… everything. Plus, I looked like utter shit.’

‘Tessa!’ She tried to stop laughing, then abruptly did. ‘Wait, is he good-looking?’

‘Hmmm, not really, not my type anyway,’ I mused, although my mind did flit to what I had briefly seen under that towel. ‘He’s my height for starters,’ I said. I liked a tall man. ‘And blonde. He has a nice smile though. And his hair looks soft. And he’s got amazing eyes. They are very blue. And he made me French onion soup last night. It was bloody delicious, so the man can cook.’

‘That’s quite a lot of good points,’ Carly pointed out. ‘But you definitely don’t fancy him?’

‘Right. And even if I did, he clearly doesn’t have good taste in friends.’

‘Definitely not. If he’s friends with Joe, there must be something wrong with him,’ Carly agreed.

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