Page 31 of Leo

When the VG jet landed in Paris, it was late afternoon, and the heat of the summer was upon them. Paris, like many European cities, practically shuts down in the summer months. Not to tourists but to locals who flee to the coastal areas, summer retreats, and take month-long holidays.

The team was more than okay with that. They’d decided to stay in a home in the eighth arrondissement. The three-story townhome was a classic French example of the beautiful townhomes that were once prominent throughout the city.

The stone face with its steeply pitched slate roof looked like a postcard. Iron railings graced the balconies, dotting the floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside, the foyer stretched to the top story, the staircase winding up and up with spectacular views.

“Whose house is this?” asked Hex.

“It belongs to Grandma and Grandpa,” smirked Luke. “I don’t ask questions anymore. It reminds me of New Orleans, though. Maybe that’s why they bought it, or maybe they renovated it to resemble something familiar.”

“It would make sense that it looks like New Orleans or New Orleans looks like Paris. Same people, Luke,” smiled Tillie.

“True. There are nine bedrooms. Pick one and get comfortable. We’ll grab some dinner and start searching for both of them. We need to find both women, but right now, the focus should be on Gemma and the items she’s stolen. If she sells them or loses them to someone, they may never be found again.”

“Maybe we should have let Thomas and May come,” said Hex.

“Thomas is slammed at G.R.I.P., and May is headed to Laos to help them with the very dig we spoke of. She’s hoping to get any information about who might have left those items at the dig site.”

“Is she alone?” asked Tillie. Luke stared at her as if she’d lost her mind, and she chuckled, nodding. “Right. Sorry. Who went with her?”

“We sent Nathan, Joseph, and Trevor. She’ll be well guarded.”

With everyone choosing their own space, Tillie and Leo were given the ultimate privacy in the master suite. The other rooms had multiple beds, some even with bunk beds to accommodate multiple visitors.

“Why are the beds so long?” asked Tillie, looking into some of the rooms.

“My guess is that Grandma and Grandpa knew who would be using this place,” smirked Ben. “Normal beds aren’t generally used for our teams. We need bigger and longer. Looks like they did that for us.”

“How could they know that you’d need it?” asked Leo.

“Leo, it’s always best not to ask questions around decisions made by our grandparents,” smirked Adam.

“I get it,” he nodded. “Did you know that Matthew had an entire conversation with me about my parents and their deaths? He talked about their final hours, their comfort, everything. Which one of you told him all that information?”

Luke, Ben, Carl, and Adam stared at one another, then looked at Hex, Cam, and Eric. The men all shook their heads. Leo looked toward his friends, Mav, Saint, Pax, CJ, and Brax.

“Don’t look at us, brother. We weren’t familiar with what the last days or hours of your folks’ lives were like,” said CJ.

“Then. Then, how could he possibly know all the details he did?” asked Leo.

“Leo, our grandfather is a remarkable man. He sees and does things that none of us can explain, and somehow, we don’t want to explain it. It’s almost always good stuff. Happy stuff. We’ve learned to just go with it.”

“If you say so,” said Leo. “I can tell you that conversation relieved a lot of guilt and burden I had for not being there more often for my folks. I’ll never be able to repay him for it.”

“Come on,” said Cam. “Let’s find a place that will accommodate all of us. We might be walking for a while.”

As it turned out, they walked for over an hour before finding a restaurant with a private room that would accommodate them all. The private room wasn’t a private room at all. It was an outdoor courtyard positioned at the center of the building. Looking down on them were the residents in the apartments above.

It was like being in a fishbowl and having people staring at you, tapping the glass to get your attention. Fortunately, they had canvas tarps artfully draped above them so others couldn’t see, and, in the unlikely event of rain, they wouldn’t get drenched.

The menu was small but contained classic French bistro and café dishes. The steak and fries appealed to most of the men, although CJ, Mav, and Luke all ordered steak and fries, as well as the cassoulet toulousain. A delicious casserole of white beans, duck confit, organic sausages, and pork. It was something they loved when it was served back home.

The food seemed to be never-ending, slowly brought out by the staff, one dish at a time. Meals in France were not to be rushed. They were to be enjoyed, savored, each course given the respect it deserved.

When the waiter read the list of dessert options, the entire table smiled at him.

“Give us four of each,” said Ben.

“Four, monsieur? That’s a great many,” he said, looking at the table.

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