Page 24 of French Escapade

Ken

“Nah, this won’t work. Seriously. Look at her. No one would ever believe she’s a working girl.”

Jimmy rolls his eyes, and Élodie looks at me as if I’ve just insulted her. Ted sighs and addresses me like he would a very slow person.

“Ken, we’re in Cannes, not in the middle of nowhere. Here, the ladies of the night have style.”

Élodie seems to relax. “Did she misunderstand what I meant?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say you don’t look good enough to pick up johns. Quite the opposite, what I meant is that …”

I stop mid-sentence because whatever I say, I’ll be shooting myself in the foot. I’m no expert in female psychology, but I’m aware that telling her she looks good enough to pass as an expensive prostitute is not the smartest thing to say.

She frowns and looks straight into my eyes. Time stops. From the corner of my eye I see Jimmy shaking his head slowly to let me know that I’m on my own. I glance in Ted’s direction. He’s looking at his nails. I look at Élodie again, and she smiles.

And then she laughs, hard. “No worries, I got it!”

I laugh, too, but I’m vexed. “Making fun of me like this is mean,” I protest.

“It was irresistible,” she answers. “She puts her soft hand on my arm and leans forward to kiss my cheek. You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”

Ted saves me from further humiliation. He stands and announces it’s time to get a move on. We’re helping Élodie clean the leftover pizza slices when I finally see the problem with the plan she showed us. She never talked about reinforcements, or the rest of her squad.

“Élodie,” I whisper, catching her arm as she locks her door. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She acts as if she didn’t understand my question.

“Your bosses, they decided not to do anything. Is that it? You’re jumping without a net?”

She slowly nods and then answers. “It’s not that they decided not to intervene, it’s just that …”

Her hesitation is eloquent. She didn’t talk to them. Isn’t that professional suicide?

“In our world, we often say that success smiles on those who would rather ask for forgiveness than beg for permission, but…”

Élodie shrugs and turns her back on me to go down the steps.

“It’s sweet of you to worry, but I’m not taking a huge chance. Truth be told, I don’t have anything left to lose. I figure, if I’m going to go down in flames, I may as well do it to save someone in the process.”

“What are you doing? We’re wasting time!” Jimmy calls out from the bottom of the stairs while Ted returns to the car he’s left next to our boarding house.

“What’s the matter?” he asks, looking at me as Élodie follows Ted.

“She’s putting her job on the line. I never thought there were such devoted cops.”

Jimmy tilts his head and looks at me as if I said the dumbest thing ever.

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“No, tell me!”

“She’s not just a cop with outstanding ethics. She’s a woman, falling for you.”

Now it’s my turn to look at him strangely. What he says doesn’t make any sense. We barely know each other.

I’m not going to deny it. I’m falling head over heels for this Frenchie. She’s perfect. But it’s precisely because she’s perfect, smart, and balanced, that I refuse to believe she would take such a big risk for a man she met this morning.

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