Page 125 of Dancing Fools and All That Jazz
I hug him close. ‘All go OK?’
‘Bit of a rigmarole, but Monica’s on the flight. I’d forgotten how far out theCharles de Gaulleairport is. Come on,Mademoiselle, the taxi’s taking us to our dinner date. How did you get on in the competition?’
‘You are talking to a runner-up. Second place and Sheila got third.’
‘Congratulations.’ Max pecks me on the cheek and we start to walk towards the taxi when I see a man with a vaguely familiar face emerging from the theatre.
‘Max, hang on a minute.’ I cross to speak to the smartly dressed gent. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Oui?’
‘Are you Jean-Claude?’
‘Mais oui.’
‘I’m Ruby, a friend of Monica’s.’
‘You were one of ze Dancing Fools?’
‘Yes, I’m a dancing fool.’ I smile. ‘I’m afraid Monica had to rush home to the UK. A family matter.’
‘Mon dieu!I ’ope everything is all right with her family.’ He looks genuinely concerned.
‘She’ll be sorry she missed you.’
‘I was hoping she would call me.’ Jean-Claude holds up his phone and shrugs.
‘Her phone got smashed.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Er…’ I then remembered Frédéric’s word for Fay’s broken leg. ‘Cassée?’ I mime dropping a phone and stamping on it. I then open my arms wide to show there was nothing she could do.
‘Je vois!I see.’
‘I’ll ask Monica to call you when she’s sorted a new phone.’
‘Ahoui, thank you.’ He pulls out a business card and puts it into my hand. ‘In case she has lost ze last one.Please tell Monica I am sorry to miss her. By the way, your dance was magnifique!’
‘Thank you.’
‘Au revoir.’
I watch Jean-Claude hail down a taxi and disappear into the Parisian night. Now that’s one lovely-looking man.
‘What are you thinking?’
‘Nothing. Just that Monica could do a lot worse.’
Max taps my nose, wraps his arm around my shoulder and once in the taxi we hold hands until we get to a small bistro in the Marais district.
We take our seats in the characterful small restaurant with raw-stone walls and exposed wooden beams.
‘This is romantic.’ I raise my glass of red wine to chink his.
‘I booked us into a boutique hotel nearby. We can walk there from here, but for now I need food.’
‘Me too. I’m ravenous after all that dancing. You’d struggle to get food this late in Cheadle.’
