Page 73 of Enemies to French Kisses
“That’s why, Marc, I need to say this to you now, because otherwise I fear you’ll make a mess of things. You’ve fallen for this girl.”
“Are you telling or asking?”
“I’m telling,” he continues, “because if I ask, then you’ll just deny it, and then you’ll do that thing where you try to convince me that you have no feelings on the matter, going to all lengths to avoid the topic at hand, and finally getting dangerously close to convincing yourself that you’re just another tough guy, debonair, a man who’s an island.”
Turns out my brother knows me well. “Iaman island, remember? I wasn’t the one who had success handed to me on a silver platter.”
The line is quiet. I’ve pushed too far. Alain has done everything in his power to bring the family business back from the brink of destruction after Father made a series of poor investments. Alain was the one to clean it up.
“That wasn’t fair,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
“We both know you’re not entirely wrong, but we’re not talking about me. Don’t turn the conversation around. You always do this!”
“I don’t.”
“You do. You need to face the man you really are, Marc.”
I don’t tell him that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do in the mirror—and that I don’t always like who I see.
The line is quiet again, though Alain is on the cusp of saying something.
“Say it!” I demand.
“You are a hopeless romantic.”
“Now this conversation is really over.” I don’t know where Alain gets such ideas, it’s as if he doesn’t know me at all. “I don’t need you cutting me down just when—”
“Youare. And it isn’t an insult. It’s the most endearing part of you. Don’t you get it?” He sighs. “What you try most to hide is the thing that makes you most who you are. You always were the one to make Mother laugh, to tell when something was wrong in the family. You were attuned to everyone, even to me. When I went through that crisis at university, no one else knew.”
“It was plain as day.”
“Toyou. Because you read people, you feel them. You sense what’s going on when they try most to hide it. That’sspecial, Marc. You have nothing to prove. You’re one of the good guys.”
We are silent on the line. I don’t know how to take everything he’s saying, and yet it seems more valid now than it has ever before, the situation with Laura bringing it into the light.
“You’ve fallen for her, Marc.”
“It makes no difference. She hates me.”
“Marc—”
“She does. My only chance is that today when I see her at work, the shock of the moment has passed. But it might be too late.”
“It’s never too late until we’re dead. Whatever happens, you’ll figure it out.”
He doesn’t know Laura. He doesn’t know all she’s gone through. And he doesn’t know how deeply she feels I betrayed her.
“We will see about that. But no matter what, I’m about to spend a significant amount of time locked up with her.”
“That could be romantic…”
“There will be another man there.”
“Less romantic. The Dutch deal?”
“We’re close to locking it in.”
“This could be huge for you. And for Guillaume.”
