Page 92 of Enemies to French Kisses
“He asked what you were up to—”
“You were chatting to my brother in the middle of the Texas night?”
“Listen,” Gina says from the bed across from me. “It’s a beautiful day. Not that you’ve seen it having barely poked an eye out from under that duvet. A picnic by the Eiffel Tower just might be exactly what the doctor called for…”
“The doctor called for me to have my head examined.”
Annelise stands beside the bed, but I’m not coming out from under this pillow. “It can’t have beenthatbad.”
“Believe me, it was. And worse.”
“Did he pour his spaghetti over your lap?”
“No.”
“Did he make fun of your appearance?”
“No, but he commented on my phone.”
“You can’t be making this scene because of your phone—”
“No.” I take the pillow off my head to find five faces surrounding my upper bunk. “I’m making this scene because what seemedmeant to beturned into the most rotten of first dates where no one knows what to say and it seems like we have nothing in common. When we just won a contract, for Pete’s sake! We should have had a ton to talk about, to commiserate, to celebrate. Instead we had…” I pause for effect, just longer than is comfortable so that they are all leaning in closer, “yep, that. Awkward silence.” Back with the pillow over my face. “I don’t know what to think of him anymore. Heck, I don’t know what to think ofme.”
“Enough!” I know it’s Gina speaking, but I do not recognize that tone of voice on her, not one bit. I slowly lower the pillow, afraid of what I might see. “Girl, you are already in the middle of a relationship with this man, whether you like it or not.” The other girls hum their agreement, but they also are eyeing Gina strangely. “For months the pressure has been building between the two of you. You claimed the tension was purely professional, but the intense feelings you had for this guy never matched what he supposedly did to you. The way you described it, he’d stabbed you in the back with your own fork. In reality, he set up your project to become a multi-million euro deal. Girl!” Gina grabs her head. “I can’t even talk to a guy, and you were temporarily married to this one! You are so far beyond the whole getting-to-know-you business—you two havelivedthings together. No wonder you can’t go on a normal first date!”
“Mmm-hmmm.” Annelise nods.
“Gina’s right.”
“The girl has a very valid point.”
My poor body squeaks as I finally swing my legs over the side of the bed. They want to give out on me as I climb down, and I’m not sure if that’s because of this whole situation or if it’s pins and needles from too many hours in bed.
Whoa. And I need a shower. “I see your point. But I don’t know what to do with it. How can we possibly be a normal couple with all we’ve gone through?”
“You won’t.” Natalie takes my cheeks in her hands.
“I thought you were all just saying that I’m actually already in some kind of relationship with this man.”
“You are.” Annelise flops back on her sofa and grabs a magazine. “But it’s never going to be a normal relationship, andthat’sthe thing you’re going to have to figure out.”
Not-a-normal relationship. Am I ready to have not-a-normal relationship with Marc?
I say that like I have a choice.
But if the options are either be with him in a way that sits outside the rules of everything I’ve ever known about relationships before, or to be without him, then I know what I want. The girls were right, I’ve run away from what I’m scared of by putting on blinders, throwing myself into work, letting my relationships suffer because of it.
With everything Marc and I have gone through, and everything I’ve learned—the hard way—the choice is easy.
The choice is—but figuring out how to say that to him… not so easy.
“I can see your wheels turning,” Natalie takes my arm and leans her head on my shoulder. “Try to just let it be, not control it. If there’s anything I’ve learned since coming to France—much thanks to you—it’s that we have to see the world through different eyes. But that means leaving some of the old ideas back home.”
She’s not wrong. “Buthow?”
Natalie takes in a deep breath and then coughs. “Start with a shower.”
I smack her arm and she grabs a pillow, whacking me across the face in return.
