“Three brothers?” asked Craig through a mouthful. If he did it again, I would have to say something. I can’t abide that.
“Uh huh. I’m the baby, so three big brothers. My dad had to shop every other day.” I caught the lilt of affection in her voice—and that she hadn’t mentioned her mum.
I couldn’t imagine growing up with brothers. It was just me and Sarah, and we’d always been close—except for the year she started uni and became an insufferable cow. That year sucked. Don’t tell her I said that.
Craig smiled at Lou, then swallowed. “My mom always says that about me—that I’ll eat her out of house and home. It’s only me and her,” he added without a trace of self-pity.
Only me and her. I wondered if it was why he’d gravitated towards us the previous night, rather than the four Kiwis, or any of the other guys.
He took another bite. “How did you end up on a Ventureseek tour?” I asked. Part of me wanted to scream, “Why are you here all alone? You’re practically a baby!” I didn’t though.
He finished his mouthful before replying—maybe he’d caught my earlier frown. “I kinda crashed and burned towards the end of my senior year. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get into the school I wanted.” I knew he meant university. “I did get in, but I’ve deferred a year. My grandfather bought me this trip for helping out at his store when I can, just with stocking after hours, that sort of thing. He can’t carry as much as he used to.” Craig smiled again, affectionate thoughts of his grandfather evident on his face.
Dani returned to the table with her coffee and sat down next to Craig.
“Good morning, Danielle.”
“Well, good morning to you too, Craig.” Wow, the coffee had kicked in fast. “You remind me of my baby brother,” she said, cocking her head appraisingly. “Did I tell you that?” I guessed we all had our reasons for bringing him into the fold.
“No, but that’s cool,” he said, sounding like he meant it.
I was glad we were his people. He was a good kid.
Jaelee made her entrance five minutes before we were due to get on the coach. She wore a pair of white skinny jeans, a bright pink silk blouse and a pair of matching pink stilettos. Her hair was a sleek sheet of black down her back, and she carried a bright green Michael Kors bag.
I wondered how in the hell she was going to walk the cobbled streets of Paris all day in those shoes, but she looked incredible.
Jae and Dani—with her gamine haircut, slim figure, eyeliner flicks, and Audrey Hepburnesque outfit of a black turtleneck T-shirt, cigarette pants, and ballet flats—were exactly the types of women Parisian sales assistants would fawn over.
“Okay,” Jae said, as though she was addressing the whole tent and not just the four of us. “Let’s do this.” Then she looked at us expectantly and we all got to our feet and followed her out of the tent—even Craig, who grabbed two more pieces of toast for the road.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who liked bossing people around.
As we climbed on board, I heard my phone beep inside my bag. I pulled it out as soon as I sat down next to Lou, and my face must have said it all. “Is it the guy?” Lou peeked over my shoulder and I angled the phone so she could see it.
How’s Paris? x
She nodded solemnly. “It’s the guy.”
“Yes.”
“You may need to spell it out.”
“Yes.”
Later, I thought. Love fugitives are cowards.
***
Lou and I saw the hell out of Paris that day.
Armed with Sarah’s insider info and a to-do list as long as a baguette, we started the morning with the rest of the group at Sainte-Chapelle. If it had been two years before, our day would have started at Notre-Dame, and I tried not to think about the great loss—besides, they were rebuilding and no doubt it would be spectacular when they were done.
After Georgina gave a short spiel about the church, she had us open the maps on our phones so we could mark the pick-up point for 5:00pm. Then we were on our own.
Lou had entrusted me with the mammoth task of curating the perfect day out in Paris. There were some bucket-list must-sees, which would only take a few minutes, but I was planning for the truly amazing stuff, like Musée d’Orsay, to take some proper time. I’d also never seen the Arc de Triomphe up close, so that was on the list too.
I planned for us to have a quick look inside Sainte-Chapelle, then we’d have just over two hours to get from Île de la Cité to the Eiffel Tower in time for our 11:00am tickets to the top, with one important stop in between.
“So, the church—how about we pop our heads in, then make our way over to the Louvre for nine. Good?”
“Yep,” She replied.
And when I said “pop our heads in” I meant we’d elbow our way through the crowd, gawp at the incredible gothic ceiling and wonder at the vast array of stained-glass tableaux in fifteen minutes flat. When our whirlwind visit was over, I was filled with the kind of relief I felt after a Marks & Spencer season sale—glad I went, but even gladder to be out of the melee.
Sainte-Chapelle
With Sarah’s tip to use the side entrance of the Louvre, we’d avoided the massive queue in the main courtyard, and were inside at five past nine. I had the floor plan open on my phone and led the way to the Mona Lisa, hopscotching around tour groups and art lovers. Sure, it was a touristy thing to do, but would you go to the Louvre and skip the world’s most famous painting?
By the time we arrived at 9:15am, the crowd was only three-deep. “Right, similar approach to Sainte-Chapelle—get in there, elbows out, and I’ll see you back here when you’re done.”
“Wait, you’re not coming?”
“I’ve seen it—the first time I came.” That was mostly true. I’d seen glimpses of it—from the back of a hot and bothered horde, who took turns to stand on my toes and elbow me unapologetically in the ribs and head. I’d left with sore calves from being on tiptoe for twenty minutes, a multitude of bruises, and an odd sense of accomplishment. I hardly needed to go through all that again to see a painting I knew by heart.
“Got it. So, should we synchronise our watches?” Lou deadpanned. She took off without waiting for a reply and I chuckled to myself. I had chosen my bus bestie well.
At around five-ten—my best guesstimate—Lou was easy to follow in the crowd. She made some impressive early manoeuvres, and I decided to add her to my crew should I ever form one for a caper or a heist. She came back to me within minutes, a little out of breath.
“It was touch and go there for a moment—encountered a Chinese tour group—but I pushed them out of the way. I think one of them may need an ambulance.”
“Hah!” The laugh escaped and echoed around the cavernous room. No one seemed to notice.
“So, what did you think?” She shrugged. “Yeah, me too.”
Mona Lisa
“Now, is there anything else you wanted to see here? I mean, there are literally thousands of pieces,” I asked.
“Nothing in particular—most of the art I want to see is at Musée D’Orsay.” Our tickets were for 2:00pm.
“All right, then there’s something I want to show you. I think you’ll love it.”