What If It's Love?: A Contemporary Romance Set in Paris (Bistro La Bohème Book 1) (16 page)

The ball was undeniably a resounding success.

Just before their well-deserved break, the musicians struck a few
incongruously romantic chords. Their bare-chested lead singer shouted into the
microphone, “This one is for Lucie who has finally accepted to be Antoine’s
wife.”

The announcement made, he launched into a cheesy slow song.

Among the general cheering and hip, hip hurrahs for the couple, Rob
offered a hand to Lena and pulled her into his embrace. As they moved to the
rhythm of the song, his strong arms held her close, and Lena felt so happy she
wanted to cry.

When the song ended and the musicians retreated for a break, Lena and Rob
joined Mat and Amanda who were standing in line for a drink. Amanda gave Lena a
strange look, jealous and yet inexplicably triumphant, but Lena told herself
not to read too much into it.

“I wish Jeanne were invited, too,” Mat said wistfully as the four of them
regrouped in a corner of the courtyard. “She would have loved these guys.”

He made a sweeping gesture to point at the band and spilled his beer all
around. Most of it landed on Lena.

“Shit! I’m so sorry . . .” He put his now empty can on the
ground. “Let me go find some tissues.”

Lena assessed the state of her dress. “I’d rather change into another
outfit. And maybe take a quick shower.” She smiled and patted Mat on the arm. “It’s
OK. I’ll be back in twenty minutes or so.”

She winked at Rob, spun around, and hurried to the farm house.

Fifteen minutes later, she strode back to the improvised concert hall,
humming a tune under her breath. She felt extremely proud of the record speed
at which she’d showered and changed. As she turned a corner, she noticed Rob
leaning against a tree trunk, tapping something on his phone.

Ha! Didn’t expect me to be back so soon, did you?

She began to tiptoe preparing to startle him with a boo, when his phone
rang.

“I take it you received my text,” he said. “Yeah, this time I’m
definitively calling it off . . . Absolutely not. It’s got
nothing to do with her. I just found a good job, so I don’t need to moonlight
anymore.”

Rob said good-bye and jogged back toward the courtyard. Lena stood
motionless for a good quarter of an hour, racking her brain for an explanation
to what she’d heard. Other than the obvious one. Finally, she shook off her
stupor and walked over to the gang.

Rob grinned happily as she approached and took her hand. She looked away.

“So, have you heard the great news?” Amanda turned to Lena.

“No, she hasn’t heard it yet. I was just about to tell her,” Rob said.

Lena lifted her eyes to him and held her breath.
Please say something
that would explain everything. That would mean I can still trust you.

“Remember the follow-up interview I went to on Tuesday?” Rob asked. “They
offered me a job. It’s in the energy sector and it pays decently.”

“So, you’ll be able to get a loan and pay the school fees?” Mat asked
with enthusiasm.

Lena forced herself to say, “Congratulations.”

She struggled to remain standing as her mind grappled with the truth
about Rob. That truth was so heavy it overwhelmed her, crushed her to the
ground. There was no alternative explanation—he had kept passing on intel
on her dad in spite of his promise, and he quit only because he’d gotten a
well-paid job. Not because of her.

He pretended to like me so he
could use me.

“Well, would you believe it?” Amanda jumped in. “They hired
me,
too! We were both invited for follow-up interviews and both got picked over two
hundred other candidates.”

Mat gave Amanda a pat on the shoulder. “Well done! What’s the name of the
company? Are their offices in Paris or in one of those horrible northern
suburbs?”

Rob shot a look at Amanda as though to warn her against answering and
said, “The company is called Energie NordSud. The main office is in Paris, but
they’re expanding very fast . . . Lena, the jobs Amanda and I
were offered are in their newly opened office in Bangkok.”

“Bangkok, Thailand.” Amanda expounded. “The hottest city in the world
both literally and figuratively, if you ask those in the know.”

“When are you supposed to begin?” Mat asked.

Amanda could barely contain her excitement. “In a month. The company’s
relocation agent has already found a few apartments not far from the office.
All much nicer and bigger than what I could ever afford in Paris with the same
salary! I can’t wait.”

Amanda’s last words were drowned out by the town hall clock striking
twelve. The loud chimes muffled every other sound and reverberated in Lena’s
head. There it was, she thought, the proverbial stroke of midnight that turned
her carriage into a pumpkin and her beautiful ball gown into rags. How
symbolic.

“Will you excuse us, guys?” Rob said and took her hand, pulling her away
from the others.

When they were a safe distance away, he curled his fingers under her
chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Lena, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you
earlier. We received confirmation e-mails this morning, and I was planning on
telling you tomorrow . . . I didn’t want to spoil the festive
mood.”

She looked past him. There was no point in telling him she’d overheard
his phone conversation. What would it change?

“We could have a long-distance relationship, like so many other couples
our age . . . You could maybe even move to Bangkok. Why not
spend your gap year in Thailand?” he asked excitedly.

She forced herself to speak. “I can’t. The climate in Bangkok is bad for
my heart condition.”

He squeezed her hand. “I don’t want whatever it is we have to end here. I
really like you, Lena.”

She gave a ragged sigh. “But it does end here, I’m afraid.”

“Don’t say that. We still have a month together in Paris, and after that
we have the phone, e-mail and video chat. I’ll visit you. I’m not planning on
staying in Thailand forever. I’ll return to France in a couple of years.”

“I don’t believe in long-distance relationships,” she said.

“Lena, please.” His voice cracked with emotion. “Will you please take
some time to think about it? Yes, we haven’t been together long, and yes, I
haven’t been on my best behavior. But I’m asking you to take a leap of faith
now and trust me.”

Suddenly it was too much.

“Trust you?” she hissed and jerked her hand free. “I’ll never be able to
trust you. I
heard
you talking to that guy earlier. I
know
you
didn’t stop spying on me after we made up. You lied to me!”

Rob swallowed hard. “I did. And I’m not proud of it. But I’m not lying to
you now.”

She gave him a hard look.

“Lena, listen to me, please. Even though I officially ended it only
today, I haven’t passed on any info since we made up. It’s the truth.”

“Of course. If you say so.” Her voice was bitter, just like the taste in
her mouth. “You also said you wouldn’t cause any harm to my family. Well, turns
out you have. I didn’t want to tell you this, but I will now. Does the name
Raduga sound familiar?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

He nodded slowly.

“They refused my dad’s offer two days after shaking hands on it, just
before they were to sign the papers. Apparently, some guy who’d studied with
Raduga’s founder turned up at the last minute and proposed a partnership on
such great terms, the founder decided not to sell. My dad was livid.”

“And what businessman wouldn’t be in his place? But, at the end of the
day, it’s just a business transaction that didn’t happen. Nothing more.”

Lena shook her head. “It meant a lot to him. But that’s not even the
point. The point is, you
have
harmed us . . . God, I was
such an idiot to think you were into me, to believe you were so keen for us to
make up because you wanted to be with me. But you just wanted to get more
intel.”

He took a step toward her. “That’s not true! Lena, I’m begging you—”

“Please. Enough.”

She spun around and ran to the house where she locked herself up in her
room and cried her heart out.

* * *

“Come on, Lena, pick up the phone,” Rob
repeated his silent prayer for the third time.

It wasn’t working. When
he had entered Lena’s bedroom earlier in the morning, after having knocked and
waited for what seemed like an eternity, all he found was a neatly made bed and
a note on the bedside table.

To Rose and Jacques:

Thank you so much for your hospitality and your
kindness! I am sorry I had to leave without having said good-bye.

With warmest wishes,

Lena.

Rob’s first impulse was to jog to the train
station, catch the first train to Paris, and go straight to Lena’s place. But
he thought better of it. Lena was too upset with him right now to even accept
to talk to him. He should give her a bit of time to cool down. Besides, he was
to spend two more days with his family whom he hadn’t seen since Christmas.
They would be terribly disappointed if he left now. He shoved his phone and
Lena’s note into his pocket and went down for breakfast.

Everyone was already at the table, including
Grand-papa, Amanda, and Mat. Papa was making pancakes and
Maman
was pouring coffee. Amanda was laughing at someone’s
joke.

His sister Caro was the first to notice his
arrival. “Rob’s here! Hello, sleepy head! If you hadn’t showed up in another
five minutes, I was going to go to your room and tickle you out of bed.”

“I’m glad you’ve assimilated my methods,
little sis.”

Rob sat down at the table. There was an empty
seat next to his, with a plate, a mug, an embroidered napkin, and silverware.
Rob braced himself for the inevitable question.

“Is your friend Lena awake yet?” Papa asked. “I
don’t want her pancakes to go cold.”

“Lena had to leave earlier this morning.
Something came up and she had to go. She left this for you.” He handed Lena’s
note to his mother.

“What a shame. We’ve planned a fun day. We’re
going to hike to Besançon, have lunch there at Michel’s Diner, and visit the
crafts market, then hike back. Grand-papa is coming, too. Oh well.” Suddenly,
she frowned. “Amanda, Mat, you’re coming, aren’t you?”

“Most definitely,” Amanda said.

Mat, whose mouth was full, nodded.

Rob could feel his mother’s expectant gaze on
him, so he looked up from his plate and said reassuringly, “Yes, of course, M’man.”

“Good.” Grand-papa looked relieved. “I still
have lots of questions for you, boy. I don’t want to regret having accepted
this crazy hiking trip idea.”

“You won’t regret it, Grand-papa, I promise,”
Rob said.

The rest of the weekend was a haze of long
conversations with his grandfather, pillow fights with Caro, and beers with his
cousins and classmates. Mat had left after the Besançon hike, but Amanda stayed
on. She took part in most of his activities, and more than one of his buddies
told him with glee she was one gorgeous chick—and he, one lucky bastard—in
spite of his assurances that they were just friends.

On the train ride back to Paris, Rob wished
they still had exams so he could spend the whole trip revising and avoid Amanda’s
questions. As it was, all he could do was to try and look totally consumed by
the book he was reading. Which, of course, didn’t deter Amanda from asking
questions.

“Is Lena upset about you going to Thailand?”

Rob pretended not to have heard her, but she
pressed on. “Why did she leave so suddenly? Did she really have an emergency to
attend to or was it about Thailand?”

He continued ignoring her.

She jabbed him with her elbow. “Rob, talk to
me.”

“It’s not about Thailand,” he barked. “If you
really want to know, I’ve been an ass. And now she won’t pick up the phone.”

“Well, I’m sure you couldn’t have done
something so bad. She’s overreacting.
” Amanda shrugged. “She should grow
up.”

Amanda means well,
he told himself. He had no right to be angry with her.
The only person he should be mad with was himself. He remembered how he had
asked Lena to trust him. And how she’d replied she couldn’t.
If only he
could make her see into his soul! If only she could read his mind, then she’d
know he would never betray her again.

But that neat solution was beyond his reach.

“Poor Rob,” Amanda said, bringing him back to
the here and now. She patted his arm comfortingly. “She’ll come around, like
she did last time. Come on, stop looking like a beaten dog, and let’s discuss
our exciting first job! I’m so happy about it I feel like doing a jig every now
and then.”

Rob’s anger subsided. Amanda was so enthusiastic,
it was unfair of him to bring her down with his issues. He shut his book and
asked, “So, what do we know about our soon-to-be home base from an economic and
geopolitical point of view?”

Amanda blinked, unsure if he was being
serious.

He smiled. “By which I mean its public
transportation, rent levels, Internet speed, restaurants, and music scene.”

When they got off the train in Paris, Rob
didn’t go to Lena’s immediately. He needed to collect himself and prepare for
the conversation. He had to bring her around, convince her he wasn’t an
unscrupulous liar. He had to impress upon her that he truly cared for her and
was committed to make the long-distance relationship work.

A tall order for someone who’d never before
begged a woman to be with him. Or begged anyone for anything, for that matter.