Chapter 46 Jean-Paul
Chapter 46
Jean-Paul
Jean-Paul’s lost in thought, recounting last night’s dustup. As he cracks eggs into a pan, Renée pours fresh orange juice into a tall glass pitcher.
When he returned to their room last night, remnants of the storm remained, and she hid beneath the covers.
“I made a mistake,” she said when he slipped in beside her.
Agreeing would only make it worse. They’d dealt with blame before, and saying nothing was far more productive. She knew she shouldn’t have mentioned the supposed transgression between Lucy and Adam; he didn’t need to tell her that. She was angry. Shocked. And after his talk with Henry, he knew exactly what they needed to address.
“The person you’re mad at is me,” he says. She didn’t answer. “I brought the deal to the table. I introduced you to Bluebird.”
She turned to face him. “We made the decision together. We’ve made all our decisions together.”
He was surprised by this. Pleased. A little guilty too. Guilty because they hadn’t made all their decisions together. Some were beyond their control. “Henry said he didn’t know. I believe him.”
Sienna’s voice plowed through the building: “ How could you do this to your best friend? To me? ”
To which Renée mumbled, “Henry can’t stand Adam, Sienna.”
“ I didn’t sleep with her. ”
The slamming of a door.
If she heard what he had said about Henry’s innocence, she didn’t respond. The inn quieted, and that quiet lingered as Jean-Paul turned away from Renée and fell asleep.
Today, he’s not sure what to expect.
He’s furious at Michael Wall.
She’s furious at Henry.
He’s furious at himself.
He can’t imagine Lucy, Henry, Adam, and Sienna sitting at any table together.
A guest hospitalized.
Maybe they are getting too old for this.
Maybe selling isn’t a bad idea.
They enter the kitchen like a line of delinquents walking into the principal’s office. He’s guessing no one got much sleep.
Sienna arrives first, her normally fresh face blotched in red, her eyes puffy from crying.
Henry’s next. His head dips low, his lip swollen. He refuses to meet anyone’s eyes.
Lucy hobbles in, doing her best to maintain some semblance of control, but it’s not easy to balance both crutches and betrayal. Dark sunglasses hide most of her face. She and Sienna keep a reasonable distance, and Jean-Paul knows this isn’t going to work. He and Renée might as well send them all home now. Adam shuffles in with a nice shiner on his left eye, and their home is officially a clinic.
“It wasn’t me,” Sienna says. “And believe me, I tried.”
“That end table by the couch is a hazard,” Adam says. “Do you have Tylenol, Renée?”
“He’s leaving today,” Sienna answers. “I’ll be damned if I let him ruin my one vacation.”
They race toward the coffee as though caffeine is the fix.
Lucy asks about Cassidy.
“Nothing yet,” Renée replies.
“And Rosalie?”
She says this as Rosalie traipses in. One of them sets their coffee mug on the table loud enough for the others to stop talking. They stare at Rosalie curiously.
It’s Rosalie. There’s no doubt. But the girl is different.
For starters, she’s not wearing black. Not that Jean-Paul’s one to notice teenage girls’ styles, but it’s jarring to see her so drastically changed. She’s wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.
Jean-Paul studies her carefully. Her eyes are a stunning blue. They’re big, and they’re sad, and he’s inexplicably drawn to them.
Penny and Leo descend the stairs, and Penny shares another update. “The hospital just called.”
Rosalie rushes to her side. “What did they say?”
“Your mom’s out of surgery. She’ll be in recovery for a few hours, and then you can visit.”
Jean-Paul sees the relief wash over her cheeks. “Did they say anything else?” she asks.
Jean-Paul focuses on the scrambled eggs and omelets, but he can’t miss Rosalie’s worry. She means, Is my mother going to die? And something about that cracks him open, unearths that place he buried.
“You can come with me for a quick stop at the market, and by then she should be ready for visitors,” he offers.
She nods, and he feels a small victory.
Henry makes his way over, and Jean-Paul circles back to their conversation last night. He told him to leave, but today he’s not sure if that’s the answer.
“We’re working on getting a flight out of here as soon as possible,” Henry says.
And Jean-Paul doesn’t dissuade him.
“We’re headed on another hike this afternoon if anyone needs fresh air,” Leo says, bringing his coffee to his lips.
“Is there a cliff?” Sienna asks, taking a bite of her bagel, chewing madly.
Adam smiles. He thinks this whole thing is funny, digging into his eggs with an offensive gusto. Henry sips his coffee, skipping breakfast altogether.
Rosalie excuses herself from the table, telling Jean-Paul she’ll meet him out front, and as soon as she’s out of earshot, Lucy whispers to Sienna, “I’m glad Cassidy’s out of surgery.”
Sienna gives her a look. “You’re not really trying to make small talk with me right now, are you?”
Lucy folds her hands in front of her and stares into her coffee.
“Are we going to sit here and act as though you didn’t fuck my husband?”
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” Adam says.
“That’s not remotely funny.” Sienna throws back a swig of orange juice. “How can we even be having this conversation? You’re supposed to be my best friend.” Her voice begins to crack.
Adam looks everywhere but at Sienna. Leo and Penny slink away from the table.
“Those two definitely had sexual relations last night,” Adam says.
“Still not funny,” Sienna replies.
“It was a mistake,” Lucy says. “A stupid mistake that shouldn’t have happened. We were drunk. Stoned. Henry—” She stops herself. “All this stuff with his dad ... it’s been horrible—”
Sienna’s unmoved.
Renée gives Jean-Paul the signal that they need to disappear, and they do.