Chapter 13
Eugenia flew to Paris for Fashion Week with Patrick on his plane.
Ten days before, they had had dinner with Quinn and Eloise, who had hit it off remarkably, and on the spur of the moment Quinn decided to come.
Eloise flew with them. She was going to help her mother with the presentation and the orders.
The presentation was too much for Eugenia to do alone, running both brands, though she had a small staff in Paris, an assistant in the office and three women who worked with him.
And Eugenia had Eloise there to help her with the Cotton Candy orders.
Guy was fun to work with, and Eloise liked the Paris staff.
They were excited about the new lines too.
Eugenia preferred working with Pam in New York, but she didn’t speak French, so the Paris office staff handled the orders in Europe.
Eloise was fluent, so she was a big help to her mother, and she knew the new lines.
Eugenia thought it would be good for Eloise’s self-confidence to be back in Paris, working with a successful brand, and not depressed at her apartment, unemployed.
Eloise hated to give up her Paris apartment, which she loved.
She still didn’t know whether she wanted to stay in Paris and look for a job, or try to find one in New York.
She had contacted headhunters in both cities.
In the interim, she could work for her mother’s lines, until she found a new job.
It was working out well for both of them.
Eloise and Quinn had had dinner alone once, after the dinner with their parents, and Eloise said she had fun with him.
He had a great sense of humor and was handsome, smart, and successful, but she could sense that he was a player, and she didn’t want to be part of a chorus line, so she refused to take him seriously, which sparked his interest even more.
They sat next to each other on the plane and talked. Then they both watched a movie, and eventually fell asleep.
Eugenia smiled, watching them, and whispered to Patrick, “It’s funny having our children with us, isn’t it? I love working with her, but she needs a real job. She’s a talented designer and should have an important job like the one she had, not being my assistant.”
“Maybe she needs a break for a while. There must have been a lot of pressure in her last job. You said she was always anxious, so maybe this is what she needs, a little while under your wing, with no big decisions to make.” Eugenia thought he might be right, and she wondered if anything was going to happen between her daughter and Quinn romantically.
There were definitely sparks, but Eloise refused to fan the flames.
She was afraid to get involved, and she didn’t even know if she was going to stay in New York.
Quinn seemed like a complication to her, and she was being cautious, which made Quinn want her all the more.
He was dazzled by her beauty, and she was talented and smart and a nice person.
“I was like him at his age,” Patrick admitted to Eugenia on the flight, and he had before.
“I was divorced and having too much fun to get deeply involved with anyone, and by the time I realized that wasn’t the right answer for the long run, I’d been alone for too long, set in my ways, and a deep committed relationship seemed like too much trouble.
I was more comfortable alone. I could do what I wanted, go where I wanted, didn’t have to answer to anyone.
And then you came along, and turned my safe lonely world upside down, and now I’m happy.
” He smiled at her. “Happier than I’ve ever been before.
I’m sorry I waited this long.” They’d been together for two months, and everything was going smoothly, and he was understanding about the demands of her job and how hard she worked.
The previous men in her life had always resented it, or been jealous of her success.
Patrick had his own. And he had a heavy workload too. They were evenly matched.
“I did the same thing, I filled my life with my work and my kids,” she said.
“I felt safe that way. And now the kids are gone, and work isn’t enough.
I want more. But I didn’t know that was what I wanted until now.
” She had never known anyone like him. He was the exact opposite of Umberto in every way.
He was solid, responsible, kind, a good father, and he tried to take care of Eugenia when she let him.
She was independent and self-sufficient, but she loved being close to him.
They had the best of all possible worlds and he admitted that in the past, he would never have taken a week off to go to Paris for fun.
He had been married to his business for forty years.
And now he loved being with Eugenia, and he was fine about her work when she was busy.
He couldn’t wait to be in Paris with her, his favorite city in the world, other than New York.
“Do you think Eloise will move back to Paris?” Patrick asked her quietly.
“I think it will depend where she finds a job she loves.”
“You don’t want to hire her to work for you?”
“She deserves more than that,” Eugenia said honestly. “I don’t want her to live in my shadow. She needs her own world.”
“That’s why I never encouraged Quinn to work for me. He needs to be his own man.” Eugenia agreed, for both of them. She wished that something would happen between them, but it was up to them. She thought Quinn seemed like a good man, like his father.
Eugenia had invited Gloria to meet them in Paris, but she was in London, working seriously on her book, and said she didn’t want to lose the impetus again.
She was hoping to come to New York for Thanksgiving, and that was only two months away.
She didn’t want to stop now. And she felt awkward being around her mother, after all the things she had said.
She had meant them at the time, encouraged by Geoff, but she regretted them now and she couldn’t take them back or erase them.
Eugenia had a feeling that Brad and Sofia would get engaged over the holidays, but he hadn’t said anything about it officially to Eugenia yet, and he seemed like the kind of man who would.
He had made it clear that he had the intention, but she had no idea when, and Sofia was young, although mature for her age.
—
When they got to Paris, Patrick stayed at Eugenia’s apartment with her.
Eloise stayed in hers, and Quinn was at a hotel.
He liked the George V and could afford it, so he had booked a room there, and invited Eloise out to dinner.
She gave a small informal dinner party and introduced him to a few of her French friends.
He could see why she loved her life there.
He liked her friends. They were all French but spoke English.
She had a lovely apartment, and she loved the city.
She was sad she had lost the job and didn’t know if she’d find another one of the same stature in Paris.
When she wasn’t busy with her mother, Eloise took Quinn to her favorite haunts, little cafés and typical French restaurants, shops on the Left Bank, and galleries. She showed him a whole new world, and a side of Paris he’d never seen before and loved discovering with her.
“Do you think you could be happy living in New York again?” he asked her one day, and she thought about it.
“I don’t know. It depends on what else is in my life, like if I find a job I love.”
“Don’t you want to settle down?” he asked her, curious, as they lay on the grass in the Bois de Boulogne on a warm late September day.
“Not really,” she said honestly. “I hated watching my parents’ marriage.
My father was never there, my mother had all the responsibility.
She never complained, but her life was hard while we were growing up.
I can’t remember my mother having fun, except with us.
My father hates responsibility. All he wants to do is go to parties and play.
His life would bore me to death. I’m more like my mother.
I love my work. And kids grow up and move away.
You can’t count on them. I saw my sister tear my mother apart this summer over her stupid wedding.
She really hurt my mother deeply. What’s the point of that?
It was like watching her get mugged and beaten up.
I don’t want kids who would do that to me. ”
“But she has the rest of you.”
“There’s always one rotten apple in the barrel who spoils everything,” she said. “I’m happy as I am.”
“You’re the first woman I’ve ever met who wasn’t dying to get married and have kids,” he said, startled by her. She was a mystery to him. She was a locked door, and he couldn’t find the key.
“Those girls are just too lazy to get a job,” she said and he laughed. “They want to spend someone else’s money. And kids are so much harder.”
“Maybe you’re scared to get married and have kids,” he suggested, and she thought about it.
“Probably. And I’m too young to have kids. I’m thirty. I have my whole life ahead of me.”
“It goes faster than you think,” he said, wise for his years.
“Yesterday I was thirty. Now I’m thirty-five.
And suddenly you blink and you’re our parents’ age.
I think my father is sad that he’s alone now.
He says it’s too late. Or at least he said that until he met your mother.
He’s like a kid now, or a young man. I’ve never seen him that way.
Your mom is good for him,” he said warmly.