Chapter 13 #2
“She says the same about him. I think they’re good for each other, it’s nice for them.
” They were lying in the grass, talking, and Quinn couldn’t resist anymore.
He’d been circling her for weeks and she was keeping him at bay.
He rolled over in the grass next to her, leaned gently toward her and kissed her.
She looked startled at first, and then she kissed him back until they were both breathless and had to stop.
He was terrified of her reaction afterward.
Maybe she would never see him again. She lay on her back, looking up at the sky for a few minutes, and didn’t say anything.
She loved the sky in Paris, it was always beautiful, filled with giant puffy clouds, or pearl gray in the rain.
The sky was luminous. And then she turned to look at Quinn.
“Why did you do that?” She wasn’t angry, she was curious, referring to the kiss. She hadn’t expected it.
“Because I’m crazy about you, and I couldn’t stand it any longer,” he said honestly. She was so close and so out of reach at the same time. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks, and you always stay just distant enough that I was afraid to upset you.”
“I’m not upset, or scared,” she said, and he kissed her again, and this time she responded even more passionately, with their bodies pressed together until she could feel that he was aroused, and she wanted him too.
“Let’s go back to my apartment,” she whispered.
Lying there, listening to him, she had made a decision.
She had unlocked the door, and was willing to open it to him.
She didn’t know what else she was going to do with her life now, but whatever it would be, she wanted him in her life too.
She didn’t want to make any promises, she wanted to see how they were together and figure it out as they went along.
She didn’t want to make a mistake, as her parents had. She’d been afraid of that all her life.
When they got to her apartment, they raced each other up the stairs, laughing.
She liked having fun with him. He acted like a kid sometimes and she liked that.
Most of the time, he seemed very grown up.
The building was old and full of charm. She unlocked the door, they walked in, and they never made it to her bedroom.
They made love on the battered vintage leather couch in the living room, in a big comfortable chair she had bought at the flea market, finally on her bed, and in the shower afterward.
She had held back for so long, that she realized now that she was starving for him.
He had no idea what had finally given her the courage to let him in, but she abandoned herself to him, and that night they clung to each other, sated, in a private world all their own.
They ate cheese and a baguette, naked in her kitchen, and shared a bottle of red wine.
They fell asleep with his arms around her that night, and he knew he had come home, to the place and the woman he wanted to be with.
He had been looking for her and never found her until he met Eloise.
The first time he had seen her he knew she was special.
He checked out of the hotel the next day and moved in with her.
She loved sharing her apartment with him, although it was small, but she loved the smell and feel of him, his touch, his skin.
After keeping her distance at first, she was the most passionate woman he had ever known, and she knew she had been waiting for him too.
The walls she had built around her heart to protect it were crumbling as she opened herself to him.
His father called him that night on his cell, sounding worried.
“Where are you? They said you checked out of the hotel.”
“I did,” Quinn admitted, without further explanation. Eloise was lying naked next to him.
“Are you okay?” Patrick asked him, but he could hear that Quinn was peaceful and content. Patrick didn’t know where Quinn was, but he hoped he was with Eloise, and Eugenia felt the same way.
“Do you want to have lunch tomorrow? Eugenia wants to have lunch at a bistro she loves, and she’d like to know if you and Eloise would join us.”
“We’d love to come,” Quinn said cryptically, and Patrick smiled. He could guess the rest. If Quinn were with a girl other than Eloise, he wouldn’t have brought her to lunch with them. His father told him the name of the bistro. And Patrick reported the call to Eugenia when he hung up.
“Well, we’ll see who he brings to lunch tomorrow,” she said, smiling.
When Quinn and Eloise walked into the restaurant together the next day, they tried to look casual, but everything they felt for each other was written on their faces.
Eugenia wished that she could freeze the moment forever as she watched them.
She could tell instantly that something had changed.
She and Patrick held hands under the table, as they watched their children and smiled.
Quinn and Eloise had found each other, and there was a tangible intimacy between them that didn’t need words. The rest was up to them.
—
The orders they took at Eugenia’s office were phenomenal.
Cotton Candy outsold the daywear line two to one, but the new daywear was a big hit with high-end stores.
Cotton Candy had done brilliantly in Europe, Asia, and the States.
It was the look every young girl wanted.
Eugenia couldn’t believe how much they sold.
They flew back to New York after a week, and Eloise decided not to give up her Paris apartment. She hoped that she and Quinn would come back there again often, whenever they could. And she was still open to the idea of a job in Paris.
She moved in with Quinn three weeks later after they returned to New York.
Patrick and Eugenia were alternating between his house, her apartment, and the boat on weekends.
They had an abundance of possibilities. The boat was where they had the most fun, and the choice of her place or his depended on their mood and their meetings the next day.
—
Patrick and Eugenia went skiing in January, instead of Eugenia showing her couture line in Paris.
She had decided to take a season off from haute couture to build her two successful ready-to-wear lines and make them even stronger.
She was going to present her new couture collection in July, and expected to be financially stable again by then.
Maybe even more so than before. The decision not to show for a season was the right one, and she thought the world would be going to parties again by summer.
She had a terrific time skiing with Patrick.
They were both good skiers, and spent a week trying out different trails in the three valleys near Courchevel.
It was the perfect trip for them, healthy, relaxed, and fun.
—
Sofia and Brad had gotten engaged at Christmas, which didn’t surprise anybody, and they were all happy for her. They were going to wait a year to get married.
—
Gloria had finished her book by then and came home for Christmas.
But she wasn’t ready to leave London yet.
She hadn’t dated since Geoff, and she didn’t feel ready for that yet either.
She was taking her time to get over the trauma of the canceled wedding and seeing him pursue another woman on the eve of their wedding.
She hadn’t run into him since in London, and hoped she never would.
She was taking the time she needed to heal.
And she had a lot of fences to mend when she was ready.
Eugenia had forgiven her, but Gloria needed time to understand how she had fallen prey to a man who didn’t love or respect her, and only cared about himself, and why she’d been so willing to embrace all his opinions and abandon her own.
—
While Patrick and Eugenia were in the Alps, Eloise texted her mother that she had found a job, designing for a new label that someone was starting in New York.
She said she would be traveling between Paris and New York, which suited her perfectly.
She was glad she had kept her apartment in Paris.
The job felt like a perfect fit and she hoped she was right.
She said she would miss working with her mother.
It had been fun and exciting, but now it was time to move forward.
Eloise was ready. And she was going to continue living with Quinn when she was in New York.
She loved him and wanted to give the relationship a chance to see where it went.
She thought they were headed in the right direction, while respecting themselves and each other.
She was in no hurry to marry, and didn’t want anyone controlling her life.
Quinn was well aware of it and respected her boundaries.
Their relationship was working well so far.
And now she had a job she was excited about too. Eugenia was happy for her.