Chapter 49
“So what are we doing now?”
His cousin had scheduled every moment of this trip so far. Daniel figured she had something planned for the afternoon—and definitely for tonight.
She had her back to him, looking out the hotel room window.
“Let me just try to check my messages and—what is wrong with this thing?” She jabbed at the buttons on her phone, then yelped as it slipped out of her hands, hit the radiator and clanged off the metal base of the floor lamp with a loud crunch.
She picked it up carefully, staring at it in horror. After a moment, she handed it to him.
“Daniel, please tell me you can fix this.”
The antenna was snapped off completely. The LCD screen was cracked beyond recognition.
“Uh…I think it’s dead, Bee. If I had a soldering kit, maybe I could maybe fix the antenna, but the screen’s toast. You’re out of luck until we get home.
” He handed it back to her gently. “But I’m sure whoever’s been bugging you can wait a couple of days.
The campus doesn’t even open back up until January 10 th , right? ”
Bianca hurled the phone onto the bed. “It’s not work ! Everything’s ruined now! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”
Daniel stared at her blankly. None of this made any sense. What was she screaming about?
“Bee? Is there something you need to tell me?” His voice was soft, kindly. “You know there’s nothing you can’t say. There never has been.”
She reached over and grabbed his hands, and—was she crying?
“I’m so sorry, Danny. I did all this for you.” She was crying. Sobbing, almost. “And now it’s all for nothing. I don’t know where to go, I don’t know where she’s going to be. How are you supposed to kiss her at midnight and get your life back together now?”
Nora , the same time
They were in the hotel room, after another swim in the basement pool and half an hour in the steam room afterwards. Nora felt clean and clear-headed and ready to go. “What’s the plan for this afternoon?”
Rachel had mapped out every step of the trip so far; Nora assumed this afternoon—and tonight—would be no different.
But her aunt didn’t answer right away. She was still fiddling with her phone. She finally let out a frustrated grunt and tossed it onto the bed. “What the hell, Bianca? Why won’t you answer me?”
Nora blinked. Did she hear that right?
“Rachel, did you just say Bianca ?” Her aunt turned to her, and she wasn’t fast enough to hide the surprise on her face. “You did! I knew something was going on! What are you up to?”
Rachel looked like she was caught between laughing and screaming. She sat heavily on the bed and sighed deeply. “Fine. You caught me. This whole trip is a setup. Daniel’s cousin called me in October. We had a long talk, and we both agreed—the two of you needed an intervention.”
She had seen Bianca Tuesday night outside the Lebanese restaurant! And Rachel had been watching for someone specific at the ballet. And again at the Galeries Lafayette yesterday.
For an instant or two, she was angry. Outraged.
What gave them the right to play God with her life, or Daniel’s?
She stared at her aunt, and the anger drained away.
Rachel was the person she trusted the most. Just like Bianca was for Daniel.
That’s who they were—the most loyal, loving and stubborn people in her and Daniel’s lives.
Of course they had the right.
And they were right.
She still loved Daniel. She loved him two years ago. She’d never stopped loving him.
And she never would.
Daniel , a moment later
This was insane. Beyond insane. What was Bianca talking about?
She was starting to calm down. She still held his hands. “It’s all because I love you, Danny. And Rachel loves Nora. And you and Nora needed a push.”
This was all a setup? This whole trip?
It all made sense now. Why Bianca was obsessively checking messages on her phone. Why she was constantly looking for someone, at the ballet, out shopping yesterday, pretty much everywhere they’d gone.
If anyone else had told him what Bianca just said, he’d have stormed out. Cursed her name. Booked a flight home for tonight.
But it was his Bee, who always, always looked out for him, his whole life. Who would never, ever hurt him, no matter what.
And she was right. He loved Nora. That hadn’t changed. It wouldn’t ever change. It had been two years since the cruise and he was still single. Still alone. Still missing her.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said, chuckling. “Not in a million years. But I probably should have.” He sat down on the bed, by the dead phone. She sat next to him. “Tell me from the beginning.”
So she did.
It started with a little detective work (“Thank God I remembered you told me Rachel was on Nora’s father’s side, so I knew her last name. I would never have tracked her down without that.”), then a two hour phone call (“She’s really easy to talk to, it was like we knew each other for years.”).
Then they’d made the general plans for Paris (“Swear to God, I was thinking about Paris for New Year’s anyway.
You know how hard I’ve been working—I deserved a vacation!
”) and the specific ones, and that’s where things started to go wrong (“I’ve never been to Paris, how was I supposed to know there are two opera houses? ”).
“So you were texting each other this whole time?” That must have been tedious. And he could see how it might lead to miscommunications.
She picked up the phone, dropped it back on the bed. “Until a few minutes ago. But now we have no way to reach each other, so I don’t know where Nora’s going to be.”
“Rachel probably didn’t kill her phone,” he said. This wasn’t a problem at all. “We can just call her from the room phone.”
Bianca shrugged and didn’t quite laugh. “If I remembered her number, sure. But you know how I am with that. I programmed it into the phone so I wouldn’t have to remember it. And of course the one detail we forgot to tell each other is which hotel we’re at.”
Okay, that was a problem.
They’d walked past a dozen hotels, just in the couple of blocks surrounding theirs. Nora could be in any one of them and he’d never know it.
Just like they hadn’t known they were in the same building—sometimes the same room—for that first month of school before they’d properly met eleven years ago.
No, it wasn’t a problem after all.
He knew exactly where Nora would go.
Nora , the exact same moment
“So Bianca tracked you down, and you guys decided to get me and Daniel together in Paris on New Year’s Eve?”
Rachel shook her head. “It was supposed to be Tuesday night at the ballet. Sleeping Beauty seemed appropriate. I should have just bought four tickets. But Bianca thought it would be more romantic if we all met up by ‘accident.’ Except she went and got tickets at Opéra Bastille instead of Palais Garnier . And then she went to the Champs élysées store instead of the flagship Galeries Lafayette where we were yesterday.”
Both of those sounded like easy enough mistakes to make, especially if you’d never been to Paris before. “And now she’s not texting you back at all.”
Just like Daniel never called her back in Kansas City, because his phone had died.
So he was in the same city—maybe the same block, for all she knew—but neither of them had any idea where the other was.
“You see the problem,” Rachel said.
Her freshman year, she and Daniel had kept just missing each other, time after time, before they finally met face to face.
And that was the answer, right there.
She knew exactly where Daniel would go.
Daniel , a few minutes later
There was no point waiting. If he was right, Nora would be on her way right now.
“Bee, I’m going to find her.” He couldn’t just leave Bianca alone on New Year’s Eve, though.
Not when he wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for her.
“You—do something fun today, just for you. It’ll be my treat.
” He reached into his jacket pocket, took out his wallet.
“Here’s my credit card. I think there’s at least $1,500 on it.
” She didn’t take the card out of his hand.
“Bee, please. I owe you so much. This is the least I can do for you.”
She finally took it. “$1,500, you said? I guess I can work with that.”
He knew she wouldn’t spend a fraction of that. When they got home, he could do something to thank her properly. Or at least make a start on it.
“Good. And let’s meet up tonight, eleven o’clock.” He could spare a few minutes from Nora to make sure Bee got a kiss on the cheek at midnight.
But where to meet?
Bianca had an answer to that. “The concierge said the big New Year’s party’s going to be by the Arc de Triomphe . Want to meet there?”
“Let’s look at the map,” he answered. He unfolded the big tourist map on the bed. “There!” It was a perfect spot, no way to miss it. “The exit for the Metro station there. Charles de Gaulle-étoile . Eleven o’clock on the dot.”
She grabbed him, hugged him tightly. “Good luck, Danny. I hope you find her.”
“I know I’m going to find her, Bee.”
Nora , a few minutes later
There was something beautiful to stop and admire no matter which direction Nora looked in. And in every view, she saw herself and Daniel.
That houseboat tied up on the bank of the Seine, directly below her, its flag fluttering proudly in the chilly breeze—what if they bought it?
They could both find jobs in Paris, surely.
Spend their working days in charming old buildings.
Eat decadent, butter-drenched meals in tiny bistros tucked away on side streets.
Climb aboard their floating home, go below to their bed and make love in time with the gentle motion of the boat in the river.
The Louvre , over across the river—what if she and Daniel came back here next year, with her mother? Karen Langley would be in her glory, giving Daniel an art history lesson he’d never forget.
Or Notre-Dame , there on the ? le de la Cité —what if they came with his parents and took them there? They were a Catholic family; they’d be overwhelmed at the beauty and majesty of it.