Chapter 26
For the next several days I simply went through the motions of my life: get up, shower, get dressed, walk aimlessly around the city until I exhausted myself, then crawl back into bed and wait for night to pass.
Of course I had ended up back where I always did.
Of course I’d ended up alone again. It was a relief to return to work, just to feel like I had some sort of purpose again.
And there was going to be a proposal tonight.
Austin Winters had been emailing Le Jules Verne extensively for the past two months, wanting to get every detail just right.
Everything was set: the ring had been dropped off yesterday, and I’d be the one to slip it in his girlfriend’s champagne glass before serving the drinks.
As I stepped into the restaurant, I blocked out every thought of Laurent.
The only thing I wanted to focus on was having this engagement go as perfectly as possible.
Luc called me over when Austin and his girlfriend, Jackie, arrived. Jackie was thrilled with the restaurant, but Austin looked distinctively queasy. I gave him a reassuring smile while Jackie was admiring the wallpaper.
Jackie and Austin were both young, in their early twenties. They’d met in a French class at university they told me in slow, careful French.
“Your accents are very good,” I told them, smiling. “Our sommelier will be over shortly, but, until then, can I start you off with something to drink?”
“I’ll have champagne,” Austin said immediately. It would have been slightly more natural if he’d at least looked at the menu, but I could work with what he was giving me.
“Very good, Monsieur. And you, Mademoiselle?”
“Oh, I have a bit of a headache. Just water for me,” Jackie said with a smile.
Austin looked terrified, but I knew there were plenty of ways out of this.
“Excellent, Mademoiselle. Sparkling or still?”
“Still, please.”
If she’d said sparkling, that would have solved the problem, but I still had other options. I smiled at Austin, trying to convey that everything would be fine. He looked faintly green.
I brought out their drinks, and as the courses began rolling out, Austin started to relax. He and Jackie giggled over inside jokes together, discussed the food, pulled out a map of the city and marked the places they wanted to visit tomorrow.
The talk of tomorrow—when the proposal would be over and they’d be happily engaged—seemed to breathe new confidence into Austin.
He’d asked for photos of the proposal, which Yasmine would be taking care of, but after I brought their fourth course out, I ran to the staff room to get my phone and snap a few surreptitious photos of them.
They looked so young and happy sitting there, heads bent together as the sun set over Paris behind them.
Before I brought out the final course, I asked if either of them wanted something else to drink.
Austin returned to looking like a deer in headlights and requested another glass of champagne.
He looked desperately at Jackie, willing her to follow his decision.
But she just smiled sweetly and ordered an Orangina.
I almost winced myself at that. I certainly wouldn’t be dropping a diamond ring in a glass of that cloudy orange juice so the poor girl might swallow it before realizing anything was amiss.
But it was fine; I knew exactly how I was going to handle this.
A glass of champagne, on the house, and as she went to clink glasses with Austin, she’d notice something sparkling amidst the bubbles in her glass and then…
Well, after that, Austin would probably be happy to buy his new fiancée all the Orangina she could ever drink.
I again smiled reassuringly at Austin. He grimaced in return. In the staff room, I took the ring box from where it was being kept in the safe, poured two glasses of champagne, and dropped the ring in one of them. It looked lovely, the diamond sparkling amidst the champagne.
They probably will want a photo of that, too, I thought, snapping a few.
“Ready?” I asked Yasmine, who was coming in with a stack of empty plates. She patted her pocket, and I saw the outline of her phone.
The two glasses in hand, I paused for a second, savoring the anticipation.
With a jolt of surprise, I realized I hadn’t thought about Laurent for nearly an hour.
I was actually even a tiny bit happy right now.
I straightened my skirt, then walked out to the dining room.
Poor Austin looked at me like I was the Grim Reaper himself, but he’d be alright soon. Better than alright, in fact.
“Perrier Jouet Grand Brut,” I said smoothly, setting a glass before Austin. “And one on the house for you, Mademoiselle,” I said, putting the other glass—the key glass—in front of Jackie.
She looked confused for a moment, then smiled politely, clearly not wanting the champagne but not wanting to appear rude. That was fine; she’d understand what was happening in just a moment. I took a discreet step to the side, so Yasmine had a clear shot of the couple.
“Cheers to us, Jackie,” Austin said, his voice shaky.
Jackie lifted her glass to his, then frowned, peering at it. My heart quickened.
“There’s something in it…” she said, turning the glass around to try to get a better look.
Austin shot up like his chair was on fire. “Here! Let me get that for you.” In his nervousness, he practically ripped the glass from Jackie’s hands. But once he was holding the still-full glass of champagne, he suddenly looked lost.
Our eyes met. I saw him start to reach his hand inside the full glass—a terrible idea—and shook my head.
I indicated the empty water glass (which I had purposely not refilled) at his place.
Austin caught on quickly enough and dumped nearly all the champagne into the cup, until just the ring was left, sitting in a tiny pool of bubbles.
He fished it out, and kneeled beside Jackie.
“Jackie Rees, you make me the happiest man on the face of this Earth…”
It happened slowly. Jackie had looked shocked when Austin began his speech, but as he kept going, pouring out the reasons he loved her, her expression didn’t change to delight. Her eyes remained wide, her body tense.
Austin hadn’t noticed. He plowed through the whole of his speech and was now kneeling in silence. The ring he clutched in his fingers had begun dripping onto the carpet. He was still beaming.
I turned toward Yasmine. She was watching the scene with growing horror. Her phone dangled from her hand, forgotten.
Austin reached for Jackie’s limp hand. She didn’t resist. He went to place the ring on her finger, and I let out a sigh of relief. She was just surprised, that’s all. Everything was fine.
Jackie seemed to suddenly realize what was happening. In a quick, jerky motion, she pulled her hand back. Someone at another table gasped quietly. From the corner of my vision, I saw that the entire restaurant had turned to see what was happening: a slow-motion trainwreck.
Austin’s face was partially obscured from my view, but I still witnessed the range of emotions he went through: confusion, surprise, a hint of a smile (perhaps she was just joking?), then dawning horror as he caught up with the rest of us. He looked at Jackie.
“No?”
He barely made a sound.
The only person in Le Jules Verne who looked more miserable than him was Jackie. Silent tears ran down her face, and I could feel her reluctance to hurt this man in front of her.
She shook her head. Two tears splashed down onto the hand Austin still held, ready to slide the ring on.
The air went out of the building. Even the kitchens were silent. I saw one of the sous chefs poke her head out to see what the lack of commotion was.
I–who had been trained for every contingency, who knew what to do if a guest flipped a table in a rage, if lightning struck the Eiffel Tower, if a kitchen fire destroyed all the food, if a guest sat down and calmly informed me that they had a bomb in their bag–could not think of what to do now.
Abruptly, Jackie stood up and fled toward the exit.
That was enough to bring me to my senses.
I jumped into action. I turned to Yasmine and jerked my head in Jackie’s direction.
In a flash, Yasmine was at the table, grabbing Jackie’s forgotten purse and coat.
She caught up with the girl at the elevators.
In the oppressive silence, I heard her whispering to Jackie as she offered her tissues and hit the elevator button.
That was one half of the doomed lovers taken care of. But Austin was still kneeling on the ground, looking like he’d just been sucker punched. I went to him.
“Here, come this way,” I said, pulling him up gently. The ring fell from his numb fingers, but Austin didn’t even notice. I grabbed it before leading Austin to the staff room.
Once there, I sat Austin in a chair and closed the door. Technically, no guests were allowed back here, but that was the last thing on my mind right now. I grabbed a carafe and a clean glass, and poured Austin some water.
“Drink this,” I told him, pushing the glass into his hands. Austin took it blindly. He seemed barely aware of where he was. Suddenly, he jerked his head up.
“The ring?” His voice was hoarse.
I dunked the ring in a new glass of water so it wouldn’t be sticky, dried it, then returned it to its box and passed it over to Austin.
For several long moments he stared at it.
“It’s a lovely ring,” I said, to fill the silence.
“Has this ever happened before?” he asked, still looking at the ring as though this bezel set diamond held the answers to the universe.
“Oh, all the time,” I lied.
“Everyone is probably talking about me out there,” he said miserably.