Chapter 9
I wake up to the overhead light blinding me and the curtains still wide open.
It’s just after midnight when I see the clock on the nightstand.
I pull the earbuds out and hear a ringing sound.
It’s muffled, but can still be heard. I see my purse.
Reaching down by my feet, I grab it and pull Olivier’s.
.. ugh, Oliver’s phone out of it. When it lights up, it displays ten missed calls and several texts.
Opening one, it’s for me, sent from him: Kandace, where are you?
I’m using my friends’ phone. Come back to the room. I’ll meet you there.
Looking at the clock one more time, I’m wondering how I’m going to return his phone to him without seeing him again. I could leave it with Stefan, but I don’t know if I trust him to actually return it. Ugh. This sucks. I feel so betrayed by him.
One thing I know is that I’m not returning it tonight.
I take off my pretty dress and turn out the overhead light before getting back in bed.
I need sleep. If I have to confront Oliver tomorrow, I need to be rested or I might fall victim to his wicked ways again.
And as much as my body says, “Oui,” my brain says, “Non.”
The sun shines in, waking me just after seven. I slept longer than I thought I could under the circumstances. I’m also pleasantly surprised that Stefan didn’t give my hiding place away.
I get up and get dressed while sneaking in and out of the communal bathroom. By nine, I leave for breakfast and one last trip to the Eiffel Tower hoping to replace the pain from yesterday with new memories.
Arriving before the big crowds, I don’t bother going up again. Instead, I find a space on the lawn and sit down. Just as I unpack my croissant, I hear, “You’re avoiding me.”
I pause, trying to control my roller coaster of emotions before talking with Oliver. “I am.” The truth can’t hurt the situation.
“What happened?”
I turn around and see him sitting a few feet behind me. “Your mother called.”
The news doesn’t seem to faze him. “What did she say?”
“She wants you to call her back.”
Panic has finally set in, showing me an emotion I can relate to. “It’s not what you think, Kandace.” His accent is slipping away just like the charade he’s been putting on.
“Really?” I stand up, dusting my pants off. With my shoulders back, I say, “She’s American. You’re American. I’m not sure what to think about all the lies you told me.”
He stands quickly, coming closer to touch my hands, but I shift back and warn, “Don’t.”
“I can explain.”
“You can explain why you sound like an American now? I’m not stupid, but you treated me like I was.
Guess what? I think I’ve got this one all figured out.
You lied to get laid.” My arms are in the air as I lose the calm demeanor I was holding onto.
“You tricked me and for what? You made me believe I could actually stay here and we would live off love.” My eyes fill with tears.
“I felt like we were more than casual sex, but you were still feeding me bullshit lines the whole time, knowing we would never have a future.”
“Please, Kandace. Calm down and let’s tal—”
“Calm down? Are you insane? Do you know how much you’ve humiliated me, how dumb I feel? You’ve ruined a trip I’ve dreamed about my entire life and all for your own enjoyment.”
He grabs my arms before I can escape. “Listen to me. Everything I said was true. The person you met, you spent time with, that’s me—”
“No, that’s Olivier. You are Oliver or are you so detached from reality that you’ve forgotten who you are?”
An accordion player in the distance plays, filling the air with “La Vie en Rose” and my heart begins to thud in my chest. With my hand toward the musician, I say, “That’s what Paris was to me.
It was a dream come true. I would have been content to see the major sites and visit museums, eat baguettes at bistros.
But you took that away from me, stole it without my permission because I believed you.
I believed what you told me and showed me and I fell in love.
I hate that I did because again, it makes me feel stupid.
But maybe that’s what this trip was about—taking the good and forgetting the bad.
You, Oliver, are the bad and I’ll try to forget you and how you affected so much of my trip. ”
I turn, slipping my arms out of his grasp and his hands drop away. Without warning, in one last desperate attempt to talk this through, he says, “I fell for you too, Kandace.” Desperately taking my hand, he turns me back around to face him. “We were meant to meet. We were meant to be.”
The way he says my name in his native accent isn’t as charming, but I like the sincerity of it.
It just came a little too late. It’s then that everything becomes so much clearer.
I don’t have to wash my memories away or forget him.
I just need to keep our time together in perspective and enjoy what it was.
Able to finally see the situation for what it is, I walk to him, touch his cheek.
“We aren’t meant to be, Oliver. We are lost in translation. ”
Standing there with the Eiffel Tower as his backdrop, my heart settles as I find peace between us.
Handing him his phone, I lift up and kiss each of his cheeks.
With a smile, I back away and say, “Au revoir, Olivier.” Then I turn and walk away, leaving him behind as I leave Paris, choosing to take all of my memories with me.