Chapter 14 #2
They all hated to leave Saint-Tropez after the weekend, and promised to make it an annual vacation.
On Monday, they all went home, and Felicity went to Paris to look into classes for the fall and a studio to rent.
Clément and Marie-Aurélie left for their honeymoon in Florence, Venice, Rome, and Portofino.
And now they had Labor Day to look forward to.
* * *
“We have to think of a dress,” Dominique said to Violet on the flight from Nice to New York.
They were flying back to New York with Bill and Jamie.
Tommy and Marlene were stopping in London on the way back to L.A.
, and then spending August in Santa Barbara.
“Do you have anything in mind?” Dominique asked Violet about the dress.
“You hit one out of the park for Bonne Mamie. That dress was perfect on her. Maybe something vintage,” she said thoughtfully.
“Do you really want to get married on the beach?” Dominique asked, groping in her mind for designs she’d seen that would be pretty, and suitable for Violet.
“Maybe not the actual wedding, but we could have the reception on the beach, something relaxed and informal. I used to love all those baby doll dresses Twiggy wore in the sixties. Maybe something like that.”
“I’ll play with it and let you know what I come up with.” Her mother smiled, and sketched a few little drawings on the back of a paper napkin, while Violet slept the rest of the way to New York, and Jamie and Bill talked sports and business.
When Felicity got to Paris, she looked into courses offered at the Louvre and the Beaux-Arts, and found one she liked at the Beaux-Arts.
She was studying the curricula of the various courses, and stopped for a café filtre at the Café Flore.
When she looked up, she was surprised to see her old friend Fred Miller from Yale sitting two tables away from her.
She hadn’t seen him since she’d run into him when she was hesitating about marrying Taylor.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him. “I thought you were moving to Berlin for the art scene. Are you still living there?”
He shook his head. “No, it didn’t work out. A little too avant-garde for me. I’m thinking about taking classes here, and just floating around Europe for the summer in the meantime till they start. What about you? Did you marry that guy?”
She shook her head too. “No, it didn’t work out either.”
“I’m glad. It didn’t sound right to me.”
“It wasn’t.” She didn’t go into detail. “I’m thinking about taking classes here too, and renting a studio where I can paint, with a living space.
My grandmother lives here, so I have family here.
I just went to her wedding. She’s eighty-five.
She waited forty years to marry the guy. It was really sweet.”
“I’ll probably be that old by the time I get married,” he said with a smile.
“Yeah, me too. No rush,” she said, and handed him the curriculum from the Beaux-Arts for professional artists. He looked it over with interest. “I think I’m going to sign up. Now I’ve got to find a studio too. I hear there are some great old ones on the Left Bank.”
“I’ll let you know if I see anything for you, when I look,” she said.
“Text me your number,” he said easily, and she did. “When are you coming back, or are you staying in France for the summer?”
“I’m going back to New York tomorrow. I’ll come back in September, after Labor Day. I’ve got another wedding then. My sister.”
“Must be contagious,” he said, and moved over to her table.
“I’ll let you know if I find a good studio.
Someone told me about a building that only rents to artists.
That might be cool.” Paris was beginning to sound like a great idea for the fall, Felicity thought as she smiled at him.
And he said casually, “I’m glad you didn’t marry that guy.
” He looked shy as he said it. “Maybe we could have dinner sometime when you come back. I’ve hardly seen you since Yale, except when we run into each other by accident, like today.
Maybe that’s destiny trying to catch our attention.
” It was an interesting idea she hadn’t thought of, but maybe he was right. It was worth exploring.
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, finishing her coffee and smiling at him. She felt peaceful after the week she had just spent with her family.