First Sight (28 page)

“Thank you for listening,” Jean-Charles said, feeling vulnerable and slightly foolish. Four months before, he had provided strength and comfort for her, and now the tables had turned, and she was doing the same for him. More than he realized just then, it was a fair exchange. “What a shame you’re not staying a few days longer. But then, I don’t suppose it’s very amusing for you, sitting here and listening to me tell you my troubles.”

“We all go through hard times. I’ve had mine too. We all do. Don’t feel guilty about yours. In the end, that’s what makes us human.” He realized again as he looked at her what an exceptional woman she was, to have come so far, had so much pain, still retain her compassion and humanity, and have come out the other end. And as he was thinking that, she was having almost the identical thoughts about him. “I’m sorry I’m not staying for a few extra days this time too. I hate leaving Paris. I don’t even speak the language, but it has always been the city of my heart. I love coming here every chance I get.”

“It’s a beautiful city,” he said, smiling at her. “I still appreciate it, even though I’ve lived here all my life.”

“Are you originally from Paris?”

“I am, although my family came from Lyon. I still have cousins there, and in Dordogne. That’s a lovely part of the country too. It’s horse country for us,” he said, trying to lighten the moment after his heartfelt confessions to her. He had bared his soul, and it embarrassed him somewhat.

“I’ve actually been there once, to visit friends,” Timmie said. And then for no reason in particular she told him about Blake, how she had fallen instantly in love with him, wanted to adopt him, and lost him within days. Listening to her, his heart went out to her again. It was one more loss for her. “I’m so sorry that happened,” he said sympathetically, his big eyes deep into hers.

“It was worth loving him, even if only for a few days. He was a lovely little boy.” Jean-Charles found himself admiring her again for her huge heart.

He glanced at his watch then, and saw that he had to leave. He hated to leave her now, it had made him feel so much better talking to her. He was sorry that they didn’t live in the same city and could be friends. They always had so much to say.

As though reading his mind, she looked at him with a smile as he stood up. “You should come to California sometime. Maybe now that you’re free, you will.” It might give him something to look forward to, and a brief change of scene, although it was so far away for him.

“Perhaps. I haven’t been there in a long time. I go mostly to New York.”

“That’s not nearly as much fun,” she chided him, and walked to where he stood, and then, as though an electric current had gone through both of them, she stood looking up at him. And as he looked down at her, he said not a word. She had a moment of brief, total insanity, and almost found herself drifting into his arms. She had to stop herself and resist a nearly irresistible pull, and she wondered if he felt it too. Surely not, she told herself, as he took a step back and looked at her. Just as she had felt it, he looked as though he had just been shaken by an electric shock. For a long moment, neither of them knew what to say. And then, feeling foolish, he thanked her for the champagne.

“Have a safe trip back to California,” he said, groping for something to say on the way out. They had said so much, and now he could no longer find the right words.

“I’m actually going to New York for a few days. I won’t be back in California till next week,” she said, feeling dazed. They were both filling the air with empty words. There was something much bigger and deeper happening between them. If Timmie had believed in it, she would have called it love at first sight, but she had long since given up romantic notions like that. And so had he. This had to be something else. Perhaps a deep and unspoken admiring bond, which would evolve into a real friendship one day. She tried to tell herself it was that. “Take good care of yourself, Jean-Charles,” she said, searching his eyes again, as though the answer to her questions was there. But all she saw was her own confusion mirrored in his.

“And you as well,” he said. “Call me if I can ever do anything for you, like medical advice.” It was all he could offer her now. But this was entirely different from the exchanges they had shared before. This was far deeper and more powerful than that. It had the force of a tidal wave.

He walked to the doorway and she followed him, and then just before he left he gave her a card with all his numbers, address, and e-mail on it, “in case she needed him,” and asked her for hers. She jotted them down on a piece of paper and handed them to him, and gave him a hug as though they were old friends.
“Au revoir,”
she said, and he smiled.

“
Merci
, Timmie,” he said in his deliciously French-accented words. And then without saying anything more to her, he left, and she stood staring at the door he had gently closed, as Jade walked into the room, and looked at her. Timmie turned to stare at her with wide, stunned eyes.

“Are you okay?” Jade asked, glancing at her in disbelief. In twelve years, she had never seen Timmie look like that. Nor had Timmie ever felt anything even remotely like it. Not even in October when she had met him before. Everything had been different this time, as were they.

“I’m fine,” Timmie said, turning away, pretending to tidy up the room. She had to do something to keep from running after him. Whatever had just happened had confused her totally. It was dizzying. She felt as though the roof had just fallen on her head.

And then Jade looked at her again. “Oh my God, did he kiss you?” She couldn’t think of any other explanation for why Timmie looked like that.

“Of course not,” Timmie said in a strong, clear voice. “We just talked.” She felt fiercely protective of all they’d said, and offered no more explanation than that.

“About what?” Jade asked, instantly suspicious, since technically, he was still a married man.

“Everything. Life. Children. His divorce.”

“Jesus, I remember all that.” She was so grateful now to be with a single man. “Has he moved out yet?” She knew all the questions to ask, as David wandered into the room.

“Has who moved out yet?” David looked confused.

“The French doctor. Timmie just had a drink with him.”

“He seems nice.”

“He’ll be a lot nicer after he’s divorced,” Jade said tartly, and Timmie said nothing at all, while her assistants talked, unaware of the state she was in. Timmie could hardly breathe or think.

“Don’t be so paranoid,” David scolded her. “Give the guy a chance.”

“I don’t want the same thing to happen to Timmie that happened to me,” Jade said, glancing at her boss. Timmie was standing there, looking thunderstruck.

“Are you okay?” David asked her, far more gently than Jade had. He could see that something earth-shattering had happened to her.

“I don’t know,” Timmie said honestly. “Something weird just happened to me.” It was almost frightening, the feeling was so strong.

“Maybe it happened to him too,” David said hopefully. “He looks like a mensch to me. I approve.” Timmie smiled.

“Not so fast,” Jade added, and then David beamed.

“Do you know what day this is?” David asked them both and they looked blank.

“Thursday?” Timmie offered, looking vague.

“That would be correct. But better than that, February fourteenth. Valentine’s Day. Maybe Cupid struck.”

Timmie smiled and shook her head. “I’m past all that. He’s just a friend,” she insisted, and after that they ordered room service and had dinner together. She never mentioned Jean-Charles again, but couldn’t help wondering if he’d call that night. He didn’t, and she had already gone to bed, when she heard an e-mail come in, in the living room of her suite. She couldn’t resist getting up to see who it was from.

Her heart pounded when she saw it was from him. She clicked it open and stared at what he’d written, devouring every word.

“I am deeply troubled after seeing you today. I had a wonderful time, and now I can’t get you out of my mind. You looked beautiful. Thank you for talking to me. You are so very wise and kind. Have I gone mad, or are you as troubled as I? J-C.”

She instantly sat down to write, with shaking hands, wondering how much she should say, and then decided to be as honest with him as she had told him that she was. All of Jade’s warnings meant nothing to her.

“Yes, I am troubled too. And I also loved seeing you. I think the building fell on my head. I have no idea what it means. What do you think? Is insanity contagious? Do I need medical advice? If so, please answer immediately. Thinking of you. T.” It was actually more than she intended to say, but she sent it before she could stop herself or take it back. He answered her immediately.

“Insanity is contagious. Extremely dangerous medical condition. Be careful. Perhaps we have both fallen ill. Whatever this is, clearly very serious case. When are you coming back? J-C.”

“I don’t know. Happy Valentine’s Day. T.”

“Oh my God … that explains everything. The work of Cupidon? I will call you in New York.
Bon voyage. Je t’embrasse
. J-C.”

She could easily guess that Cupidon was Cupid in French, and she knew that
Je t’embrasse
meant “I kiss you.” So Jade was right after all. He had kissed her … and her heart pounded harder still at the thought of his calling her on her cell in New York. She wanted to resist, she knew she had to. This was truly insanity. She lived in Los Angeles and he lived here. He wasn’t even divorced yet. And sane adults did not fall in love at first sight. It just didn’t happen, she told herself. She wouldn’t let it. But even as she thought the words, she knew she had never been so taken with anyone in her life. The seed had been planted months before. Maybe his thank-you note with the sunset had been a message in a bottle after all. And now, on Valentine’s Day, the roof had caved in on them both. And the oddest thing of all was that it had happened to both of them at exactly the same time. All she could do now was hope he would call her in New York as he said he would. And then what would they do? She had absolutely no idea.

Chapter 12

The flight to New York seemed endless to her. Timmie hardly spoke to David and Jade, and this time she couldn’t sleep, as she always did. She couldn’t even work, or read.

All she did was think of Jean-Charles. She still didn’t understand what had happened to both of them the night before. It was all very nice to say it was the work of “Cupidon,” but what the hell had hit them, and why? She couldn’t help wondering if it had actually occurred four months before. She didn’t even know what had happened. But it had been obvious to both of them that something had. Whatever it was.

They went through customs in New York, and she declared the few things she had bought. David went outside to find their limousine, while Jade looked for a porter, and by habit, Timmie turned her cell phone on as she followed David outside so she could smoke. The moment she turned her phone on, it rang. It was Jean-Charles.

“Hello?” She had just walked through the door, as David motioned to her. He had found their car. She signaled to him and got in, as David went back inside for their bags.

“How was your trip?” He sounded very French and very sexy on the phone. She smiled just listening to him.

“Very long,” she admitted. “I was thinking about you.”

“So was I. Where are you now? At the hotel?”

“No. I just got off the plane. Your timing was perfect. I just turned on my phone, and there you were.”

“I thought about you all day,” he confessed. It was nine o’clock at night for him, and had been a very long day. He had just seen his last patient at the hospital, he told her, and was in his car, on his way home. “Timmie, what happened yesterday?” He sounded as thunderstruck as she was, and as confused.

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “It was Valentine’s Day. Maybe that explains everything.” She couldn’t believe she was saying that to him. She had protected her heart for years, and had promised herself celibacy again, and now she was falling all over him, and talking about Valentine’s Day. Maybe she truly had gone insane. But if so, he sounded as crazy as she did, and she loved that he had called her. It made her feel like a kid again. And then she thought of something she wanted to ask him. “Was there some hidden message in the thank-you note you sent me last fall? The one with the sunset in Normandy on it?” She was dying to know.

“I didn’t think so then. But maybe there was. Now I think there must have been. I bought that card for you, and I thought a long time about what I wrote to you. First, I didn’t want to make mistakes in English.” She smiled at the admission. Everything about him touched her now. She loved the combination of his strength and vulnerability, his compassion and good heart, his concern about his children, his confusion about what they were doing, which mirrored her own. There was absolutely nothing about him she didn’t like. “But I was also being very careful about what I said to you. I didn’t want to say too much or too little. I was so touched by the beautiful watch you gave me. I’ve had gifts from patients, but never one as wonderful as that. And it meant so much to me because it was from you.” He melted her heart with what he said. “It was a very sweet thing for you to do.” He had been wearing it ever since, and told her that a minute later, and then Jade and David came out to the car with their bags. She didn’t want to talk in front of them, and asked if she could call him an hour later from the hotel. He told her to call on his cell phone and he’d be waiting. They hung up then, and she chatted with David and Jade on the way into the city. They found her unusually animated, but had no idea what was going on. Neither did she. All she knew was that she was incredibly attracted to him, totally distracted, and suddenly obsessed with him. She felt like she was losing her mind, but if so, it was a very pleasant sensation, and she had no desire to stop it. All she wanted to do was speak to him again.

She called him back from the hotel as soon as she got to her room, and he stunned her by asking if she would wait for him in New York the following week. If so, he would come for a few days, spend some time with her, take her to dinner. He sounded desperate to see her again, and she wanted to too. But she couldn’t the following week. She had just agreed to fly to Taiwan a few days after she got back, to deal with a crisis in their factory there. He sounded disappointed when she told him. But she still had her empire to run, even if something remarkable had happened to them the day before.