One Paris Summer (Blink) (37 page)

“Sophie, I was in your shoes years ago. Not with the piano, of course, but with my restoration work. I loved it. Still do.” He sighed and put my hand in my lap. “I had to make a choice—a career I loved or the woman I loved. I chose the career, but I thanked God the woman I loved chose to follow me. And then she kept following me. Only later did I realize it ruined us. We became strangers living in the same house.”

It felt odd listening to him talk about Mom like that, but I now knew about their problems. It wasn’t a surprise.

“I screwed up when I left last August. I know that now. And I keep screwing up. And it all boils down to that one decision I made long ago—picking restoration over my family. I chose a profession I loved even though I couldn’t offer financial stability or long-term security.”

“Daddy, I never saw it as you choosing your job over me, at least not until you moved to Paris.”

“Your mother did.” He swallowed. “I don’t want that for you, Sophie. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

“But Daddy, you’re not even giving me a choice at all. You’re forcing one on me, and it wasn’t even the choice you made. Besides, you love what you do. Despite everything.”

“Yes.” He sighed, looking distraught. “I love it, despite everything.” He was silent for a moment. “Sophie, you have to understand. I love you. I want to protect you.”

“You have to let me grow up, Dad. You have to let me make my own choices, and if I screw up, I will be the one to live with
the mistakes.” I shook my head. “You haven’t even heard me play since last summer. Why won’t you listen to me play?”

“Because your mother told me how much you began to play after I left. Now every time I see you play, it reminds me of the pain I’ve put you through.”

“Daddy.” My heart ached.

“You need more than the piano, Sophie. You need to live.”

“I am! I’ve conquered my fears and I’ve been seeing Paris.”

“With Mathieu.”

“No. Not just with him. With Camille and her friends and sometimes just me and Eric. The point is I’ve changed while I’ve been here, but piano is still a huge part of me.” He remained quiet, so I said, “At least listen to me play.”

He sat there for several seconds, then got up. “Is Mathieu coming over tonight?”

He was changing the subject. “Yes.”

He nodded and left the room, breaking my heart all over again.

But the next morning when I got up to leave for Mathieu’s apartment—the day before the audition—I found Dad sitting at the kitchen table, sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Dad,” I said in surprise. “What are you doing still home?”

“I thought I’d go to work late and come hear you play.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

A smile spread across my face. “Yeah.”

I took him to my favorite
pâtisserie
. I greeted the woman behind the counter and ordered breakfast and coffee for Dad and me. When I handed him his food, he looked at me in amazement. “When did you learn to speak French?”

“Mathieu’s been teaching me.”

Dad told me more about what he was restoring. His work at
Sainte-Chapelle
would be done in six months.

“What will you do then?”

He gave me an apologetic smile. “I’ll probably move on to the
Opéra
. That’s how I met Eva. I had a lunch interview at a restaurant by the
Opéra
, and Eva walked into the restaurant. My coworker, Nathan, knew her, so he introduced us. I took one look at her and knew she was the one.” He gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry. That’s probably hard to hear.”

I shook my head. “No, I love Eva.”

When we got to Mathieu’s apartment, I pulled a dining room chair over to the piano. I sat down on the bench and looked over at him. “What do you want to hear?”

“Whatever you want to play.”

I held my hands over the keys, mentally running through my catalogue of songs. “First I’ll play
Dido’s Lament
. It’s meant to be sung, so it will sound overly simple, but this is the piece that changed the way I played. Miss Lori gave it to me last fall.” Then I started to play, letting all my emotions pour through my fingers.

When I finished, Dad cleared his throat. “Sophie. That was beautiful.”

“That was nothing, really. I just thought you should hear it. She gave it to me because of you.” He started to ask me to explain, but I said, “Next I’ll play you my Rachmaninoff Prelude in B Minor. I’ve been working on it all summer, and it’s the finishing piece for my audition.”

“So it’s difficult?”

I gave him a small nod. “Yes.”

“Let me hear it.”

I closed my eyes, then began to play, my sadness over leaving Mathieu and even my father pouring into the music. When I played the last note, I turned to look at my father.

Tears were streaming down his face now, and he grinned at me as he wiped them with the back of his hand. “You’ve gotten better since I left.”

I grinned back. “Maybe a little.”

“Because of me.”

I didn’t answer.

“You love this”—he waved to the piano—“the music.”

“Yes, Dad. I do. It’s part of me. I couldn’t stop if I wanted to.”

He watched me for several seconds. “Thank you for playing for me.” Then he stood. “I need to get to work. I’ll see you tonight. Is Mathieu coming to dinner tonight?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded, then turned.

My mouth dropped as I watched him walk out the door. Was he giving me his permission or not?

Miss Lori told me I was ready to practice playing through my pieces a few times, but we split it up with some of my other songs. I left after only a couple of hours and headed back to Dad’s apartment. Eric was still there, and he, Dane, and Camille were getting ready to leave for an outing.

“Back already, little Sophie?” Dane asked, giving me a sleazy smile. Camille had gone into the living room, so thankfully she didn’t notice.

I set my bag on the keyboard bench and began to pull out my music. “Yeah, my piano teacher told me to make it a light day.”

“Then you can come with us to
Montmartre
,” Camille said, emerging from the living room. “It’s your last day to enjoy Paris before you leave on Thursday.”

Camille had been nicer to me lately. Maybe she was capable of gratitude. Or maybe she was excited I was about to leave. Whatever the reason, I still didn’t trust her.

I shrugged. “I think I’ll stay here.”

“Don’t you want to take gifts to your friends and your mother? I know you’ve been too busy to buy them. Maybe you want to get a picture from an artist in the square.” She looked over at Dane. “But we’re going to
Sacré-Cœur
first.”

I glanced at Eric. My brother had paid the price for my decision to cave to Camille’s demands. Did he want me to come? One glance confirmed that he did. “Okay.”

Eric’s look of relief made me feel good about my decision.

We met Marine, Julien, and Thomas on the steps outside the church. From the look on his face, Thomas hadn’t expected to see me.

“
Bonjour
, Thomas.” I gave him a little wave.

“
Bonjour
, Sophie. How is the piano practice coming?”

“Good . . . Thomas, I’m sorry about lying to you about my fake boyfriend back home.”

He shrugged. “I should have figured it out. Mathieu always got jumpy whenever I talked about you. I’m happy for you two.”

“Thanks. I’d still like to be friends.”

He grinned. “You’re leaving in two days.”

“But I’ll be back,” I said in my best Terminator voice.

He burst out laughing. “If you ever dump Mathieu, I hope you’ll give me a chance.”

I smiled, relieved he wasn’t mad at me. “You’re first on my list.”

Thomas and Camille went into the church to see where to get tickets to climb to the top. I was trying to work up the nerve to join the group, hoping to avoid a repeat of Notre Dame. Marine, Julien, and Eric walked over to check out three men playing drums on the side of the church. I stayed at the top of the massive stairway that led to the front of the church. The building was built at the top of a hill, and the view of Paris was mesmerizing.

“I thought I’d be first on that list,” Dane said in a low voice behind me.

He laughed when I jumped, and I tried to control the new rush of anxiety. I glanced around frantically. “It’s okay. Eric’s not around,” he said, chuckling. “Jeez, he’s like a guard dog with you.”

I shot him my sternest glare. “Which is why you better get away from me if you don’t want him to beat the crap out of you.”

“You wouldn’t let him hurt me, would you, Soph?”

I clenched my jaw. “Try me.”

He leaned back and held out his hands. “Come on. I know you’re only dating that French guy because I hooked up with Camille. But we’ll be home in a few days, and I’ll be all yours.”

I shook my head in disgust. “Are you
kidding
me?”

“I know Eric is an issue, but we can sneak around like you did with Mathieu. I know a great place to park my truck after school. No one will have to know.”

I gasped. “Wow. That offer is so tempting, but I think I’m gonna take a pass.”

He leaned close to me, shooting me an ugly sneer. “You had two guys interested in you this summer, and you suddenly think all the guys are gonna fall all over you. It ain’t gonna happen, Soph. Not at our school. I’ll make sure of it.”

“You think you can intimidate me into sleeping with you? You’re disgusting.” I started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

His eyes narrowed and his voice came out in a low growl. “I’m not done talking to you.”

I was scared, but I wasn’t about to back down. “Get your hand off me,
now
.”

“Or what? What are you going to do, Sophie?”

I stomped my heel down on the inside of his ankle, letting my foot answer for me.

He dropped his hold on me and yelped.

“If you ever touch me again, I’ll do a whole lot more than that. And I can’t even imagine what Eric will do.”

I turned to walk away, but he called after me. “You can play hard to get all you want, Sophie, but I know you want me.”

I fought tears as I walked up the remaining steps, trying to get as much distance between us as possible. A few minutes later, Eric and the others had joined Camille and Thomas as they headed to the landing at the bottom of the church entrance. Eric was scanning the crowd for me.

I offered him a tight smile. I wanted to leave, but I decided to just stick close to my brother. Dane wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything with Eric around.

We had to go down to the basement to get tickets. I assured Eric multiple times I could climb the steps without freaking out. I was worried that if I stayed outside on the steps, Dane would want to stay with me, which offered plenty of motivation to face my fears.

There were a million and a half steps to the top, but I made it with only a few near panic attacks. The view from the dome was incredible, making me glad I had made the climb. I dug out my cell phone and took a selfie with the Eiffel Tower behind me. I sent it to Mathieu in a text with
missing you
.

We went shopping next, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Dane and my dad. Dane for obvious reasons, and Dad because he had me totally confused. I was scheduled to audition tomorrow at noon, and I still didn’t know if it was happening.

If Dad didn’t let me audition, I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive him.

BY THE TIME
we got back to the apartment, I’d gotten souvenirs for everyone back home. Mathieu was waiting outside the building. I ran to him, squealing as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He swung me around, then set me down and kissed me. “I understand you went to
Sacré-Cœur
.”

I grinned up at him. “
Oui.
I wish you had been with me.”

“Me too.” He gave me another kiss, slow and lingering.

“You’re early,” I said.

“I got off early to see you.”

“And tomorrow?” Mathieu wanted to go with me to the audition. He was trying to get out of his community service for a few hours.

His smile fell. “I haven’t gotten an answer yet.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll take her,” Eric said.

I glanced over at him, surprised he was still there. The others had gone upstairs, but Dane had given me a dirty look when he saw me in Mathieu’s arms. “Nobody’s going if Dad doesn’t sign that paper.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed. “He better.”

Dad and Eva came home soon after we did. Eva made pasta, and we all sat at the dining room table. Both of them were more subdued than usual, maybe because the full, boisterous family dinners were about to go back to only three people.

Halfway through the meal, Dad cleared his throat, looking nervous. “Sophie, I’ve given this some thought, and I have
decided it
is
your decision, not mine. If you want to audition, I’ll sign the paper.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Mathieu grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed.

Dad scowled. “But we need to discuss some logistics.”

“Okay.”