Read Paris Summer Online

Authors: April Lynn Kihlstrom

Paris Summer (10 page)

BOOK: Paris Summer
3.15Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Hi, kitten!” Sandy’s voice answered. “How are
you?”

“Fine,” Janine answered calmly, her jitters of the
night before already forgotten.

“Have you got any plans for today?” he asked.

“Well, I thought I’d go to a park.”

“Sounds great,” he said. “Can I come too?”

“If you want to,” Janine said, laughing. “Maybe you
can help me pick the park.”

“Jardin du Luxembourg,” he said decisively.

She had seen it already but…“Okay,” she said with
no perceptible hesitation.

“Be over in half an hour,” Sandy said. “See you then,
kitten.”

“All right. ‘Bye.”

As soon as she had set down the receiver Janine
turned to check her reflection in the mirror. As usual,
her hair fell free around her shoulders and she wore no
makeup. She was wearing green linen pants and a print
muslin blouse along with sandals. “Well, he can’t
expect me to wear a skirt to a park,” she said, and felt a
vague sense of relief.

Sandy was five minutes early and whistled approv ingly when he saw Janine. She smiled back, equally
impressed with his well-tailored brown pants and blue
short-sleeve pullover. “You’re one of the best-looking
men I know,” she said frankly.

“Of course!” Sandy said with a grin, “and I’d like to
keep it that way.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll be ready,” she said.

Actually, Janine just kept him waiting long enough
to stuff a comb, keys, money, and rubber bands for her
hair in her pockets. She was glad of a moment to
compose herself. She never quite knew how to react to
things Sandy said, and there was always the danger she
would take him too seriously.

When they were finally on their way to the park,
Janine asked, “Why did you pick the Jardin du
Luxembourg?”

Sandy smiled at her and shrugged. “Dunno. I guess
because it’s the first place that came to mind, and I
don’t like to spend time deciding things. It’s one of the
places Alan must have mentioned, and I guess it stuck
because he said there’s a shallow pool where children
sail toy boats and things.”

Sandy’s smile was infectious and Janine returned it.
There was so much about this charming man she did
not know. Had she thought about it, Janine would not
have expected Sandy to remember a park on the basis
of a comment about toy boats and children. “Do you
like sailboats?” she asked.

“Only the toy size,” he answered with a selfconscious laugh. “I always get seasick on real boats.
But I love toy ones. When I was a boy I had quite a
collection, most of which I built myself. I had
everything from a small raft with a handkerchief for a
sail to a model clipper ship someone gave me. Of course, I wasn’t actually allowed to try to sail the
clipper ship.”

“Where did you sail your boats?”

“The bathtub and a park near our apartment when I
was really little; and later, when we moved to the
suburbs, there was a fishpond in the backyard. And a
swimming pool. Not that I was ever given permission
to use the swimming pool for my boats. But the pool
made a nice ocean and I was reasonably careful, so no
one stopped me.”

“Is it hard to make sailboats?” Janine asked,
pretending she knew nothing about the subject.

“Oh, no!” Sandy exclaimed and launched into a
description of various types of sailboats and the
problems in building each.

He was still explaining sailboats to Janine when they
reached the park. At first Sandy and Janine wandered
aimlessly since Janine could not remember where the
boat pond was. Janine was grateful for the park’s
coolness and was feeling oddly content as she walked
beside the flower beds. Sandy was also feeling happy,
Janine guessed, since a careless whistling had replaced
his discussion of sailboats.

They were not quite walking at random, however.
Without consciously intending to, Sandy and Janine
found themselves moving in the direction of the
children’s voices. At first Janine was puzzled to see so
many children running through the park, since the
French school year didn’t end so soon and it couldn’t
be another holiday. Then she remembered that
Wednesday is a day off for French children. She passed
this information on to Sandy, who nodded. “I’d hate to
be inside on a day like today.”

As Sandy said this, he spotted a group of children
and, beyond them, the pond. It was a large, shallow
octagonal pool about a hundred feet across with a
fountain in the center. The pond was circled by
children, many of whom had little sailboats. “Look!”
Sandy said, pointing to the far side of the pool. “She
must rent the boats!”

Obediently Janine looked at the old woman Sandy
was pointing to. She sat next to a large, flat-topped cart
that was covered with boats. The woman was placidly
knitting, pausing now and then to hand a boat to a
child and collect some coins in return. “Can we rent a
boat, too?” Janine asked eagerly.

He laughed. “Two of them! Come on.”

Sandy took Janine’s hand and they half ran, half
skipped down the steps toward the pond. The old
woman eyed them oddly as they each selected a boat,
but she smiled as they handed her the money. Finding
an empty space, Janine sat on the edge of the pool.
Sandy hesitated only a moment, then joined her. By
that time, Janine had deftly unbuttoned the cuffs of her
sleeves and rolled them up above the elbow. Both set
their boats in the water trying to turn them so wind
would catch the sails. Janine, however, was hampered
by her long hair blowing across her face. She took her
boat out of the water and set it in her lap as she fished
for the rubber bands in her pocket. She quickly
separated her hair and made two pigtails. After that she
was quickly able to get her boat moving.

Sandy, preoccupied with his own sailboat, had not
noticed Janine’s actions. He turned to point out a boat
and burst out laughing. “Good Lord! Jenny, you look
like you’re fifteen years old.”

Janine stiffened, irritated as always by comments on
how young she looked. But Sandy had a cure for that.
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “And
you look irresistible,” he added softly.

Trying to hide her confusion, Janine pointed to the
boats. “Look, Sandy, that boat! It’s going to go under
the fountain and be capsized.”

“No, it won’t,” Sandy answered easily. “See, already
it’s shying away from the fountain. Hey, look though.
A school of fish.”

It took Janine a moment to see them, but Sandy was
right. There was a cluster of five or six large fish
swimming near the edge of the shallow pool. One of the
children had also noticed the fish, and they darted
away into deeper water as the child tossed a pebble at
them. Janine laughed happily, enjoying the warm sun
and light breeze. She was content to let Sandy fetch
their boats whenever they came to a halt on the other
side of the pond.

It was Sandy who first noticed the little boy crying.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Would you like to play
with a boat?”

The child just stared at him until Sandy held out the
boat. Then he said something in rapid French that
neither Janine nor Sandy could understand. “Boat,”
Sandy repeated, “would you like to play with the
boat?”

Finally the boy seemed to understand. He nodded
and smiled wistfully. When Sandy handed him the boat
he grinned and said “merci” several times. Soon Sandy
and the boy were friends. Janine let Sandy have her
boat and she watched. After a few minutes she sat on
the ground cross-legged with her arms resting on the edge of the wall containing the pond. Then she rested
her chin on her arms.

Janine awoke with a start as someone nearby
laughed. Sandy! “Wake up, Jenny. You’re going to be
sore sleeping in that position.”

Janine tried to shake off her drowsiness. “How long
was I asleep?”

“About half an hour,” Sandy said cheerfully. “And I
think you’re going to have a sunburn. Maybe we
should get in the shade.”

That woke Janine up quickly. “Sunburn?” she
groaned. “I forgot about that possibility.”

Still laughing, Sandy helped Janine stand up. She
felt a bit shaky. He looked at her anxiously when he
returned from giving the boats back to the woman.
“We really better get you out of the sun. I didn’t know
anyone could sunburn so fast!”

Stretching, Janine answered wryly, “You were right
about my being sore …boy, do my muscles ache! As
for the sunburn, that’s one of the penalties for being
blonde. I almost always burn instead of tan.”

As they walked along a shady path Janine
remembered to ask, “What happened to your little
friend?”

“His mother came and took him away.” Sandy
grinned as he recalled the scene. “I gathered from her
tone that she was mad at him. And it turns out his name
is Pierre. At least I think that’s what she called him. It
was right after that I discovered my sleeping beauty.”

Janine blushed and Sandy smiled. Confused, she
looked around and pointed to some of the small chairs
along the path. “Let’s sit down.”

“Wouldn’t the grass be more comfortable?” Sandy
asked.

“Not allowed,” Janine answered firmly, “and the
French take it seriously.

Sandy shrugged and sat on the chair next to
Janine’s. Curious, she said, “You really do like
children, don’t you?”

“Yup,” he replied, not looking at Janine as he tossed
a pebble across the path. “I’d like three or four of my
own someday. You like kids, too, don’t you, Jenny?”

“Yes.” Then after a moment, “Wait a minute! Didn’t
you tell me the other night you only wanted two?”

He grinned. “Aren’t I allowed to change my mind?
Seriously, I don’t think I could marry a woman who
didn’t want children. When I marry I want my wife to
spend her time at home, taking care of me and my
children.”

“Suppose she has other ideas? Suppose she wants to
work?” she asked stiffly.

Sandy looked at Janine steadily. “She won’t. Not
deep down. Deep down a woman is happy if she has a
husband and kids. Oh, I know, lots of women think
they want a career. They’ve been made to think they’re
copping out or stupid if they don’t have one. They
think they’ve got to compete with men and accomplish
something. But my wife’ll know I love her and respect
her just for being a wife and mother; that that’s enough.
Given a choice between working eight or nine hours a
day at some kind of career or spending her time taking
care of kids-her own-and being protected and
pampered, what woman would pick a career?”

Janine was silent. She had to admit it did sound
attractive. It would be more fun to play with a baby
than teach algebra to college students. And it would be nice to be loved and protected. Sandy watched Janine’s
face, guessing fairly accurately the thoughts running
through Janine’s mind. He smiled to himself and let her
think. Finally, Janine shook her head. “Something is
missing. I’m not sure what, but something is.”

Sandy smiled. “You might think so now, but you
wouldn’t if you were my wife.”

“Is that a proposal?” Janine asked mischievously.

“Not yet,” Sandy said quietly. “You aren’t ready for
me to propose yet. But I’ll be waiting.”

Janine stared at Sandy in astonishment. Was this
one of his jokes? In a shaky voice she said, “You know,
that ought to frighten me. But somehow it doesn’t. And
that’s what bothers me most!”

Sandy smiled happily. “Don’t worry about it,
kitten,” he advised. Then, as though the topics were of
equal importance, “Hey, I’m hungry. Let’s go get some
lunch.”

“Sure. Where?” Janine asked, relieved to have any
change of subject.

They left the park quickly and found a cafe where
they ordered Croque-Monsieurs. “What is it?” Sandy
asked as he stared at it.

“A sort of grilled ham and cheese sandwich,” Janine
explained. “But if you didn’t know what it was, why did
you order it?”

“Alan said I should try one,” he said sourly.

Janine laughed. “Oh, come on. They’re really quite
good… usually,” she said, noting the charred edges of
his.

Carefully Sandy scraped off the burnt parts and then
gingerly bit into his sandwich. “Hey, it’s good!” he said.

“Surprise, surprise,” Janine said, making a face as
she ate.

“All right, so you told me it would be. Where shall
we spend the afternoon?” Sandy asked.

“I don’t know,” Janine said thoughtfully. “That is,
there are all kinds of things I’d like to see but I can’t
decide among them.”

“I’ve got it,” Sandy said. “How about a trip along the
Seine in one of those boats they’ve got?”

“Sounds great,” Janine said, then added, “but I
thought you always get sick on boats.”

“I should be okay on the Seine.” He shrugged.

“Well, all right.” Then, more enthusiastically, she
added, “I’d love it. Where do we find these boats?”

Sandy frowned. “Around lena, I think. At least
that’s what it said in the Pariscope. It’s too far to walk,
so I guess we should take the Metro.” Sandy felt his
pockets, still frowning. “Here we go. I thought I had a
map with me. Hmm, it’s a bit of a nuisance getting
there. We’ll have to change trains at least once.”

“Which station do we start from?” Janine asked.

“Luxembourg. It’s very close,” Sandy replied.

As usual, Sandy insisted on paying for lunch and, a
few minutes later, the Metro tickets. First class, of
course, Janine thought with momentary irritation.

After a long, hot train ride, Janine was relieved when
they emerged from the Metro station at Trocadero. It
was only a short walk to the quaff where they walked by
the side of the river looking for the tour boats. Janine
spotted them first. Suddenly determined, she ran
ahead. By the time Sandy caught up with her she had
just finished paying for the two tickets. “My treat!” she
announced.

“Now, Jenny,” Sandy began patiently, “you know I
don’t like you paying for tickets and things.”

BOOK: Paris Summer
3.15Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Werewolf Dreams by Katie Lee O'Guinn
Winter’s Children by Leah Fleming
Outview by Brandt Legg
The First Touch by Alice Sweet
Come Monday by Mari Carr