Page 69 of The First Chord

It was. The sun was shining, the breeze was warm, and I had the most beautiful woman in the world walking by my side.

“So,” she asked, skipping backwards to get ahead of me, “where are we going?”

God, she looked happy. Yeah, definitely glowing. Her eyes were brighter and her smile wider than I’d seen it since I’d know her.

“Well, you know I’m a bit of Lego freak, well there’s this exhibition in the city.”

I tried not to laugh at the way she was desperately attempting to look impressed. “Oh, great.”

I burst out laughing. “I’m joking. The last place that I’d take you is to a Lego exhibition.”

“We can go if you want to.”

“God, no. There isn’t one anyway.” Feeling brave I grabbed her hand, pulled her to me and kissed her forehead. “No, but we are going to see something equally as beautiful.”

Her eyes went wide. “The Mona Lisa?”

“Yes, and we will have it all to ourselves.” Maybe I’d lied when I said I hadn’t used my money and fame. “They’re going to clear the room for us for fifteen minutes.”

“No way? Oh my god, Ronnie. That’s amazing.” She enfolded me in tight hug. As her feet left the ground I felt like urging her to wrap her legs around my waist but knew it was too soon. I also had a feeling that if she had, then I would have wanted to take her back to her room.

“My pleasure,” I said once I finally put her back on the ground. “I had no idea you’d be so excited.”

“I’ve always wanted to see it. Since we did a project about it at school. I love how fierce she looks. Like no one will ever mess with her. It’s that quiet smile which saystry it and see what you get.”

She was so animated, flapping her hands around excitedly, it was cute.

“You love bad ass Mona Lisa, I get it,” I replied with a chuckle. “And how do you feel about the Venus de Milo?”

“No. They’re letting us see that, too.”

“Well, everyone gets to see it, but we get to see it alone.”

“We do?”

“Yes, we do. For fifteen minutes.”

“Wow, that’s fantastic. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me, thank the Director of The Louvre. Let’s just say his daughter is going to love her birthday present.” I held my hands up. “That, though, is the sum total of me using my fame for personal gain on this date.”

“Really?” she groaned as we started walking again. “God, I was hoping for the star treatment wherever we went. I must say I love a good champagne.”

I knew she was kidding because of the grin on her face. I also knew she hated champagne because it gave her a headache.

“How will a can of Fanta and a baguette do?”

She considered it with a smirk and then finally nodded with a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I suppose it sounds alright.”

Christ, she made me so damn happy. When I was with her I could forget all the shit going on. I mean, I knew that shit was going on because she was with me, but who didn’t love a good old Catch 22 scenario? “Come on then, Princess.” I held out my hand for her. “Let’s go.”

* * *

“I actually thought you might piss your pants.” I nudged Amber as we lay on the grass, staring up at the sky. The remnants of our lunch was in a bag by my head and a half-drunk bottle of wine was lying between my legs. It had been a perfect date so far.

“I’ve been wanting to see it since I was twelve years old. You just don’t understand the excitement.”

I turned my head as Amber turned hers and we grinned at each other. Watching her look in awe at the Mona Lisa was humbling. I’d seen it three times before and while I still thought it was an amazing piece of art, it wasn’t magical like that first time. Not like Amber was seeing it through her eyes. She stared at in awe, like it was some mythical creature that she’d suddenly found out was real. Which I guess, to her, it was.

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