Page 88 of Love on the Vine
Another pause. “Shanghai.”
So far away. The back of my throat started to ache.
“It’s late then. Didn’t mean to wake you up. I should go. I’m going out for dinner.” I didn’t specify that I was going outwith Callie. Let him think I was going on a date. “Will you be at Lucie’s wedding?” I held my breath, hating how desperately I wanted him to say yes.
The line cut up and there was silence again. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, well, I guess I won’t say ‘see you later’ then.” This had been a very bad idea. I was a nanosecond away from tears.
“Olivia,” he said and paused. “I . . . It was good to hear your voice.”
Chapter 30
JAKE
Ihung up the phone and stared at it, wondering why I’d lied to Olivia when I told her I was in Shanghai.
I’d been back in Moustiers for a few days. And in that time, it had become clear to me that my trip to Asia had done nothing to change how empty the house still felt and how much I wanted to hear her voice. But I resisted the urge to call her. It would have been selfish of me and a distraction for her. Besides, nothing had changed. I was still the emotionally barren man I’d been when she left. I just had more free time on my hands.
She deserved better than that.
In a moment of weakness, I’d invited my mother to visit. I’d gone through that scrapbook she’d kept of my achievements again and realized there were things I needed to know about my childhood and abouthimthat only she could answer. It was just a coincidence that she was coming the weekend of Lucie’s wedding. Or was it?
I slumped down in my chair and ran my hand over the package I’d received earlier. My address was written on the envelope in Lucie’s curling script, and I already had an idea of what I’d find inside. I slid my thumb beneath the corner of the envelope, tearing it open to find a photo of myself staring back at me.
“Fuck,” I mumbled as I flipped through the pages of the magazine, painfully recalling that weekend. It wasn’t like I didn’t replay those moments a dozen times a day in my head, berating myself for not having been stronger.
As I continued to flip through the magazine, my phone rang, and Lucie’s name flashed across the screen. I picked it up. “Speak of the devil. I just opened the magazine.”
“You’re only now looking through it? I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for your feedback,” she chastised. “Alors, what do you think?”
“It’s an amazing magazine, Lucie. You should be proud of yourself.” I tossed the offending photo aside. “You did, however, neglect to tell me that my face would be splashed all over the front of it. I thought I’d be hidden somewhere toward the end.”
“Are you kidding? Have you seen the other men we featured? I don’t think they would have sold many copies.” Lucie huffed.
“You could’ve warned me.”
“Then you would have said no.” Well, there was no arguing with that. “So now that you’re back in France, can I count on seeing you at my wedding?”
I sighed. “You know weddings aren’t really my thing. Couldn’t I just offer you an expensive gift, and we can pretend I was there for the awkward dancing?”
“Ha! I knew you would try to get out of it. Would it tempt you if I told you Olivia will be there?” she cooed.
“You’ve kept in touch?” I tried to imagine Lucie and Olivia hanging out but couldn’t.
“We had drinks a couple weeks ago. She’s lovely. Maybe a little bit too sweet. I’m afraid I might corrupt her.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned.
“Does that mean you’ll come?” I could hear the scheming behind the innocent question.
“No, my mother will be here that weekend.”
“Bring her!” she insisted.
“Lucie, we both know I’m not coming.”
“I don’t know anything of the sort,” she needled, and I could almost imagine her pouting over the phone. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll come to your senses.”
