Page 35 of Rewrite the Stars
‘Is it everything you dreamed of?’ Jack asks me. ‘I arranged this all just for you. Fireworks are much more expensive than I thought.’
I turn towards him and burst out laughing.
‘And for a split second I actually believed you did,’ I say to him, my voice ever so slightly slurred as the bubbly champagne swirls through my veins, making me feel tipsy but elated.
‘Sounds good, though, doesn’t it?’ he laughs back. ‘I was hoping our friends over there might have heard me and believed that I’m boyfriend of the year.’
He takes my hand and kisses it, his eyes twinkling with giddiness that we’re finally here in Paris.
I’m in Paris.
And it’s even more impressive than I could ever have imagined.
‘Do you love it?’ he asks me.
‘I do love it very much,’ I tell him. I lean on his chest and we sway gently to the music, the sound of distant celebrations ringing in my ears. ‘It’s even more romantic than I could have ever imagined. Thank you so much, Jack. This is a birthday present I’ll never forget.’
And it really has been picture-perfect since we arrived here yesterday evening. After an early night in our Moulin-Rouge-style hotel with its red velvet, almost gothic décor, we spent this morning walking the banks of the River Seine, taking in the galleries and cafés of Saint-Michel and strolling along at our leisure, stopping when we felt like it to admire painters and buskers, sip coffee and taste ice cream along the way.
My mouth dropped open as we sailed down the river this afternoon on a boat trip, and I was wowed as our tour guide pointed out the Louvre on our left and Notre-Dame cathedral which stands near our hotel, majestic and magnificent under a pink April sky.
And now, here we are in a top-class restaurant which normally has a six-week waiting list, but Jack managed to get us one of the best tables by talking nicely to the owners once he realized they had a mutual friend. The mood is light and dreamy, the setting is out of this world and right now I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
‘I can tell you the exact moment that I knew I was in love with you,’ Jack announces, out of the blue, after I enjoyed the most superb dinner of chicken with lemongrass and ginger, while Jack chose duck grilled with yakitori sauce. The French-Asian chef even came out to greet us personally at one point, making it all the more special when he wished usbon appétit. Nothing, it seems, is too much on this visit to Paris and every moment has been the most delightful experience.
‘You can?’ I ask him. His words catch my breath as I wait for more.
‘Of course I can,’ he says to me from across the table. ‘Do you remember the day we went fishing and you wore my jacket, which was miles too big for you?’
I nod. ‘Yes, I remember,’ I reply, rolling my eyes. ‘It was lashing wet but you insisted on braving the elements.’
I scrunch up my face, wondering why he found that day so special. We’d been exploring local beaches and stopped at a place he knew well to try out some sea fishing, even though the weather was much more suited to a warm pub with an open fire. I hated it. He loved it. I have no idea where this is going.
‘I’ve never seen anyone so determined in my whole life to try something new,’ he says to me, fondly recollecting the moment. ‘Even though I knew you were absolutely terrified standing on those slippery rocks, you wouldn’t give in and tell me you were totally living out a real nightmare. You did it, and you did it well.’
I smile now at the memory. ‘There’s no way I was going to turn down a challenge, even if I was freezing cold and soaked to the bone,’ I agree with him. ‘And you’re right. I hated every moment of it but would never admit defeat.’
His eyes are glassy with emotion. ‘That’s when I knew,’ he tells me. ‘The look on your face, the way you stood with your dress hitched up and your clunky boots and thick socks finding their place on those rocks. You showed me how much fight you have, how determined you are to do something well, even if you don’t like doing it. It reminded me of how determined you were when your brother was so down and needed a push. I knew right then you were special. I knew you were the one for me.’
I’ve always been seen as strong-willed, that’s for sure, but I don’t know that anyone has seen a raw fighter in me before. I suppose I have been strong lately. I’ve made some pretty big decisions in my life, not entirely for my own benefit, but more to help my brother.
Jack has noticed something in me that I hadn’t even taken time to notice myself. Maybe I am stronger than I think I am. Maybe I’ve a bigger reason to be here than I ever thought I had. I’m a caring teacher, I know that, but looking after Matthew gave me something that nothing else has done before. It brought out a side to me I didn’t even know existed.
My eyes reflect my surprise that he has noticed this, and also to his reference that to him I am ‘the one’. Yes, we’re living together, we share friends and have a great connection, but ‘the one’? Wow.
‘Ah Jack, that’s really sweet of you,’ I say to him. ‘You’re a sentimental old thing behind that cool, handsome front, aren’t you?’
He knows it’s true. The good thing about being with Jack is that I’ll always know exactly where I stand with him. He wears his heart on his sleeve, that’s for sure, and I never have to wonder. If he feels it, he says it. It’s one of his finest qualities, in my opinion.
The waiter invites us to enjoy some after-dinner drinks back in the champagne bar, showing us to a high round table with two stools, perfectly positioned against a full-length window that looks right out onto Paris’s most spectacular sights.
‘Dinner was exceptional, thank you,’ I say to Jack, knowing how much effort he has made to make this trip away so special. ‘You know, the past year and more has been such a strange experience since Matthew’s accident. I don’t know how we’d have got through it all without you.’
Jack shakes his head as he always does if I ever try to give him too much praise when it comes to Matthew’s recovery.
‘My brother was in a very dark place even before that night,’ I explain to Jack. ‘I know you’ve heard about his mental health problems before, but I think it’s nice to remind you sometimes just how much you played a part in getting him back on track.’
‘Charlotte, Matthew still has a long way to go,’ he reminds me. ‘Life in a wheelchair is a bitter pill to swallow for such a young man but he has the best support around him. You should be so proud of the strong family unit you have to get him this far.’
