Page 18 of The Paris Roommates: Dean
Dean took a breath, waiting to see if Madison was going to lunge at Kyle, but when she didn’t—continuing to sit there calmly—he felt himself blink in shock. They’d discussed all of this together already, that much was obvious, and she was already on board.
“La joie de vivre est importante,” Pierre squawked, making Dean wince.“Chef Beaumont le dit toujours.”
“The joy of life is important,” Thea translated, likely for herself. “Chef Beaumont always said so.”
“Indeed.” Nanine extended her hand out to Dean, and for a moment he didn’t understand why. When she gestured to the bag of almonds, he shook it until one fell into her hand. She held it out to Pierre, who said “Merci” before snapping it into his beak.
“I am fifty-nine years old and consider myself to be a wise woman,” Nanine began. “But I have to be reminded of my own culture—of the culture of the joy of living—by a parrot. One wonders whether this is a dark moment or a transformative one?”
“A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars,” Sawyer said after a moment of silence. “Voltaire.”
“And Chef Beaumont, it seems.” Nanine folded her hands. “If I recall, his restaurant only served dinner as well.”
“Plus it had a Michelin star,” Kyle added.
“No shit!” Dean exclaimed. “I didn’t see that.”
“Yes, a star,” Pierre called out in French with a whistle.
“You know,” Nanine continued, “Bernard used to ask me why I had a lunch service. He worried about my long hours and craved my company. Do you know what I always told him? That I didn’t know what else I would do with myself. The truth is that I loved to work. When you love it, the concept of work isn’t present. You live your passion.”
“You create,” Madison added. “I understand the feeling.”
The energy in the room took a dip, and Dean watched Thea blink back tears, thinking what they were all thinking: Nanine didn’t know what to do with herself now that she’d taken a back seat in the restaurant.
“Don’t be sad, Nanine,” Pierre said in French, climbing off Dean’s arm and walking in front of where Sawyer was sitting to crawl onto her arm and look at her with what could only be described as empathy.
“Do you think Pierre is our spirit animal?” Dean whispered to Sawyer, who only gave him a bland look.
Yeah, maybe the class clown show wasn’t the best way to go here.
“Madison, how would you feel about a dinner-only service?” Nanine asked, petting Pierre’s gray-feathered chest.
Madison lifted her shoulder and glanced at Kyle before answering, “Pretty much what you said about not knowing what else to do, but I also see the merit.”
“Oh, but there are plenty of things to do!” Thea said, like the sweetheart she was. “Being here in Paris with all of you and Jean Luc has shown me that. I mean, you know I used to work crazy hours as a baker, but now it’s all changed. Even when the bakery opens, I don’t want to devote my whole life to work the way I used to. I want to spend as much time with Jean Luc and you guys as I can. I want to live life, not have it live me.”
“Bravo,” Pierre said with a squawk after her impassioned speech.
“Thea, you should give a TED talk,” Dean told her with a smile. “I happen to agree about requisitioning the space upstairs because we do need to rip off the Band-Aid and talk about getting a bigger place. Plus, I’d like to see more of Madison too.”
“I told you,” Kyle said with a glance her way.
“Maybe you’ll stop threatening people with your cleaver if you get more sleep and have less stress?” Dean put in. “What do you think, Killer?”
“Are you talking to me?” Madison shot back in a terribly chilling DeNiro accent which Pierre immediately mimicked, making them laugh.
Sawyer raised his hand. “I like the idea of a better work and life balance. I also hate to admit that we need more space when I know we’re all so grateful to Nanine for letting us live here. I mean, it’s how we became roommates. That’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”
Dean’s throat backed up. “TED talk number two. Now, I’ll stop joking. We all love this place, and we all want everyone to be happy. Can we agree on that? Brooke, I know this is the hardest for you because you could have bought an apartment in Paris ages ago, but you always stay here.”
Her catlike green eyes looked watery for a moment—alarming Dean—and Thea, who was sitting next to her, rubbed her arm in comfort. “Thinking about changing our homeishard for me. I don’t want things to change between us. When I was a kid, when my home life changed,everythingchanged. I’ve liked where we are—even if we are cramped. And yes, I miss having a big closet and steam shower—”
“Stop, you’re going to make me whimper,” Dean joked, sending her a smile.
“Hey!” Kyle leaned his elbow on the table and looked at each of them in turn. “Moving out of here isn’t like breaking up. Didn’t you hear me? I’m talking about finding a bigger place and living together. We’ll still be the PRG, personally and professionally.”
“But Nanine won’t be with us,” Thea said, her brown eyes brimming with tears.
