Page 73 of From Paris, with Butter
Of course, I couldn’t eat all this, so everyone I knew found themselves gifted with the bounties of my labor.
“Again, chérie?” Madame Blanchet asked, looking at the miniature apple pie I was holding out to her. She took it with a strained smile. “Well, I’m glad you’re keeping yourself busy.”
Work brought a surprising bright spot: There was another proposal, and not one we’d been told of ahead of time. Its unexpectedness made it all the sweeter.
Malcolm and Lily were at one of my tables along the windows. As I was walking toward them to clear their table of the pasta course, a jittery Malcolm shoved a small box across the table toward his girlfriend. I stopped in my tracks.
Lily only looked at the box bemusedly.
“Um. You should open it,” Malcolm said.
Still frowning, Lily did.
Her eyes bulged. I was several meters away and had to crane my neck to get a better view of the ring. Rose gold setting with a sapphire center stone. A very nice choice.
Once the ring was revealed, neither Malcolm nor Lily moved.
Come on,I silently urged the proposal gods.Let this one go right.
Lily looked at the ring for several seconds (during which I was genuinely concerned Malcolm might pass out). Then she looked at Malcolm and burst into tears.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Very quickly, Malcolm and Lily were both crying, Malcolm was putting the ring on Lily’s finger, and Lily was trying to hug Malcolm while wiping her face. I gave them a few minutes, then came over with champagne and my congratulations. I took the photo they requested, checked the rest of my tables, then asked the kitchen to hold Malcolm and Lily’s next course for a few minutes. There are many moments in life that are the perfect moment to dive into a plate of short ribs, but immediately after your engagement is not one of them.
The two of them were so obviously bursting with happiness as they admired the ring, and each other, and crinkled their noses as they drank the champagne. They were the final table to leave that night, and I wouldn’t have let anything in the world hurry them. I knew how rare it was to have a moment in your life when you felt so completely happy. Life is hard and full of moments you think will break you. You need to hold on to those shining moments as much as you can.
***
“Want to grab a quick bite?” Yasmine asked after our shift ended. “Anywhere you want.”
“You know when you say that I’m going to choose McDonald’s,” I told her.
“To the Golden Arches it is.”
“The proposal seemed like it went well,” Yasmine said as we walked along the dark street.
“It did.”
“They seemed very happy.”
“Oh, they were.”
“You seem miserable though.”
I stopped abruptly on the darkened sidewalk. “What do you mean?”
Yasmine raised her eyebrows. “Margot.”
I started walking again, quickly now because I was uncomfortable. I should never have taken Yasmine up on this outing. Even McDonald’s wasn’t worth this.
Yasmine hurried to stay alongside me. “Margot, I’m your best friend. I know how you’re feeling.”
We were in front of the McDonald’s now. I took the opportunity to go straight to the counter and place my order of a double cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake. A lot of people think you can’t supersize your McDonald’s order in France, but I know firsthand that if you ask them to do it while looking really sad, they’ll shove a bunch of extra fries in the container for free.
We took a seat in the least sticky-looking of the booths. Yasmine hadn’t spoken again, but she was watching me closely.
“Do you ever think about moving on from Le Jules Verne?” she asked finally.
I blinked, startled at this new line of discussion.
