Page 71 of From Paris, with Butter
The air went out of the building. Even the kitchens were silent. I saw one of the sous chefs poke her head out to see what the lack of commotion was.
I–who had been trained for every contingency, who knew what to do if a guest flipped a table in a rage, if lightning struck the Eiffel Tower, if a kitchen fire destroyed all the food, if a guest sat down and calmly informed me that they had a bomb in their bag–could not think of what to do now.
Abruptly, Jackie stood up and fled toward the exit. That was enough to bring me to my senses. I jumped into action. I turned to Yasmine and jerked my head in Jackie’s direction. In a flash, Yasmine was at the table, grabbing Jackie’s forgotten purse and coat. She caught up with the girl at the elevators.
In the oppressive silence, I heard her whispering to Jackie as she offered her tissues and hit the elevator button.
That was one half of the doomed lovers taken care of. But Austin was stillkneeling on the ground, looking like he’d just been sucker punched. I went to him.
“Here, come this way,” I said, pulling him up gently. The ring fell from his numb fingers, but Austin didn’t even notice. I grabbed it before leading Austin to the staff room.
Once there, I sat Austin in a chair and closed the door. Technically, no guests were allowed back here, but that was the last thing on my mind right now. I grabbed a carafe and a clean glass, and poured Austin some water.
“Drink this,” I told him, pushing the glass into his hands. Austin took it blindly. He seemed barely aware of where he was. Suddenly, he jerked his head up.
“The ring?” His voice was hoarse.
I dunked the ring in a new glass of water so it wouldn’t be sticky, dried it, then returned it to its box and passed it over to Austin.
For several long moments he stared at it.
“It’s a lovely ring,” I said, to fill the silence.
“Has this ever happened before?” he asked, still looking at the ring as though this bezel set diamond held the answers to the universe.
“Oh, all the time,” I lied.
“Everyone is probably talking about me out there,” he said miserably.
“No, not at all. They’re back to thinking about their meal.” That was true. It was amazing how quickly people put an unusual incident out of their mind when a new plate of food was set in front of them. And I knew the entire staff would be working double time to make sure the next courses went out as quickly as possible.
Austin sniffed, and I nudged a box of tissues toward him. “Why do you think she said no?” His voice cracked on the word “no,” and my heart cracked a little more for him.
I sank to the ground across from Austin, suddenly exhausted. Work had let me forget my own misery temporarily, but now it hit me full-force.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Sometimes things that have every reason to work out just don’t.”
“I probably should have talked about us getting married before proposing,”Austin said in a small, sad voice.
I wholeheartedly agreed, although I certainly wasn’t going to compound his sadness by saying so.
Austin pulled out a tissue and blew his nose. “She’s the only girlfriend I’ve ever had. I didn’t really have anything to compare us to, but I thought we were doing well.”
I wanted to tell him that excuses were unnecessary. I was too deep in my own relationship implosion to judge anyone.
A tear trickled down Austin’s face. “Do you—” he paused as his voice wavered. “Do you think I can get her back?”
I sighed. That was the million-euro question. How many people had asked it throughout history, I wondered? How many miserable people, feeling that there was nothing left in this world if one particular person wasn’t in it with them, had repeated that hopeless, useless question? Millions, probably. Millions of miserable people.
And two of them sat in Le Jules Verne’s staff room right at this very moment, utterly defeated.
I had no answer for Austin, but he didn’t seem to expect one. We sat in silence for a while, Austin fiddling with the ring box and me wondering what Laurent was doing.
“Um, Miss?” Austin’s voice yanked me back to the present. I looked at him. “What do I do now?”
“I’ll take you out through the kitchens; none of the other guests will see you leaving.”
“But…” Austin’s voice trailed off, and my heart went out to him again. I knew what he wanted. He wanted a game plan, a surefire way to win Jackie back so that, a year from now, they would look at each other across the altar and see this evening as an amusing misunderstanding, a minor blip in a loving and lifelong relationship.
