A Summer in Paris (21 page)

She could imagine how excited Alain’s parents were for their son, even despite their initial reservations. And she could imagine how much this family dinner meant to them, too. Such sweet, simple folk, about to see their son take off on his own and follow a new path ... Why, they had probably even closed up their little shop, just for the occasion.

Kristy had dressed carefully, choosing a simple, attractive dress. And she hadn’t wanted to show up empty handed. She had given a lot of thought to what to bring. She didn’t want to bring anything so expensive it would embarrass them, yet she was still playing the part of the wealthy film star, and she didn’t want to give away her true status before she had a chance to tell Alain the truth herself. In the end, she had gone into a department store called Le Grand Magasin, Paris’s third largest and easily the fanciest, and bought a very expensive box of their most exclusive chocolates.

In fact, it was that box of Le Grand Magasin candy that Alain first noticed when she met him near the métro station so that he could accompany her to his parents’ house on the outskirts of the city.

“What is this?” he asked, amused.

“What do you think it is?” Kristy returned. “It’s a box of chocolates for your parents. You know, a little thank-you gift.” Her expression darkened. “Why, don’t you think they’ll like it? I mean, do you think it’s too ... too showy?”

“Showy?” Alain repeated, his face reflecting his bewilderment.

“You know, showy. Um, too expensive, trying too hard to impress somebody....”

Alain laughed. “No, Kristy, I think they will like this present very much. It was a charming idea.”

Feeling relieved, she tucked the box of candy under her arm and started down the steps into the métro station with Alain at her side.

“You know, Alain, I’m kind of nervous about tonight,” she admitted.

“Oh, do not worry. My parents will like you very much.”

“I’m sure I’ll like them, too. But that’s not what I’m worried about.”

Just then, Alain turned to face her. He was wearing a distracted expression, as if he hadn’t really been paying very close attention to what she had been saying.

“Tell me, Kristy. How do you feel about surprises?”

Kristy, caught completely off guard, glanced over at Alain.

“That’s funny, Alain. I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“I ... uh, oh, never mind.” There would be plenty of time for that later. More than enough, she thought woefully.

Kristy was grateful that a subway train was just pulling into the métro station, and the two of them rushed to get on it. She was, meanwhile, so wrapped up in her own nervousness about the evening ahead—and the reaction that her confession was bound to cause—that she forgot all about Alain’s question about how she felt about surprises almost as soon as he mentioned it.

But his words came back to her a few minutes later as the two of them got off the métro in the neighborhood called Neuilly. This was a section of Paris she hadn’t visited before. It was residential, but it contained within its tree-lined streets some of the finest homes she had seen so far in Paris. The high-priced boutiques the two of them passed as they made their way deeper and deeper into this neighborhood supported Kristy’s realization that Alain’s house—and his family—were not going to be quite what she had been expecting.

“Is your parents’ house around here?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“Yes, it is not too far.”

“I see.” After hesitating for a few moments, Kristy added, “I guess I was expecting a more modest neighborhood.”

Alain glanced over at her nervously. “I hope this does not bother you?”

“Oh, no, no, not at all,” she was quick to assure him. “It’s just ... a bit of a surprise.”

But her initial reaction to the neighborhood in which Alain and his family lived was nothing compared to her astonishment when Alain finally stopped walking and announced, “Well, Kristy, this is it. This is my house.”

For a few seconds, she thought he was joking. But the serious expression on his face told her right away that that was not the case. The house before her was more of a mansion than anything else. It was a large, gray, three-story brick town house, much larger than any of the others she had seen, even in this elegant neighborhood. There was a circular driveway in front, and in it there were parked two of the most expensive sports cars Kristy had ever seen. Everywhere there were manicured shrubs and flowering plants in large pots, and an ornate black wrought-iron fence outlined what looked like quite a large plot of land.

“Whoa!” Kristy breathed.

“You don’t like it?” Alain asked anxiously.

“No, it’s wonderful. It’s just ... bigger than what I thought.”

“Come inside. I’m sure my parents are waiting for us.”

Sure enough; Alain’s parents were sitting in the living room. The two of them made a well-dressed, dignified couple, who looked very much at home in their lush surroundings. Alain’s father wore a well-cut suit; his mother, meanwhile, was a beautiful woman in a beige silk dress. Their elegant clothing perfectly complemented the fine furnishings of their home: thick oriental carpets, antique furniture, huge oil paintings, a grand piano.

“You must be Kristy!” Alain’s mother cried, coming toward the young couple as they walked in the front door. Kristy only hoped she could remember to keep from staring as she took all this in. She was relieved that she did, at least, have the presence of mind to look Alain’s mother in the eye and smile.

And then she found herself doing a double take. This woman was the actress that had starred in the movie she and Alain had seen together!

“We are so pleased to meet you,” Charlotte LePage, the most popular movie actress in all of France, went on. “Alain has talked about you so much. And now that he is going to Massachusetts in the fall to study rocks....”

“Geology,
maman
,” Alain corrected her gently.

“Whatever.” Charlotte waved her arms in the air. “Anyway, it is so nice that he will already have a friend who is living near him.”

Suddenly she noticed the box that Kristy was clutching. “What is this?” she asked, puzzled.

“Oh. I almost forgot. I brought you these.” Kristy handed the box of Le Grand Magasin chocolates to her hostess. But instead of looking pleased, the expression on Charlotte LePage’s face was one of confusion.

As if to explain, Alain said, “Maman, Kristy brought these as a little present for you. She thought it would be a nice gesture.”

Still looking puzzled, Alain’s mother accepted the box of candy. “Thank you, Kristy,” she said, putting it aside on a small table. “
Merci
.”

“Well, Alain, Kristy,” Alain’s father said, “I believe dinner will be served shortly. I hope you like duck à l’orange, truffles, and crème caramel.”

Kristy just nodded. By this point she was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t have gotten out any words even if she had wanted to.

“Yes, dinner should be ready,” Charlotte said. “Lucille and Anna have been working all day. In fact, I think I will go and check on things, if you will pardon me.” She hurried out of the room, obviously anxious that her dinner party go well.

“And if you will excuse me for a moment,” Alain’s father said, “I must make a telephone call.” He sighed. “There was a problem with a shipment of diamonds,” he explained. “Some sort of delay.... My customers will not like this at all!”

Once they were alone, Kristy sneaked a peek over at Alain. He was standing on the other side of the room, watching her, clearly anxious to see what her reaction to all this was going to be.

“Alain,” she said evenly, “just out of curiosity, what’s the name of your parents’ store? The one your father owns?”

Alain paled. “Uh, Le Grand Magasin.”

“Le Grand Magasin.” Kristy swallowed hard. “I see. That’s the little neighborhood shop your family runs.”

“We only have six branches,” he offered apologetically.

“And your mother? She is the actress who was in that movie we saw, the one you did everything in your power to keep me from seeing, right?”

He nodded guiltily. “Perhaps you understand now why I asked you earlier if you liked surprises.”

Suddenly Kristy burst out into loud, uncontrollable laughter. But the tears in her eyes weren’t from laughing so hard.

“Kristy! Are you all right? I can’t tell if you’re laughing or crying!”

“Neither can I,” she gasped. “Actually, I’m probably doing a little bit of both.”

“Then you are very angry with me.” Alain was frowning. “You are very—what is the word?—disappointed.”

“No, Alain. I’m not disappointed. And I’m not angry, either.”

“You’re not? Oh, Kristy. I am so relieved.” He still looked puzzled. “But you are not even a little bit angry? After all, I was not completely honest with you.”

“No, I guess you weren’t, were you?” Kristy was pretending she was annoyed, but there was a definite twinkle in her eyes.

“I am so sorry. It is just that... well, to be honest, I was afraid that if you knew the truth about who I was—who my family was—you wouldn’t like me for myself. So many tunes, there had been girls who pretended to like me, when really what they liked was the fact that my parents were well known, or that we had money, or that....”

“Or that you were someone so important that you have journalists coming up to you at sidewalk cafés, begging you for an exclusive interview?”

Alain’s mouth dropped open. “That was the very first time you and I had lunch together. You mean you knew that that man was a journalist? You knew he was from a magazine, and that he was looking for a story?”

“I didn’t know it at the time.” Kristy was chuckling. “But now it all snaps into place.”

“It snaps ... into what?”

“I understand now. What was going on at the time, I mean.”

Alain just nodded. “I am so very happy that you are not mad at me, Kristy. I know that all along, I have been lying to you. But I meant no harm. I just wanted to try being someone else for a change. To try being someone from a normal family, just once. I wanted to see how that felt ... and I wanted to see if someone could like me for who I am. Someone nice, someone ... someone like you.

“And I am also happy that all of this—” he gestured with both hands at the grand surroundings that he called home”—does not make you feel uncomfortable.”

Suddenly he remembered something. “But, wait a moment! Here I am forgetting who you are. Of course you are not impressed by all this. You, after all, come from a very similar background—”

“Uh, Alain,” Kristy interrupted. “I think you’d better sit down. There’s something I have to explain.”

With a nod of his head, Alain sat down on the edge of an elegant, hand-carved wooden chair upholstered with gold brocade fabric. He was looking at her expectantly, curious about what she had to tell him, now that it was her turn.

“Once upon a time, there was a very ordinary
girl who led what she considered a very ordinary
life,” she began. “At least that was what she
thought until she found out there were some
things, like taking pictures, that she could do very
well .”

Oddly enough, Kristy discovered that she didn’t feel nervous at all as she started telling Alain her “secret”—the one she had been keeping from him all summer. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so good.

* * * *

The first few days of the Shaws’ visit were even more difficult than Nina had expected. Her parents played the role of tourist with great reluctance. They resisted her attempts at showing them Paris, at helping them have fun, at making them appreciate the city she loved so much.

Even as she led them around the famous sights, they were unwilling to act as if they were having a good time. The Eiffel Tower, they reported, was smaller than they had expected it to be. Notre-Dame was too crowded; the Seine was polluted; and everything in the entire city was much too expensive.

All the while her parents kept asking about Pierre, hinting that they wanted to meet him. But Nina wasn’t ready for that. Instead, she made excuses, insisting that he was tied up or out of town.

She did, however, arrange for them to have dinner with Jennifer and Kristy. Nina knew her parents would feel comfortable with them. After all, the girls were so familiar to her mother and father that they were like a breath of fresh air, a little bit of home here on distant shores.

Even their little dinner party, however, wasn’t completely free of tension.

“I know exactly how you feel, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw,” Jennifer said heartily, helping herself to another breadstick as the five of them sat crowded together at a tiny Italian restaurant. Just that afternoon, Nina’s mother had announced that if she was forced to eat another morsel of French food, something she was guaranteed not to be able to identify, she was going to scream. “When I first got to France, I wasn’t exactly thrilled, either. And the truth of the matter is, I can’t wait to get back home. But even I got to the point where I realized there’s something to gain from every experience, even one that makes you feel a little uncomfortable at first.”

“I’m sure Nina never felt uncomfortable here in the least,” Kristy said, trying to be helpful. “She had no problem getting used to being on French soil at all. And by the time she’s been living here for a few months—”

“Uh, that still hasn’t been completely decided,” Mr. Shaw interrupted. “The three of us are still talking about it.”

Kristy took a deep breath. “Well, I think you may change your minds when you hear the little tidbit of news I’ve got.” Turning to Nina, Kristy went on, “Remember how you had everything all set—except a job?”

“Yes....” Nina could feel her heart beginning to pound as she waited to hear what Kristy had to say.

“Well, Nina, I got you a job!”

“You what?”

“That’s right. That is, if you want it. How would you like to be the personal assistant to France’s most famous—and best-loved—movie actress? Charlotte LePage, her name is. And she was complaining to me over dinner just the other night that she’s so busy trying to juggle her schedule, starring in movies and writing a book about her life and doing lots of public appearances for charities, that she just has to find somebody reliable, smart, organized....” Kristy shrugged. “I told her all about you, Nina, and she’s dying to meet you.”