After the Interview (18 page)

C J met Jack Dupre for lunch that Friday and was on the verge of talking about his feelings for Zoe but decided to keep his mouth shut. Talking to Matt and any of his other friends about this was also out of the question, so that left his father. C J had never talked seriously about any woman with his father and wasn’t sure what might come of it. What could it hurt? He picked up his phone and called his father.

“Hey, C J, it’s good to hear from you,” his father said.

“Dad, do you have time to talk?” C J asked.

“I have about fifteen minutes before my afternoon appointments begin. What’s on your mind?”

C J briefly outlined what had happened since his interview with Zoe, while leaving out the most private parts. He ended with his plan to surprise Zoe in Paris. Then he waited for a response.

“I can’t say I’m totally in the dark about this woman because I heard your sister mention her to your mother before Logan left for Africa, but I had no idea you felt so strongly about her,” Daniel Fairchild said.

“That’s part of the dilemma, Dad. Not having ever felt this way about a woman, I don’t know if I am acting crazy or on the right track,” C J responded.

“Trust what your heart feels and then use your head to figure out the details; and I mean the head on your shoulders,” C J’s father said.

Momentarily stunned by his father’s comment, C J answered with, “Then you think I’m making sense?”

“As much sense as anyone in love ever does. Be yourself and Zoe will either love you all the more for your bravado or you’ll know she isn’t the woman for you. C J, I’m sorry but I have to start seeing patients or the afternoon will get backlogged. Call your mother and let’s have dinner before you leave town. We would love to hear about Zoe, and I know your mother would welcome your thoughts on Jack Dupre,” he said before he hung up.

C J sat back and smiled inwardly. As usual Dad didn’t tell me what to do, but he did encourage me to trust my instincts and go for it. He wasn’t sure why, but this show of trust by his father was what he needed to face Zoe’s reaction.

ℓ

Paris: C J had only been in the city once before and the visit had been brief. He had visited a college girlfriend, who was an exchange student, and they had not explored much beyond her apartment and a few cafes in Montmartre. Now he was in the heart of Paris just blocks from the Eiffel Tower and he had to admit the city was charming and beautiful. C J had learned from Jeff that Zoe was staying with a friend in the St. Germain district of the city near the Musee d’Orsay but all he had was an address and not the name of the friend.

C J dropped his luggage off at his hotel and started walking the streets in search of a café. It was mid-morning, he was starving and nothing was too crowded right now. There was literally a café on every corner it seemed, and C J settled on one near the Ecole Militaire with a view of the Eiffel tower. Sitting at his table, C J picked up the aroma of freshly baked bread and noticed a boulangerie down the street, complete with striped awning over the doorway. The melodic sounds of French being spoken at the table next to him were soothing, and C J started to unwind a bit until the odor of cigarette smoke reached his nostrils; another reminder he was in France. Feeling something brush his leg, C J looked down and saw that a small dog had strayed from its mistress at a nearby table. No worries, he thought, when in France do as the French, who considered furry friends patrons too. C J embraced the French idea that when you took a table it was yours until you decided to leave. No one was going to rush you through your food or make you feel unwelcome after you had finished eating, so he reveled in relaxing as he ate. C J decided to watch the people traffic and ordered a second coffee and sat a bit longer. Zoe was at a conference today, according to Jeff, so C J had time to kill.

To pass the afternoon he decided to visit Napoleon’s tomb but wasn’t interested in lingering to look at the articles of war and weaponry on site. Deciding the weather was gorgeous and walking felt good, C J made his way to the Seine and continued along its banks toward St. Germain. He stopped at one of the bookseller’s kiosks and sifted through the touristy crap only to find all of the books and magazines were in French. At one point, he took the wide stairway down from street level and walked directly along the banks of the Seine, listening to the sounds of the water lapping against the barges and the riverbank. At the next bridge he took the stairway up and knew he was in the St. Germain district. This area was pretty upscale from what C J could see, so he knew Zoe’s friend was no starving artist.

With his energy starting to fade, C J paused in his search for the apartment building, which he knew was near, and sat down at a café to order a coffee and pastry. As he sat contemplating the architecture of the buildings across the street, he marveled that anyone could tell one huge blue door from another. C J’s travel-weary body was not responding to the coffee, when he saw Zoe round the corner of a narrow street opposite where he was sitting. Not knowing exactly where she was headed, C J tossed some Euros on the table and left the café in a rush, trying to catch Zoe before she reached the apartment building. Turning the corner of the street she had entered, he glimpsed her green jacket and then noticed a tall man with dark curly hair greet her affectionately as they both walked through a tall wooden door.

C J was stunned and tried to think logically about what he had witnessed. The man had bent to kiss Zoe’s cheek and take the bags she was carrying from her. Had he witnessed a friendly gesture or one of a couple that was intimately involved? C J figured he had two options; go to the building and find out what was going on or wait to see if Zoe reappeared soon. That decision was never made because moments later Zoe and the man appeared, leaving the building together, involved in an animated discussion. Luckily for C J, they exited the building, turned and moved down the street away from him. He almost lost them as they took the first left and headed toward the Seine. C J spotted Zoe’s green coat crossing the bridge and noticed the glass Pyramid off to the right on the opposite bank of the river.

Zoe and the man walked quickly into the Tuileries Garden but were so caught up in their discussion that they didn’t notice anything around them. C J, still trying to decide if he was witnessing an argument, wasn’t sure how he wanted to approach the couple. At the end of the garden, he almost lost them when they crossed the Rue de Rivoli and made a dash for the entrance to the Concorde Metro station. C J sprinted across the street, barely missing being clipped by an angry driver. He knew if he lost sight of the couple in the Metro station then he was fucked.

Luckily, the green coat was easy to spot in the crowd. C J followed Zoe and the man to the right while swiping his Metro pass at the tunnel entrance. The platform was mildly crowded, and this allowed C J to pass behind Zoe and the man undetected. Waiting for the train, he mapped out a plan to stay close but out of sight, allowing him time to exit when Zoe and the man reached their stop. As the train pulled up, C J felt people brush past him to get on the train. At the last moment he entered the door, making sure he could see into the next car where Zoe and the man now stood.

Three stops later, C J exited the train when he saw Zoe and the man get off. Glancing up, he saw they were at the Ecole Militaire; crap back where I started he thought. Working to keep the green coat in sight, C J collided with an old man and had to drop to one knee as Zoe stopped and turned to look behind her. When she started to walk again, C J paused a moment to let the space between them increase. Exiting the station created a new problem, it had started to rain lightly and umbrellas were sprouting up all over the place, making it harder to find the green coat. Finally C J saw Zoe and the man across the street heading up Avenue Bosquet. Daring the cars to hit him, C J ran across the wide intersection to the sound of horns blaring. Shit, don’t let Zoe turn around he thought. No worries, she and the man were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t even pause to check out the commotion.

The couple took the first right into a narrow avenue that was virtually empty of people. Fucking shit, C J thought, nothing to do but wait until they get to the end of the avenue and then rush to catch up. Doing this he stepped out onto Rue Cler. The wide pedestrian street was filled with people, cafes and shops and no green coat was in sight. C J looked to his right and saw it was a short distance to an intersecting street, so he decided to start his search that direction. Reaching the end of the street and not finding the couple, he started to double back, looking searchingly through every window. Just past the street he had entered Rue Cler on, he spotted the green coat in Café Central. Zoe and the man were sitting right in the middle of the window, still in conversation. C J stood rooted in place not caring if he was spotted. Zoe’s hand was wiping a tear off of her cheek and then the man leaned over about to kiss her. At that instant Zoe turned and stared into C J’s eyes.

The look of panicked surprise on Zoe’s face was like a punch to his gut. Not able to watch more of the couple’s interaction or meet Zoe’s gaze, C J turned and headed to the Metro station even though he knew his hotel was nearby. What a fucking idiot I am, was all he could think. I show up in Paris and find out Zoe still has a life with another man. Feeling the rain start to run down the back of his neck from his wet hair, C J entered the station, slid his pass over the card reader and headed down the tunnel to his right. Not caring where he was headed, C J got on the first train and rode it two stops then got off. Exiting the station he noticed the rain had stopped and that he was on the Champs Elysees, looking in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. It was now dark and the Arc was alight. Why not, C J thought as he headed down the street, then the trip won’t be a total fucking waste.

Reaching the Arc via the under-street tunnel, C J purchased a ticket and climbed the 300 some-odd steps to the top. As he walked along the Arc’s rooftop level and saw the city of Paris spread out before him, C J wasn’t able to enjoy the beauty or grandeur of the distant sites. After walking down the hundreds of steps and surveying the neighborhood, C J decided to find a bar, get some food and then walk back to his hotel. Hell, if I change my mind I’ll have the bar call a cab. Using the Eiffel Tower as his landmark, C J headed down a main street and found a bar in about five minutes. He sat down, pointed to the plate of food the man next to him was eating and ordered a Scotch neat. The food and the Scotch were both good but C J still felt like shit, so he ordered another Scotch. After the third Scotch, C J decided it was time to head to his hotel and make plans to leave the city. Deciding he had walked enough in this damned city today, C J asked the bar man to call him a cab. Twenty minutes later he was stepping out of the cab and entering the Hotel Muguet.

Chapter Thirteen

Zoe, seeing the stricken look on C J’s face, knew what he was assuming. She shot out of the chair, pushed her way to the entrance of the café and through the street side tables. Marc called after her and apologized to the waiter as he grabbed Zoe’s coat and followed her.

“What the devil are you doing, Zoe?” Marc asked, perplexed. “I thought we were celebrating.”

“C J was standing outside the café and he saw us together. I saw the look on his face and know what he thought was happening,” Zoe answered.

“Mon dieu,” Marc said in response.

“Who would know where he is staying?” Zoe said, thinking out loud.

“I have to find him,” she said, looking at Marc.

“How did he know where to find you, Zoe?” Marc asked.

“Jeff. I bet Jeff told him,” Zoe said as she took her purse from Marc’s arm and started to pull out her phone.

Not ten minutes later, Zoe had confirmed that Jeff indeed had told C J where she was staying but not whom she was visiting. Zoe was sure if C J had known she was at Jean’s old friend, Marc’s, apartment he would have understood. How in the world could this have happened? That damned romantic man had shown up to surprise her and now he was off somewhere believing she was a liar. What if he was already on his way back to Houston? Zoe wanted to be mad that C J could even think she was capable of being a cheat but she would deal with that later.

Now she sat in an armchair in the small reception room by the front desk of the Hotel Muguet. Luckily, Jeff had recommended the hotel to C J and Zoe felt sure C J was staying here. Not because the concierge had told her so but because of the look he gave her when she had mentioned C J’s name. The man’s recognition of the name had registered on his face even when he had told her he could not divulge any information on the hotel’s guests. Zoe smiled, remembering another concierge in another hotel. This man has a way of making me do things I would never believe imaginable, she thought.