Naomi pointed to Stella’s purse. “What are you going to do about his phone call? I wonder if he left you a voice mail.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if I want to hear his voice.” She shuddered. “Seeing him was hard enough. And you should’ve seen the shocked look on his face.” She shook her head. “But I guess I at least owe him the courtesy of listening to what he has to say.”
“Oh, no-no-no! You don’t owe him a damn thing!” Naomi shook her head at Stella. “If I were you, I’d tell him in very specific language where he can shove his message. Which you should’ve done last year.”
Stella ignored her friend’s rant and reached for her phone. Might as well get it over with. She put it on speaker and held it up. “Can we...umm...meet? Can I take you out to dinner tonight? Please, call me back. I…” Hearing his familiar voice was painful, and she shored herself up with another sip of her cognac.
“Dinner? He wants to take you out to a freakin’ dinner?” Naomi was furious. “Who does he think he is?” She took a breath and pointed a finger at Stella. “I know what we’ll do! I’ll go with you to the dinner. And I will have a few choice words with The Undesirable, and when he goes to the bathroom, I’ll drop a few jalapeño seeds into his drink. They should give him a helluva sore throat for at least a day or two.” Naomi made a throat-clearing sound.
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly, so I suspect he’s safe from your assault.” Stella tried not to laugh and tossed her phone back into her purse. “I’m not going to do anything right now. Let’s go to the Louvre. It’s been our plan all along, and I won’t let his reappearance mess up any more of our day.”
“Are you gonna accept his dinner invitation?” Naomi finished her own cognac.
“I can’t think about it right now. Let’s talk about something different. What did you buy?”
“I can model for you tonight,” Naomi held up a small shopping bag and double-winked at her.
“I think I’m the wrong audience.” Knowing Naomi, she’d parade in front of her anyway, whether she wanted to see it or not.
“I’m pooped. Whose harebrained idea was it to walk from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe instead of taking the subway?” Naomi announced hours later while she flopped down on her bed.
“Yours,” Stella said and shook off her sandals. “You wanted to stroll along the Champs-Elysées.”
“Don’t remind me. Now…how about chilling for a couple hours before we go to dinner?”
“Sounds good to me. And I still have to reply to David.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“Yes, I do. It wouldn’t be nice to leave him hanging without an answer.”
“Nice? Did you just say nice? We’re way past the ‘nice’ phase,” Naomi’s voice rose. “But I admire you for having the strength to be the bigger person. I don’t think I could do it.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Nam.”
Naomi got up and said, “You know what? I’m going to go sit in the courtyard for a while. Want to come?”
“I’ll soak my feet and reply to David, then I’ll join you for a drink. Ask Pierre about another restaurant recommendation. The Italian place last night was good, but I don’t want to run into those two guys again.”
While she pampered her feet and let the lavender-scented bath salt relax her, she listened to David’s voice mail again. It was cut off after he said “I…” at the end. What else did he want to say?
It didn’t matter. At home, knowing he was thousands of miles away, it was easier to ignore her messed-up feelings. She could lie to herself for as long as she wanted, but she still loved him. And she knew she’d never find closure without talking to him one last time.
And besides, she’d scolded herself dozens of times in the past year for not confronting him about his letter. This was her chance.
But not today. It needed to be on her terms, when she was prepared, not blindsided.
She knew how much he disliked emails or text messages. He always said they were impersonal and too easy to misunderstand, and he preferred to talk in person. He considered FaceTime an acceptable compromise. Too bad if he doesn’t like me texting him. There are a few things I don’t like either.
It took her almost fifteen minutes to compose a brief message, but in the end, she thought she nailed it.
David, I didn’t expect to see you here in Paris. I can’t meet you for dinner tonight. Naomi and I are leaving early tomorrow morning. We’ll return on Thursday before flying home on Saturday. I’ll be in touch when I’m back. Maybe we can talk then. Stella.
There! It was none of his business why she was in Paris and where she was going next.
As soon as she sent the message, she wanted to take it back. She should’ve asked how long he was staying. What if he had left Paris by the time she got back?
She shook her head. Second-guessing herself was exactly what Naomi always told her not to do.
Stella dried off her feet and went downstairs. She found Naomi standing at the bar, laughing with a tall man around their age.
“Stella,” Naomi called when she saw her approaching, “there you are! Did you get everything done?”
“Yeah, I sent a message saying I don’t have time today and will be in touch when we’re back.”
Naomi gave her an encouraging smile, then introduced her, “This is Kai. He’s from Germany. Where exactly did you say?”
“Hamburg. Also known as Gateway to the World. Hi, Stella. Nice to meet you,” Kai said.
“I’ve heard it’s a beautiful city,” she said and thought, I can think of a more suitable nickname. Gateway to Hell.
“Naomi told me you both live in Philadelphia. I was there last year.
