The woman looked surprised and then laughed as her husband took the card.
“We aren’t actually interested in buying hats, but I’ll take the card anyway,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be rude to our American visitor.”
“Thank you,” Janet replied. “It is a very interesting hat, isn’t it?”
They chatted together in French for a moment before the couple continued on their way. Janet turned back to the Texan.
“They appreciated the recommendation,” she told him.
He nodded. “Thanks for helping me out. I probably shouldn’t be out on the street by myself, but everyone else is sleeping off jet lag, and I’m dying for a good cup of coffee.”
Janet just barely stopped herself from asking why he didn’t just get some from his hotel. Obviously, she didn’t want him to know that she knew where he was staying.
“There are cafés just about everywhere in Paris,” she told him. “You may have to try a few to find someone who speaks English, though.”
“Are you busy?” he asked. “I’ll pay you for your time if you come and help me get a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee and one of those chocolate creesants. That’s what I need.”
“I’d be more than happy to help,” she replied, her heart racing as she wondered what would happen if Mr. Jones found her with the man. “I believe I saw a coffee shop on the corner.” She gestured back the way she’d come.
He shrugged. “I was hoping to get away from all of the hotels and actually see some of Paris. Can we walk a block or two closer to something?”
“Something?”
“The Arch of Treeumph or the Loover, something like that.”
Janet smiled. “We aren’t far from either of those. Let’s see what we can find.”
They began a slow stroll towards the river. After a moment, Janet couldn’t stop herself from speaking. “I’m Janet Markham, by the way,” she said.
“It’s nice to meet you, Janet,” he said. “I hope I can call you Janet. I’m not one for formalities. I’m Bobby, Bobby Armstrong, but everyone calls me Bobby.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I assume you come from Texas?”
He laughed. “Born and bred, ma’am. You ever been to Texas?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never been to the United States.”
He looked shocked. “But it’s the best country in the world, and Texas is the best part of it. You should come and stay at my ranch. You’d love it, cows and cowboys and horses and barbecues. It’s a little piece of heaven.”
“It sounds lovely,” Janet replied politely.
“Where are you from, then? You sound British, or maybe Australian. I’m not very good with accents, though.”
“I’m British. I live in a little village in Derbyshire called Doveby Dale.”
“Derbyshire? I’ve been to London.”
“It’s very much north of London.”
“Like Scotland?”
“Not that far north,” she replied, trying not to laugh.
“Now I feel like I’m in Paris,” he said, stopping as they turned a corner and the Arc de Triomphe came into view. “Let’s get coffee somewhere where we can see the arch.”
There were at least half a dozen cafés dotted around the area. Bobby gestured towards one. “Let’s go there,” he said. “It looks nice.”
It looked expensive to Janet, but that was probably Bobby’s criteria for nice. There were only a handful of people inside the tastefully decorated room.
“You may sit anywhere,” they were told as the door shut behind them.
Janet translated the words for Bobby.
“Let’s sit by the window,” Bobby said, leading Janet to a table.
There were menus on the table. Janet hid a smile as she noticed that they were written in French.
“They probably have menus in English,” she said. “I can ask.”
He shook his head. “I just want black coffee and a chocolate creesant. They have that, right?”
Janet read through the list of pastries. Pain au chocolat was just one of the tempting options. “They have quite a few other pastries,” she told Bobby.
“Get whatever you want. My treat. I’m not interested in anything else.”
When the waiter came over, Janet had a short conversation with him about the almond pastry. In the end, she ordered the same thing for both herself and Bobby.
“You speak French really well,” Bobby said as the man walked away.
“I was a primary school teacher, and I spent two years teaching English in a small French village before I went back to the UK to teach French for the rest of my career.”
He sighed and sat back in his seat. “I didn’t expect everyone here to speak French,” he said in a confiding tone.
“It is France,” she replied.
Bobby laughed. “Yes, of course it is. I suppose I just assumed that everyone would speak both French and English. I’ve never been to Paris before. Everyone spoke English in London.”
Janet bit her tongue. The last thing she wanted to do was offend the man, and her last comment might have already come close.
“Are you going to be in Paris for long?” she asked after a moment.
“About two weeks, I think, although we may spend some time outside of the city, as well. One of my business associates would prefer to have our meetings near his home in the country. I wasn’t keen on the idea, because I was worried that no one would speak English outside of Paris, but it seems they don’t speak it in Paris, either.”
“I’m sure there are quite a few people in Paris who speak at least some English, but sometimes they are reluctant to speak to native speakers because they feel they aren’t
