They continued on, enjoying the crisp air and bright sunlight, until they got to the local grocery store now operated by Celine’s old piano teacher. Tall, thin and reedy, he looked like a bespectacled stick insect. He kissed both Celine and Kylie on their cheeks. When he turned toward him Pierce took an involuntary step back but the man only extended his hand in greeting.
“Bonjour,” he said, eyeing Pierce suspiciously.
“Bonjour,” Pierce replied and but with cool reservation. Where did this guy come off looking at him like that?
The man turned back to Celine and began an animated conversation in French of which Pierce understood only two words, fiancé and mariage.
When the words left the man’s mouth a strange look passed over Celine’s face. She bit her lip and looked down at the ground. It was obvious that whatever he’d said had upset her. When she finally looked up her serene expression had fled and her brown eyes flashed with unmistakable anger.
She replied to the man’s comment, her tone curt. She nodded and said her goodbye then she pasted a smile on her face and turned to Kylie and Pierce.
“I guess you two must be hungry now. Why don’t we head home?”
They’d been walking in silence for a few minutes, Celine seeming lost in thought, when Pierce decided to question her change in demeanor. She’d gone from cheerful and bubbly to quiet and somber in the space of minutes, all because of a conversation she’d had with her old teacher. There was obviously something worrying her because she kept biting her lower lip and frowning. She probably didn’t even realize she was doing that.
“What’s up?” he asked. “That guy obviously pissed you off. Want to talk about it?” She looked up at him then, a startled expression on her face. His question must have jerked her out of her reverie. “I…” She shook her head and looked away and Pierce could swear he saw the glint of tears in her eyes.
What the hell had the man said to her to upset her so much? “Celine, tell me,” he urged. “Is there anything I can do?”
She took a deep breath and gave him a brave little smile. Then she shook her head. “Thanks for asking but no…there’s nothing you can do.”
Not wanting to push, he continued walking by her side. Then he felt a soft hand on his arm.
“Maybe…if I talk to someone about it, it might help.” Her voice was soft, hesitant, and there was a hint of pleading in her eyes. “Can we talk…later?”
“Of course,” he said, searching her eyes for a hint of what could have caused her such distress. Could it be something to do with her family? Was it something that money could fix? If so, he had lots of it. For some reason that he couldn’t quite explain he felt protective of her, almost as if she were…his.
Later that evening after a meal of salad, baked fish, bread and Camembert cheese, Pierce left Kylie with the boys and walked down to a nearby stream with Celine. They sat on the soft grass of the bank and Celine, her voice low and subdued, began to speak.
“It’s very difficult to speak about this and I’m sorry to burden you,” she said with a rueful smile, “but I think my behavior earlier requires some explanation.”
She looked down at her hands then back at him. “I was engaged once, to the son of the gentleman you just met. The grocer.”
Pierce felt his heart lurch in his chest. It was like she’d told him she was about to die, his reaction was that violent. Why had her words affected him like that? Hell, he’d known her less than two months. Still, her words had given him a real jolt.
“We’d gone to high school together and then when we ended up going to the same university in Paris. In senior year we got involved.” She seemed to be deliberately avoiding his eyes, looking down at the ground where she pulled distractedly at the blades of grass. “We planned to get married right after graduation but then he said we should wait until after graduate school.”
She heaved a sigh then lifted her face, the strain showing in the tightness of her lips. She swallowed. “I waited. He wanted to get his MBA at INSEAD. He knew that a degree from the top business school in France would open doors for him. He didn’t want to start a family just then so I supported his decision.” She shrugged. “I wanted to do my Master’s too so I thought I’d do my graduate degree while he did his, and then we’d get married afterwards. Another year or so shouldn’t matter, right?”
Pierce said nothing, sensing that all she wanted to do just then was talk. She needed to get whatever was bothering her off her chest.
She gave a bitter laugh. “The problem was, he went back to Paris but I went to the United States. I wanted to be part of an excellent Psychology program so I applied to Harvard and was accepted. That was the beginning of the end.” She slid her legs up, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees. “I came home at Christmas, still wearing my engagement ring,” she said her voice cracking, “to learn that he was going to be a father in two months.”