“I’m speechless. I could never thank you enough for being such a good friend to me, Gerard. I don’t know what I’d have done without you these last months.”
He nods graciously, but I can see how pleased he is. Flattery works best on Gerard. “I believe in your work. I am happy to see when another does as well.”
“And I’m meeting them tonight?”
“Yes, in two hours, but we’re meeting in Paris, so you won’t have that long to prepare.”
“Then I’d better get started. I need to see if I’ve got shoes to go with this, too,” I mutter absently as I carry the dress toward the stairs.
“Have you checked the rest of the box?”
I turn to find Gerard holding the white box out to me. As I approach I can see a bulge under another layer of tissue paper. When I peel it back, two silver sequined shoes are revealed. I take them out and place them gently on the floor, slipping one foot in to see if they fit. And they do. As perfectly as if I had picked them out myself. I suspect I’ll find the same with the dress.
“Like Cinderella, my favorite,” he says with a dreamy roll of his eyes.
I can only imagine that wearing such a beautiful dress, standing in such beautiful shoes, meeting with people who could make my dreams come true, I’ll feel much like the fairy tale character. If only I had my Prince Charming to complete the picture. Cinderella wouldn’t have her happy ending without him. And I know, deep down, that I won’t ever have mine either. My painting could set the world on fire, I could move back to the states with my father, I could achieve every other thing I’ve ever wanted in life, but all of it would be slightly hollow without Jasper. He is where my heart truly lies.
“I will be back to collect you in one hour. Will that be enough time?”
I nod. “That should be fine.”
I wait for him to cross to the door and I open it for him, leaving my hand on the knob. “Jusqu’a ce soir.”
Until tonight.
Until tonight. When I take the first step into my future. Without Jasper.
—
I needn’t have worried. Dinner was an amazing success and I’m practically walking on clouds when Gerard ushers me out of the restaurant. I don’t even need a wrap. Wine and happiness are warming my blood.
I take a deep breath and stretch out my arms, spinning in a circle on the sidewalk. “That was incredible!”
Paris dips a little on my second spin. Gerard’s arms keep me from busting my ass and tearing my beautiful-but-tight dress.
“Woops!” I chirp, righting myself and pushing back from his chest a little.
“Tonight was incredible, just as you are incredible,” he says happily, his gray eyes sparkling.
“Gerard, thank you so much for this. I just can’t tell you—”
My words are cut off by the chilling sensation that someone is watching me. It makes no sense at all. I can only attribute it to the moved perfume bottle and a heaping dose of paranoia.
“What is it?” Gerard asks, concern showing on his face.
I realize immediately how unlikely it is that I’m being watched. No doubt Jasper sent me to a place he felt was safe, but try as I might, I can’t shake the feeling that there are eyes on me. Dark, menacing eyes.
I glance around surreptitiously, but see nothing suspicious, nothing nefarious like a black sedan with a hooded figure in the driver’s seat or a man in a trench coat, smoking by the corner of a shadowed alley. Although I doubt anyone who could find me would be that sloppy in their surveillance.
Anyone who could find me . . .
Jasper.
Could he have found me? Would he have wanted to?
My heart leaps with a joyful relief at the brief thought that it could be him, that he might finally have come for me. But then rationale dashes those hopes. If Jasper did come for me, there’s no reason whatsoever for him to stalk me in Paris when he could just catch me at my small-town cottage.
No, it wouldn’t be Jasper. If he was watching me, I’d never know it. As much as I like to think I’d feel him, too, I doubt I would. He’s like an apparition. Invisible. Fleeting.
“Nothing. It’s just . . . nothing,” I add with a reassuring smile. “I’m just ready to go home and let all this sink in.”
He smiles brightly and loops his arm through mine as we start off toward the car. When Gerard opens the passenger door, I duck inside, searching the street and shadows for anything that appears out of the ordinary as I do. Nothing does, though. No stalker. No watcher.
No Jasper.
On the way back to our little village, my heart sinks with every mile we drive, every mile that brings me closer to my new existence. And farther from the man I love.