Tante Josephine needed to hear something concrete, even if it was a white lie. ‘Okay, look, Jojo—are you listening to me? I need you to listen because I’m going to tell you why you don’t have to worry about a thing.’
To Sidonie’s relief her aunt stopped crying abruptly at the use of the nickname that had come about when, as a toddler, Sidonie hadn’t been able to pronounce Josephine. She hiccuped softly. Sidonie’s heart ached for this poor, sweet and innocent woman who did not deserve this stress.
‘Jojo, everything is going to be fine...I promise you.’
Unbeknownst to Sidonie, who stood facing away from the view and the open terrace doors, a tall dark shape had approached and stopped.
‘But Sidonie...how?’
Sidonie could hear the hysteria approaching again and cursed the distance between them. ‘I’m not going to let you go through this alone, Jojo, do you hear me? Didn’t I promise to do everything in my power to get us out of this mess?’
Her aunt sniffled and Sidonie pressed on, seizing the advantage, knowing how fragile her aunt was mentally.
‘You don’t have to worry about a thing because I’ve...’
Sidonie faltered. She’d been about to say she had everything in hand, but she knew that would sound vague to her aunt, so she mentally crossed her fingers, squeezed her eyes shut and said, ‘I’ve met someone, Jojo...and he’s really, really rich. One of the richest men in the world. And you won’t believe how we met—it was on a plane, and he owned the plane.’
Immediately her aunt, who was always enthralled by stories like this, perked up. ‘Really, Sidonie? Truly? Is he your boyfriend?’
Sidonie opened her eyes. ‘Yes, he is. He’s crazy about me. And I’ve told him all about you and he’s promised to take care of everything.’
As much as Sidonie hated using Alexio like this, she knew it would resonate with her aunt, who was simplistically old-fashioned. After her father had bought the apartment for Tante Josephine she’d believed all men had the power to sweep in and make magic happen.
Her aunt’s voice quavered, but this time it sounded like relief. ‘Oh, Sidonie...I’m so happy... I was so worried—and then when Marcel told me those things and—’
Sidonie cut her off before she could work herself up again and behind her the tall, dark shadow melted away, unnoticed.
‘Jojo, don’t talk about this to anyone again—and if Marcel says anything just know that you have nothing to worry about.’
Sidonie felt awful, lying like this, but she knew that her physical presence would reassure her aunt when she got back to Paris. She could then tell her that something had happened with the ‘boyfriend’. The idea was laughable. Alexio was no boyfriend.
‘Oh, Sidonie...is he handsome?’
Sidonie felt ashamed, but she was relieved to hear her aunt’s natural effervescence return—she loved stories about people meeting and falling in love. Sidonie tried to gloss over the details about Alexio as much as possible, and before her aunt terminated the conversation she made sure to have a chat with one of the supervisors, to warn them that she was particularly vulnerable at the moment. She castigated herself for not thinking of doing it before the holiday.
When she put her phone down she felt drained, but at least happier that Tante Josephine should be okay until the end of her holiday. The supervisor had promised to keep a close watch over her.