Return of a Broken Heart

Prologue

It had been nice living in Paris. The restaurants always had good food, the waiters were courteous and always made good conversation with you, and the surroundings were breathtaking. She always enjoyed taking a walk along the bridges and looking out at the views from the Seine. The bells rang out every hour from the Notre Dame to the rest of Paris which provided the acoustic heartbeat of the city. It was one of Angie's favourite things about it.

On the downside, there was quite a difference in time between here and Argentina. That was one of the only costs of being here when everyone else you cared about was over the sea in Latin America. It meant that she had to wake up at stupid times in the morning or stay up until stupid times in the night to talk to them. And that time when her clocks had been broken, oh that was hard! They were right twice a day but Angie needed them to be right more than that. Sometimes she couldn't take the distance and the time difference. Sometimes it was hard to think of reason why she should still be here.

It was unfair to say, but all of her best students had gone. They had been offered scholarships or professional work and rightly so. They deserved to do the best they could with the talents they had been given. She was thankful that she had had that chance with Violetta. No, she didn't know her earlier in her life, but she helped nurture her in her career. Violetta was always meant to be successful. After all, she was her mother's daughter.

Angie loved Paris. She loved her job. However, it was time to go back home. When would she leave? It was nearing the end of term. It would make sense to leave after the term had ended. That was only two weeks. She could handle that. The term would end. She would be done teaching. She could then leave her job. It's not like she could be sacked. In France, your employers had to give two years notice. It was ridiculous. In her opinion anyway.

Was missing her niece enough of an excuse to leave? Yes, she would come back to her past but she had to be an adult about it someday. She had always had a knack for avoiding things. Especially personal things. It had become an ingrown habit. She should try to break it, but old habits die hard. Isn't that the saying?

Getting out of her head, Angie walked up the stairs and into her classroom. This would be one of her last lessons here, hopefully. At the end of term, she would try to leave Paris. It was time for her to go home.