Finding Paris

No Other Love

Today is the day we’re going to leave the city. Today is also the day me and Victor will board different planes. But that won’t happen until later at around two in the morning.

I woke up at around thirty minutes past two in the afternoon and Victor was still sleeping. Downstairs, I heard a jazz song playing on Cecile and Pierre’s gramophone. Muddy Waters was already wrapped in a French newspaper tied with a purple ribbon at the desk.

Last night, I woke up at around three in the morning, wrapped all the presents I intended to give before leaving Paris and slept again. Victor’s record was placed in a large white envelope beneath Cecile and Pierre’s. I decided not to wake him up and crept downstairs instead. Cecile and Pierre were cooking.

“Bonjour!” I greeted the couple who were both donning matching beige aprons. They turned around and handed me a plate of newly cooked Hachis Parmentier. The mashed potatoes blended well with the ground beef. As I was eating, Victor came downstairs and took a seat beside me.

“Cecile and Pierre, mes amis!”

Cecile and Pierre chuckled lightly at Victor and set the plate in front of him. They joined us for lunch and passed each of us red wine.

“To Paris,” he said and raised his glass.

“To Paris,” we all said.

“Today is your last day, isn’t it?” Pierre asked.

“Yes. We’ll be leaving for the airport at nine in the evening,” I said.

“We’ll drive you,” Cecille offered as she gathered our plates.

“Really?” I said. I didn’t think they’d really go out of their way to drive us over to the airport.

“Of course. We will miss you lovely amis!”

I hugged Cecile and helped her with the dishes while Victor and Pierre went off towards the living room. We’ve been here for two weeks but it felt like a month. Cecile and Pierre had become good friends of mine. I told Cecile about Victor going away to New Zealand and how I’ll miss him when I get back to our village.

“As they say, loin des yeux, proche du coeur,” Cecile said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“I don’t really understand that.” I chuckled.

“It’s like how you say absence makes the heart grow fonder,” she said and handed me a macaron.

“Oh.” I didn’t really want to think about it anymore so I munched on the macaron and got more from her clear jar on top of the fridge.

“You still have a lot of time. Why don’t you two go out and stroll around? Have one last look at the tower?”

“I don’t know. We’ve always been passing the tower. Maybe somewhere new?”

“Do you like sweets?”

My ears danced at the mention of sweets and I turned to Cecile like a child called on for ice cream. She laughed and said, “I thought so. On the 3rd arrondissement is a small pâtisserie called Pain de Sucre. You should go there and eat to your heart’s delight.”

I went to the living room to catch Pierre giving sheet music to Victor.

“He plays the guitar well,” he said and patted Victor on the back before he left and went back to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” Victor asked as he studied the sheet music. Those were all classical pieces and I could tell from the discolorations on the paper that it was kept for a long time and well taken care of.