Going Barefoot In Love

Chapter Two : New Beginnings

I got down the car, stretched a bit and took a look around, both sides of the huge road were filled with gracious Haussmannian apartments, with balconies having beautiful flower pots and creepers. The apartment had a marble entrance hall and an elevator. I went back to the car to get all my luggage and Bernice helped.

Once we were on the second floor Bernice unlocked apartment number 7 with a name plate having my name carved on it in Italian font. It was a perfectly ordinary lightweight recently polished timber door. It was a two bedroom duplex apartment in a peaceful setting. A complete white apartment. As I entered to my right was a rustic teak finished wooden shoe cabinet. The narrow pathway which opened into the living room had empty walls and I wanted my mother’s paintings up there. The living room had a delightful grey coloured couch, an electric fireplace, a 64 inch flat screen TV, a beautiful glass centre table. The kitchen to the left had white granite marble tops which blended very well with the dark brown cabinets and the mansard roof. Two huge windows  allowing natural light to brighten up the living room. The balcony in the living room  facing the street with small cute pots having coloured flowers just like I had seen from down there in every other balcony. The glass staircase leading to the second floor consists of 20 stairs with glass railings. The second floor had two bedrooms out of which one was converted to a study room as I was going to live alone. The master bedroom was spacious with a huge closet which I was already planning to use to dump other stuff as I didn’t have much clothes and accessories to put in. The bedroom had an attached luxurious bathroom with scented candles, white towels and bathrobes neatly folded and placed on the marble tops, a full sized mirror with LED lights above it, a shower area to the right and towards the end was a huge jacuzzi with a window right behind it giving a breathtaking view of the city, exactly what I would need for the days my energy levels would drop to zero and I would have no life left in me. All of my favourite bath products were arranged on the glass shelves. The study room was comparatively very small but had great lighting. There was a fold down bed attached to the wall which I could use when I had guests over. The bathroom in the study room was a simple one. There was a huge glass pivot hinged door with black borders on the left of the staircase which made way for the patio designed for outdoor gatherings and had comfortable furniture to lounge on. It also had a large stone fireplace and a grill for barbeques.

By the time we were done seeing around I had a huge smile on my face which Bernice noticed. The house was fully furnished except for few things. My parents had taken care almost of every small detail I could’ve possibly thought of.

Before leaving Bernice handed me the house keys, a bottle of Château Margaux and a letter from my dad.

“Emma your dad asked me to give you this letter once I was done showing you around. Now I’ll take my leave. If there’s anything you need feel free to call me. Au revoir.”

“Thank you so much Bernice all this would not have been possible without you. Would you like to have a glass of wine before you leave?”

“As much as I would love to I need to go. My son has a talent show at 5. Next time for sure.”

“No worries. Wish him luck from my side. Bye.”

When she left I went straight to take a nice hot shower. When the hot water touched my skin every muscle in body relaxed.

I forgot to bring my clothes to my room with me so after taking a shower I wore the bathrobe and went downstairs to get them. As I was opening my suitcase my eyes fell on the letter and the wine bottle on the centre table. I took the wine bottle to the kitchen poured myself a glass of wine and sat on the couch and opened the letter.

Dear Emma,

I know we had a lot of arguments when I first told you I bought a house for you within a week’s time after you told me you were shifting to Paris. I know you’re all grown up now and can afford one on your own but you’ve never asked me for anything since you were a kid and I really wanted to give you something. You’re a great daughter Emma, I and your mother love you.

Your mother loved the house when she saw it for the first time she didn’t even want to see the other houses on our list. We flew to Paris the very next week to have a look at it. The spark that I saw in her eyes was the exact spark I knew you’d have when you would see it too. I know you’ve seen the house over Skype calls so many times but I wanted you to feel the warmth of the house that we both felt.

Also if you still don’t like the house you can stay there till you find a new one. I am waiting to turn it into a vacation house and have cocktail parties in the patio.

Love Dad.

By the end of the letter I was in tears this was the most beautiful gift they could’ve given me. I so wished I was near them to give them a tight hug and tell them how much I loved them. The house was more beautiful than I had imagined it to be.

By the time I was done with the glass of wine my stomach was making weird sounds, I was so hungry. Went to the kitchen to cook myself some spaghetti and realized I had utensils but no ingredients. I quickly opened my suit case took out my purple notched neckline full sleeve pyjama set and wore it, took my coat and wallet and left. On our drive home from the airport Bernice had shown me where the supermarket was and also took me to a café which had the best pain au chocolat and French lemon tart I’ve ever had. From colourful macarons to light-as-air puff pastries to paper thin pancakes they had it all.

Came back home with items I would need for a week. Quickly made dinner, washed the dishes and video called my parents. Throughout the video call I had to keep reminding myself that there was a 9 hour time difference it felt weird. Once I was done talking to mom and dad I called my brother Cal.

My brother Calvin Ross was three years younger to me. He recently completed his MBA and was working in my dad’s company. There is nothing much to tell about him, just a typical brother who loves soccer, video games and food and also madly in love with his girlfriend Suzanne Sanders. They’ve been dating since the first year of college and I like her, she gets along very well with me mom and dad, her cooking skills are mind blowing and also my brother never complained about her so I didn’t even get to act like the mean *can punch you in the face if you hurt my brother* kind of sister not even once. So what’s not to not like about her right? She has an elder brother whom I had a crush on back when I was 21 and now he’s married and has a one year old son.

So I called him and he was on his way to the gym. I showed him the house and he told a little about his work, we spoke for 15 minutes and then he had to go. Then I called Liz she was still in bed as she usually is on weekends. She went on continuously for an hour about whether humans should eat to live or live to eat. And by the time she was done, it was ten o'clock in the night here in Paris and I was really tired. I ended the call, checked my mails and went straight to bed and slid under the new soft covers and fell asleep.