Two Americans in Paris

"Oh, I can't wait until Pete gets back here! I miss his stories so much at the pub."

"Gets back here?!" Marie exclaimed. Suddenly the room seemed twice as festive and colorful as it had been. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you do know why he left, don't you?" Cathy asked.

"No, she doesn't."

All three women looked up to see Jane standing before them, still in her winter coat and holding a single white rose. She held it out for Marie, who only looked her up and down suspiciously.

"I know exactly why he left," Marie said icily. "But what business was it of yours?"

"No, you don't know the real reason," Jane said. "If you did, you'd know what business it is of mine, and it's nothing like you think, Marie. Could I please have a word in private?"

"I'll put that in water for you, Marie," Alexandra said, taking the rose from Jane.

"And I'll...leave you two some privacy," Cathy said, turning to refill her glass of punch.

"All right, Jane, I did invite you here," Marie allowed. "Let's go to my room." Her heart was pounding with the news about Pete -- he was coming back? -- and the confrontation with Jane, and the room was quite crowded by now. But she did remember her manners and greet everyone she rubbed shoulders with. It was only out in the hall that she saw Francois had arrived -- and was now chatting with Leonard. That nearly made her squeal with delight, but there was no time to think about just might be afoot with them.

"Can I take your coat?" Marie asked with a twinge of sarcasm as she shut the bedroom door behind Jane. She did not turn the light on, but the moonlight from the window illuminated the pile of coats on her bed.

"I can take care of that myself," Jane said with a smile that was not reciprocated. She took her coat off and lay it atop the pile. "Now, please just listen, I beg you. I don't deny that I didn't approve of you and Pete getting together --"

"Because you think he's a baby and I'm a slut," Marie grumbled.

"Whatever I think of either of you, Marie, I would never destroy a relationship like that! Never!"

"So it's only coincidence that Pete decided to tell me he was engaged immediately after you found out about us," Marie snapped.

"Oh, it's no coincidence," Jane allowed.

"I've heard enough!"

"Marie, please!" Jane burst into angry tears. "It's not what you think! Please!"

Marie took a deep breath. "Then what the hell is it, Jane?"

"Pete and Sam and I were out for lunch when he let it slip. Sam was furious. He's the one who disapproves of your lifestyle, Marie, not me, I don't give a damn how many guys you sleep with, I just didn't want you breaking Pete's heart. And yes, I know Sam made a pass at you that night at his flat. He was jealous. I'm not stupid, I could see that. When he knew you said yes to Pete after you said no to him, well, he called Pete a lot of nasty names right then and there. And then...Marie, this part really was my fault, but I never imagined --"

"I don't care what you imagined, what happened?"

"Right," Jane said. "I had, sometime before when I never imagined it would be an issue, mentioned to Sam that Pete's visa was expired and he wasn't supposed to be working in France. We never should have even hired him, Marie, but he was such a great writer...anyway, Sam told him he was going to report him to immigration if he didn't leave Paris right away."

"What?!" Marie was disgusted, but her anger at Jane was finally dissipating.

"Marie, I couldn't do anything! If he had reported him -- and I have no doubt he would have -- I could have got in a lot of trouble too for hiring him in the first place. I could only sit there and cry and tell Pete I was sorry. He begged Sam to keep his mouth shut, but Sam said the only way he'd do that is if Pete made up a moral reason to leave town. That's why he told you he was engaged, Marie, to make it look like it was all a moral failing on his part."

"Then there's no fiancée in Kansas City," Marie said.

"Or anywhere else," Jane confirmed. "He's madly in love with you, Marie. He's said so in every e-mail he's sent me."

"He's been e-mailing you?"

Jane nodded. "Keeping me up to date on his plans to come back. He's applying to degree programs so he can get a student visa. He sent me the first e-mail just as soon as his plane landed in New York, and he said he'd sat awake the whole way making plans for where to apply and how to make it happen as quickly as possible." With a sigh and a smile, she added, "We've also been trying to figure out how to let you know the truth, Marie. He says he'll understand if you never speak to him again, but..."

"But what?"

"But I think it would destroy him. He loves you, and he had no choice. And I couldn't help him either, honest."

"I take it this is why you and Sam broke up?"

Jane nodded. "After work that night, I was supposed to go to Sam's for dinner. I went over there and while he was making dinner, I gathered up all my clothes that I'd left in his room, and then put my coat back on and said I never wanted to see him again. The bastard chased me down the stairs begging me not to go, too. But I went."

Marie watched in silence for a moment as her old friend got control of herself. "One question, Jane," she said after a long pause. "Do you believe now that I never had any intention of treating Pete like a toy?"

"Yes, Marie. Completely. I'm sorry!"

Without another word, Marie hugged Jane and then took her by the hand and guided her back into the living room.

The rest of the party was a wonderful blur of joy and optimism. Marie made no further mention of Pete's name, but she thought of him constantly, and had a rough draft of her first e-mail to him composed in her head well before the guests even began to leave. She mingled and laughed and chatted with them all, but scarcely anything besides the news about Pete was to linger on her mind afterwards. The only major exception came when Jean-Charles released Mattieu from his clutches long enough to tap Marie on the shoulder and ask, "Was that your doing, dear?"

"Was what my doing?" she asked.

"Look in the kitchen doorway," Jean-Charles said.

Marie stood up on her tiptoes to see over the crowd, and was just able to make out Leonard and Francois deep in a passionate-looking conversation. "I wish I could take credit for that," she said. "But I invited them separately and they both arrived alone. I didn't even know Leonard was -- I mean, I still don't know for sure that he is!"

"Of course he is, you silly girl!" Jean-Charles said. "Why else do you think he didn't want to sleep with you?"

"It would have been awfully arrogant of me to think that, Jean-Charles, don't you think?"

"It would, but it would also be right!"

Marie only laughed and shook her head.

But Jean-Charles was right, and she was to learn as much within a week of the party. It took some effort on her part to convince both Francois and Leonard that she was delighted for them both. But she eventually did, which was why that sunny Saturday three months later found them joining her and Jane for a celebratory lunch at a sidewalk café just before she set off to the airport to welcome Pete back.

"So, the nightmare is over?" Francois said, raising his glass as they finished off the last of their drinks.

"I can hardly believe it," Marie said. "I still can't believe he got himself into the summer section so quickly. Barely a week to apply, when he started!"

"I can," Jane said. "He had one hell of an incentive! Marie, you should have seen his first e-mail to me, absolutely heartbreaking, but determined like you couldn't imagine. 'I am going to get back there and set things right with Marie,' that's what he said."

"And a visitor visa is a lot easier to get," said Leonard. "So with that you have, what, a month to spend together before he has to go to class?"

"And we know just how they will spend it!" quipped Francois, drawing laughs from them all including Marie.

"Hope I don't wear him out," Marie concurred.

"I don't see how you can avoid that!" Jane said. When Marie gave her a wary look, she added, "I mean that in a nice way!"

"Really?"

"Really. I misjudged you, my friend."

"Well, now we've got to find you someone, Jane, haven't we?" Marie said.

"Oh, start me off easy!" Jane protested. "I've got a lot of practice to do before I can be anything like you!"

Marie, having heard a lot of apologies from her friend since February, nodded and chuckled. "I'm sure we can get you that practice." Checking her watch, she saw the next train to de Gaulle would be departing soon, and she stood up. "Are you all sure you don't want to come along?"

"Don't be silly, Marie," Jane said.

"She is right," Francois said. "This moment is for the hick and the bush queen alone!"

"The bush queen?" Jane asked. "What?"

Marie burst out laughing. "Oh, dear, all these years and you've never heard that one..." She checked her watch again. "How can I explain quickly?"

"Don't," Francois said. "We can tell her if that is okay with you?"

"Go ahead," Marie said. "I've got nothing to be ashamed of. Not that anyway."

She was careful not to look over her shoulder as she hurried off to the train station, lest she be greeted with a bewildered look from Jane. Only now did it occur to her that Jane had never even seen her in a locker room anywhere. But who cared about that?

It was a long ride to the airport. But not too long to go over all the wonderfully apologetic and agreeable e-mails and phone calls she and Pete had shared over the past three months. No bitterness towards anyone, they'd both agreed; that would only be letting Sam win. No regrets about the lost months; they had only made their longing for one another all the stronger, and in any event it was over now. No hard feelings about Pete's lie; it was the only way he could avoid getting in even worse trouble, and Marie was still to this day consumed with relief that it was a lie. No, it was all about the future, starting with a triumphant return to her bedroom in just a few more hours.

Their phone conversations and e-mails had been growing hotter by the day in anticipation of that return. But not a single one of them was as hot as the cauldron of desire brewing between Marie's thighs as she stood in the arrivals hall. Once again she felt that ache in her arms, longing to hold him, but this time it was a most welcome sensation. Once again she felt the slightest concern that something just might have gone wrong and she wouldn't spot him in the crowd, for she recalled all to well waiting for that text message that hadn't come back in February. When standing still was just too much, she pranced nervously up and down the space between the plastic chairs, well aware of the dampness in her panties and eagerly imagining Pete's own arousal wherever he was behind the security door.

As luck would have it, she happened to be looking down while she turned on her heel when he emerged from the crowd, his arms open to her.

"Ohhhh!" No words would form as Marie threw herself at him. She was shaking with tears of joy as he enfolded her in his embrace. Finally she managed to say, "I can't believe..."

"No hard feelings, right?" Pete said, squeezing her tighter still.

"No, of course not! I just...I thought I'd never see you again!"

"It's over," he said. "It's all over."

"No," Marie said, pulling back at last. "It's only beginning. Leaning up to his ear, she whispered, "Let's get you home. The rain forest is soaking for the hick's attention!"