‘Oui, oui.Always rushing, is Lilou.’
‘Moi?’
He rocks on the balls of his feet. ‘Let me show you what I found.’
At my desk, he opens the box to reveal a stunning gold embossed prayer book. It almost glows, the gilded cover is so bright. ‘It’s very rare, Lilou. Very delicate. You might search further than Paris for its next owner. Maybe you could list with a prestigious antique auction?’ From his pocket he takes white cotton gloves and puts them on before lifting the prayer book from the box. ‘It’s circa 1800, and as you can see it’s more a piece of art than a book to be read and thumbed through.’
I agree that the artefact deserves a unique approach and recognise Guillaume is being very generous sharing this prayer book with me when he could have easily resold it himself for a hefty profit. ‘It should be in a museum.’ We discuss the book and its possible provenance. It’s decided I’ll ask contacts in the museum world first about a possible sale. We haggle over price but I know I’ve got myself a bargain and the profit margin will be a healthy one. Once our business is concluded I bring the conversation around to the cats. ‘What time are you picking up Minou and Marmalade this evening?’
His face softens. ‘I have a full day of client visits but I plan to finish around six pm if that suits you?’
‘Sure, I can be home by then. How are things with you and Clementine?’
He blushes and fumbles with his key chain. ‘Wonderful, wonderful. Clementine took it upon herself to visit Rouen for a few days while I was there. It was lovely to do some sightseeing with her in the medieval town.’
I give him a wide smile and pretend I don’t already know. ‘Things have moved swiftly, I take it?’
He clears his throat and holds his head high. ‘My private life is just that, Lilou. Private.’
‘I understand, Guillaume, but you may remember I suggested you try Paris Love Letters, and now I’m really rather invested in your private life.’
His shoulders rise as he takes a deep breath and exhales theatrically. ‘It’s Paris Cupid, you infernal busybody, and if you insist on being meddlesome, I suppose the only solution is to give you some breadcrumbs, otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it.’
‘That’s true. I can only escalate from here.’
The obligatory head shake returns but his face is full of colour, as if he’s been renewed by his time away with a visit from Clementine. ‘Fine. Our correspondence went remarkably well. In fact, we were writing back and forth every day, our letters arriving out of sync, which I didn’t even mind since we were simply enthusiastic about getting to know one another.’
‘Them arriving out of sync bothered you alittle, didn’t it?’ I grin and fold my arms, ready to battle him on this point. My friend is pedantic in the purest sense of the word.
‘Oui, oui.It bothered me greatly but I was a willing accomplice so I let it go, despite them being out of order and making no sense. After six weeks of back and forth, just like Mathilde foretold, I felt a level of…certainty. She said I’d know when the time was right and that seemed to be the case.’ Heflushes scarlet and his chin dips down, as if he’s embarrassed to share this so openly with me. ‘I had the Rouen trip coming up and I felt like it might be time for us to take things to the next level.’
‘So then what happened?’ I lean against the counter.
‘I asked Benoit to pen my next letter in formal calligraphy as it seemed fitting for what I was about to suggest.’
‘To meet up?’
‘I wrote about how my feelings were true, and that I only had good intentions. And if she felt the same and was amenable, would she care to accompany me to the ballet at theOpéra National de Paris.’
My eyebrows shoot up. ‘The ballet?’
He lets out a giggle. An actual giggle! ‘I have no idea about romance, Lilou. I asked thebibliothécaireto help me use those hellish machines at the library and I googled what women like when being courted.’
I press my lips together. Could hebeany more adorable? ‘Great idea.’
His faux-grumpy expression returns, as if he wants to disguise his efforts in the art of wooing a woman. ‘Oui, oui,all very silly really. Advice such as deliver chocolate-covered strawberries to their place of work, or a dozen long-stemmed roses. Thebibliothécairepointed out some of the advice was out of date, and I was best to go with the ballet invitation.’
‘How was the ballet?’
‘I fell asleep, but that’s not exactly my fault. We shared a bottle of Beaujolais at dinner before and the event started rather late. I caught the end. There was a lot of pliéing and whatnot.’
‘Did Clementine enjoy it?’
He gives me a decisive nod. ‘Then it was she who suggested she visit Rouen for a few days during my jaunt there. At first, I was rather taken aback. Is that the done thing these days,women asking men? It was very forward, in my opinion, so I asked the advice of thebibliothécaireonce again and she gave me a stern lecture about the progression of women’s rights and how I was acting like a dinosaur. Sufficiently reprimanded and more than a little regretful that I’d judged Clementine, I accepted her offer and gave her details of the hotel I’d be lodging at.’
I can’t help but grin as Guillaume learns the ropes to modern day dating. ‘And just like that you spent a few days together?’
‘What’s that ridiculous thing you’re doing with your face? For your information, we had separate hotel rooms, not that it’s any of your business. While our relationship has progressed, we’re still in the very early stages.’
