The Last Husband (24 page)

“We’ll
see.” He growled at me and we both laughed as the flight attendant walked past
us and gave us a knowing look.

***

“
Bonjour, alle le Hotel Opera Pelris
.”
Zane spoke slowly to the taxi driver and he looked at us blankly.

“
Pardon
?”

“
Nous allons le hotel Opera Pelris?
” Zane
tried again and this time his voice was firmer, as if that was going to make
the taxi driver understand what he was saying.

“
Pardon?
”

“
Je alle le hotel Opera Pelris tout
rapidemente
.” Zane’s voice was brusquer now and I stifled a giggle.

“I
take it you never took French in school?” I raised an eyebrow at him as the
taxi driver stared at us with a blank expression. “You do realize that he has
no idea what you just said. Was that even in French?”

“No.
Well, I don’t know,” Zane grinned at me. “Do you know how to tell him to take
us to the hotel?”

“No,
not really.” I laughed. “And I did take French.”

“Are
you two ready?” The taxi driver raised an eyebrow at us. “The meter’s running
already.”

“You
speak English?” Zane looked annoyed and the taxi driver shrugged. “We’re going
to the Hotel Opera Pelris
sil vous
plait
.”

“
Oui, monsieur
.”

And
with that, we sped off. I stared out of the window in excitement, unable to
believe that I was actually here in Paris. It didn’t seem quite real.
Everything about the city was amazing to me so far. The tall older buildings
all looked majestic to me and there were bakeries on every corner.

“I
can’t wait to get some croissants.” I looked over at Zane and smiled. “And some
hot chocolate.”

“Or
you could get a
pain au chocolat
.” He
grinned.

“What’s
that?” My stomach grumbled and we both laughed.

“I
think it’s a croissant with chocolate in the middle.” He licked his lower lip
and frowned. “But I could be wrong.”

“Just
as long as it’s not snails.” I made a face. “Or
foie gras
. Yuck.”

“How
can you not like
foie gras
?” He shook
his head. “It’s so delicious.”

“I
guess that’s what happens when you’re a country bumpkin.”

“Do
you like pâté?”

“Ewww.
Gross.” I shook my head.

“And
you consider yourself the next Julia Child? For shame. I’ll have to teach you
to enjoy world class food.”

“Ha.
That’s okay. I’m good with a juicy steak and a baked potato.”

“Aren’t
we all?” He rubbed his stomach and leaned over and bit my lower lip lightly.
“Thank God, we’re both meat eaters. I’m not sure what I would have done if you
were a vegetarian.”

“That
would have been a deal-breaker?” I looked at him curiously.

“No.”
He laughed loudly. “But it would have made me feel guilty any time I wanted to
eat meat.”

“You,
feel guilty? Yeah right.” I scoffed.

He
reached over to tickle me. “Shh you.” His hands tickled under my arms and I
giggled and pulled away. “I tell you that I do feel guilty sometimes. Not
often, but sometimes.”

“Uh
huh.”

“You
better be nice to me or I won’t take you to
le
Louvre
.”

“The
museum?” I made a face.

“Don’t
you want to see the Mona Lisa?”

“Not
really,” I laughed. “I’d much rather go to Versailles.”

“You
are a girl, aren’t you? You want to see the glitz and glamour.”

“Actually,
I want to see it because it was the center of Louis XIV political power before
the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is the symbol of absolute
monarchy in the old regime of France. All that opulence and all those riches
are what helped to bring about the demise of the monarchy in France.”

“I
forgot I was dating a historian.” He laughed. “I guess you’ll be my guide.”

“I
don’t know if I know enough to be anyone’s guide. But I’m super excited to see
the gardens and the Hall of Mirrors.”

“Hall
of Mirrors?”

“It’s
the most famous room in Versailles.” I laughed. “It’s one of the most renowned
rooms in the world.”

“A
room with a bunch of mirrors?” Zane looked surprised. “Okay.” He rolled his
eyes and I saw the taxi driver shaking his head in disgust and stifled another
laugh.

“It’s
not just some cheap ten dollar mirror you get at Walmart or Target, Zane.”

“I
don’t shop at Walmart or Target.” He scoffed.

I
pinched him for being a snob. “Zane, that’s not important.” I rolled my eyes.
“The point is, it’s not just a room full of crappy cheap mirrors. These are
opulent, gold-framed and gilded mirrors. And the hallway is huge and it
overlooks the gardens. It’s beautiful.”

“You’ve
seen them?”

“No,
but one of my ex-boyfriends went with his family and he showed me some photos.”

“Oh.”
Zane pursed his lips and frowned. “What ex-boyfriend?”

“My
first boyfriend, actually. He was my high school love.”

“I
see.” His voice turned cold. “Why did you break up if you guys were in love?”

“Oh
Zane.” I shook my head at his obvious jealousy though it made me feel warm
inside. “We broke up because I got pregnant and he didn’t want to help me look
after the baby.”

“What?”
He looked furious.

“Sorry,
that was a bad joke.” I touched his shoulder. “He went to Princeton in New
Jersey and I went to UM. Geography made it hard for us to keep dating.”

“You
could have tried long distance.”

“We
could have, but we didn’t.”

“I
guess the love wasn’t that strong then.” He looked into my eyes searchingly.

“He
was my high school boyfriend, Zane. Our love was juvenile and nothing more than
a crush. I mean I was devastated when we broke up and I cried for a week
straight but as soon as I got to Miami and starting make new friends and
hanging out I forgot about him.” I laughed. “And now, I can barely even picture
his face.”

“I
guess it’s easy for you to get over guys huh?” Zane’s face was cold and I
sighed. He really was a big baby sometimes.

“Zane
Beaumont, are you really going to give me a hard time about my high school
boyfriend? Especially after I forgave you for not telling me that you slept
with Angelique.”

“I
didn’t love Angelique; that was just sex.” He frowned at me and his voice was
matter-of-fact.

“That
doesn’t make it better.” I glared at him. “In fact, that’s worse.”

“How
is it worse?” He glared back at me.

I
rolled my eyes. “Are you kidding me? It is …”

“We
are here. Hotel Opera Pelris.” The taxi-driver interrupted our conversation as
he parked. “That will be 60 Euros please.”

“Here
we go.” Zane opened his wallet and handed the man some notes. “Keep the
change.”

“
Merci
.” The taxi driver gave us his
first smile of the day as he glanced at the notes and hopped out of the car in
order to open the door for us.

“I
guess money talks everywhere.” I whispered to Zane and he laughed.

We
walked into the hotel and I looked around in surprise at how normal it seemed.
I had expected Zane was going to go all out and take us to some 5-star glittery
hotel, but this was far from 5-star.

Zane
walked up to the front desk and a man jumped up. “
Bonjour
and welcome to Opera Pelris.”

“This
is Opera Pelris?” Zane’s voice was gruff and the man’s face paled a little as
he nodded. “This is the Opera Pelris where all the biggest stars in Europe
stay?” Zane’s voice rose. “This is the hotel of choice of all the aristocracy?”

“Yes,
monsieur
, this is Opera Pelris, one
of the finest hotels in Paris.” The man gulped and looked down at the desk in
front of him. It seemed to me that even he had a problem saying that mistruth.

“Is
this a joke?” Zane’s voice grew louder and the man looked like he was about to
faint. “This doesn’t look like the photos on your website.”

“Non,
monsieur. Checking in?” The man averted his gaze and looked down.

“Where
is the Seine?” Zane frowned and his voice was spiky. “Where are the crystal
chandeliers in the lobby? In fact, where is the grand lobby with the doorman?”

“I,
uh, I’m not sure I understand you, sir. My English is not that good.” The thin
man swallowed and looked at me with a wide smile. “Madam, welcome to Paris.”

“Thanks.”
I nodded and smiled back weakly. I felt bad for the man; Zane looked like he
was about to blow a gasket. I laughed at the analogy I had made and bit my lip
as Zane turned around and glared at me.

“I
want to see your manager.” Zane glared at the man. “This was a case of fraud. I
am not staying here.”

“Come
on Zane. It’ll be okay.” I touched his shoulder. “I just want to go lie down
for a bit.”

“Oh?”
His eyes darkened as he stared and me and sighed. “We’ll take the room for now.
But we may be checking out tomorrow.” He turned back around and glared at the
man. “You better give us your best room.”

“We
only have one room left
monsieur
.”
The man swallowed, but smiled at me gratefully.

“Well,
then you better hope that it meets my satisfaction.” Zane looked around the
drab entryway we were in and sighed. “Sorry.” He mouthed at me.

“It’s
okay.” I squeezed his arm and smiled. We were in Paris, that was all I needed.
It didn’t have to be perfect. We didn’t have to have a room at the Ritz. We
didn’t have to hobnob with the stars. I kept my mouth shut but I was a little
worried we would be sleeping with the rats instead.

“I
love you.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You’re such a sweetheart.”

“Hey,
I like hotels with character.” I put my arm around my waist. “I’m just happy to
be here with you.”

“Madam,
you will love it here.” The man smiled at me again. “We also have breakfast in
the restaurant from 7 a.m. - 10 a.m.”

“Is
room service open before and after then?” Zane interrupted.

“Well,
we don’t have room service.”

“Are
you joking?” Zane’s voice rose and I pinched him.

“Be
nice.” My face flushed in embarrassment. “He’s just the front desk clerk Zane.”

“Just
give me my keys.” Zane muttered and the man quickly gave us a key attached to a
piece of wood.

“This
is the key for your door. You’re on the second floor. A wonderful room. The
elevator is just up the stairs and to the right.” The man beamed. “Have a nice
stay.”

“Who
helps us with our bags?” Zane looked around and sighed as he picked up our
suitcases. “I guess that was a lie as well.” He muttered to no one in
particular.

“I
can help.” I reached over to take my case and he shook his head.

“No,
I’ve got them.” I watched as he struggled with both cases and just sighed. Let
him be the big macho man, I wasn’t going to fight him just so I could give him
some help. I walked up the red-carpeted stairs and to the elevator. It was an
old-fashioned elevator and I had to manually open the door. As I looked inside
I realized there was no way that Zane, myself and the suitcases were going to
fit in. In fact there was no way that anyone would fit in with either case. I
took a deep breath before stepping back and allowing Zane to see inside the
interior of the elevator. I was scared that he was going to completely lose it
but he just muttered something under his breath when he realized that it was
too small to be of any use.

“So,
I guess I’ll just carry these up the stairs.” He sighed and I gave him a wide smile.

“You
can do it, Superman.”

“Not
helping, Lucky.”

“Sorry.”

“You
can make it up to me.” He gave me a lascivious stare and then started up the
stairs with the suitcases. I wanted to tell him to take one at a time, but I
didn’t think he was in the mood for any suggestions. Thankfully, the second
floor wasn’t too far of a hike and we made it there before Zane let go of the
cases and called it a night.

“Let
me get the door.” I grabbed the key from him and fumbled with the lock.

Finally
I opened the door and walked into the room. I looked around the room in dismay.
It was small and cramped and the king-sized bed was made up of twin beds pushed
together. I plastered a smile on my face so Zane wouldn’t see how disappointed
I was. I walked over to the windows and opened them widely, hoping to catch a
glance of the Eiffel Tower, but all I saw was some scaffolding on the building
directly across from us. I turned back around to check out the bathroom, maybe
there would be an old antique claw-footed bathtub that I could soak in and
relax. I opened the door to the bathroom and there was no bathtub at all, just
a shower and a sink.