The suggestion stunned Nora. Staying longer in France had never occurred to her. But Chloe was right. There was no reason she had to leave in two weeks. And living in that apartment would definitely be cool. She still had a seed of a story she’d begun about the young artist, who resembled Vincent, and the waitress in Montmartre. She had just started it when she met Marie-Louise and got sidetracked. Maybe there were more stories to plan while living in that special apartment.
But she reminded herself she was not impulsive. She’d have to think about it.
Or maybe not. Maybe the French Effect was taking hold of her.
ChapterThirty-Three
Long walkswith Atticus on Saturday provided Nora with perfect writing breaks, since she was having trouble concentrating. Several times she stopped to rest. Bundled up and sitting on a park bench, she listened to the rest of her recordings with Marie-Louise.
Every session with her, and then going over their conversation later, provided an emotional challenge. Nora was transported back and forth from the Paris she loved to the terrible years of the Occupation. Without fail, the shift was jarring.
When she sat down to write in the studio, Atticus got up several times and leaned against her leg while she worked, as if he felt her sadness. She grew closer to him with each passing day. It was going to be hard to say goodbye.
She was almost caught up with transcribing her notes, and felt certain their next chat would edge close to being the last. Marie-Louise had reached the days when Paris hummed with barely-contained excitement—whispers of the approaching Allies had become louder. People hoped perhaps the war really would end soon.
Moving between the radiant Paris Nora adored and the bleak, suffocating years of the Occupation left her unsteady, as if her heart couldn't fully settle in either time. The joy of liberation was always shadowed by what had come before—the fear, the silence, the betrayal.
Reliving those moments was like crossing a fragile bridge between hope and despair, and the weight of both lingered long after she returned to the present. It was, in many ways, not unlike the intense grief she had experienced in the early months after losing Jeremy.
She was reminded of the calm support her dog Maggie had brought her. Now she experienced a similar relief from hugging and stroking Atticus. Eventually it brought her to a calmer state. If she was indulging in a Paris love affair, it was most definitely with him.
There was no question, she told herself, dog-sitting in Paris had evolved into something far more profound than she ever could have imagined.
It had transformed into a unique emotional journey through Marie-Louise’s past, as Nora was drawn into the words steeped in heartbreak, resilience, and the haunting echoes of war.
But Nora felt other changes in herself as well. She’d fallen in love with Paris, Provence, the tango, and having a dog in her life again. She enjoyed life with Luc, as well as with Chloe and Oli. She was happy writing again and wasn’t homesick for her little ski town, although she often thought fondly of her life there.
She considered all of that while she made herself a smoothie from the bag of fresh fruit she had cut up and put in the freezer. She felt overcome with gratitude at being so content, Going home after Giselle returned and her time with Attiticus was up, would send her off with a renewed attitude about living life.
Snuggled into the Moroccan cushions by the window, she gazed over the city. Atticus tucked himself beside her and Nora absentmindedly stroked his velvety ears. Her fingers moved in gentle circles and she stared off in the distance, lost in her thoughts.
She studied the sky and visions unfurled in her mind, delicate and slow-moving like the passing clouds. She loved her life at home, but these weeks in France had given her so much more than she’d anticipated.
She contemplated how France was rearranging her expectations of her trip —and perhaps, if she let it, her sense of self too. She wondered if she had settled too easily into life on her own in her small town back home. Maybe this trip had given her the nudge she needed to move forward and start a new chapter.
Maybe Chloe is right about me needing a change. She smiled at the thought that she might be feeling the French Effect, as Chloe put it. She thought about Luc’s explanation of seduction and pleasure and realized she was beginning to understand it.
In the afternoon, Nora sat back down at her computer. If she stayed focused, she could get in another two hours of transcribing before the next walk.
She wrote far longer on the draft as the story took over. She loved how this happened when she wrote, as facts became more than mere details and led her fingers to words she hadn’t anticipated. Even with the difficult subject matter, Marie-Louise’s characters came alive and knew where the story should go.
Once in a while her mind wandered to Pierre’s departure so early that morning. Chloe said he had left even before she and Oli awoke.
The next thing she knew, Atticus nudged her foot. Time for a walk.
* * *
While they walked, Nora’s phone rang. It was Cynthia.
“Guess what? I’m in Paris,” Cynthia squealed. “It was a last-minute thing. I’m only here for two days, as we have to be home for New Year’s. Do you have room on your couch?”
“Omigawd! Cyn! Of course I do. What a nice surprise. What?—”
“I’ll tell you all about it when we’re together. If you give me your address, I’ll call an Uber and see you soon.”
“Wait, have you had dinner?”
Cynthia replied she had not, so Nora said she would make a reservation while she waited for her to arrive. “What a fabulous surprise! Get over here!”
