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I think she’s crying, but I’m not sure.
“Clem, I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
“You’d better be,” she shoots back with a sniffle.
“How did Clarence take the news?”
“That guy is from another planet. Or else he’s really in love with me… which means he’s completely crazy.”
“No, he’d be crazy not to love you,”
A sob catches in her throat. “When I told him the news, I was expecting him to bolt. Instead, he stayed with me for over an hour, stroking my hand to calm me down. He reassured me, told me he was there for me—and for the baby.”
“And… Yann?”
“If you only knew how much I hate myself, Alma. I don’t want to leave him, but it’s no longer up to me. I’m going to have to break it to him, before the birth. I’m so afraid of losing him. How could I have done something so stupid?” She sobs even harder. “When I think about my daughters… and this baby who isn’t even born yet…”
“Clem, whatever happens, you’ll never be alone. And this child will still have the best mom in the world.”
She whispers what I think is a thank-you.
“I’d better go. Yann will be home soon, and I need to make him some dinner.”
“Do you want me to have something delivered? You can take the food out of the boxes and say it’s homemade!”
“He’d never believe that,” she replies, laughing through her tears. “It wouldn’t taste burnt.”
“Clem, you’re too hard on yourself. What should I order?”
“Nothing. Really. Yann will know I didn’t make it, and I’ll get another lecture: ‘You don’t work, so stop throwing our money down the drain!’”
“Charming.”
I hate imagining her being treated like a child.
“After what I did to him, I can’t blame him for anything. Not even for being stingy,” she says, ridden with guilt.
“See you tomorrow?”
“Yes, it’ll do me good.”
I’m about to hang up when my best friend adds a few last words.
“Alma. I wanted to tell you that… that I couldn’t ask for a better best friend than you. My family is about to fall apart, but you’re here for me. You always are.”
“You and me—it’s for life, Clem. This one and the ones after it,” I tell her, holding back my tears.
“I’m hoping to be a tree in my second life. Or a tuft of grass. Plants don’t cheat on their husbands. And they don’t get pregnant by someone else…”
That’s why I love her.
And why I cry as I hang up.
***
I think about her for much of the week, confiding in Niels, Vadim, Lily, and even my mother. The news really affects each of them, and they show her such genuine compassion that I realize just how much Clémentine is appreciated and loved, despite her lack of tact and her blunt, no-nonsense personality. Clem is just… real.
Then our traditional Sunday lunch rolls around, and my bad mood returns. The subject of Vadim Arcadi-King resurfaces at the dinner table, between the gravlax and the sautéed vegetables. As always, Lily defends him. Basile restrains himself and stays neutral. But my father…
