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“What about a starter?”
“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
“I’m having escargots. Snails.”
“Snails?” Audrey felt her stomach roll. “That’s gross. Who eats snails?”
“They’re a delicacy. I know it sounds strange, but they really are good. I’ll order, and you can try one.”
Over her dead body. And if she ate a snail she would definitely end up as a dead body.
“Soup will be great.” Thank goodness she hadn’t picked something randomly from the menu. Being confronted by a plate of snails would have been a low point even for her, and she’d had her fair share.
“Take a look at the drinks menu.” Grace pushed it across to her, and Audrey started to wish she’d never come.
“I’m pretty thirsty. I’ll have anything fizzy.”
“In that case I can get you something from the mini bar.”
She expected Grace to hand her a sugary drink of some sort, but instead she mixed juice with sparkling water, added crushed ice and a few slices of fresh orange and handed it to Audrey.
“I always find sparkling water refreshing in this hot weather, and the hotel leave slices of fresh fruit. Try that.”
Audrey poked at the orange slices. “I don’t eat fruit.” She saw the shock in Grace’s eyes.
“You don’t like fruit?”
Audrey shrugged. “It’s more that I can’t be bothered.”
“What about vegetables?”
“I eat tomato if it’s on a pizza. And peas. I like peas.”
“Right, well—” Grace recovered slightly. “Try the drink. The orange sweetens it, that’s all.”
Audrey sipped. “It tastes pretty good. What about you? This is France. Aren’t you supposed to be drinking a full-bodied red wine or something?”
Grace prepared herself the same drink as Audrey. “I’m not much of a drinker.”
That was one of the great things about being an adult—you didn’t have to pretend to do things just to be cool. Anytime Audrey was at a party, she had to find a way to pretend she was drinking without actually drinking. To admit that she didn’t drink alcohol would have been like painting a target on herself.
“Chocolate,” Audrey said. “I’m addicted to chocolate. How about you?”
“I’m not addicted to anything.” Grace turned away and Audrey was left with that same uneasy feeling she always had with her mother.
She was never quite sure what she’d said to cause offense, but she’d said something. Her mother changed mood with the wind. Grace was obviously the same.
Instantly on guard, she put her glass down. “Can I use your bathroom?”
“Of course. Door on the left.”
Left.
Audrey’s heart beat faster. Left.
She made a guess, walked confidently to the nearest door and found herself in the dressing room.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.
