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‘Ok.’
‘When can you get here?’ he asked.
‘Should be just after five.’
‘Jump in a taxi and get to the hotel as soon as you can, all right? You’ve got the address and everything?’
‘Sure,’ I said. Except all the info was on my phone which I now didn’t have. ‘What’s the name of the street again?’
He sighed. ‘It’s near the Anne Frank House, Hannah. The taxi driver will know it.’
‘All right,’ I said, feeling small.
‘Whose phone are you using, by the way?’ he asked.
This was obviously the point at which I should mention Léo. It wasn’t as though I had anything to hide, and so what if Si didn’t approve? I was a grown woman, it was fine to disappoint people. Inevitable, in fact. And then I bottled it and lied.
‘Someone lent me their phone,’ I said, pushing the palm of my hand into my eye socket.
‘So you’re still at Gare du Nord?’
‘Yeah,’ I said quietly, glancing over at Léo. Fucking hell, what would he think of me if he could hear me lying through my teeth? And, more to the point, why was I doing it at all?
‘It’s very quiet,’ said Si.
‘I’m outside. Round the back, getting some fresh air.’
‘Right. Well don’t go wandering off, just stay where there are phones and people to help if you need it. Don’t be tempted to go off looking around Paris or anything, will you?’
‘Course not,’ I said, wondering whether he’d always treated me like a child and I just hadn’t noticed.
‘Bye, Han.’
I hesitated for a second. ‘I love you.’
‘Love you, too,’ he said.
He ended the call and I stayed where I was for a minute or two, watching a sparrow pecking at something on the grass near my feet. I thought about why I hadn’t told him the truth about where I was and who I was with. Probably to avoid the inevitable lecture about going off with strangers. Stranger danger – wasn’t that something you taught five-year-olds? And it was pretty obvious that he was keeping things from me, too, otherwise why wouldn’t he have mentioned Alison’s texts? If we couldn’t be truthful with each other now, whatever the cost, what would we be like in a few years’ time, if we did get married, once the honeymoon period had worn off?
Realising I couldn’t sit there brooding without drawing attention to myself, I walked across to join Léo.
‘Everything is ok with your boyfriend?’ he asked.
I nodded.
‘He has not sent out a search party?’
‘Very funny.’
‘I think it is going to rain again,’ said Léo, pointing upwards at the band of dark cloud above our head. ‘Come, let us try to find some shelter. There is a café at the top of the hill, perhaps we can make it there.’
I’d noticed the cooling air when I was on the phone, but now the wind picked up out of nowhere and huge raindrops launched themselves out of the sky.
I groaned. ‘Not again.’
We raced across to a giant pine tree a few yards away. I fumbled about with the hoodie because I’d tied the knot too tightly.
‘Let me do it,’ said Léo moving my hands lightly aside.
