AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Granted, she has a lot more experience in matters of the heart than me, and her words cause tiny buds of hope to blossom within me, against my cautious judgement.
‘What do you mean?’ I can’t resist jumping on her hook and taking the bait.
She narrows her eyes and says that she wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s madly in love with me.
My heart beats faster as I listen to her words. The sound of them is like a soothing balm for my soul, and for a second, I relish the feeling washing over me. But then I remember how many romance novels she reads, and that my best friend is a total sucker for a happy-ever-after.
‘Oh, Juliette, Juliette,’ I say, shaking my head and hugging my knees to my chest. ‘As much as I’d love for you to be right, this is real life, not one of your romance novels.’
She rolls her eyes and sighs as if I’m a lost cause.
I inhale sharply and tell her I think he went on a date last night.
‘Hmm,’ she says.
Looking at her expectantly, I wait to see what she makes of that crushing revelation. Surely that will puncture her romantic balloon.
‘Do you know that for sure, or are you just catastrophising?’
I grimace. ‘No, not for sure, but he went out for dinner, and it seemed like he was dressed for a date.’
‘Don’t jump to conclusions,’ she warns me. ‘If you don’t know where he went, then there’s no point imagining the worst scenario.’
True.
‘Did he come home alone last night?’
I nod and tell her I heard him come in around eleven alone.
She takes a final swig of her coffee and places it on the wooden table.
‘There you are then,’ she says, nodding like a wise old sage. ‘It wasn’t much of a hot date if he came home early and alone.’
She fuels my fantasies, but I’m still wary, and I change the subject and suggest a stroll in Hyde Park.
When she walks me back to the station, she says, ‘Have a bit of faith in love, ma chérie. If you’re meant to be together, nothing and no one can stop it. And I have a feeling you two are meant to be.’
Whilst I appreciate Juliette’s romantic philosophy, I’m not sure giving me hope in this hopeless situation will not do more harm than good. But I know her well enough to realise that my pessimistic attitude to love won’t prevent her from predicting a great love for me and Sebastian, so I smile at her and think how blessed I am to have her as my best friend.
As we weave through the busy street, I say, ‘I love your optimism, but to be honest, I don’t think he can be my Romeo, no matter how much I’d like him to be.’
‘Stranger things have happened,’ she says. ‘Time will tell. Time will tell…’
CHAPTER20
Sebastian
We’re approaching the opening of our new hotel in Cannes and the pressure is building. It doesn’t help that my head isn’t fully in the game. Usually, I would be all over it and excited at the thought of another hotel on the Rochester map. But instead of thinking about what needs to be done for a successful launch, I’m thinking about Nathalie. All the time. I can’t get her out of my mind, and now there’s a message from Grandfather and I call him back.
‘Are we all set for the opening? This is high profile, and we can’t afford for it to be anything less than perfect,’ he says.
I tell him plans are all in place and we’ve received confirmations from several French dignitaries and celebrities who will attend the event.
‘When are you arriving?’ he asks.
‘Arriving where?’ I say, puzzled.
‘Cannes?’
