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It was nice to talk to someone. She felt a pang of guilt that she was letting this man think something much worse of Ronan than what had really happened, but it felt good to have someone lining up on her side.
‘I’m Claire,’ she said, holding out her hand. He responded immediately. Tossing his book on the bench between them, he took her hand in his and shook it warmly.
‘Harry.’
She felt the presence of his whole body turned and curved around her, like a shield of protective manliness.Wow,she thought,so that’s charisma.
She cleared her throat, found herself stuck for words.
Harry, on the other hand, was completely relaxed. ‘Did you know that is the very centre of Paris?’ he said.
‘I just learned about the Point Zéro thing in the bookshop over there. They make a big thing of it.’
‘All roads lead to Whitman?’
She nodded. ‘I don’t understand Whitman.’
‘Me neither. Hey, see over there, where those kids are staring at the ground like depressed meerkats?’
Claire looked and laughed, because his description was bang on. ‘Emm, yeah.’
‘That’s it – Point Zéro. You’re supposed to stand on that plaque – on one leg if you don’t mind – and twirl around three times, and you’ll be granted your heart’s desire.’
‘Did you do it?’
‘Are you crazy? At my age?’
Harry didn’t look so old to Claire, but there was an air of frailty to him. He flinched occasionally and held himself as though to guard a pain.
‘I’ll do it if you will,’ she said, enjoying the thrill of flirtation.
Harry held her gaze and stood up slowly. Then, bending slightly at the waist, he offered her his hand. ‘Mademoiselle,’ he said, ‘shall we dance?’
She laughed again and stood.
* * *
Harry felt the heat of a bittersweet joy coursing through him as he walked sedately, arm in arm, with this youthful woman, across the Parvis Notre-Dame towards Point Zéro.
‘So, what will you wish for?’
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, as if to gain time. ‘My heart’s desire isn’t a possible thing.’
‘Nothing’s impossible. That’s what they tell us Americans.’
‘Well, they’re wrong.’
‘Maybe they are, but you know what? It’s better for your heart to harbour one impossible desire than none at all.’
She looked down so that he couldn’t see her face. ‘We can’t beat death,’ she said. ‘We can’t wish it away.’
Harry could almost see it, the weight of it, bending her body closer to the ground. It. Death.
His mind seemed to clear. It was as if the knot of thoughts in his head suddenly unravelled. The truths that were obscured by his own regrets and desires were crystal clear when he applied himself to thinking about someone else.
‘No, we can’t beat it, but we shouldn’t surrender to it either.’ He felt his body filled with the sort of certainty he hadn’t felt in years, a galvanising surge of determination. ‘We have to play the game on our own terms. We have to fight for dominion over the bit of life that belongs to us. Does that make sense?’
‘Emm .?.?.’
