Ava couldn’t quite believe it. He really was in Paris. The silent phone calls, the Skyping, the mention of his name in the boutique, the email on Francine’s PC, everything she had put down to something else, to her not hearing properly, to something work-related, and here, now, when he was supposed to be in Toulouse, Gary was in Paris.
‘Should we do something?’ Julien asked her.
She couldn’t speak. She was just watching Gary, making his way through the park, heading towards the fountain just ahead of them like he didn’t have a care in the world.
‘Ava,’ Julien stated.
‘We need to follow him,’ she responded, shaking herself back into the moment.
‘We could catch up to him,’ Julien suggested, holding his hand out to her.
She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t want him to see us. I need to see where he’s going.’
‘But if you speak to him...’
‘Julien, don’t you know anything about the work of private investigators? It’s called “private” for a reason.’ She took his hand in hers. ‘Come on or we’ll lose him.’
They followed Gary to a restaurant and watched him being shown to a table for two they could just about see from the street. Ava had tears in her eyes. A table for two. In Paris. When he was meant to be somewhere else. There was only one person he was going to be meeting. Debs had been right all along. Sue was right to be concerned about her marriage. History was about to repeat itself.
‘You are OK?’ Julien asked.
She shook her head, unable to commit to an answer.
‘You should not worry,’ Julien said. ‘Nothing has happened.’
‘What d’you mean?’ Ava asked.
‘Well, he has just gone into a restaurant. There are many reasons why he might do this.’
‘Like for lunch?’ Ava suggested. ‘Or a coffee... on his own... in a city he isn’t even meant to be in.’ She looked through the window, hat pulled low on her head. ‘I can’t believe he’s doing this. He knew what Sue and Debs went through before. He promised them forever. A new beginning.’
The words felt bitter as they left her mouth. Here she was, having stood up to her mother for the very first time, with a man she had deeply fallen for, on the brink of breaking out into the exciting unknown, and her best friend was about to have her whole world turned upside down.
‘I need to go in there,’ Ava stated.
‘I thought you did not want him to see you.’
‘That was before he waltzed in there and sat down... with a newspaper for God’s sake... reading it like he’s relaxed... like he’s waiting for a lover.’ She stepped towards the entrance. ‘I need to just go in there and ask him what he’s doing here when he’s meant to be in Toulouse.’
‘Maybe,’ Julien began, ‘maybe you should call Debs.’
She shook her head. She didn’t want to do that for so many reasons. The first involved her friend hammering out an article to get this job she craved for professional reasons and would now need more than ever to support her and her mum. The other reasons were because she didn’t know how she was going to tell Debs that Gary was here. That Gary was a cheat. That although Gary had been seemingly love-struck on his wedding day waltzing Sue around the floor to ‘Everything I Do, I Do It For You’, everything he was now doing was for someone called Francine.
‘I can’t,’ Ava admitted. ‘What do I say to her?’
‘Madonna, I am here for you, whatever you want to do, but if you really do not want him to see you, you need to move away from the door.’
Ava stepped back and there was a shriek. Someone’s foot was underneath her Converse and when she looked up into the owner’s face she saw it was Francine.
‘Sorry,’ Ava said on autopilot. She wasn’t sorry. She wished she’d stepped back twice as hard.
‘I know you,’ Francine replied. ‘From my office. A rainbow I can grow at home.’
Ava’s blood was boiling. This woman was about to walk into the restaurant and sit down for a tryst with Gary. She wished she had a Waitrose shelf of things to throw at her.
‘Here to see your boyfriend?’ Ava spat.
‘Ava,’ Julien said, taking hold of her arm.
‘Pardon?’ Francine said, taken aback but pushing by, trying to ignore her.
‘Your boyfriend,’ Ava repeated as Francine moved past, eyes glued forward. Her hand was on the restaurant door. ‘Are you going to share some vin rouge and plan your first Christmas together? If it is your first Christmas together? I mean we don’t really know how long this has been going on.’
But Francine had already gone through the door.
‘You make me sick!’ Ava shouted. ‘I hope you... choke on the bread basket.’
‘Ava,’ Julien said, pulling her back.
Ava shook his arm off and pressed her nose up against the glass of the eatery. She watched, stomach dropping piece by piece, as Gary stood up, embracing Francine.
‘Ava,’ Julien said, softly. ‘What do you want to do now?’
‘Now,’ Ava began, ‘now we call Debs.’