Arriving from London on the Eurostar the Englishman walks the short distance between
Gares Nord
and
Est
. It's a bright breezy Paris morning in early Spring, sunny but not yet warm enough to encourage those outside to surrender their coats and jackets.
As arranged, they meet in Starbucks on the station concourse, embracing fondly and with an easy familiarity, kisses on both cheeks - this is France after all.
"This is not coffee!" she protests, her native Parisian palate mortally offended.
"A penance for not greeting me in person when my train arrived," he responds with detached amusement.
"And walk from there to my apartment in these shoes!" Madam feigns outrage but has a point, two, in fact, each at the end of elegantly tapered Louboutin high heels.
The Englishman takes her arm, and they promenade across the adjacent
Jardin Villemin
, (he secretly compares it unfavourably to London's parks). The Frenchwoman wears a black knee-length coat, matching her stockings and shoes, with a bright Hermes neck scarf as the sole element of colour. At the canal
Saint-Marti
n the couple turn south until just past the
Square de Recollects
they reach her apartment block. Beyond the nondescript front door, the lobby has original
Art Noveau
flourishes, and a tiny ancient lift with concertina gates.
As it creakingly ascends to the uppermost floor, he slides a hand under her coat. She clamps her thighs tightly together, imprisoning it between her legs, kissing him ardently. In response, he grasps her buttocks. They tumble into her flat, flushed and breathless, it's been several weeks since their last opportunity to express such ardent passion.
"Slow down
Cherie
, we have all weekend," she admonishes him affectionately."
"All weekend, does he not suspect?" The Englishman refers to her husband - a minister in Macron's government.
"He doesn't ask. Here we don't enquire, it's assumed people will have little dalliances," she responds unperturbed.
"But his high public profile..."
"Our press is not so prurient. There are rarely scandals, we are
complaisant
- I can't think of a similar English word."
"Permissive?"
"Maybe... Not quite, but close. I trust him not to embarrass me, he returns the favour," she pauses contemplatively, "and we are upper class."
"Ah, the aristocracy, delightfully licentious all across Europe, and I a mere commoner."
"My family survived the revolution."
"Mine would probably have begun it."
"You haven't told me what you think of the flat?"