Doug was stunned by what Paris said at the airport. It really was an impossible situation, wasn't it?
*****
An End and a Beginning
I held Miley's hand as we picked our way down the steep path to the small beach. We had to hurry; the beach only exists at low tide. At the bottom of the path we removed our shoes and placed them on a large rock above the high tide line - just in case.
Peering down the beach we could see one of the most famous views in all of France. Cliffs near Etretat on the northeast Normandy coast are eroded in places to create little beaches. Up ahead the cliffs projected out into the sea, ending in a large natural arch.
I remarked "It's hard to believe Monet and other painter's dragged easels and boxes of paint down here to paint furiously while the tide was out, and then scampered back up. Every day the light is different."
"It is a beautiful place for this."
We started down the beach, our bare feet hardly making an impression in the wet sand. Miley held my hand and gave it a little squeeze. Her sleeveless, short light blue sundress with a gathered elastic waist rippled in the breeze. On the climb down the breeze blew her dress and I noted she wasn't going commando today. Her ponytail swayed as she walked. I had never seen her look more feminine.
She looked at me slyly. "I'll race you to the end of the beach."
"How much of a head start do you want?"
"Me? You need one."
"Challenge accepted. You're on."
We started racing down the sand. My longer legs quickly had me in the lead, but about halfway I began to flag. Just as I had discovered there is a difference in being in shape and being in hiking shape when I had dated Sal, I soon learned the difference between 'in shape' legs and dancers legs. Hours of rehearsals for shows and videos had her legs toned. Before we were three quarters of the way I felt a slap on the butt as she blew past me and laughed. I put on a spurt to catch up, but was soon reduced to almost walking.
When I reached her she was breathing hard, but I doubled over with my arms on my legs, gasping for breath.
She teased me "You may be able to fuck all night, but this is different, huh?" She added, with a wink "I guess you're too tired to duck behind a rock for a last quickie."
"Yeah, yeah. God. Just let me breathe."
"In through the nose and out through the mouth. That's how you catch your breath. There you go. See?"
The wind off the water riffled the legs on my khakis, but felt refreshing. By the time I had regained some semblance of breath we heard voices and saw a knot of likewise barefoot people coming toward us on the sand. The sun was in my eyes but as they got closer I recognized Paris' sister Nicky and her husband, Tom and Susan from home, Chris, Cynthia and some others hidden in the tight knot of bodies. The sounds of joking and laughter reached us in wind-blown bits.
When the group reached us some stepped aside so Paris could make her way through. I can't remember ever seeing her look more beautiful, with a smile that seemed to light up the beach. Her hair was piled on top of her head, held in place by some magic I couldn't see, and she wore a simple pale yellow cocktail dress with a sash tied around the waist. As she approached, the sunlight behind her caused her hair to almost look like it glowed. She carried a single red rose.
Miley took my hand again, squeezed it, and offered it to Paris. "Here you go, girl. He's all yours."
Paris laughed "And don't you forget it."
"Maybe we can work out some sort of arrangement later. I don't want to lose you, too."
A tall man stepped out of the crowd and faced Paris and me. The ceremony we had planned took no more than ten minutes. We had carefully written out what we wanted to say to each other. At the conclusion phones were whipped out and everyone jostled to get a picture of us with the arch behind us. There was one professional photographer, from one of the gossip papers. Paris had offered him exclusive pictures on the condition that he not to publish them until the next day, when we'd be somewhere else. She had given him some scoops before, and he knew better than to betray a trusted source.
The tide had turned and water already began to reach our feet, but the photographer carefully backed up until he had the perfect shot of us framed by the arch. We all scurried back to our shoes and climbed up the steep path to the top.
Back in Paris we piled into the café where Paris was known and Jacques greeted her.
"And how is my favorite..."
At a table near the door the usual group of Sorbonne students sat nursing glasses of wine. The tall blond stood up, but before she could make her usual protest he continued
"...neighbor."
The girl sat down to howls of laughter from her companions. They raised their glasses toward Paris, who smiled and waved at them. They had no idea and didn't care who she was, but it was a game they all played every time she came in.
The entire rear of the place had been secured and tables were already set. Bottles of champagne nestled in ice graced the tables. A musician with a squeezebox played French music from a corner of the room. In lieu of a cake there was a pyramid arrangement of macarons of various colors and flavors. Everything we had planned was non-traditional, beginning with Miley 'giving me away' on the beach. We were gathered as a group of friends for a quiet, intimate celebration.
I had insisted on paying for this shindig, just to show I wasn't going to live on Paris' money. In fact, it was me who beat her lawyers to propose a pre-nup. I wanted no 'allowance' and insisted on continuing to work.
Paris kept her apartments in Paris and near Central Park in New York, and I kept my house. We planned to make use of them all.
One nice thing that had happened shortly after Vegas was that my company had bought out another. The acquired company had people who did what I did, but I was senior and had been given charge over them. Basically I no longer had to do 'grunt' work doing research and writing reports, but used my expertise to review technical information in the reports written by others before they were submitted. I could do that mostly electronically from anywhere in the world. There were still occasional meetings I had to attend, and I did go in to the office from time to time also. A nice perk of being with Paris is that I get to travel first class now.
Paris wanted to show me her favorite places - Madrid, Rome, Vienna - besides Paris and New York.
She offered me the world, and I offered her...Raleigh, North Carolina. While it may not seem to be a fair trade, we each got to see the world through another's eyes.
We periodically strolled around the leafy suburban neighborhood, and she kind of liked taking a break from the bustle of the big cities. I introduced her to Renee and Jerry, who had remarried. He still couldn't believe what he saw before his very eyes.
Chris, Tom and Susan had taken it upon themselves to take over my house for a day and put together a neighborhood Open House to celebrate and introduce Paris to them. I hoped everyone would see Paris as a real woman and not a caricature. Renee and Jerry were the first to arrive, but soon the house filled with guests. Chris had arranged for the restaurant at the hotel where he used to work to cater the event.
Sometime during the event I noticed Chris was gone. An hour or so later he showed up with Miley and Cynthia.
Miley ran to give Paris a hug and said "Surprise!"
"We never expected to see you here."
