The Little Antique Shop Under the Eiffel Tower Read Online Free Page B

– and Lilou went for the beef fillet with béarnaise sauce and potato dauphinoise. For such a lithe specimen of a girl she could eat as heartily as any man. She’d have entrée first and finish the meal with a rich dessert, of which I would steal a bite, and then she’d order yet another bottle of wine. I had her measure, and knew without doubt I’d pay for the lunch, and its accoutrements. It was nice to be able to shut off for a few hours, with someone who knew me inside out.
    I enjoyed our sisterly time together, and the fact we could be ourselves and relax into the afternoon. I wondered if that might change if we lived together. The thought of Lilou wreaking havoc inside my pristine apartment, where everything was just so, was enough to make me rue my choice not to say no to her – but how could I? Parisian apartments were expensive, and I knew she couldn’t keep up paying for hers for any length of time. I calmed myself, promising there’d be rules she’d have to adhere to. She would be on her best behavior surely?
    We ordered our meals, and the waiter filled our wineglasses. I sat back feeling my limbs loosen with the first sip of crisp white wine.
    “As I was saying,” she said, giving her hair a customary flick, “I know my match-making choices haven’t been ideal but this Didier…” She pretended to pull her collar out as if she was hot, and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Whoa! Seriously, you have to meet him.”
    I clucked my tongue like my maman would do when Lilou was being
too
Lilou. “No thank you. Your choices have been downright hideous.” I gave her a withering stare. “A magician? A sixty-year-old count? You might think I’m mature but I’m only twenty-eight for God’s sake. I don’t think we need to reach for the fringes of society just yet. And certainly not a man old enough to be my papa!”
    She leaned forward and whispered, “Some women find silver foxes very attractive, I’ll have you know.”
    It was like speaking another language with Lilou. “Silver foxes?”
    “Oui,” she said. “Silver foxes, you know, a man with a sprinkling of gray, a little mature but a whole
lot
of sex appeal.” She slapped her hand on the table and let out a roar of delight.
    “Hush, Lilou. Mon Dieu!” All eyes were cast toward us.
    “What?” She blew out her cheeks. “You can’t nurse a broken heart forever. Six months is enough grieving time,
too
much time for a man like him. You need to have a passionate affair!”
    I shriveled in my seat, hoping no one could understand her fast-talking sentences. “I’m not grieving –” I scoffed “– far from it. I don’t have time for it, that’s all.” Lilou knew the intimate details about Joshua because the
petit espion
had found my diary and read every single word. If not for that she’d know zero, because who would tell the world a horror story like that? “And if I did have time for a relationship, I wouldn’t reserve it for the type of men you’re suggesting. A silver fox, I mean…?”
    Laughter burbled from her. “You said you wanted someone extraordinary! Gray is the new black, non?”
    I arched a brow. “I don’t think so, Lilou.” Really, she was so adamant about the most ridiculous things.
    Tugging her dress down as she sat back in her chair, she said, “Sister of mine, I hate to say it, but you are only
twenty-eight
. Not eighty-eight. Why can’t you have a little fun while you’re waiting for Mr. Right? Even Madame Dupont beds more men than you do, and she
is
almost eighty.”
    Madame Dupont took Lilou into her confidence when it came to matters of the boudoir. Lilou was a good secret keeper
when she wanted
to be
, and Madame Dupont trusted her. They recognized something in one another: a spark of similarity, of lives lived the same, only half a century apart.
    I struggled not to roll my eyes at Lilou’s disappointed expression. “For some of us, it’s not all about sex you know. There’s more to intimacy