by Kendra Mase
She’d been giddy when they got off the plane. Though the weather was gray since they landed, looking out the window of their cab, she could still see the streets. Right before her eyes was the Seine she’d only seen in a book before. She felt even better when she finally had enough coverage at the hotel to make a phone call to check in with the shop when she woke up.
Peeling her eyes open, she dragged the sheet with her as she reached for her phone on the nightstand and dialed the shop’s landline it seemed Emilie did have a reason to keep.
She left the keys with the intern she hired to ship out premade orders each week, and so far, she hadn’t heard anything bad had happened.
No one picked up.
They’d be back in Ashton soon enough now.
“Everything is fine,” Jack murmured into her hair when she set the phone back down.
Katherine wrapped her arms around herself. “I know.”
“Then why are you worrying?”
“Why are you pulling your weird emotional ESP on me?”
Jack laughed, pulling her tighter against him. A low sound vibrated in his chest. “I wouldn’t need to even if I was trying, Kitten.”
Letting herself fall against him, she closed her eyes. He was so warm. The entire room was so cozy and comfortable. “Why do you always have to bring me somewhere so cold?”
“So that I can hold you like this, of course,” Jack breathed against her neck, tangling them farther in the stiff sheets. “And it’s not that cold.”
“Says you.”
“I have you to warm me.”
He had a point. Relaxing, she was suddenly jolted awake as his hands skimmed playfully down her sides.
“Are you ready for your day out in Paris?” Jack murmured into her skin.
Katherine hummed at the sensation it sent through her ribs. “Where are we going?”
“I have everything planned.”
“You do?” She giggled as he began to plant kisses up her spine. At this rate, she was beginning to think his plans didn’t include leaving this room, and with how tired she was, Katherine wasn’t sure she minded.
They could order room service, sleep off whatever kind of jet lag she was experiencing before calling the shop again—
“I do,” Jack agreed. “Unfortunately, though, they do include getting out of this bed.”
“And putting on clothes?”
“Though it may be the city of love and light, the Parisians do appreciate clothing.”
Jack swatted her on the butt. “Go. Get dressed before I change my mind.”
She gave him a little shimmy as she headed toward her suitcase.
He only flopped over on his back and admired her. “What did I do to get so lucky?”
“Make a deal with my aunt, who kept your kinky secrets for years?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
She was happy to remind him. The more she talked about Emilie, the less sting there was left about any of it. It was more like a running joke now, and she loved to hear Jack’s laugh. She turned back around with a scrunch of her nose and watched him smile.
“I’m changing my mind,” he warned.
“Don’t you dare.”
Jack began to roll himself out of the large bed. “Better hurry.”
Grinning, Katherine gathered her clothes against her chest before running toward the bathroom. Within the next half hour, she managed to shower without getting too distracted by Jack, who climbed in with her and got dressed in one of her simple black circle skirts and blouse. She didn’t want to attract too much attention from any locals.
Jack whistled when she came out of the bathroom.
She felt her face flush as he extended his hand.
“Ready to go?”
Katherine nodded, slapping her hand down in his like how they always did when they explored a new city. It was funny how many it had already been in the past two months. “Let’s go.”
They started at the Louvre. Wandering through the different corners of the museum, Katherine dragged him through each exhibit, staring up at the statue of Nike and squinting through her glasses before Jack propped her up to see over the crowd taking photos in front of the Mona Lisa. He gave her a twirl in front of the Bath of Venus and pulled her back into him with an easy movement before the exhibit guard noticed.
It was like they were back in Ashton for a moment, posing in front of the different original artworks she’d never seen before. Stepping back, she gave a little curtsy, causing a few stares. She only kept hers on his as he pulled her back through the Tuileries gardens, popping a raspberry macaron past her lips as they went.
They wandered through the short stretch of the catacombs. Jack hugged her close as they passed a tight patch of skulls surrounding the tunnels.
Looking up at him, he shrugged. “What?”
She pointed at him and laughed as he shoved her finger down.
Along with several others, the tour guide seemed to frown upon her reaction.
The man behind the counter of the patisserie didn’t, however, when Katherine bit into her crepe folded between pieces of wax. Licking her lips, she let the chocolate drop down from the corners of her mouth. Jack leaned in and licked it away.
The only looks they accumulated then were gentle looks of admiration between the two of them before they started to walk alongside the river again, stopping at tea shops and modistes where Katherine keened over the stunning fabrics, and finally Shakespeare & Co.
Standing outside, Jack lifted his phone to take a photo of her as she smiled beneath the green and yellow sign.
“Beautiful.” He nodded before they went in, hiding between the shelves before the sun started to set. They crossed the short bridge between it and the island, where tourists began to disperse around Notre Dame.
Katherine tilted her head up, exhausted but happy, as she took in the large structure and gargoyles leaning over the edges.
“Kit,” Jack observed. “Look down.”
Stepping back before she did, Katherine realized where she stood. Her feet rested on the top of a metallic eight-point gold star. Point Zero. The very center of Paris.
“Did you know,” Jack said, directing her back to stand on the very center. “It’s said if you stand on the star of Notre Dame, you will return to Paris one day. You also get a wish.”
Katherine’s eyes widened as she twirled around to face him. She was pretty sure that all her wishes on stars were used up by now. She was about to tell him so before he turned her back toward the cathedral, leaning in with his hands on her shoulders.
“Make a wish,” Jack whispered softly.
Closing her eyes, Katherine couldn’t think of anything specific. She only let a feeling wash over her as she stood there in the center of the city, but she wished. Wished and wished and wished.
When she opened her eyes back up, Jack was in front of her.
“Your turn.”
Switching places, Jack stood on the golden star and shut his eyes the same as she did. He squeezed them tight before he opened them again.
“Good one?” Katherine asked him.
“I can’t tell you all my wishes, can I?”
She hummed but didn’t press before he took her hand back into his, walking her over to the side pillar of the cathedral. “Where are we going? Inside? To that show you were talking about in Montmartre?”
“First, to the top. You’ve never been one to be afraid of heights, have you?”
Rolling her eyes, they climbed each step round and around, him slightly behind her until they reached the top of the Notre Dame. Coming out of the staircase, they breathed in the light all around them. They could even see some real stars just starting to appear far in the distance.
Jack listened to her intake of breath as he walked up behind.
“You like it?”
“Jack,” Katherine breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from the view.
She could see lights from the Eiffel Tower and hear all the sounds
around her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was home in Ashton, only she wasn’t. She was here in Paris, with Jack. And that perhaps was as close to home as she ever wanted to be, all her life.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe you did this, and what else did you say you have planned?” Katherine asked, still basking.
“I have plenty planned. You’re just going to have to be surprised. But right now…” Jack cleared his throat. “I need to ask you a question.”
“What?”
“Truth or dare?”
Heart stopping in her chest, Katherine knew exactly the right answer for once, without a doubt or worry.
She turned around to face him on one knee.
“Dare.”
Acknowledgments
I always thought I knew what I was going to write when I got this point. The dream of writing a book, these books with these characters, has been sitting in my head for a long time. But now that I am here, thinking of all the people I have to thank, I’m both intimidated as well as immensely grateful.
Firstly, this book would not have been started and finished without a special group of people who agreed during an independent creative writing workshop to let me turn in chapters each week instead of short stories. Thank you so much to Carling Ramsdell, who believed in and worked her magic on this story until the very end (and likely read the most versions of it), Amanda Gillette, and Alyssa Clauhs. Along with them, the person who made the group of misfit writers of all genres come together, Elise Burke Parcha. You truly have my greatest thanks and admiration.
To Taylor Whelan, I genuinely am having a hard time finding words to thank you for coming back into my life when I needed a friend as well as someone to obsess over fantastic books with on the daily. You have shared your excitement and wisdom for my stories just as much as any bestseller, and I am forever thankful for you.
To my family, I feel like I need to give the largest shout-out of all. I love you and I am so grateful to have been able to start this journey, this dream of mine, with support and plenty of hope when luck just doesn’t seem cut it.
To everyone throughout the years who let me borrow a pen I never returned, thank you.
And finally, to my eighth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Thompson, who encouraged my writing and at the end of the year jotted down a quote in my yearbook with the message “Your quote is not yet written, but it will be!”
Is it written yet?
About the Author
Kendra Mase is a voracious reader who always dreamed of having her own stories on the shelves. She holds a BA in English Publishing and Editing and is a graduate of The Columbia Publishing Course in New York City. The Strings That Hold Us Together is her first novel.
