French Toast (The French Twist Series Book 2)

by Glynis Astie

  Maya laughed. “He did! And he calls it a ‘crotch rocket’!”

  I kicked her under the table and turned my attention back to Nigel.

  “You know how much Louis loves motorcycles. He’s been building them for years. And with the crazy traffic on his commute and the lack of parking in the city, he thought this would be the best way to meet all his needs.” The need for speed being the most important one.

  Nigel grinned widely. “Bloody awesome!”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t get any ideas, Pip! Grace will KILL me if you do anything to put yourself in danger.” His lack of coordination didn’t help matters. (He and I were kindred spirits in this regard.) His mind had grandiose ideas of activities which his body simply couldn’t carry out without causing severe damage.

  Maya scoffed. “Will you relax, Syd? What’s the big deal? Motorcycles aren’t definitive health hazards. You need to get a grip.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Really? Have YOU ever been on one?”

  “Of course I have. I’m not a scaredy-cat like you. I’ve lived outside the bubble.”

  Ouch. That was harsh - even for her. She hasn’t been this bitchy in a long time. (Yes, I know I just said she could be very bitchy, but this was bad even for her.) I wonder if something had happened between her and Devon. Now is definitely not the time to ask though. Maya wouldn’t want Pip to know her business. Or more likely, she wouldn’t want him to know she had any problems. She preferred to keep her image perfectly intact.

  Nigel regarded her appraisingly. “How was it?”

  Maya smiled wickedly. “Amazing!”

  Nigel seemed wistful. “I have always wanted to ride one. Just never have the opportunity.” And now that he had married Grace, he never would. She would NEVER allow such a blatant risk to his safety.

  Nigel’s excitement got me thinking. Was I a total wuss? He was desperate to get on a motorcycle while I was completely petrified. Was I missing something? Or was I simply not part of the “eager to die” club?

  Nigel shoved me playfully by the shoulder. “Come on, Syd! You should give it a go!” He kept nodding his head at me with encouragement.

  Maya simply shook her head at me. “She’d never do it in a million years. Even though it would be the most exhilarating experience of her life.”

  Hearing the two of them telling me not to be such a chicken gave me pause. It’s unquestionably true that Sydney Bennett would never get on the back of a motorcycle. But maybe, just maybe, Sydney Durand would. Hmmm…

  We had a very successful shopping trip that afternoon, which, to our great delight, ended up including Grace. Pip ended up holding all of our bags while we hit fitting rooms in stores from one end of the Stanford Shopping Center to the other. Most men would have been pretty annoyed, but he was happy as a clam since Grace had had the wherewithal to bring him a selection of pastries from his favorite French bakery.

  At least now I had a selection of beautiful clothes to bring with me to meet my new family. Maya, Grace and I put together several different options to fit any occasion. We also chose shoes, accessories, makeup and perfume. Maya even insisted on some new lingerie. Personally, I think she merely wanted to mess with me one more time before I left for my trip. Making fun of me is her favorite pastime and since I would be leaving a full week before she was, she would be experiencing some serious withdrawal. (Her renewed presence in my life clearly indicated her need to mock me outweighed her exclusive need for Devon.)

  Three days into Louis’ new job found me very unhappy. You would think after months of wishing for this very thing, I would be on cloud nine, right? We didn’t have to worry about money anymore! Louis had enough activity to keep his overpowered brain engaged! He was finally earning the majority of the money for our household. He was finally happy!

  So, why wasn’t I happy? For starters, I NEVER saw my husband. One of the only pieces of evidence I had of his existence was the Louis-shaped imprint I found in the bed when I woke up in the morning. He left for work before the crack of dawn and didn’t arrive home until long after I went to bed. To add insult to injury, he somehow wasn’t able to find time to speak to me during the day. The only communication I had from him were the texts I demanded announcing his safe arrival at the office. This was certainly not what I had been expecting with the advent of Louis’ new job.

  What HAD I been expecting? I had been expecting the return of my happy husband. I had been expecting the return of my sex life. I had been expecting plenty of blissful alone time with my husband once he returned home from the office. And yes, if you must know, I was expecting a little pre-France coddling. (I was still scared shitless!) All these things would require the actual presence of my husband.

  Upon waking for the third morning in the row sans Louis, I snapped. I sent him a text which read, “Do you still exist?” No emoticon included. I wanted it to be very clear I was in no way joking. Sydney Durand was done. New job or not, he WOULD find five minutes to talk to me.

  Following a less than satisfying shower in which I washed my hair far too vigorously, I checked my cell phone. Still no message from Louis. I was seething with anger. Was he really so focused on his new job, he hadn’t noticed no words had been exchanged OUT LOUD between us since very early Monday morning? Had he forgotten about me completely? Didn’t he miss me? Didn’t he realize we were seven days away from the impending doom of our trip to France?

  Over the next hour, I changed my clothes three times, slammed every cabinet in our kitchen and threw four pairs of shoes across the room. Not the most mature of responses, but I wasn’t in a mature mood. I was tired of being overlooked by my husband and in light of everything I had ahead of me, I fully expected him to show me the courtesy of a five minute phone conversation.

  I also have yet to tell you that his mother has been leaving more than twenty messages a day as he is evidently avoiding her calls as well. This has done nothing to reduce my stress level. Every night I come home and listen to the messages, hoping they’re from my husband and all I hear is HER voice. I then listen to her messages obsessively, trying to discern what evil she has plotted for me in her home territory. No, I’m absolutely not paranoid. She mentions my name a lot in her messages, and my name is always followed by laughter. It sounds very much like derisive laughter…

  Just as I was about to admit defeat and leave for work, the phone rang with a San Francisco area code. Could it be Louis? He still hadn’t given me his work number, so I would have to assume it was.

  Here goes nothing. “Hello?”

  “Good morning, mon coeur.”

  “So you do exist.” Yes, that was passive-aggressive. It was the kind of mood I was in. Go ahead and bite me.

  He chuckled. “Yes, indeed, I do.”

  I was so angry I decided it was better not to say anything than to say something bitchy.

  “Syd? Are you still there?” He sounded exasperated. Quick turnaround, Bluey!

  “Yes, I’m still here.” I paused. “How’s your new job?”

  “Good. Busy.” He cleared his throat. “I have to run to a meeting. I’m sorry…”

  Sure you are. I sighed. “Fine. Have a good day.”

  “What is the matter?” He had a definite edge to his voice.

  Really? You’re going to be pissed at me? After forgetting for THREE DAYS that you have a wife?

  “I haven’t seen or spoken to you in three days.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I was trying very hard to stay calm.

  “Sydney…” He exhaled loudly. “I am really busy. We are leaving for France in less than a week and I have so much to do. I don’t have time for this.”

  Wow. After everything we’ve been through over the past few months. After my extremely stressful concession of moving up the French wedding. And after the magnanimous amount of insanity I agreed to let his mother put me through in front of hundreds of people…he acts like I’m simply an annoyance he needs to extract.

  I felt the pain hit me almost i
mmediately. The last thing I wanted to do was cry on the phone with him during his first week at work, so I did my best to swallow it for just long enough to say good-bye and hang up.

  I cleared my throat. Shit! The lump was still stuck there and my eyes were starting to water. How am I going to be able to speak to him without indicating the tears have come? I felt so humiliated.

  “I’m sorry, Louis. I didn’t mean to bother you at work. I have to get going.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Good-bye, Syd. I’ll speak with you later.” Not likely.

  As I hung up the phone, my thoughts turned unexpectedly to poor Bastiaan, who would now need to replace Louis with another instructor in his Thai boxing studio. Certain Louis had been so excited about his new job he had forgotten to call Bastiaan, I made a mental note to call him later in the day. I was in no shape to talk to anyone right now. Suddenly, I found myself in the depths of despair. I was pretty pissed off since I thought I had finally escaped that hellhole.

  I kept telling myself I was overreacting; it was only pre-French wedding anxiety seeping through my system. I had to believe Louis needed time to adjust to his new job and he would be back to his old self soon enough.

  That was believable, right? I wasn’t deluding myself, was I?

  Damn it! How the hell did we get back on the freakin’ roller coaster? I know my dad said life would be too boring if you got off it, but so help me I wanted to! I was tired of the highs and lows, the peaks and valleys, blah, blah, blah! Because frankly, I had experienced predominantly valleys lately. I longed for stability. Like the merry-go-round. Now there’s a great ride! There are no huge drops and no uncertain turns, just a smooth journey along a preordained path. Plus, there were twinkling lights, beautiful mirrors, intricately carved designs and pretty animals to ride on.

  My mind instantly flashed back to the movie Parenthood. (Yes, it is one of my favorite movies. It is a veritable gold mine of insightful quotations.) The grandmother would definitely not approve of my preference for the merry-go-round. She was all about the thrill of the gigantic roller coaster. Well, screw that! No matter how much you sugar coat it, Grandma, the roller coaster will only end up causing you heartache. You have no idea what you’re talking about, you crazy old bat!

  OK, Sydney. You’re really losing it this time. You have sunk to a new low, even for you, in ranting to fictional movie characters.

  Take a breath. Everything will work out. No, no, no. Don’t doubt your inner monologue. Everything will be fine. Say it with me. Everything will be fine. Louis will come back to you and you will live happily ever after. This is what you have been working towards for the past year. You will not lose sight of it now.

  I took another deep breath and hoped with all of my heart I wasn’t lying to myself. We were leaving for France in six days and I had never felt less connected to Louis…

  Chapter Sixteen

  Friday night rolled around and you guessed it! Louis was still at work. He eventually called me at ten o’clock to tell me it would be another late night. I was so miserable, I almost didn’t answer the phone. Our conversation lasted less than thirty seconds and ended without an “I love you” before he hung up. There hadn’t been a declaration of love from Louis since he started this new job. I guess there simply wasn’t time for love anymore.

  When I awoke Saturday morning to find the bed empty again, I nearly screamed with rage. I got up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, slamming the door soundly to express my extreme irritation. To myself. Yes, I know, I needed to get a life. I almost jumped out of my skin when Louis opened the door to investigate the reason for the loud noise.

  “Are you ok, Syd?” He appeared to be coming out of some kind of trance. I guess computer programming languages were kind of trippy. I must admit, looking at the code in his textbooks for even a few minutes made me quite dizzy.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were here.” I turned on the shower and began brushing my teeth. (OK, environmentalists, pipe down. It took a good five minutes for the water to get hot. I had plenty of time to brush my teeth.)

  Louis took a quick glance around the bathroom and left. I can only guess he was heading back to the hole he had crawled out of.

  A hot shower helped to raise my spirits a little, but I had no idea what to expect once I left the safety of the bedroom. Was Louis still going to be upset with me for my phone call on Thursday? Did he even remember our call on Thursday? I had no idea how much sleep he had been getting since all his nighttime rest had taken place when I was asleep.

  After giving myself a quick pep talk, I ventured out to the living room. I found Louis in his office nook, tapping away on his laptop. He appeared to be in serious concentration mode, so I passed by him and began to make myself a cup of tea.

  I decided breakfast together might be a good way to bridge the cavernous gap to my husband. I began to take out the ingredients for his favorite omelet, hoping food would put him in a friendlier mood.

  “How about a western omelet, Bluey?” I did my best impression of a smile.

  Silence. Does this mean he’s mad at me or he’s not paying attention? Let’s give this another try.

  I raised my voice a little. “Bluey?”

  It took a minute, but I did get a response this time. “Hmmm?” He didn’t look my way, but at least he spoke. Progress.

  “Would you like an omelet?” I tried smiling again. I was giving it my best effort. I knew he was exhausted and stressed. Didn’t change the fact that I was pissed at him, but I was trying to be the bigger person.

  He shook his head. “Not hungry.”

  OK! Not hungry. I decided to try another tactic. I walked over to him and put my arms around his neck, resting my chin on his shoulder.

  He sighed. “What is it, Syd? I have a ton of work to do.”

  I quickly retracted my arms. “Sorry.”

  He stopped for a moment and looked at me. “I have to work all weekend to help finish a big project before we leave for France.”

  I nodded and did my best to blink back the tears threatening to come out.

  He turned his focus back to his computer with a vengeance. “I’m going to have to bring my laptop with me on our trip. Please do not give me a lecture about work-life balance. Someone has to pay our bills.”

  I had cringed inwardly when he mentioned taking his laptop on our trip, but the comment about paying our bills was like a sucker punch to the gut. How long had I had this responsibility? Then I remembered saying the same thing to Louis during a period of extreme stress, so I decided not to say anything. Unfortunately, this enlightening revelation did nothing to change the hollow feeling in my stomach.

  Once I was sure the lecture was over, I searched for an easy exit. I grabbed my tea and fled to the bedroom before tears started spilling down my face. We were leaving for France in four days. FOUR DAYS! And now he has basically told me he has to abandon me, in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language; where people are lying in wait to judge me AND to dissect all my faults (and that could take a while).

  As if I weren’t going through enough crap already, Louis informed me yesterday of his mother’s plan to host a bridal shower for me involving ballroom dancing. This was Simone’s true passion and she attended dances once a week to hone her skills. Unfortunately for her, her new daughter-in-law was born without any sense of coordination. No amount of lessons had been able to cure me. Sadly, it was a trait which ran in my family, so my mother and Kate weren’t going to be able to do anything to save the already damaged opinion of American women in the Durand circle. Our only hope was Zoe; however, based on what I’ve seen so far in my life, she wouldn’t evince better than average skill. Though it is possible she could become sufficiently drunk to cultivate a new talent. Crap! How was I going to get through all this?

  I put my tea on the nightstand and cried quietly. I certainly didn’t want to attract any attention to myself. I didn’t need to further darken Louis’ mood. With t
ears pouring down my face, I considered my options. I could stay here and hope he would eventually mellow out or I could get out and try to distract myself from both his black temper and my impending tribunal. I wholeheartedly went for option two.

  After washing my face, I applied some makeup and put a change of clothes and a toothbrush in my biggest purse. I had no idea how long it would take for me to feel better (and actually want to set foot back in my apartment), so I decided to be prepared to stay at Kate’s tonight. It’s not like Louis would miss me. No doubt he would be able to take out all of the resentment lurking inside him on his mother, if he chose to accept her phone calls. He had twenty-something opportunities ahead of him today!

  I cleaned up the mess I had left in the kitchen as fast as I could and then told Louis I was going to visit Kate. He gave me a small grunt and returned his full focus to his work.

  As I was about to start the car, my cell phone rang. Did Louis realize what an asshole he had been? Was he calling to beg me to come back to the apartment? Was he going to tell me everything was going to be alright?

  No such luck. It was Maya. Wait. What was she doing up before noon on a Saturday?

  I picked up the call. “What are you doing up before noon on a Saturday?”

  “Devon had an early squash game. I couldn’t go back to sleep.” She yawned loudly. It was probably a long night of passion. I really hated her right now.

  “What can I do for you?” Though I wasn’t sure I could do anything for anybody right now but cry.

  She laughed. “No, the question is, what can I do for you?”

  Uh oh. This type of comment from Maya usually meant she had some sort of asinine idea resulting in more ludicrous Sydney pictures for her collection.

  I sighed. “Really? What did you have in mind?” At this point, what did I have to lose?

  “You, my friend, are desperately in need of a good time. And I, given the great person I am, plan to provide such an evening for you.”