The Man of Their Lives Read online

  Grégoire had long dreamt that Louis would meet another woman and be happy; everyone in the family knew that.

  “And what does that someone look like?” said Alix with a tone filled with sarcasm. “A local?”

  “She lives around here, yes.”

  “Great.”

  “What? It’s not like she’s a country bumpkin. She’s a French teacher.”

  “A teacher! God! I’m sure she’s going to be fascinating, talking about her days in the classroom and grading papers.”

  Tom gave Alix with a look of reproach. Once again, she was going to give her brother a hard time. It was the same story every time. As soon as a woman got near Louis, the claws came out and she was despicable.

  “Well,” Tom said, “I can’t wait to meet her.” And he headed for the living room, leaving the two sisters alone.

  “Don’t be unpleasant to her,” Laura warned. “You’ll see, Louis is all giddy. It’s so nice to see…”

  “Yeah, well… Louis is so fragile that anyone could get her hooks into him. He’s the perfect prey!”

  “I don’t agree. Let him be, will you?”

  Alix’s response was to roll her eyes.

  “Mark my words, when some woman lassoes Louis, she’s going to have only one goal in mind, and that’ll be to get rid of his family. That’s because we’re a handful, you have to admit.”

  “You crazy or what? Marianne wasn’t like that…”

  “That tight-ass…”

  “Alix!”

  “What? Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean we have to turn her into some sort of saint.”

  “You are so incredibly unfair…”

  “No, I’m a realist, that’s all. I adore my brother, and I don’t want him to be the victim of some kind of opportunist. Especially since he’s so fragile. I know him better than anyone. You can’t possibly understand.”

  Laura concentrated on the onion she was sauteing in the pan for an instant before turning to her sister.

  “I understand a whole lot more than you think. And I can tell that you that you should cut Louis some slack—for his own good.”

  She’d chosen her words carefully, avoiding the psychologist’s jargon that Alix couldn’t stand. This was about her twin and her possessive identification tethered her to him. Eleven years ago, when Alix had launched her agency, she’d announced in a triumphant manner that Louis had agreed to sign an exclusive contract with her. The word exclusive made Laura laugh.

  “Okay,” Alix said. “I’m going to the living room. Anything you’d like me to take in there?”

  “Yes. The stuffed mushrooms in the oven. Please…”

  The kitchen was filled with wonderful aromas. Lunch, no doubt, would be a success, at least food-wise. Alix grabbed the plate and headed for the living room. There, she was greeted by a joyful uproar.

  “There you are!” Louis shouted, without getting up from the couch.

  Beside him was a youngish woman. Alix stared at her coldly. She handed Tom the plate of mushrooms and walked over to her brother and tousled his hair.

  Louis recoiled and said, “Let me introduce you to Francine.”

  “I’m delighted to meet you,” Alix said. “They gave you something to drink, I hope? Here, let me sit here with you, thanks. Can someone get me a martini?”

  Cool as ice, she’d managed to slither between Francine and Louis, noticing with secret glee the strained smile on the blonde woman. Grégoire came over with a drink in which he’d intentionally put too many ice cubes.

  “Dad…” she said, “what’s with this?” Then, turning to Louis’s woman, she said, “So, Francine… I can call you Francine, right? I’m Alix. Not too overwhelmed?”

  The question was enough for Francine not to come up with an answer.

  “We Neuville’s are very noisy, rowdy even. But I’m sure you won’t let it throw you. It must be worse in your classrooms, right?”

  “Actually,” Francine said, softly, “I manage to keep my classes pretty quiet, in general…”

  Francine picked up Alix’s attitude right away. She was on the defensive. Louis had insisted that his sister come for lunch, but he’d also warned Francine that she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Without saying anything to Louis, she was so pleased that he’d invited her today she was ready to put up with anything. She never would’ve imagined that things would be so simple with him. He was amazingly nice to her. She was blown away by it at times.

  “You teach French, Greek, and Latin?” Alix asked.

  “French only. Composition and literature.”

  Louis put the plate of stuffed mushrooms right in front of his sister’s nose. “Have one,” he said, “they’re going to get cold.”

  Behind Alix’s head, he looked at Francine and made a face that said, “Sorry…”

  “Hey, everybody!” shouted Frédéric as he walked into the living room.

  Politely, he came over to shake Francine’s hand, showing no surprise. The short blunt note that his dad had left on his bedside table had warned him about what was going to happen. Frédéric thought that this whole thing was actually amusing. Not as much as at the very beginning, when he’d tried to hook up his dad and his teacher, but still amusing.

  “Alright everyone,” Laura shouted from the dining room, “lunch!”

  “You just got up?” Louis whispered to his son.

  “There was a horror movie marathon on TV last night. Awesome! The music in those movies makes the hair on your neck stand up even when nothing is happening on the screen. How come you don’t do that kind of stuff?”

  “I’m really, really not interested okay?” Louis said, looking disgusted. “And don’t you say a word about this to your Aunt Alix, please!”

  They all wound up in the living room.

  “Come sit here,” Louis said to Francine while holding her hand.

  His dad’s loving gesture bothered Frédéric for some reason. He was going to have a hard time, seeing Ms. Capelan this way. What would be her attitude with him in class or during their tutoring sessions? Discreetly he looked at her and saw that she’d dressed casually, very different from her usual style. Her white T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers made her look younger. And attractive. His father certainly seemed to think so. Frédéric wondered if it had been such a great idea to try set them up. He’d done it as joke more than anything else, to ridicule his teacher. He never imagined that they would fall into each other’s arms so quickly.

  Laura’s crawfish soufflé was so amazing that the conversation around the table came to a stop for a while. Then Alix found something to say. Authoritative and talkative as usual, she proceeded to bombard Francine with questions. Louis was careful not to intervene. He wasn’t worried about Francine and he was much more interested in the answers than Alix was.

  “Oh yeah?” Alix exclaimed. “You have a sixteen-year-old son? What does he do?”

  “He’s in high school, just like Frédéric.”

  “And he’s a student of yours?”

  “No, I didn’t think it was a good idea and the principal made sure not to put him in any of my classes. Besides, I prefer teaching French and literature classes. Romain is more into the sciences. He’s very good in math.”

  Across the table, Frédéric suddenly paid attention to what Francine was saying. He knew at least four boys whose name was Romain, but still…

  “Does he happen to play the guitar?” Frédéric asked in a neutral tone.

  “Yes. He’s crazy about it!”

  “And he rides a moped and he’s got blond hair down to here? I think I know who he is…”

  The coincidence blew his mind. He’d never made the connection between that asshole and Ms. Capelan.

  “Bring the boy along next time,” Louis told Francine. “I’d love to meet him. We’ll be able to talk music. Young musicians are very innovative when they’re passionate, and I would be interested to hear what he has to say.”

  Louis only meant to be nice
, but Frédéric was fuming. If his father wanted to speak to a teenager about anything, he should turn to him! Of course, he couldn’t pretend to be brilliant behind a keyboard, especially after he’d told off his music teacher, but he wasn’t that bad a musician. No way was that Romain ever going to set foot in Neuville House.

  Upset, he turned towards Laura, who was scrutinizing him, perplexed.

  “What’s the problem?” she whispered.

  He shook his head and didn’t respond, unable to explain. He’d have to talk to his father about it during the week. He’d tell him about that time with Élise and the pinball machine. He’d kept that incident to himself, knowing that his old man would’ve given him a speech about behavior and all that. Louis hated everything that had to do with aggressiveness, especially physical violence. If you need to let off steam, he’d say, that’s why sports was invented. On the other hand, if a fight was inevitable, then you had to do what you had to do to win. Frédéric was always fascinated that his father he had nothing in common with the conventional idea of the mild-mannered pianist, the ethereal composer. After Five minutes of fencing anyone would come to that conclusion.

  “Really?” Alix said with an amused look. “You guys are skipping out on your usual afternoon hike?”

  “It’s raining,” Tom said.

  “Why don’t we head for the living room? I’ll get the fireplace going.”

  Everyone got up from their chairs. Francine followed Laura’s daughters to the kitchen with the empty plates.

  “She’s great!” Hugues said to Louis with a wink.

  “And good-looking!” added Grégoire. “You two kids make a nice couple.”

  “Dad…”

  “No, I mean it! But don’t listen to any of what’s coming out of Alix’s mouth. The girl has got a wicked tongue sometimes.”

  Grégoire knew the twins inside out, just like he did Laura. He flashed a smile at Tom, who’d listened to his comments without a word. Grégoire thought he’d love to have Tom for a son-in-law, but Alix wasn’t one to get married to anyone she couldn’t boss around.

  “Alright, then,” Grégoire said, “the fireplace…”

  That was his thing, lighting the fireplace. Louis made sure there were always a bunch of logs and kindling handy. He followed his father into the living room with his nieces, who were coming in with trays covered with coffee mugs.

  “Whoa,” he said. “Be careful there…Would you kids like to watch a movie on TV? Frédéric rented a couple of DVDs yesterday. Is it okay, Hugues?”

  He took Sabine and Tiphaine’s hands, and showed them to the TV room, down the hallway. The girls were thrilled by the large screen and settled on the couch. Louis put the DVD in the player and handed the remote to Sabine, the eldest.

  “You guys are good, right?” he asked them. The girls’ eyes were already fixed on the television.

  When he returned to the living room, Francine was sitting by Tom. They were chatting. Louis stopped and watched her for a few seconds. Had he rushed things by introducing her to the family? He’d known her for only a short amount of time, and he had no idea how things were going to progress. They’d had a great time together Friday night, and when he woke up at her side in the morning, he was happy to find her there. And he was dying to make love to her again. Still, there was more to a relationship than desire. He’d asked her to meet his family--that must mean something. He was very happy to see her here, right now, in conversation with Tom. He bet she’d smile when their eyes met.

  “Let’s go to the music room for a minute,” Alix said, clutching his arm. “I want you to play the latest version of the score for that miniseries. I hear it’s amazing, but I still haven’t received the tape. Jocelyne is certainly thrilled, even though she was scared that you were going to quit on her after that meeting. She was calling me three times a day and I had to swear that you’d never failed to fulfill your contractual obligations before…”

  “It came that close, let me tell you. And please don’t make promises that I can’t necessarily keep, okay?” Louis jerked his arm free.

  “Come on, let’s go,” she insisted. “Your girlfriend can wait. Tom is taking care of her.”

  “Absolutely not,” said Tom from the other end of the room. “We’re going with you. We want to hear the recital. Nothing’s better than the piano on a rainy Sunday!”

  Tom was exasperated that Alix had spoken too loudly—not caring whether or not Francine could hear her. Tom had made the suggestion to get back at his girlfriend, knowing full well she wouldn’t like it. He ignored the look of anger that Alix shot his way and got to his feet.

  “Have you ever heard Louis play?” he asked Francine.

  Louis seemed dazed, as though someone had thrown a bucket of cold water right on him. If there was one thing he detested, ever since he was a child, it was to be asked to sit at the piano to entertain guests. Francine picked up on that and immediately came to his rescue.

  “It’s getting late,” she said, “and my son is home alone. But I’d love to hear you play some other time.”

  Louis’s air of gratitude and complicity infuriated Alix.

  “What are you talking about?” Grégoire said, “It’s not late! It’s that rain, it makes it look like it’s dark out. And why don’t you stay for supper? There’s tons of food. You could tell your son to come join us?”

  Grégoire’s hospitality was legendary. No matter where he was, he loved being surrounded by people, the more the merrier.

  Not sure what to say, Francine turned to Louis, who gave a nod.

  “You want to call Romain?” he asked. “There’s a phone in the study over there.”

  Louis took Francine by the arm and they made their way to the study.

  “You must find them overbearing,” he said. “If you don’t feel like staying or if your son has something better to do, don’t feel like you have to…”

  The study, a dark but welcoming room, was crammed with books. As Louis hit the light switch he felt a hand resting on his shoulder.

  “Louis…Would you rather I left? Your father is adorable, but maybe you guys would prefer spending the evening alone? And maybe Frédéric doesn’t…”

  Louis gave her a kiss to make her stop.

  “Call your son,” he said, “and then come join us in the music room. If Romain is up for it, it’ll make me happy.”

  Before she could say anything, Louis stepped out of the study and closed the door. Francine stood there for a while, not moving. She then walked over to a bookshelf and read the titles of some of the books. Outside, the rain was still coming down, hard. The sky was dark. She went over to the small desk, picked up the phone and told her son about the Neuville invitation. Romain sounded surprised but agreed to come over. Of course, she hadn’t told her son everything about this new relationship. As a matter of fact, she’d kept a pretty tight lid on the details. Romain wasn’t blind and no doubt he had figured out that his mother had met someone and he was mature enough to accept it. At least she hoped!

  Instead of leaving the room, she sat in the comfortable armchair. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts. She simply couldn’t believe what was happening to her. Everything was going so fast, at times she felt disoriented. Without having to truly work at it, she’d gotten closer to Louis than she’d ever dare to dream. She still wondered what she’d done to deserve such a thing. For her, he represented some sort of inaccessible ideal, suddenly made available to her. A pipe dream come true! But how? By what incredible luck that had he chosen her and not another woman? And for what reason was he alone in the first place? Forty years old, incredibly attractive, amazingly talented, rich and famous—why weren’t hordes of women swarming around him? Maybe they did and he took advantage of the situation, only he was discreet about it and he liked to remain single, and she was just one of his many mistresses. Still, she was ready to take a chance and was determined to make this into a real, long-lasting relationship. This would be no easy task, she was certain. T
here were going to be hurdles along the way. But she was resolved to deal with whatever difficulty would present itself. Apart from a few boring dates, her only romantic experience had been with her ex-husband. Poor Antoine! It would be so unfair to compare him to Louis!

  Suddenly antsy, she got up and left the study. The music room was only a couple of doors down, and yet she couldn’t hear anything. Then she remembered that the room was soundproof and when, after a second of hesitation, she opened the door, Tom and Hugues were singing—atrociously—Somewhere Over the Rainbow, with Louis at the piano bent over laughing. As for Alix, she was trying to bring things to order.

  “You guys are horrible!” she said.

  “Birds fly over the rainbow,” the duo sang, “why then, oh why can’t I?“

  “Enough, already!” Alix shouted.

  “Okay, then,” Grégoire said. “Louis, play a waltz. I want to dance with Ms. Capelan.”

  Putting his arm around Francine’s waist, he directed her to the center of the room. She was in no position to refuse and followed him. Laura and Hugues also were in the mood for old-fashioned dancing.

  “Slow down,” Grégoire told Louis. “Don’t feel like you have to keep the original tempo, sonny boy. Think of my arthritis.”

  Instead of slowing down, Louis grinned and turned the Strauss waltz into an energetic tango.

  Grégoire spun Francine around and said, “So, are you having supper with us?” He continued leading her.

  But soon he was out of breath and had to let go of Francine, with an air of regret.

  “Okay,” Alix said, “if recess is over now, maybe we could get to work for five minutes?”

  She’d remained standing behind Louis, mostly sulking.

  “I never work on Sundays,” Louis said, effortlessly producing beautiful notes.

  “What’s that?” Alix asked, suddenly attentive.

  “That’s Mozart,” Louis replied. “Dream on, sis.”

  He leaned all the way back toward her to taunt her, still playing the gorgeous melody.

  “You really know nothing about classical music, do you? Listen to this. Ring a bell?”