Honeymoon in Paris Read Online Free Page A

see that movie with Fiona—when all along I had no idea that Brigitte, my husband’s ex-wife, was the leading actress.
    And what was with Luc’s connection to the Bouchers? There was definitely something fishy going on there: something he didn’t want me to know.
    I made my way to a bench situated underneath a fan of golden leaves that were shimmering in the early afternoon sunlight. I closed my eyes and inhaled the delicious scents of chocolate and hazelnut from the crêpe stand nearby.
    I pulled out my phone to text Lexi. She’d spent the past few months in New York City getting her life on track after a rough hospital visit, and she’d just moved back to Paris with her boyfriend, Dylan. Lexi and I had certainly have had our share of hiccups as far as friendships go, but now we were closer than ever. Her blunt sense of humor could be really useful at a time like this.
    I texted:
I could totally use a Nutella crêpe right about now. And a tall glass of wine. U around?
    As I waited for her reply, I comforted myself with the thought that at least we were leaving Paris tomorrow. Luc would get this ex-wife situation under control, and we would go back to living out the rest of our twenty-nine-day honeymoon bliss in peace. There was no way I was going to let this girl ruin the wonderful life Luc and I had just begun to create together.
    My phone buzzed. It was Lexi.
Girlfriend, u have no idea how much I need Nutella and wine right now. But u should be having steamy sex on last day of ur honeymoon. What’s up?
    Just as I was texting her back, Luc’s lips landed on my forehead.
    “I’m so sorry about that,
chérie.
”
    The sincerity in Luc’s eyes softened my response. “It’s okay, Luc. She’s Adeline’s mother, so I know you can’t just ignore her.”
    “Thank you for understanding.” Luc held my hand, his eyes darting to the leaves on the ground which were now swirling with a gust of chilly wind that had swept through the Paris park.
    “So what did she want?”
    “She apologized for what she said to both of us earlier. And while Brigitte’s apologies don’t mean much to me anymore, she did sound rather sincere… well, as sincere as
she
can be.”
    “Remember, she’s an actress. A good one, as you pointed out.”
    “I know this. I am not fooled. It is just that since she is back in France now and wanting to have visitation rights, we are going to have to deal with her more often.”
    “But didn’t you tell me that Brigitte was doing drugs while she was living in Australia, and that’s how you were able to get full custody of Adeline? How on earth does she expect to secure visitation rights if she’s using?”
    “She says she’s clean now. Apparently she spent the last month in rehab.”
    “Of course she did.”
Was it a prerequisite these days for all actors to go to rehab?
    “Regardless of whether or not she’s telling the truth, as soon as she starts working with Vincent’s lawyer, things could get ugly. I don’t want to put you through that, or Adeline.”
    “So… what are you proposing we do?”
Can we deport her back to Australia?
    “Brigitte asked if we would join her and Vincent for a drink tonight at the hotel bar, and even though that is the absolute
last
thing I want to ask you to do tonight, it will only be for one hour, and it will give me a chance to see if she is telling the truth about cleaning up her life. And more importantly, it could help us avoid one more long and unnecessary legal battle.”
    “So you agreed to the drink?”
    Luc nodded. “Like I said, it won’t take long. Then you and I will have our romantic evening in the city. I have something very special planned for our last night.”
    I masked the spurt of rage and disappointment that boiled up inside my chest at the thought of spending even one hour with Luc’s drop-dead gorgeous ex-wife and instead squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. Whatever we need to do to protect Adeline.”
    Luc raised my hand to his