Paris Summer Read Online Free

when you smile like that. You don’t look at all like a
math teacher.”
    For a moment Janine was startled, then she realized
Alan must have briefed Sandy. “What do math
teachers look like?” she demanded.

    “Prim and proper,” he teased, “and totally unapproachable.”
    “You hardly make us sound human!” protested
Janine.
    “One of them, at least, is quite human. Of that I’m
sure!” he said, regarding her seriously.
    Janine was flustered and felt her pulse racing. You
must be really out of practice, she told herself sternly,
to react like this. You’ve just met him and he is just
being pleasant.
    Janine was saved from having to answer by the
arrival of the elevator. Rena and Alan suddenly seemed
to remember the other two and they spent the next few
minutes chattering eagerly about the tower. Alan
began to spout off facts.”.. .built in 1889, and can you
imagine? Lots of people opposed it because they said it
was ugly. Ugly! But…”
    At the top, looking out over Paris, Janine saw that
the city was larger than she had realized. She felt a kind
of wild exhilaration tempered by a sudden shyness.
Sandy, she knew, was watching her carefully, and
Janine tried to guess his thoughts. Did he think she
seemed very young? Unfeminine? No, more by instinct
than experience, she realized Sandy saw her as a
woman and would have been surprised to learn she
doubted her attractiveness. Janine suddenly realized he
even considered her more attractive than Rena.
    “What are you thinking?” Sandy asked.
    Incurably forthright, Janine responded immediately, “Just thinking that for the first time in my life I’m
not jealous of Rena.”
    “Why should you envy Rena?” Sandy demanded.
    “Because I’m the pretty one!” Rena broke in.
    It was Sandy’s turn to be startled. He looked at Rena carefully, searching for signs of malice. There were
none, of course. Rena was just saying what the two
sisters believed to be the truth. Sandy stood there
thoughtfully, not answering.

    “C’mon,” Rena said to her sister. “Alan and I agree
that the next place to visit is the ChampsElysees. We
can have a snack at Le Drugstore.”
    “Can you see the ChampsElysees from here?”
Sandy asked.
    “Sure. Over there,” Alan said, pointing.
    Dutifully, Janine stretched with the others to look.
Somehow the mood was broken. It’s too soon, her
emotions protested, to become attached to any man. I
need time to get over Phil. I don’t want to be hurt again.
    Suddenly she was calm, aware there was no need to
panic. Sandy was clearly just trying to be friendly.
What she had taken for attraction to her was just a light
flirtation natural to a man like Sandy. Relieved, Janine
joined Rena in commenting on the view.
    Janine was even calm enough that when, in the
elevator going down, Sandy put his arm around her
laughingly, she didn’t draw away. “Hey!” Alan
exclaimed, seeing the gesture, “me too!”
    “What about me?” Rena demanded.
    Both men obligingly put their free arms around
Rena and the four of them stood laughing.
    Their spirits were irrepressible as they walked, arm
in arm, four abreast, up the Avenue lena toward 1’Arc
de Triomphe de l’Etoile. It was, however, a section of
town well accustomed to tourists and few people
bothered to stare. To Janine, her first view of the
ChampsElysees was disappointing. “It’s so…so
commercial!” she complained.
    Alan nodded. “Only here, though. Farther down it becomes a tree-lined avenue. Near the Jardin des
Tuileries especially.”

    “There,” Rena broke in, pointing. “Le Drugstore.
My feet are hurting and I want a hamburger!”
    Without waiting to see if the others would follow,
Rena started forward at a brisk pace. A man on each
arm, Janine followed more leisurely. Le Drugstore
was, as usual, very crowded. The four squeezed around
a small table. It was clear from the menu that Le
Drugstore did indeed pride itself on being