The Best Kept Secret In Normandy Read Online Free Page A

turn into a real prince."
    I planted a kiss on the top of his head. He stared with green eyes, then winked. "I get it," I said. "Fairy tale's over. That's all right." I pulled a piece of cat hair stuck on my lower lips and brought Prince inside to show him around his new home.
    * * *
    In the weeks that followed, I took money from my savings and joined a gym. I starting walking on the treadmill, then running for five minutes, then ten, and in a couple months I was up to thirty minutes of jogging. I signed up for sessions with a personal trainer, and borrowed nutrition books from the library.
    I checked the social networks and directories, trying to find Louis in Oklahoma. I searched and searched to no avail. Perhaps he was only a figment of my imagination, only as real as the princess I was for one fleeting night. Perhaps he wasn't real either. Maybe he was the prince that I failed to see the true beauty within. Maybe that's how the spell was broken.
    I reminded myself daily that even though I was fat, I had a great sense of humor and my job as a nurse made a difference in people's lives. Outside of my workplace at the hospital, I stopped thinking about the perception of strangers, and started thinking about the type of woman I wanted to be. Confident and healthy.
    I saw my endocrinologist, who did some blood tests and determined I was taking too small of a dose for my hormone problem. He tsk tsked me, lecturing for me to see him once every three months, which I had neglected to do because of my high stress job as a emergency room nurse.
    *   * *
    Over the course of that year, I saw my chin beginning to emerge, and my cheekbones. When I received the invitation for Tammy and Francois' Christmas wedding in Paris, I had already dropped forty pounds.
    Tammy called shortly after I sent the response card. " You rsvp'ed for one. Just you?"
    "Me and the imaginary kindergartner I've lost in weight." I twirled a coiling phone cord around my finger. "Hey. Does Francois happen to have a friend named Louis?" Prince climbed on my lap and purred as I googled the location for the wedding in France on my laptop.
    "What d oes he look like?" Tammy said.
    "Tall and broad, tan, brown hair, blue eyes. Adorable smile."
    "Hold on, love. I'll ask him." I heard the Francois' soft voice in the background responding to Tammy's question. "There are six hundred guests at the wedding with at least a dozen named Louis. I'll ask Francois' secretary to call every Louis on the guest list. Wait a minute. Should I have her ask him about... the girl at the ball?"
    I salted a handful of baby carrots. "Bad idea," I said, shaking my head.
    After I hung up I bit down thoughtfully and chewed, my mouth curling downward. Prince nudged my elbow, then my wrist, until my knuckles grazed the laptop screen, directly on the green shaded area that marked the Bois de Boulogne.
    "Kitty cat paradise." I stroked his fur. "I wish you could go. I could use a date." Prince purred. I sighed and shut down the computer.
    * * *
    The week before my flight was to leave, I gazed at my body in the mirror. I wrapped a blanket around my lower hips and found I resembled the figure of Venus De Milo, with arms, of course. I watched my new, muscular and womanly physique as I bent my body from side to side. The princess at the ball I was not, but what I saw pleased me enough.
    The day I flew into France I went for a jog in the Bois de Boulogne, and took a seat on a bench, letting the unseasonable sunshine warm my face. A cat entwined its furry body into my ankles. "I've become a cat magnet," I murmured. "This could be a very bad sign of my future as a spinster. The cat's tail straightened as it stared at me. "Bye kitty kitty. Wish you could meet my Prince." The cat sauntered away, a smile seeming to play under its pink nose. I closed my eyes.
    "Ceci." I heard a man say. "Is that you?"
    Louis looked down at me, clad in jogging clothes. I greeted him warmly. "You've gained a little weight," I blurted.