Hotel Vendome

“I don’t think you’re going to have much to say about it, or not for very long. One of these days she’s going to fall head over heels for some guy, and there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it, except pray he’s a good guy.” Her own children had both married, and she was a grandmother now. What she worried about most for Hugues was that one day Heloise would find the man of her dreams and leave, and he would be heartbroken without her. She was an integral part of his daily life, even more so because she hardly ever saw or spoke to her mother. It created an unusually close bond between them. And Jennifer knew they were both going to suffer one day when the cord was cut.

Hugues was beginning to worry about the men who would pursue her. “Roberto worries me. He’ll break her heart.” He was four years older than Heloise, more sophisticated than she was, and flirted with all the women at the desk. Heloise was enthralled with him and told Jennifer she thought he was sexy and handsome, which was hard to deny.

“She’s going away in a few weeks,” Jennifer reminded Hugues to reassure him about Roberto. “But sooner or later there’s going to be some guy. You’d better get used to it soon,” she warned him.

“I know, I know,” he said, looking worried. Jennifer was always a reality check for him. “Just keep an eye on them, and let me know what you hear. He’s too old for her right now, and a little too smooth for my taste.”

What they both heard in the ensuing weeks was that Heloise was smitten with Roberto, and he seemed to like her. But he was no fool. He wanted a good recommendation from Hugues and had no desire to anger him by toying with his daughter. So he was careful and respectful. He took her out to dinner a few times, she showed him the sights in New York on their days off, and they went for walks in the park on their breaks. But from what Hugues could tell, she hadn’t slept with Roberto, and as far as he was concerned, she left for her internship in Bordeaux just in time. He wouldn’t have trusted them together all summer. Roberto was just too handsome and appealing. Jennifer told Hugues that Heloise had told her she was still a virgin when she left. There had been a lot of kissing and fondling in the back room behind the front desk, but nothing dangerous. And when she came back from St. Tropez the end of August, Roberto would be gone. Hugues was relieved.

Heloise left for Paris on the first of July, and from there she was taking a train to Bordeaux. Hugues’s friend at the chateau where she would be interning had promised that he would take good care of her. He and his wife had a daughter the same age. Heloise was going to work at the concierge desk and wherever they needed help in the hotel. It was a small, well-run family hotel, and people rarely stayed for more than a few nights as they toured the region. Heloise was excited about the trip, and the job, although she was a little disappointed when she got there. It was a sleepy hotel, and there was less for her to do than at her father’s hotel in New York. The Chateau de Bastagne was tiny and quiet, but she liked their daughter, who drove her around the area and introduced her to her friends. Everyone they knew was in the wine business, and Heloise was learning about wine and how the grapes were grown. Everything was natural here, they didn’t use irrigation, unlike California; one of the vineyard owners told her that the vines had to “suffer” to make a great wine. She had a lot to report to her father when he called, and he was pleased.

“It will look good on your college applications,” he pointed out to her. And she liked the French kids her own age she was meeting in Bordeaux. She was sorry to leave when she had to go to St. Tropez on the first of August, particularly since she never knew what she’d encounter when she saw her mother. When she left Bordeaux, she felt she had made real friends there and promised to come back one day.

Her mother and Greg had bought a house in St. Tropez, and Heloise hadn’t seen her mother in over a year. She wasn’t sure what visiting them there would be like, but it was a fun place to visit, and she was looking forward to it.

She flew from Bordeaux to Nice, and her mother had her picked up by helicopter and flown to St. Tropez. And she arrived at the house at ten o’clock at night. Miriam acted as though she was thrilled to see her and exclaimed over how pretty she was, as though she were someone else’s child. Heloise’s half-brother and -sister were running around. Arielle was ten and Joey nine, and they were as unruly as they had always been, as an English nanny tried to keep track of them to no avail.