One Way Ticket to Paris: An emotional, feel-good romantic comedy

by Emma Robinson

  She hadn’t exactly lied to Luke.

  They’d had so much to organise after her dad’s death. Funeral arrangements came with an awful lot of questions to answer. As an only child, it had been down to Kate and her mum to make all the decisions. They’d actually laughed almost hysterically, imagining what her dad would have said. ‘Three thousand quid? Just stick me in a cardboard box and put me out with the recycling!’

  She’d been here, there and everywhere that week. Printers for the order of service, florists for the wreaths, caterers to book the sandwich platters. It had been easy to slip out for an hour in the late afternoon on a Saturday.

  ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’ Tim had stood up and kissed her on the cheek. He was still wearing that ridiculous necklace.

  ‘Sorry. I’ve had a lot of running around to do.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Tim ran a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry about your dad. He was a nice bloke.’

  He might not have said that if he’d heard what her dad had wanted to do to him after they’d split up. ‘Thanks.’

  Tim had bought her a glass of wine and they’d shared a few memories about her dad. Then Tim had brought the jazz club up again.

  ‘I know you probably don’t feel like it at the moment. But, if you need a night out, you should come to that club I mentioned. You’d love it.’

  Would she? ‘I’m not sure it’s my kind of thing.’

  He looked like he’d been waiting for her to say exactly that. ‘But it is! They have a brilliant pianist and she’s really cool about other musicians getting up to play. You could get up on stage again.’

  Get up on stage? Could she even still play a complete piece from memory? There was no point getting into that with Tim, though. His life had a constant soundtrack; hers barely had background music. She’d made some vague noises about not feeling up to a night out at the moment, which he’d had to accept. She really hadn’t intended to set foot in the jazz club he was so keen on. Especially not without telling Luke. She still wasn’t sure why she’d changed her mind.

  Kate drained her wine glass and looked around for the waiter to order another. As she did, she saw a face which looked familiar. Pensive, but familiar. It wasn’t until the girl was almost next to her table that she placed her. Kate smiled and waved. ‘Hi! Laura, wasn’t it? We met on the train. Are you okay?’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Laura

  Was she okay? It was hard to say. Laura’s legs were wobbly. Her brain was fuzzy. And her stomach had been performing somersaults for the last two hours. ‘I’m not actually sure.’

  The Rodin Museum didn’t close until quarter to six, but Laura had made the excuse that she needed to leave early to check through her presentation. Then she’d made another excuse about wanting to clear her head with a walk along the Seine, and had refused Paolo’s offer to come with her. Using Google maps, her walk towards the Seine had taken her past some cafés. As she’d passed one of them, she’d seen a kind of familiar face. And a waving hand.

  ‘Hi! Laura, wasn’t it? We met on the train. Are you okay?’

  It was the lady from the train. The one with the baby photos. Kate.

  Kate pulled out a chair. ‘Why don’t you sit down and have a drink with me? What would you like? Wine? Beer? Coffee?’

  Laura sank down on the chair and rubbed her forehead. ‘Which one will give me psychic powers? I could do with that right now.’

  Kate pretended to consider the idea. ‘You could try absinthe? I think that can be hallucinatory. But it might be a little early in the day. Red wine to start?’

  It was a little early in the day for Laura to be drinking anything alcoholic. James didn’t really approve of her drinking too much. But what the hell, she couldn’t feel any more disorientated. And red wine was likely to be maximum twelve percent proof. That would be okay if she only had one glass. ‘Yes, please.’

  Kate motioned to the waiter and he came to take their order. ‘Deux vins rouge, s’il vous plaît.’ Laura watched her with envy. She clearly had her life together. Married. A couple of kids. Managing to pop over to Paris to visit an old friend. Speaking French. If only Laura could get herself to that point. What was the trick?

  Kate turned back to face her. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  Did she? What was there to talk about? Maybe she did. ‘I’m not really sure where to start.’

  The waiter brought their wine and Kate chinked her glass onto Laura’s. ‘How about the beginning?’

  Laura sighed. Where even was the beginning? What was it she actually wanted to happen? Was she asking for too much? Too needy? Too demanding? ‘Did your husband want to have children? Or did you have to persuade him into it?’

  Kate looked surprised. ‘Where did that come from? Er, yes, he did. We both did.’

  Her sudden questions must have sounded really rude. Poor Kate didn’t know what was going around Laura’s head. ‘Sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just…’ She paused. ‘Okay. This is the basics. I have been with my boyfriend for a long time. Everything is fine. He’s a nice guy. We’re happy. But…’ How could she phrase it without sounding pathetic? He doesn’t want to commit to me? He’s not sure he wants to be with me? I am pathetic and desperate and…

  ‘But?’ Kate prompted.

  ‘But he doesn’t want to make plans. To talk about the future. Marriage. Children. The usual stuff. And I’m thirty-two.’

  She could see Kate trying to stifle a smile. Maybe thirty-two didn’t sound very old to her. ‘And you want all these things. Marriage, children and so on?’

  ‘Yes. I do. I mean, I don’t necessarily want them right now. But I want to know that we are planning for them. That we have an idea when we are going to have them. I can’t bear this “let’s see how life goes” mentality.’ In fact, if James used that phrase one more time there was a seventy-five percent chance his life wouldn’t be going anywhere. Permanently.

  Kate sipped her wine and nodded slowly. ‘I get that. And has he said why he doesn’t want to make plans? Does he definitely want children?’

  That made Laura stop and think. Did he? He’d never actually said that he didn’t. But then, he had never really talked about wanting them, either. How had she never posed this question? ‘I think he does.’

  Kate looked at her over the top of her wine glass. ‘It might be an idea to ask.’

  Of course some people didn’t want to have children. Laura’s aunt and uncle hadn’t had children, and they had a very nice life spending half the year in England and half in the Canaries. But most people did the marriage and babies thing, didn’t they? ‘I’m pretty sure he would have told me by now if he didn’t want kids.’ Either that or he was complete sadomasochist who liked to have the same row on a loop with his girlfriend.

  Kate gave a small shrug. ‘What if he doesn’t want to tell you he doesn’t want children? What if he’s afraid to lose you?’

  Laura frowned. Was that possible? ‘I don’t think so. He’s not usually afraid to say what he thinks about anything.’

  ‘I’m sure you’re right. But if not… Is it more important to you to be with someone who wants children, or to be with him? Do you love him enough to sacrifice having children if he doesn’t want them?’

  Laura picked up her own glass and took a large gulp. She shivered. That was strong. She took another gulp. ‘And was it really important to you? I mean, if that’s okay to ask? How did you know that you wanted to have children?’

  Kate screwed up her face. ‘Gosh. That’s the second time I’ve been asked that today. I guess it just felt like the right time.’

  Everyone Laura asked said that. It was exasperating. What did that actually mean? What was the right time? The right age? Thirty? Thirty-three? Older? Why couldn’t someone give her a definite number? ‘I see.’

  Kate sighed. ‘The thing is, you can’t always plan these things too precisely. Babies don’t always come on demand’

  Laura felt an icy finger down her spine. She knew that
first-hand. Babies could come uninvited. And they could go the same way. ‘Isn’t that why you should have a plan? You need to give yourself the best chance. Ovulation kits, temperature charts and so on?’

  Kate looked horrified. ‘Oh my word, Laura. You don’t start off with all that. It might become necessary for some people, but at the beginning you just cross your fingers and, you know, have a bit of fun.’

  Fun? Laura didn’t feel like she’d had much fun lately. James had worked a lot of late hours and when he was home he just wanted to relax or get an early night. Of sleep. He didn’t want to see other people at the weekends or make plans to go away or anything. When they did spend any time together, it didn’t take long before the conversation deteriorated into marriages and babies and tears and storming off to bed. No fun whatsoever. ‘I just want him to tell me yes or no. He just continually puts off talking about it. All I seem to do is moan. His refusal to discuss it properly is making me into the kind of girlfriend I never wanted to be.’

  Kate laughed. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just I said a very similar thing to my kids a couple of weeks ago. I was dragging them around the supermarket and they kept picking stuff up or running around so that all I was doing was yelling at them and saying, “I was going to be such a cool mum and you’re both ruining it!”’

  Laura laughed. She twirled her wine glass in her fingers and stared into the dark red liquid. ‘There’s something else. Or rather…’ She might as well tell this woman. It wasn’t like she was ever going to see her again. ‘There might be… someone else.’ She looked up at Kate. Was she shocked? She didn’t look it.

  ‘I see. And is he – this someone else – is he here, in Paris?’

  Laura nodded. Although saying it out loud made her feel silly. It wasn’t as if anything had happened. ‘I’m not having an affair or anything. I just feel… attracted to someone.’

  ‘And does he feel the same way?’

  She gave a tiny nod this time. ‘I think so.’

  Kate looked at her intently and then motioned to the waiter. ‘Pommes frites, s’il vous plaît.’ She turned back to Laura. ‘We need chips for this.’

  It may have been the chips or the wine, but Laura found herself spilling it all out. Kate didn’t interrupt once. Just sipped her wine and offered Laura the basket of chips whenever she took a breath. It felt good to get it all out. When she finished, she felt about ten percent lighter.

  ‘Okay.’ Kate put the basket down and leaned forwards. ‘So, you love James, but you are attracted to Paolo?’

  Laura nodded. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you want to have children with James, but you don’t know if he wants the same thing.’

  This time she was less definite. ‘Yes, I think so.’

  Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘You think you want children, or you think you want them with James?’

  Laura took a deep breath. ‘I do want children and… I do love James.’

  Kate shook her head. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’

  Laura rubbed her temples. The wine was beginning to fur her thinking. ‘I’m thirty-two. If I break up with James, it would take me months to get over him and then I would have to meet someone else and then wait for the relationship to get serious and then…’ She looked up at Kate, surprised at the sound of tears at the back of her throat. ‘I just don’t have time.’

  Kate laughed. Not unkindly, but it was a laugh all the same. ‘I know thirty-two feels old, but it really isn’t. I don’t know James and I don’t presume to tell you what to do with your relationship. But let me tell you something that I know is true. Having a baby is hard work. Really hard work. And you need to be with someone who is as on board with it as you are. Otherwise you don’t stand a chance. Not a chance.’

  It sounded as if Kate had a catch in her voice too. Was there something in this French wine? ‘But, if I have feelings for someone else. For Paolo. That must mean I don’t love James. Doesn’t it?’

  Kate shook her head. ‘No. Of course it doesn’t mean that. It just means you are attracted to Paolo. It has nothing to do with James.’

  Was that true? Did it mean nothing? Should she just ignore these feelings and carry on with Plan A? Was this… attraction to Paolo just confusing her? Or maybe it was her old lurking fear that was muddying the waters… Whilst she was talking this all out with Kate, she might as well get everything off her chest. She took a very deep breath. ‘I had a miscarriage. Thirteen years ago. I was nineteen. I’m worried I can’t have a baby at all.’

  She didn’t look up. Just attempted another slug from her wine glass, which was empty.

  ‘Oh, love,’ Kate reached over and put her hand on Laura’s. ‘That must have been awful for you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a baby. It is incredibly common to lose a baby in the early stages of pregnancy. Especially your first one. Surely they told you that?’

  They had told her that, but it still didn’t stop her feeling like this. ‘But you should have a baby before you’re thirty, shouldn’t you? There are risks and everything.’

  Kate topped up Laura’s wine glass and then her own. When had they got a whole bottle? ‘There are risks in any pregnancy. But you’re taking a much bigger risk on your happiness by rushing into parenthood if you, or the other person, are not ready. And some men’ – she shrugged – ‘are never ready.’

  Laura’s stomach flipped. This was her deepest fear. That she would wait and wait until it was too late. ‘But how do you know?’

  Kate settled herself in her seat as if she was about to tell a story. ‘I lived with a guy for nine years. Perfectly nice, fun to be around, bought me nice gifts for my birthday. I thought I was set; he was my future.’ She stopped and shook her head slowly.

  Laura leaned forwards. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Tim was a musician and he had big dreams. He was going to be in a hugely successful jazz combo, get discovered and signed by a major record label. The only problem was, everything else in his life was on hold until that happened. He went from job to job because he left every time they wouldn’t give him time off for a last-minute gig. Which meant he couldn’t get a mortgage or a loan for a decent car. And marriage? Children? Answer was always the same. Someday.’

  Laura felt sick. ‘What did you do?’

  Kate took a long sip of her wine, put it back down on the table and placed a hand each side of the glass. ‘I got to the point of no return and gave him an ultimatum. We made a plan for the future and stuck to it, or we were over.’

  Laura could barely get the words out. ‘And what did he say?’

  ‘He came home one day with a gigantic bunch of flowers.’

  Laura leaned forwards. ‘And?’

  ‘And… told me that he was moving back to his mother’s.’ Kate’s face was expressionless for a moment. Then she started to laugh. ‘It took me a very long time to find that funny.’

  Laura smiled weakly. She didn’t have a long time to wait. She needed to know now. Maybe fancying Paolo meant nothing. Maybe he was just a distraction. She should focus on James. James was her boyfriend. She’d go back to the hotel now and call him. It was after five p.m. He might even be on the way home.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Shannon

  As Shannon approached the Jardin du Luxembourg, the warm smell from a crêpe stall made her feel hungry for the second time that day; maybe this time she could risk being able to eat something. She queued with the tourists for a crêpe au jambon et fromage and a café au lait and then walked into the gardens to wait for Kate.

  The Jardin du Luxembourg was one of Shannon’s favourite places in Paris. The green manicured lawns and hedges dotted with sculptures of literary figures and explosions of flowers were both formal and beautiful. Tall and vibrant with orange, brown and red leaves, the trees whispered in the breeze. Her pace slowed and her shoulders began to relax. Just breathe.

  She had arranged to meet Kate by the pond. As she approached, the air was alive with the chatter of small children using
long poles to push miniature sailboats across the huge expanse of water. Shannon watched as a chubby-legged toddler waddled towards the edge before being caught by his mother. The mother swept him up into her arms and buried her face into his delighted, wriggling body. Walking a little further round, Shannon found a spare chair near to another young mother with a pram and a young girl. Watching her rock the pram whilst calling to her other child not to go too far, made Shannon’s stomach flip over. Where had all these mothers and babies appeared from lately? She’d never noticed them before.

  She felt Kate’s hand on her shoulder. ‘You’ll spoil your dinner, eating this late.’

  Kate’s eyelids were suspiciously droopy. Shannon had seen that expression many times before. ‘I think you’ve already spoiled yours. Liquid lunch, was it?’

  When Kate laughed, she looked more like herself. ‘I was just leaving a café when you called. Bumped into a girl who was on my train this morning. We might have had a couple of glasses.’

  ‘Good for you.’ Shannon was jealous. She’d kill for a glass of wine right now. The smell of this takeaway coffee was turning her stomach and she’d only managed a few bites of the crêpe. Her eyes were obviously bigger than her belly. Although that might be about to change. She stood to join Kate and threw them both into a bin.

  Kate looked horrified. ‘I was only joking! You should have finished that.’

  Shannon linked her arm into hers. ‘I’d had enough. Come on, let’s walk back towards the hotel.’

  Kate squeezed her hand and they started to walk out of the gardens. ‘This is a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until later. I thought you had things to do at the office.’

  Shannon shrugged. The last place on earth she wanted to be right now was in the office with a prowling Robert. With any luck, he would be too busy tonight and tomorrow to bring up the subject of his daughter’s party again. ‘I got everything done, so I thought we could catch up.’ She walked a few more steps before taking a deep breath. ‘Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you. Something I didn’t mention earlier.’