French Kissing: Season Two

by Harper Bliss

  Dominique didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looked into Steph’s eyes. “There’s so much more to you than meets the eye, Stéphanie.”

  “Oh yes.” The sentimental atmosphere was starting to get to Steph. “Like a dozen women I’ve slept with who would happily collect a paycheque in return for a juicy tale in Le Matin.”

  “So what?” Dominique shrugged. “The French have proven again and again that they don’t care who their leaders sleep with.”

  “Speaking of…” Steph painted a grin on her face. “I know I was distracted before, but I think I’m ready for my morning climax now.”

  “Are you sure, Stéphanie?” Dominique grinned back. “I wouldn’t want to reduce you to tears again just by using my tongue.”

  “If it were to happen again, don’t let it distract you from the task at hand.” Steph hugged Dominique close to her and planted a kiss on her hair. “Je t’aime.”

  “Let me tell you something.” Dominique pushed herself up the better to look Steph in the eyes. “That day we first met I could never have guessed we’d end up here, in bed together, and in this situation. This thing between us has changed us both, and I don’t want to go back to being who I was before I met you. I know I’m a good politician, and ultimately, I only want to be judged on that. Even though it’s an illusion to think my private life is nobody else’s business, and I’m hardly naive, but really, at the very core of things, what could someone really have against me being happy?

  “Because you make me happy, Stéphanie. You make me feel a fire inside that hasn’t been there for years. You make me want to be better, and stand up against all these over-privileged men in the Assemblée. As a woman, I’ve had to fight hard in that world all my life, and I’m never one to choose the easy way out if I think the hard way is the right way, so I can deal with this. In my heart of hearts, I know that. Because, at the end of the day, I get to come home to you, and how can that not make me a better person and, hence, a better politician?”

  “You had my vote already.” Steph didn’t immediately know how to translate the warmth engulfing her into an adequate facial expression. “I’d be proud to be your first lady,” was all she could say.

  “Are you ready to come for me now?” Dominique wasn’t the overly sentimental type either, and was already making her way back underneath the covers. She didn’t need to wait for Steph’s reply.

  Within seconds, Dominique’s tongue was skating over Steph’s most intimate parts again, instigating the same sort of fire in Steph’s belly she had just talked about in her impromptu speech.

  * * *

  After another hour of lazy love-making, the phones had to come on. In the life of a politician, reunion sex could only go uninterrupted for so long. Steph’s phone—a newer model—booted up fastest, and it lit up instantly with a message from Juliette.

  Claire and Margot broke up, for real this time.

  When she turned to Dominique to show her the message, she was greeted with an ashen face, Dominique’s hands trembling lightly as she gripped her fingers around her phone.

  “What?” Steph asked.

  “Séverine Marechal has made her next move,” Dominique said, her voice slightly wavering. “By telling lies to the Sunday paper.”

  “What has she said?” Steph was anxious to see and opened the internet browser on her phone.

  “That the MLR leadership will be officially nominating her as their presidential candidate for the next elections very soon.”

  The webpage of Le Matin loaded on the small screen of Steph’s phone and she read the headline: ‘OUR COUNTRY NEEDS SOMEONE WITH STRONG VALUES’

  CLAIRE

  “Are you all right?” Steph asked Claire.

  “I will be if everyone stops asking me that question,” she replied. “I’m fine. Let’s focus on work, because we have a lot of that.”

  “Before we begin,” Juliette said, straightening her back, a love-sick smile on her face, “I’d like you both to know that, first thing tomorrow, Nadia and I are going to city hall to schedule our wedding. We hope to be married within four weeks. It will be a small do and we’d like you to be our witnesses.”

  “That’s great, Jules.” Claire tried to put as much enthusiasm in her voice as possible, but celebrating love wasn’t very high on her agenda today. “I’d be honoured to be your witness.”

  “I take it I’ll be giving away the lovely Nadia?” Steph stood there beaming, obviously luxuriating in re-ignited love as well. Her and Dominique’s reunion clearly hadn’t suffered from the same issues as Claire and Margot’s.

  “It’s not exactly giving away, Steph.” Claire couldn’t mask the snideness in her tone. “You just have to sign a piece of paper.” Claire could feel Juliette’s glance, filled with pity, on her. She didn’t need pity. In fact, Claire knew exactly what she needed, but she could hardly tell Juliette.

  “Let’s leave it at that and focus on the business at hand,” Juliette said. “I just wanted you to know.”

  Steph’s good spirits seemed unbreakable; she didn’t pay any mind to Claire’s harsh tone. Claire could talk to her about what—and who—she wanted. Steph would understand. Steph always understood.

  “What Marechal is saying is a blatant lie,” Steph said. “Which is no surprise considering the very earnest reputation of the newspaper that published the article.” She huffed out a giggle. “Dominique is coming in later today to discuss our strategy, so we’d better come up with something good.”

  “Glad to have you fully on board,” Juliette said.

  Claire found it hard to cope with the triumphant smile Juliette obviously couldn’t hide, but she was adamant not to let it show. But what if she never encountered someone like Margot again? What if she had wasted their chance of a life together on being jealous of an ex who was long gone. Or would Inez be coming back once the news spread that Margot was single again?

  “I have an idea,” Steph said.

  “Let’s hear it.” Juliette’s smile grew even wider.

  Steph steepled her fingers, as though she was about to make an important announcement. “Dominique and I can’t hide any longer. We need to come out soon. We could choose to do it the old-fashioned way with a traditional tell-all interview in L’Observateur, or the pair of us going on Giselle Dubois’s show, all solemn faces, and expressing regret about retreating back into the closet and how we managed that headline.” She paused for effect. “But this is the age of social media. Of going viral. Of shaping your own story. And I think we should consider these options. Fight for the young vote. Give them someone to really root for. Someone who communicates with them through their chosen channels. Let’s face it, the older generation will either be for or against us, and a television appearance is probably not going to change that. The statement we’re about to make—and our coming out will be a statement more than anything else—needs a different, fresh approach.”

  Juliette nodded. Claire followed her example. She’d thought a crisis at work would take her mind off things, off that excruciating moment underneath the Eiffel Tower when they’d said goodbye, and it probably would have worked if the crisis hadn’t involved love, and lesbians, and beating the odds. Dominique Laroche was willing to sacrifice so much for love—despite the number of people Steph had slept with during their break. Her entire career was at stake, while all Claire had to do was find it in her heart to forgive Margot. But she couldn’t do it. Once the epitome of pureness, Margot was no longer pure in her eyes. The whole Inez business had tainted her, and ruined her for Claire. And perhaps it was true that Claire wanted things that weren’t realistic, and that was the real reason why she’d been single most of her adult life, but she knew she didn’t want this. To be discarded at the first glimpse of a former lover—no matter how much regret was expressed after the fact.

  “What do you think, Claire?” Juliette asked.

  “Yeah. Good.” Claire hadn’t heard the words Steph and Juliette had exchanged after Steph had prese
nted her plan.

  “Anything else?” Steph insisted.

  “There’s no master plan here. Our options are limited. So your approach is probably the best, Steph. You deserve your promotion.”

  Steph sighed. “This isn’t about a promotion, Claire. I understand your mind might be elsewhere, but this is the most important campaign Barbier & Cyr has embarked on in a long time. Please try to focus.”

  Claire looked at Steph and Juliette, turning her head from one to the other. She didn’t feel the embers that stoked their fire to do this job within her. Not today, and perhaps not in a long time.

  “I think I may need to take a personal day.” She glared at Juliette. “And please don’t say I told you so.”

  “Claire, come on. We’re here for you. We know this is hard.” That look of compassion in Juliette’s eyes again. It drove Claire insane. “You can sit this one out if it’s too difficult.”

  “Oh great, so you don’t need me here anymore either.” Claire knew her reactions were all wrong. That she was being extra harsh on her friends to elicit an equally harsh reaction, because she needed to be told. To be told off, even. “I’ll just fuck off, shall I?”

  She watched Steph exchange a quick glance with Juliette. “Come on.” Steph rose and extended her hand.

  Claire just looked at her quizzically. If she was going to get up she’d do it of her own accord.

  “I’m taking you to Le Comptoir for a much needed drink.” Steph turned to Juliette who gave her a quick nod.

  Claire saw the opportunity in that. Steph was the only one she could involve in her rebound plan, and Juliette wasn’t displaying any signs of wanting to join them at Le Comptoir.

  “You know what?” Claire accepted Steph’s hand. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”

  * * *

  Claire had ordered a cosmo and it only made her think of that time when Margot had barged into the bar looking for Juliette, and the reluctant, but, in the end, surprising conversation they’d had sitting at the counter.

  “Here’s the deal,” she said to Steph, who was, understandably on a Monday before noon, sticking to coffee. “I’m interested in someone, but it may upset some people.”

  Steph arched up her eyebrows. Claire wondered what exactly Margot had said to Steph when they’d come here together on an impromptu rendezvous, after Margot had left her with a sore bottom. Her head was still so full of Margot, which only spurred her on more to say the thing she was about to say. To blot out just a little bit of the pain. A desperate attempt to forget. To kickstart the process of moving on.

  “I’m intrigued,” Steph said.

  Claire cleared her throat, suddenly nervous. “I only met her briefly, but I was very charmed by Saint-Vincent’s new Chief of Neurosurgery.”

  Steph tilted her head, as though she didn’t immediately understand who Claire was referring to.

  “Doctor Marie Dievart,” Claire specified.

  Steph’s first reaction came in the shape of an incredulous chuckle. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Why not?” Claire shrugged. “No one needs to know.”

  “Come on, Claire. I know you’re hurting, but Juliette is your best friend.”

  “This has nothing to do with Juliette.”

  Steph ignored her remark. “Not to mention that Dievart and Margot are colleagues now.”

  “Safeguarding Margot’s happiness and well-being is no longer my prime concern.” Saying Margot’s name out loud sent a cold chill up her spine nonetheless.

  “So it would merely be an impulsive, destructive act of revenge?”

  Claire shook her head. “Has it never happened to you that you met someone and they stirred something in you? That the introduction left you wanting more? Wanting to meet them again?” Claire didn’t want to point out the obvious and say Dominique’s name out loud.

  “That’s hardly the point. What do you want, Claire? Do you want me to give you my blessing to court the woman Nadia cheated on your best friend with?”

  Claire huffed out a breath. “I don’t need anyone’s blessing. And I don’t need anyone’s righteous indignation either. Least of all yours, Steph.”

  Steph held up her hands, displaying her palms. Claire was sure that if Steph hadn’t just gotten back together with Dominique her reaction would have been much more amenable. She sipped twice from her cosmopolitan, the alcohol hitting her bloodstream hard on an empty stomach.

  “So one day you’ll just walk into the office, a satisfied smile on your face, and your best friend Juliette, who knows you through and through, will ask you ‘hot date, Claire?’ and you’ll say what? ‘Oh yes, I had the night of my life with Marie Dievart.’”

  “I just wish you wouldn’t make this about Jules.” To survive certain crises a one-track mind is required, Claire wanted to say, don’t you see that? But she didn’t want to go as low as exploiting Steph’s own grief, and, of course, Steph did have a point.

  “I’m just exploring all your options.” Steph wrapped her fingers around the tabletop. “What if it becomes more than a one-night stand? From what I’ve heard about the woman, I know it’s highly unlikely, but you just never know. Who will you choose? Your best friend of more than twenty years or the woman who nearly destroyed that best friend’s marriage?”

  “I think you’re getting slightly ahead of yourself—” Steph didn’t let Claire finish.

  “If it’s some comfort in the arms of another woman you’re after, I can help. Or you can call that hot pilot you used to have fun with. There’s really no need to betray Juliette.”

  “You don’t get it, Steph.” Claire took another sip. “There are not a lot of women who make my heart beat faster. Dievart did. And please try to remember that I grieved for Margot once already. I don’t feel like doing it again. I just need…” A deep sigh. Tears pricking behind her eyes. “Something.”

  “I get it, Claire, I do. I just can’t get over the fact that it’s her you’re interested in. Of all the women in Paris…”

  “Oh fuck. I know.” Claire had trouble holding back the tears. “But what am I going to do? This pain. This failure. This emptiness here”—she tapped her chest—“I don’t know how to deal with it.” The first drop landed just next to her cosmo glass. “If I’d known I would have to go through the hurt all over again, I would never—” Steph reached for Claire’s hand over the table.

  “You took a risk. That’s what we do for love. Sadly, sometimes it doesn’t work out. But you had to try. It will be easier this time around, Claire. Because you gave it your best shot, and as you said, you grieved for her and your relationship already.”

  “Did I, though?” The tears started streaming now. Steph and Claire were the only patrons in the bar and Tony knew better than to disturb them. “Did I give it my best shot? I’m not sure.”

  “Of course you did.” Steph squeezed her hand. “Don’t ever doubt that.”

  “Sometimes I just feel as though it’s all my fault. That if I could just be a bit of a bigger person, we could be happy.”

  Steph shook her head. “No. You tried, Claire. Despite the fact that she hurt you so badly, you took her back and you gave it a go. I think that in your heart of hearts you know things played out like this for the right reason. Even though it hurts like a motherfucker.” Steph locked her eyes on hers. “It’s not your fault.”

  “Thanks.” It was all Claire could say in between the tears.

  “I know it sounds like a terrible cliché but, over time, it will hurt less.”

  The door of Le Comptoir swung open, making Claire feel very self-conscious. She blew her nose in the napkin her cosmo glass stood on, and tried to put herself back together. “You should probably get back to the office.”

  “You’re still the boss.” Steph grinned. “What are you going to do?”

  “Not sure.” Claire pulled up her shoulders. “I may just call my mother.”

  “Keep your evening free though.” Steph smiled. “I’m coming over
tonight.”

  JULIETTE

  Juliette hadn’t told anyone—not even Nadia—but every morning, when she first set foot in her office, the image of François standing in front of her desk and delivering the news about her father, flitted through her mind. It was an image she couldn’t shake. A thought that snuck up on her when she least expected it to—and despite her deepest wish to not reflect on her estranged family more than they deserved.

  It was no different now that she sat here alone, finishing up the last e-mails of the day, anxious to go home to Nadia and tell her about Steph’s plan to orchestrate Dominique’s coming out.

  Realising that, no matter how hard she tried or how much she wanted to, she would never have her parents’ full approval for who she was, was a crushing blow. Especially as an early twenty-something who was still making her way in the world. Juliette couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she might just have a chance now. That she could show her father that he’d been wrong for the best part of his life. It didn’t mean she had to forgive him.

  A knock on the door, and Véro snuck her head into the opening. “Do you need anything else, Juliette?”

  “God no. Please go home to that husband of yours.” Véro didn’t remind her in the slightest of Sybille, and that pleased Juliette enormously. In itself, it was already the best reason to give her a long-term contract, but, despite being new, she’d also been a massive help during the weeks that Steph had been missing in action. “And I haven’t forgotten about that dinner invitation. Things just need to settle down a bit first.”

  “Fully understood.” Véro smiled. “Good night, and don’t stay too late.” She followed the smile with a wink before leaving.

  Juliette needed an assistant who wasn’t afraid to order her to go home. She was sure Nadia would approve as well. When she returned her attention back to her computer screen, two new e-mails had come in. One from her gynaecologist, who, behind Nadia’s back, Juliette had asked for information on fertility in women over the age of forty. The other from an e-mail address she didn’t recognise. It was just a name, without any mention of a company. A personal e-mail address. The name read ‘Elizabeth Liege’. Juliette clicked the e-mail open.