Free A Paris Affair by Tatiana De Rosnay Page B

the newspapers. The university organized a book-signing event, which was a great success. Hunter was the only student in the class who didn’t want to buy the professor’s novel.
    Ever since the incident in the Luxembourg, she had felt disgusted by Jerome D., and her aversion was accentuated by the fact that he slept with Taylor not long afterward. Taylor quickly guessed that something must have happened between Hunter and the professor. When he gave a lower grade for one of Hunter’s essays, Taylor realized the truth.
    “You shouldn’t have turned him down.”
    “Oh, so you have to say yes and be screwed in his whorehouse on Rue de Vaugirard to be given good grades?”
    Shocked by such vulgarities coming from Hunter’s usually prim mouth, Taylor blushed and said nothing.
    *   *   *
    Hunter stood in a corridor, on the lookout for Professor D. As soon as he emerged from a classroom, she cornered him.
    “Excuse me, monsieur, but what is this grade supposed to mean?” she demanded, holding up her essay.
    Irritated and in a rush, Jerome D. almost barked at her: “it means, Miss Logan, that your work wasn’t good.”
    Unflustered, Hunter stood in his way. “So you wouldn’t mind if I showed my essay to some other professors? I’d like to know if they find it as poor as you did.”
    Jerome D. hesitated.
    Hunter attacked: “I can’t go back to America with a grade like that in my file. It’s unacceptable. You know perfectly well that it was a good essay. You also know why you gave me that grade. I want you to change it. If you don’t, I’ll file a complaint against you.”
    Jerome D. bared his white teeth. “Are you saying you would accuse me of what you Americans call ‘sexual harassment’? Are you planning on spreading this fib among my colleagues?”
    “Certainly.”
    “Believe me, in France that kind of puritan bullshit is considered laughable. No one here takes feminists seriously. As you will learn to your cost.”
    “Je pense … vous allez…” Abandoning her usual reserve, Hunter ran out of French words and switched to her more reliable, more fluid mother tongue. “You’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.”
    “Oh really? How terrifying,” Jerome D. snickered.
    Her face hot and red, she turned on her heels and walked away, the professor’s laughter echoing in her ears. Outside, Madame D. was waiting in her car. Hunter walked past her without a glance, fists balled.
    An article in a popular women’s magazine was what finally sent her over the edge.
    Love Scenes, a debut novel by a young literature professor, has made a big impact in the literary world. Jerome D., who teaches at a large Parisian university, has written an apologia for marriage and fidelity. With humor and emotion, his book traces the history of a marriage, from its beginnings, through its pitfalls and joys, to its ruin and finally its rebirth. Married with two children—Albertine, 4, and Odette, 2—this handsome 34-year-old insists he wrote the book for his wife and daughters. “In the age we live in, people have stopped believing in marriage. There are more and more divorces and separations, and it’s the children who suffer. I wanted to write something romantic, even if that might seem old-fashioned now. I invented a story with a happy ending, something that will give people back some hope and joy in this time of crisis and gloom.” Such is Jerome D.’s novel, written with a subtlety and nostalgia inspired by his hero Marcel Proust, blended with a verve that is all his own.
    Beneath a large photograph of Jerome D. at his desk, one of his daughters sitting on his lap, was the following caption: “Jerome D. pictured with his elder daughter, Albertine.”
    Hunter almost choked. This was too much! As she paced her bedroom, her eyes fell on the photo of Evan. For a few seconds she stared at the young man’s face. How would she react, she wondered, if Evan ever cheated on her after they were married?