Free French Twist by Glynis Astie

everything seemed to be with Louis.  SEEMED TO BE.   It couldn’t possibly be perfect, since perfection didn’t exist, right?  Now that he was moving here, at least I would have time to explore being with him.  This was a great thing; I knew that!  Then why was I so scared?  And what the hell was wrong with Louis?  There had to be something.  It looks like I would have the time to find out now...

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    The good news, of course, was Louis was moving to California.  The bad news was he would have to go back to France early for a few transitional meetings.  Since he had to fly out Tuesday morning, this meant he would have to miss the concert.  He called me at work on Monday morning to break the news.
    “I am sorry, mon coeur .  My boss just told me this morning.  I feel terrible that I won’t be able to go.  Especially since you went through so much trouble to get the tickets.”
    “Louis, please don’t worry.  I’m focused on the big picture.  You’re staying! I still can’t believe it.  We’ll have plenty of time to go to other concerts.”
    “You are amazing , Sydney.  I am a very lucky man.”
    I blushed. Louis gave me seemingly endless compliments.  I had every reason to believe him, but in the back of my mind, I still thought he was after something.  I wasn’t sure what it was going to take to break me of this insecurity, but I had to try.
    “I have to run, mon coeur , but I will call you later.  Are you free for dinner tonight?  Please tell me you are because I have to see you before I go back to France.  Don’t make me do something drastic.”
    I laughed.  Louis’ opinion of drastic was pretty extreme.  I could only imagine what he would have done.  “Of course I’ll have dinner with you tonight.  If I had made plans, I would have moved them.  I need to see you too.  I’m going to miss you!  Do you really have to go back for two weeks?”
    He sighed.  “A project I have been working on for the past year is coming to a close and I need to be there to oversee a number of things.  I would be able to finish it in a week and a half, but my mother’s birthday is August first and if I did not stay for the celebration, she would never forgive me.  French women can be quite frightening.”
    “I can only imagine.  It’s nice you’ll be able to see her for her birthday.”  I paused.  “She must be pretty upset about your move to California.”  I knew Louis had a very large, close-knit family and I felt terrible that he would be so far away from them.
    Louis scoffed.  “She is not surprised.  She always told me I had a ‘wandering spirit’ as a child.  When I told her I was moving here, she said she knew I would not stay in France for long.  She has always wanted to come to the US and is excited at the prospect of visiting California.”
    I secretly wondered what she would think if she knew he was moving to California because of me.  In general, the rest of the world seemed to think Americans were loud, fat and obnoxious.  French women seemed to be so sophisticated and elegant.  Nice, Sydney.  You’re intimidated and you haven’t even met her yet.  Sometimes even I was impressed with the level of my neuroses.
    “I have to go to another meeting, Sydney.  I will call you later.  I have an idea for dinner...”
    “You sound very wicked, Louis.  What are you up to?”
    I could hear the smile in his voice. “That would spoil the fun.  Have a good day, mon coeur .”
    “You too.  Bye..B..uh..Louis.”  I hung up the phone quickly.  Crap!  I sounded like such a moron!  I was trying to pull off calling him, “Boo”, but I chickened out at the last minute and ended up calling him what sounded like “Bluey.”  Why am I such a dork?
    I sighed and put my head on the desk.  He was definitely going to ask me for an explanation later.  Louis never missed a thing.  What was I going to tell him?  I picked my