“Miss Tuesday Night?” Beck asked. “You don’t even have names for the women you fuck now? You’re starting to sound like Tristan.”
“Maybe I’m concealing her identity,” Joshua said.
“You’re both animals,” I said.
“I’ve got it,” Tristan said. “You go down on one knee during Dexter and Hollie’s wedding breakfast. During the speeches or something.”
“Firstly—no,” Dexter said. “And secondly, no fucking way. What are you thinking, Tristan? Sometimes I wonder how you manage to dress yourself in the morning, let alone trick people into paying you to mess about with their computers.”
“What’s your problem? Proposing in front of everyone’s a grand gesture,” Tristan said, looking genuinely confused.
“That will take the focus off the bride and groom and their wedding,” I said as if I was explaining to Bethany that she shouldn’t eat the sandwich she’d just dropped in the dirt.
Tristan shrugged. “Don’t blame me that Dexter’s a selfish narcissist who wants all the attention to himself. The brief was to think up a grand gesture to win back Autumn. I fulfilled the brief.”
“When’s she back in London?” Andrew asked. I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t know where Autumn was, who she was with, or when she was coming back.
“I guess she’s coming back for the wedding.” I glanced at Dexter.
“Yup. She’s back next Wednesday.”
My heart tumbled in my chest. In just days she’d be back in London.
“She’s coming back on Eurostar.”
That little piece of information planted a seed of an idea in my brain. “She’s in Paris now?” I asked.
“I think that’s what Hollie said.”
Paris. We should be there together. I wanted to kiss her by the Seine. Hold her hand over moules frites. Watch her face when she saw the Venus di Milo for the first time. Plans started to form. I could go to Paris. Find her. Tell her I loved her.
“You know where she’s staying?” I asked.
“No clue,” Dexter said.
That wasn’t a dealbreaker. I could ask Hollie, or I could call Autumn and just ask her. We might not have spoken in weeks, but it wasn’t like she hated me. There’d be no reason for her not to pick up . . . unless. “She on her own?”
“I don’t know.” Dexter pulled his phone from his pocket. “Let me ask Hollie.”
Did it matter if she was on her own? It wasn’t like that was going to stop me. If she’d met someone, I’d just have to fight for her. I could do that. She might not have told me she loved me, but I knew her well enough to be confident that what we had was special. The kind of thing that wasn’t just replaced in a few weeks. She’d left for me. She’d stayed away for me. Well, I’d done as she’d asked, and I knew there wasn’t a future with me and Penelope. There was no reason for Autumn to be anywhere but by my side. “It doesn’t matter,” I said standing. “I’m going to leave you guys to it. Sorry to miss the rest of your stag do, Dexter.”
“What?” Andrew said.
“I’m going to get a flight to Paris.” I beckoned the waiter over.
“Just like that?” Tristan asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Just like that.” I gave the waiter my card. “Put everything from tonight on here, please.”
“Sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do,” Dexter said.
“And I’ve got to go and get Autumn.”
“Good for you, mate,” Beck said. “Go for it. Keep us posted.”
Beck got it. Dexter got it. The others would someday. I didn’t want to be away from Autumn for another moment. I didn’t even want to wait until next week. I didn’t have to be back in London until the day after tomorrow. Hopefully it would be time enough to find Autumn and make her realize that I loved her, that she loved me, and that our futures were inextricably linked. There was no point in resisting it any longer.
Forty-Four
Autumn
As I stood speechless, taking in the red windmill teetering on top of the building opposite, I couldn’t help but wonder why someone before Baz Lurhmann hadn’t made a musical about the place. Paris was all crimson and bright lights and optimism against the dull, grey sky. I pulled out my guidebook, complete with color coded Post-its and dogeared pages. Paris was always meant to be the first stop on my trip, and I’d spent so much time looking forward to being here that I was kind of nervous now I had finally landed. It was like the first day of a new job or a first date with . . .
If only he was here.
Hollie had told me to fight for him, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. It didn’t feel right to stand between a man and his wife, try to separate him from the life he’d always wanted. But being without him didn’t seem right either.