Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
“I’m happy you invited me,” she says. “Leon never wants to take me anywhere nice.”
“Really?” Maxime says, shocked. “All the money in the world, and nowhere nice?”
“He says it’s a risk.” She grins at me. “You’re so stingy. Cheap motels and fast food only.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s being sarcastic.”
Maxime laughs and Cerise just rolls her eyes and sits down. She’s smoking a cigarette and sipping her wine with a sour look on her face.
“Funny and beautiful. I like it. Come, come, sit, let us drink.”
I steer Paige over to a seat and get her settled before sitting myself. Maxime pours the wine and instantly starts talking.
And he doesn’t stop talking for almost twenty minutes. That’s Maxime, unable to help himself. If there’s an audience, he’s in front of it and he’s performing.
As Maxime goes on, Cerise keeps shooting me annoyed glares. I get the feeling that her once very warm and tender feelings toward me have gone cold and hard. It doesn’t matter though, so long as her sense of business doesn’t lose out to whatever personal slights she might be feeling.
“Come now,” Cerise finally says, interrupting her husband as the waitress returns with a second bottle of wine and our main courses. “We must discuss business sooner or later, yes?”
Maxime sighs. “My wife, always so impatient. Is Leon like that, Paige?”
“Always,” she says, grinning at me. “Can’t stop thinking about business. Drives me wild.”
“Do you think he’s thinking about business in bed with you?” he asks her with a wink.
“Never,” she says, winking back. “I wouldn’t allow it.”
Maxime laughs again, clearly charmed by her, and I’ve got to admit that she’s doing a good job. She’s playing into his hand, laughing at his jokes, listening to his stories, acting like he’s the most interesting man in the world. All the while she keeps touching my knee, my hands, basically acting like her world revolves around me even when her attention is split.
I swear, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was in love with me. She’s damn good. She’s probably in the wrong profession.
“Business,” Cerise says impatiently. “Please. Leon, we read the papers and there are some things we wish to discuss with you.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Maxime says with a dramatic sigh. “Okay then. Business time.”
“I hope there’s nothing wrong.”
“Oh, no, no, nothing major.”
“Possibly major,” Cerise corrects her husband.
“Details, details,” Maxime says, waving his hand to Cerise’s visible annoyance.
“Let’s begin then,” I say.
And Cerise takes over the show. Maxime fades back, content with eating and drinking, while Cerise goes over the finer points of the contract apparently from memory.
This is how they operate. Maxime charms and smiles. He’s the good guy, the clown, the one that makes you comfortable. Cerise, meanwhile, is the bad guy. She’s the one that swoops in with facts and figures and slams you over the head with them. Maxime makes you dizzy, Cerise gets what they want.
They’re a good team, I have to admit. If I hadn’t been interacting with them for years now, I might be caught off guard, but I was expecting this.
The discussion goes on for a couple hours. Paige looks bored but attentive while Maxime drifts off at one point and snores until Cerise wakes him with a pinch.
“Ah, zut alors!” he says, shaking his head and muttering something in French. But he doesn’t fall asleep again.
Finally though, we reach a good stopping point. Cerise is bright and her grasp of the details of my proposal are strong. I believe most of her changes will only make my project that much better, and so when we shake hands and end the night, I’m feeling good.
Paige looks sleepy as we step out onto the sidewalk and say good night to the Monacans.
“Are you sure you do not want to come back to our hotel for a night cap?” Maxime presses.
“No, I couldn’t,” Paige says, suppressing a yawn. “I have to work early.”
“Work early!” Maxime is delighted. “He still works you hard.”
She shoots me a conspiratorial grin. “Very hard.”
Maxime barks with laughter. We say good night and part ways.
I walk with Paige for a block while the driver shadows us.
“That was good,” I say to her once the Monacans are completely gone. “That was very good.”
“You think so?” she asks. “Maxime seems like he was just humoring me.”
“That’s how he is,” I say. “The man can’t help himself. He’s more of an entertainer than a businessman.”
“Then that would make Cerise the brains of the operation.”
“That’s right.”
She purses her lips. “I can see why you didn’t want to piss her off then.”
I laugh softly. “She’s not a woman to be trifled with. Turning her down without a good excuse would have ruined all my hard work… and made an enemy of a woman I definitely don’t want to piss off.”
Paige yawns again and smiles up at me. She’s tipsy, but not drunk. I noticed that she stopped drinking an hour ago after only two glasses of wine.