Page 71 of My Best French Wedding

The friendship between Hildy and Corinne had always intrigued him. At first, he assumed it was a purely business relationship, but that didn’t account for their sibling-like bickering: quick with an insult but unmistakably bonded by loyalty. He’d tried asking Corinne about it once, but she immediately shut him down.

“The last thing you fools need is a go-between. Talk to her yourself.”

It had taken a few years for Walter to realize she was right. Better late than never—or so he hoped. And now that Hildy had to pretend they were chummy, the opportunity seemed ripe for a semiprivate conversation.

Walter let the rest of the group filter past while he waited for Hildy. She seemed to be stuck on the pavement outside the stone overhang that marked the entrance to the cave. He suspected sheneeded a little encouragement to take the final few steps into the dark.

“Do you want to hold my hand?”

“In your dreams.” She marched past him, not stopping until they reached the mostly full open-air train waiting to carry them deeper into the cave.

“Looks like we’re in the back row.” Walter didn’t pretend to be disappointed.

“How convenient.” Her smile saidhip hip hooray!The look in her eyes added a silentI know you planned this.

He climbed in after her, sliding across the bench seat until he was in whispering distance. “Read any good books lately?”

“We don’t need to chitchat,” she hissed. “This is an important cultural attraction.”

“Yeah, I got the rundown on the bus.”

“I knew you were spying!”

“Somebody had to pay attention. Corinne put a lot of work into that PowerPoint.”

“I was listening.” She cleared her throat, as though the lie left a bad taste in her mouth. “Mostly.”

“Then you know we’re going to be stuck here a while.”

“What do you mean, stuck? Is something wrong?” Her shoulder bumped his as she whipped around, trying to see into the darkness behind them. “Does this thing not reverse?”

He put a hand on her arm. “We’re fine. I just meant the tour is going to last a while. We don’t have to sit here in silence.”

“You really want to know about my reading habits?”

“Not necessarily.” He was playing it cool, when the truth was that Walter was hungry for any scraps of information Hildy might choose to share. Was she in a book club? Did she have a preferred genre? “I figured I should ease into the heavy stuff.”

“What heavy stuff?” she asked, suspicion dripping from every word.

“Just—mature and honest grown-up talk. Since you can’t run away this time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The last time I tried to have a serious conversation, you panicked.”

“Nope,” she said, after a pointed pause. “Still not getting it.”

“When I came to your office.”

Her huff of disbelief fanned the side of his face. “That isnotwhat happened.”

“Explain it to me then.”

“You showed up at my place of work to taunt me about your fancy new job—”

“No, I came to tell you about it,” he interrupted. “I thought we could go to dinner and clear the air.”

There was a thinking silence. “What do you mean, go to dinner? Like a business dinner?”