Almost forgot to include the updated French to English translations! Here you go! http://alysonbowen.blogspot.com/2014/05/french-to-english-translations.html#.U6834BZcMpA
Rose
Chapter 10
Phillippe was infuriated with
Vi. The date they had the night
before was the worst one yet. She
had left him in the restaurant humiliated and enraged. He had wanted so badly to be
understanding and friendly, but she had purposely set out to make him as upset
as possible. He was only certain
of it because she had said so to his face before leaving with Jean.
Before that, she had told him
how she wanted to avoid the winery business because it was a declining market
and would inevitably fail, knowing just how much the family businesses meant to
him and should mean to her. When
he tried to compliment her appearance, she just laughed in his face loud enough
to bring all eyes in the restaurant to his flushed face. Later when he was struggling to strike
up a conversation with her, she just sat in her chair using her portable and ignored him until he
finally asked her what she was trying to do. It was that point she brought up how rude he had been at her
fête by only talking to Dai and how
hypocritical he was of her. Then,
she “accidentally” spilled her drink on him and left with her actual date,
Jean. When Hubert found out, he
was enraged enough to confront Stéfan, and both men proceeded to argue until
long after Phillipe had fallen asleep.
Everything was getting so far
out of hand. So to avoid his
father and the next inevitable confrontation, he set off early that morning
after kissing his mothers cheek and avoiding his father’s office. He was blasting rock music on his
radio, fueling his anger until he hit a boiling point where he proceeded to
pound his fists on his steering wheel trying to let out his pent up
energy. The only thing keeping him
sane was the plans he had set in motion.
He had found the perfect place to take Rose. The only concern he had was how far away it was and how
comfortable she would be with the distance, but that was a problem he would
deal with when it came up.
When he arrived in Domfront,
he meandered through le marché following
the trail of scents until his frustration had hit a manageable level. At that point he found himself outside la pâtisserie. Carried by the sweet, sugary aroma, he went inside and
bought a small bag of beignets.
Closing his eyes to set his full focus on the heavenly taste of his
favorite treat, he pushed open he door and ran into someone and dropped the bag
causing an explosion of powdered sugar.
“Excusez-moi! Watch
where you’re...Phillippe?”
“Rose! Je
suis désolé!” After he
finished laughing he added, “Now this looks familiar.”
She laughed as well. “Except the rolls are reversed. I guess that door is just malchance.”
“Malchance? If it
weren’t for that door, I never would’ve met you.”
Not having a response, she
picked up her groceries and brushed her bangs out of her face.
“So, how have you been?”
She shrugged and turned her
eyes toward La Mine with eyebrows
raised.
Phillippe gave her a
questioning look until Dahlia exited, her arms wrapped around a man he had
never seen before.
“C’est Florian, Dahlia’s unofficial beau.”
Watching their intimate
interactions caused him to laugh again.
“That’s unofficial?”
Rose sighed. “Apparently Dahlia doesn’t understand
the discomfort of being the maladroit
friend of the intensely romantic couple.
They have been visiting the shop every day since he came to visit last
week.” She rolled her eyes. “You are a welcome distraction.”
“Speaking of welcome
distractions, would you care to join me for a brief excursion?”
She breathed out another
laugh at how formal he suddenly became before smiling and nodding to accept his
offer. “I have to stop by the shop
to drop these off,” she held up the grocery bags, “get a few things, and ask
permission to go out today.”
“I thought you got every Vendredi free?” He took the grocery bags out of her
arms as they walked.
“Oui, but I try to tell mes
tantes if I’m going to be gone for the whole day.”
“I knew they wouldn’t care if
you went out of town with me for lunch that one day back in Septembre. That’s why I made reservations for us...” He paused when
Rose’s face fell. “Quoi?”
She turned her face away and
slowed her pace.
“You didn’t tell them, did
you?” He stated more than asked.
She shook her head, gently
tossing her long hair. “Non, je
ne l’ai pas. They are very
suspicious of people and I worry I would never be allowed to leave the shop
again if they found out I was spending so much time with un étranger.”
“So much time? The one day every few weeks is so much
time? They can’t really be that
bad.”
“Phillippe, just wait out
here and I’ll be back.” She took
the bags from him and ran inside a shop, leaving him alone outside. Leaning against the wall, he allowed
the sun to warm him. The weather
was getting colder, and even with the sun, he found himself wishing he had
brought a thicker coat.
Finally Rose emerged again
with a gray pea coat instead of her sweatshirt, her pink and blue scarf around
her neck, and her bag slung across her body. “I feel bad because I cut you off and you never said where
you’re taking me. Is it far away?”
“Not at all.” He lied, knowing she might change her
mind about going if she knew it was almost an hour away. She couldn’t change her mind because he
was too excited to take her. She
was going to love it. He led her
to his car where he opened the door with a grand flourish and a bow, bringing
out a laugh from her smiling lips, and it seemed the tension of leaving town
was gone. At least it was gone for
the next twenty minutes or so.
“Are we almost there?” She started to tug on her earlobe,
watching the exits pass by.
“Are you okay?” He put a hand on her arm to stop the
incessant tugging.
Still nervous, she nodded,
but placed her hands in her lap.
“We’ll be there soon, je promis. Why don’t you find us some music to listen to? I don’t know what you like.” Hoping to redirect her nervous energy,
he turned on the radio.
“I don’t really listen to
music.”
“Quoi? You don’t listen
to music?”
“Well, other than the disques classiques that play in the
shop, no.”
“Disques? Comme sur un tourne-disque?”
“Oui.” Her cheeks
turned pink.
“I have a lot to teach you
then.” He started skipping through
stations until he heard a song he recognized. “This is my favorite band.”
Rose listened to the upbeat electronic
music. It was so foreign compared
to what she was used to hearing.
“What do you think?”
Unintentionally, she started
to bounce her foot to the beat.
She refrained from answering, but after glancing over at him she found
she couldn’t hold back a smile.
She did like the music.
“The band is called
Phoenix. I have most of their
music on mon portable if you want to
hear more.”
She nodded, then stopped him
from turning off the station when the song changed. The soft notes of a music box floated out of the speakers,
then a woman started to sing.
“This is Émilie Simon. Do you like this?”
“Oui, c’est très belle.”
“It’s called Sous les Étoiles.” He waited until the song was over
before attempting to plug in his phone again. This time she didn’t stop him so they listened to Phoenix
until they arrived at their destination.
Rose didn’t notice the time
passing as she was completely captivated by the new sounds the flooded her
ears, so when the car stopped and she didn’t notice, he put a hand on her
shoulder again to get her attention.
That brought back the pink to her cheeks, but soon her focus was
elsewhere as he escorted her to the surprise. He couldn’t hold back a smile. Her expressions when listening to music had been so similar
to her reactions when he took her out to eat.
“Where are we?” She was admiring the small town that
somewhat resembled Domfront with its stone streets and antiqued architecture. Most of her attention was captivated by
the river that ran right throught the middle of the town.
“Aux Jardins de la Mansonière.” He held open a door for her which led to the front desk, la boutique, et le salon de thé.
Because of the seasonal schedule of Les
Jardins, he had to make special arrangements for their private tour, which
meant they had the entire place to themselves with the help of their very kind
guide, Adelaide, an older woman who knew everything they could want to know
about Les Jardins and more.
Rose loved it. Being out in nature, she felt at home
and at peace. This place was
amazing. There were fourteen
different gardens, all with specific themes. The colors and smells were overwhelming. Being named after a rose, her favorite
by far was la roserie. The walls of green, red, and white were
as amazing as the perfume that filled them. It felt truly magical.
When the tour concluded back à la boutique, she meandered through the
small shop, admiring the painting and garden décor. She found herself wishing she had a garden to tend to. The thought of laboring for such a
reward seemed like a wonderfully challenging task. Her thoughts were in a completely different place until they
were interrupted by a loud rumbling.
Phillippe let out a lilting
laugh. “Are you hungy?”
Her pink cheeks smiled as she
nodded. “I didn’t realize how long
we’ve been here.”
“Time passes far too quickly
when your mind is occupied.” His
mind was completely occupied by Rose.
“Adelaide, where is the nearest, nicest restaurant?”
“L’Auberge des Peintres is very close by. It’s one of my favorites.” She gave him directions while Rose sampled a few of the
flavors of thé et jus. When they left, Phillippe handed Rose a
gift bag.
“What is this?”
“Open it.”
Inside was a box that
contained one of the items Rose had admired in the gift shop. “Les
carillons de vent.” They were
small, but were etched with roses, which was why she had liked them so
much. “You didn’t have to do that
for me.”
“But I wanted to.”
“Merci.”
“De rien.”
As she packed the box back up,
they drove off to have lunch together.
Phillippe thought lunch was perfect. The food was delicious, the view of the river was amazing,
but most importantly the company was pleasant. He found himself once again thinking about the differences
between Rose and Violette. Rose
genuinely seemed to enjoy his company, while Vi would do almost anything to
avoid it. As they ate, he found
Rose to be more social than normal.
She was spouting facts about plants faster than he could follow, which
made him think of how he would describe her. She was shy, but had such joie de vivre that it was impossible to not enjoy her company. Vi, on the other hand, was outgoing and
unafraid, but full of such dispassion for anything it was unbelievable that she
had friends. Clearing his mind of
such unpleasantness, he refocused on what Rose was saying so they could enjoy
their lunch.
As they headed home, he knew
he had to find something else to do with her. He would find someplace for them to explore together. He would also have to find more music
she would enjoy. She had lives such
a sheltered life and he wanted to change that.
As an afterthought I wondered if anyone cared about what songs they listened to on the radio. Here's a video of Phoenix singing Entertainment, the song I decided they heard first.
Here's a video of Sous les Étoiles by Émilie Simon.
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