Forgot the translations link again! Here it is!
http://alysonbowen.blogspot.com/2014/05/french-to-english-translations.html#.U-bO61ZcMpA
Rose
Chapter 13
As
the wineries eased their way into a brisk December, temperaments dropped with
the temperature. Attempting to
relieve some tension, Phillippe had called up his fencing instructor so he
finally had a reason to stay out of the house. He was sweaty and exhausted. Everything was becoming too much. How had it all escalated so quickly? Oh yeah, apparently it was his
fault.
Then
he got jabbed in the chest.
“Phillippe, are you even
trying anymore? I know you’re
tired, but you need to focus!”
“Do you want to take a
break? We’ve been sparring for une heure. You need water.”
Gilles pulled off his mask, revealing his dark face and eyes made darker
by his starkly white fencing gear.
He was also covered in sweat, despite his claims that his bald head
allowed for a better airflow during a bout.
“I want to keep going.” Phillippe refused to take off his own
mask, needing an outlet for his shaky adrenaline.
“You haven’t scored once then
entire time I’ve been here! You’re
not yourself today.” He grabbed a
bottle of water, which his dark lips quickly drained.
“Then clearly I need more
practice.”
Gilles turned and stared at
his sparring partner, eyebrows raised.
Stretching his thickly muscled arms, he leaned against the wall and slid
down to sit on the floor. “Is this
because of that girl?”
Maybe it had been a mistake
to tell Gilles about Rose, but he didn’t exactly have anyone else to talk to
about things like that. He only
had two other friends. One was
Rose, and he couldn’t go to her for advice about herself. The other was Dai, and if she knew that
he had feelings for anyone other than Vi, his current situation would only get
worse. Besides, he always told Gilles
all the things he couldn’t tell his parents. But Rose wasn’t the issue forcing its way into every part of
his mind, no matter how badly he’d rather focus on Rose’s eyes, which he had
noticed were the same color of the beach the day they visited ten days ago. But he couldn’t think about that
anymore because of Vi. “It’s not
that girl.” Knowing Gilles
wouldn’t fight until he got this out of his system, he put down his foil and
pulled off his mask. His sticky
brown hair dripped onto his forehead, and in an effort to dry off, he shook his
head like a wet dog.
Laughing, Gilles wiped
Phillippe’s sweat off his arm.
“Violette? Is this why you
cancelled on me last week?”
He rolled his eyes and
nodded. “It happened the night after
you last came. Our families were
all invited to a special charity dinner and auction held by a client to raise
money for her son’s cancer treatment.
Naturally, my parents forced me to take Violette as my date, so we go to
the dinner and she starts to make a scene because my tie didn’t match her
dress.”
“Oh, I think I know where
this is going.” Gilles handed over
a bottle of water. He knew all the
stories that included Vi, and he knew that none of them ended well.
He paused the story to take a
drink, but kept his eyebrows raised and a hand held out. The story was nowhere near over. “We finally get our food and we’re
eating, and Vi purposefully spills sauce on my tie and insists I go home and
change. I didn’t have the patience
to deal with her at all, so I told her the truth.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh, yes. I said that I didn’t even want to be
there with her so it didn’t matter whether my tie matched her dress or
not. She was extremely offended,
and rightfully so because I didn’t handle it well. That was when she started to ignore me, which is still going
on.”
“I know your stories about
her. That’s nothing. What else happened?”
“Stéfan overheard what I said
and immediately sided with her. We
had a brief conversation, and I thought I placated him.”
Gilles smile fell as he
realized the story was no longer lighthearted.
“Unfortunately, the wine kept
coming all night. During the
auction, he noticed my father was bidding on an antique vase and decided to
compete. Leah finally stopped him
and my father won. That didn’t sit
well with Stéfan and they started fighting in the middle of the auction. It was worse than awful. Someone filmed the argument on their
phone and now it’s all over the internet.” He started pacing, unable to keep still. It was so maddening. “I’ve spent the last week and a half
being the face of the company while my father has been locked away in his
office, hiding until things die down.
It’s never taken this long to sort these things out. The press is going crazy because it was
a charity fundraiser! If that boy
dies, it’ll be on our heads.”
“And it’s all linked back to
you because of Violette.”
“But only my father and
Stéfan know that, which is why I have to clean up everything.” He kicked his foil and it skittered
across the floor.
“You need a break.”
“I need to go visit Rose.”
“Then go!”
“If I want to have a family
or a business to come back to, I have to stay here.” He had spent three Fridays in a row with her. They’d had so much fun. And now he had disappeared from her
life. The worst part was the
text.
She sent him a normal,
friendly text the day after the charity event and he was so busy dealing with
drama that he forgot to respond.
By the time he remembered, it had been an entire week. What if she was angry with him now? He wouldn’t even be able to make it out
to visit her this week either.
Next week, if he could get away, he would have to do something big. “Enough complaining though.” He put his mask back over his head and
picked up his foil from where he kicked it across the room. “En
garde.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Merci! Au revoir!” Rose closed the cash drawer on the register as the customer
left the shop.
“Are all days this
boring?” Dahlia sighed loudly as
she rolled her eyes and spun herself around in the chair.
“No one’s making you stay here.” Rose laughed softly as she pushed the
chair to spin around again. She
didn’t realize how boring Domfront was until Dahlia had mentioned it for the
thousand-and-first time.
Actually, it was when
Phillippe didn’t show last Friday, or the Friday after that she realized how
monotonous life in Domfront could be.
She empathized with Dahlia.
When another Friday came and went without Phillippe, Dahlia seemed
concerned, but Rose was okay with it.
Furious, Dahlia swore off “les
hommes stupides” and dragged her to ice cream to “conceal the pain”. Rose was too numb to feel pain.
The pain hit earlier, after a
week with no responses to her text.
She didn’t deserve ice cream for her brief relationship with him when it
was against her aunts’ wishes. She
never should’ve expected anything else to come from that. Maybe Dahlia was right and he was in
love with her, but when they stayed platonic for too long he gave up on
her. At least she still had Dahlia
spinning in the chair to distract her.
“Seriously, something needs
to happen or else my head will explode from boredom.”
Mystie laughed at Dahlia’s
agony from across the shop. She
was cleaning the fitting rooms.
Then, the door burst open and
two women just older than Rose and Dahlia stormed in, arms full of shopping
bags and noses turned up into the air.
“Bienvenue! What brings
you ladies in today?”
The one with auburn hair
looked Rose up and down with her nose scrunched up like something smelled sour,
but didn’t respond.
The one with darker, browner
hair glanced around the shop, ignoring Rose, and said, “Well I guess we can
look in here, but I don’t think we’ll find much.”
Dahlia stifled a snort, while
Mystie had to catch her shock and huff out her anger. Rose didn’t respond.
As they roamed, Rose couldn’t
help but notice their extravagant outfits and mounds of jewelry. It was a bit excessive, but she had
dealt with these kinds of customers before. She always wondered why they stopped in tiny little shops in
tiny little towns like this.
“Don’t you sell any Chanel?”
one scoffed.
“Or at least Dior?” The other chimed in, leaving clothes on
the floor after shaking her head with eyebrows raised.
“Aubrie, this one would look
great on you.” The dark haired one
snorted and threw a dress in the other’s face.
The auburn one, Aubrie, held
up the dress, then dropped it on the floor with her mouth shaped in a horrified
“O”. “Eww!” She shrieked. “Brut! Give it to Ella. She’s probably actually wear it!”
Both cackled as another young
woman entered the shop quietly.
Her arms were also leaden with shopping bags, her short blonde hair
covering her face as she kept her eyes on the floor. “Aubriènne, Damiènne, how much longer do you want to stay
here?” Her voice was so quiet that
it was almost lost in the racket made by the others. Based on her simple brown jacket and jeans, Rose never would
have associated her with the others.
“Where have you been?”
“Cleaning up the last store
you ransacked.” Finally she raised
her deep blue eyes toward Rose.
They held the apology the others refused to express.
Rose nodded in return. “Would you like some help with those
bags?”
Ella nodded, placing them on
the counter before cleaning up one of the piles of clothes.
“Tant pis, Ella. We’re
heading to the next place. Better
hurry up!” They left the store
without another word, slamming the door behind them.
“Let me just apologize for my
sisters. I’d like to say that I
don’t know what possessed them, but Damie’s just angry after the incident this
morning.”
Rose joined her with a
handful of hangers, Dahlia on her heels.
“What happened this morning?”
“She claims I put a mouse in
her bed.”
“Did you?” Dahlia asked, intrigued.
Ella’s kind smile turned
slightly sinister as her eyes twinkled.
“I may or may not have led it in a certain direction, but I never
thought it would end up in her bed.
Now Lundy is making me follow them around while they shop. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to
clean the wake of hurricane Damiènne and tornado Aubriènne. I’m used to it, but merci for your help.”
“Are you three
visiting?” Dahlia started to
restock the racks.
“We come from Paris, but my
father owns a house here. We’re
here for a...a little while. Do
you both live here?”
“Oui. I work here. Dahlia just spins in that chair over
there.” Rose laughed.
“I keep Rose entertained when
no one is here.” Dahlia corrected.
“Bien sûr, Dahlia.”
Mystie caused all the girls to laugh as she took a handful of hangers
from Dahlia.
“I’m Ella. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Rose. C’est
Tante Mystie. She and her
sisters own the shop.”
Mystie waved, and Ella waved
back.
“If you’re free come Vendredi, you can join Rose and me for
lunch. That’s her day off work
every week, so we actually get to go out and do stuff.” Dahlia jumped in, knowing Rose would
never ask.
“I’ll see if I’m
available. There’s a lot to do at
the house though. No one’s been
there in years and it needs a cleaning overhaul. I’ve got a lot to do, but maybe I can sneak out for an
hour.”
“Magnifique!”
“Well, I have to go save the
next shop, but I’m sure I’ll see you around again. Au revoir!” She grabbed the mass of bags off the
front counter and ran out the door.
“I like her!” Dahlia announced.
“You like everyone.” Rose rolled her eyes, grateful. The idea of another new friend would
distract her from Phillippe.
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