A Paris Affair Read Online Free PDF Page B

records your conversation. And that uses up the cassette. So you must remember to delete it afterward.”
    “Very good point.” Charles nodded approvingly. “You understand, darling?”
    “I think so.”
    “You’ll see—this answering machine is going to change your life!”
    *   *   *
    Later, Lola said to her husband, “Do you think I’m stupid because I don’t know how to use the answering machine?”
    He looked at her, surprised. “What? Of course not, Lola!”
    “I feel like you think I’m stupid.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I feel old and ugly.”
    “You’re thirty-three!”
    “And you can tell.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a beautiful woman, and you know it.”
    *   *   *
    The next day, when she returned home from the grocery store, she noticed that the light on the answering machine was red. She put down her bags and knelt next to the machine. Frowning with concentration, she pressed the button. One message for Benjamin, another for S é bastien. She felt disappointed, but at least she had managed to work the thing properly! While she was unpacking her bags in the kitchen, the telephone rang. Standing on a stool so she could arrange the jars of jam on a shelf, she allowed herself the luxury of letting the machine answer for her.
    It was Charles.
    “Darling, it’s me. I’ll be leaving later for that presentation in Brussels. Don’t wait up for me this evening—I might have to spend the night there. If you need to get ahold of me, Nicole has the phone number. Bye, darling. I love you!”
    Lola sighed as she got down from the stool. Charles was often away from home. At thirty-four he had been given a big promotion in the advertising agency where he worked, and for the last two years he had rarely spent a whole week at home. Lola had done her best to get used to his absences. The boys had their own lives, their friends, school. But it seemed to her that she no longer had anything. The days stretched out emptily before her, flat, smooth, and featureless. She should have gone back to work after S é bastien was born, but she had chosen to stay at home and look after her children. And for eight years, that had been fulfilling.
    The boys were older now, though, and they no longer needed her. She was bored. Most of all, she was afraid of becoming boring. Charles seemed happy with her, but was he really? Maybe she should have that third child—the little girl they had dreamed of. It wasn’t too late.
    Lola nestled on the sofa and lit a cigarette, her eyes dreamy. The phone rang again. She did not move, and the machine picked up.
    “Hey there, sweetie—it’s Fanny. I love your new answering machine! You want to go see a movie this afternoon? Call me. Bye!”
    Lola didn’t feel like calling Fanny, whose enthusiasm for life sometimes irritated her. She knelt next to the answering machine in order to delete the last two messages. The machine obeyed her orders. Charles would be happy! Her face clouded over. Why did she always think about Charles’s reaction? Why did she always force herself to behave properly for him, like a pupil with a teacher? Irritated, she lit another cigarette and decided to bake an apple pie for the boys. And the day went on, long and colorless, until she was rescued by the arrival of her sons.
    *   *   *
    Charles was gone most of the week. A few days after his return, Lola received a phone call from her mother, who lived alone in Honfleur. She wanted to see her daughter and her grandsons.
    “Take the boys to Normandy for the weekend,” Charles told Lola. “The fresh air will do them good, and you’ll get some rest.”
    “I’m not tired,” she protested.
    “You are, darling. You have bags under your eyes.”
    She blushed.
    “That’s because you kept me from sleeping most of the night.”
    He embraced her, stroking her rump affectionately.
    “I missed you.…”
    Charles had rarely ever been so attentive. Since he came back from