“Twenty minutes late, even,” Hans threw in. “And they close for lunch at all hours—not what the sign says.”
Lily smiled. Ah, punctuality. The more laidback French attitude did not sit right with German precision. “I can see how that would be a problem. But perhaps some spontaneity is a good thing on vacation?”
They gave her identically puzzled looks. Silke shrugged. “If they want to be open different hours, they should change the signs.”
And that was that. Lily waved goodbye as they set off for their sunny Parisian day of skulls and cemeteries.
Lily turned toward the door, but she bumped into another backpacker, a tall, lean man with a long brown ponytail and matching beard. “Oh, pardonnez-moi,” she tried her French on him.
“No problem,” he replied in perfect English with only a hint of an accent, as he adjusted the straps of his small black backpack.
Rats. “Is my accent that awful?” she burst out.
“What?” He looked at her, startled.
“My accent. My cousin Sarah says I have a terrible French accent, even on basic things like pardonnez-moi and merci.”
He gave a tiny wince as she pronounced those words.
“You hear it, too, don’t you?” she cried. “I must sound like the American village idiot trying to speak your language.”
“Hey, hey,” he soothed her. “How long have you been living in France?”
“I’ve been visiting for a couple days.”
He raised his shoulders in a typically French shrug. “And so you think your two days in Paris means you speak French perfectly?”
“Well, I guess not. But you speak English perfectly.”
“I should hope so. I lived in Manhattan for ten years.”
“Really? I’m from Philly, but I live in New Jersey right now.”
“Ah, Joisey,” he said in a perfect New Jersey accent. Was there no accent this man couldn’t do?
“Hey, don’t knock Jersey. Not all of us can afford Manhattan.” Although he didn’t look like he could afford even the student hostel. And if he’d lived in New York for ten years, he was probably older than the other backpackers, too.
He held up his hands in placation. They were big and nicely shaped, with long, strong-looking fingers.
“Do you play piano?”
“What?” He looked startled again. Lily was singlehandedly earning a reputation for all Americans as being slightly crazy.
“Piano.” She wiggled her fingers at him.
He looked down at his hands and then back at her. “Why? Do you want me to play a tune for you? Would you like ‘Alouette’ or ‘Frère Jacques’?”
“I can see you must be too busy to make conversation.” She lifted her nose like she’d seen her mother’s employer do a million times before to an impudent guest. Mrs. Wyndham was one of the grand ladies of Philadelphia’s upper crust and Lily’s mother was still her housekeeper, in charge of managing the myriad employees and tasks necessary for the smooth running of a historic mansion and busy social activities. “Thank you for your assistance, and have a nice day.”
She brushed past him out the door onto the busy French sidewalk. Fresh croissant or pain au chocolat for breakfast? Flaky French chocolate rolls sounded good. Before she could decide, she felt a touch on her elbow.
“Hey, hey.” Backpack Guy stopped touching her with his long piano fingers as soon as she stood still. “I’m sorry, mademoiselle. You caught me by surprise and I forgot my manners.”
“No problem.” Lily spotted a café down the street that she hadn’t visited yet. “I’m always grumpy before breakfast, and that chocolate roll is calling my name.” She eyed his spare frame. She didn’t think it was from too many cigarettes since he didn’t smell of smoke. In fact, for a guy who looked like he’d been sleeping on a park bench for a month, he actually smelled nice. “If you don’t mind my saying so, you could use a croissant.”
His mouth pulled into a wry grin. “Probably. Why don’t we get some croissants together?”
She leaned away from him and gave him a suspicious stare.
“I was a Boy Scout if that makes a difference.”
“Really? There are French Boy Scouts?” She perked up. This was the kind of thing she wanted to learn about his country—something that wasn’t in the tourist books.
“Come have a café au lait with me and I’ll tell you all about le scoutisme français.”
“Scoutisme? Is that a real word?”
“On my honor.” He raised his hand in what looked like a Boy Scout sign.
“Well, okay. And maybe you can help me with my French pronunciation.”
“I would be happy to.”
Lily turned to face him. “All right, I can’t call you French Backpacking Boy Scout, so you better tell me your name.”
He smothered a laugh. “No, that would be quite a mouthful. My name is Jack Montford.”
“Jack? Isn’t it actually Jacques?”
“Yes, but I started going by Jack when I lived in New York.”
“Smart move. I’m Lily Adams.” Lily set off for the café. “Come on, Jack-with-the-Backpack, let’s get you a couple croissants—with extra butter.”
JACK DIDN’T KNOW quite how he’d wound up going out for breakfast with a woman he’d literally bumped into, but Lily Adams was right—he could use some calories. She’d thought he picked her out as an American from her accent, bad as it was, but he had picked her out as an American as soon as he saw her blond ponytail and cheerful expression. Her hazel-green eyes gazed eagerly at everything, as if she were trying to memorize details for later.
And to think she wanted to learn about French scouting, of all things. Not where to get the best-smelling parfum or cheapest designer knockoffs, but actual bits of real French life.
They stepped up to the café counter and Lily cleared her throat. “Je voudrais deux croissants et deux pains au chocolat. Oh, deux cafés au lait. Merci.”
Jack had to admire her tenacity when she knew she had difficulties with the language. He quelled the cashier’s incipient smirk with what he thought of his comte look.
Lily, happily oblivious, accepted the bag of pastries and handed him a cup of coffee.
“Merci,” he thanked her. “And you say de rien, which means, ‘It was nothing.’”
She practiced that a couple times as they walked to a bench along a pretty little park. Jack chewed a bit of pain au chocolat, mindful that his digestion was still a bit sensitive. Lily dipped her croissant into the milky coffee with gusto, not minding the flaky crumbs falling on her khaki cargo pants.
University students from the nearby Sorbonne argued about philosophy and politics while a young long-haired musician played guitar, his girlfriend staring up at him adoringly.
Nadine had stared at him like that while they were dating, but stopped soon after their engagement. It was as if she didn’t need to bother once she had his ring. And of course he had been gone many months out of the year with his disaster relief work. His closest friends in the world, Giorgio, Prince of Vinciguerra, and Francisco, Duke of Aguas Santas in Portugal, had warned him to slow down.
Jack found it easy to ignore their advice. They were ones to talk