The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel Read Free Page A

you are here, chérie ?” Monique asked.
    Anna ate a bite of her croissant while she stirred a pure cane sugar cube into her café crème . “I’ve got to do some research for my book, and…” she hesitated, staring into her cup, “there’s someone I have to find.”
    Monique lifted an eyebrow and gave Anna a sideways glance. With her short-cut brown hair, long neck, and fine-boned face, she reminded Anna of the French film star Juliette Binoche.
    Anna sat back, combed her fingers through her long, dark brown hair, and lowered her chin. Her piercing, dark brown eyes met Monique’s. “Do you remember C-C?”
    “The medical student you dated? Of course. How long ago was that? Maybe ten years? Charles-Christian, wasn’t it?” Monique leaned forward. “Is that the someone you have to find?”
    Anna nodded.
    “I always wondered what had happened between you two. You seemed so perfect for each other, so in love. Do you remember, in the late fall I think it was, when we were walking in Montmartre? He swept you up and carried you in his arms to the top of the steps. Then you two kissed for the longest time. I thought it was so romantique .”
    Anna was silent for a minute. She had used a version of that scene in her latest novel. “Yes, well, I guess I never mentioned that I didn’t hear from C-C again, did I? We spent our last night together parked in front of the Eiffel Tower, said good-bye at the airport the next day, and I flew home. I never heard from him after that.”
    “ Mais …but, since you didn’t hear from him,” Monique hesitated, her eyebrows knitted, “didn’t you worry that something terrible had happened to him?”
    “Yes, of course I did. At first I wrote letters. Nothing in response. Then I tried to call his apartment. You remember. The one in the fifth arrondissement? No forwarding address.”
    “Did you ever try to contact his parents?”
    “Yes, but his father wasn’t too keen on his son’s romantic interest in an American girl, if you remember. He always just hung up on me.”
    “But wasn’t there someone who would have known his whereabouts? A friend?”
    Anna shook her head.
    “Well, did you just give up then? Fin de l’histoire ? No more trying to find him?”
    “Yes, yes…I guess…I did, finally. There was no use. I was back home in California—a long way away—and I was broke.”
    “So there has been no one else?”
    “No one serious until recently. I’ve been dating an attorney. Mark. He’s sweet and pretty good looking. Keeps himself in shape. He lives in the same condo complex as I do. We have fun together. He’s…” Anna bit her lip, “in love with me. He hasn’t said it, but I can tell. The problem is that I’m not sure I’m in love with him or that I could even consider marrying him. For some inexplicable reason, I can’t let C-C go.”
    They both sipped their cafés and looked out the window. Sabastien came over with his tail swishing and put his paw in Anna’s lap. Anna thought about her dog, a golden retriever named Paris, at home in California with her grandparents while she was away. She petted Sabastien and gave him a kiss.
    “Do you think it’s possible to turn back the clock ten years, Monique?”
    Monique considered her question. “Have you ever regretted leaving when you did?”
    “Yes, but C-C was still in medical school, and his father was supporting him until he finished. There was no firm commitment. I guess I figured that C-C would remain in limbo until I waltzed back into his life…” She laughed. “Kinda like that dream I keep having.”
    “I have an idea, chérie . Why don’t you stay here until the end of September? You can take care of Sabastien while Georges and I are in Los Angeles.”
    Anna brightened. “I’d love that. We can swap apartments, if you like.”
    “Deal.” Monique smiled at her. Her eyes twinkled.
    Just then Monique’s cell phone rang to the tune of the French national anthem.
    “Oh, mon portable .