I laughed. If I didn’t give him something, I thought, this might be the last time I would see him, and I did want to see him again.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be here yet,” I began. “I’ve been treated to a vacation. I’m interested in most things. No, I’m not in school at the moment. I’m in between. How’s that?”
“I don’t know any more about you than I did before your answer,” he said.
“Well, is this the last time we’ll see each other?”
“Better not be.”
“Okay. Then as time goes by, you’ll learn more about me.”
He smiled. “What were you planning to do with the rest of your day?”
“Nothing much. Maybe take a swim.”
“Want company?”
“I thought I had that,” I said.
He signaled for the waiter. “L’addition,” he told him. “We can stop at a store just out here that carries the best chocolates in Monaco.”
“I was just kidding. That’s not important.”
“Okay. Then let me stop by my house and pick up a suit. That way, I can, as Norbert would say, impress you.”
“Oh, not another mansion,” I said, and feigned a yawn, pretending to be bored with the idea. He laughed and paid for our lunch.
His family home was above the Grande Corniche. It looked more like a castle, with its turrets and walls. When I said that, he told me it had been a castle.
“It was my father’s dream to turn it into a livable modern home. It took nearly five years to redo and modernize with plumbing and electricity. There’s an elevator, too, not that either of my parents needs one.”
“Are you an only child?”
“My sister says she is,” he replied, smiling. “There’s just the two of us. She’s older and married and living in Switzerland. She’s one of those Greenpeace types, so my parents and she don’t see eye to eye on most things. Her marriage was a disaster as far as they’re concerned. They tolerate my brother-in-law, but they’re not fond of him. Consequently, my sister isn’t here much and has nothing to do with our family enterprise. What about you? Any brothers or sisters?” He waited to see if I would answer.
“I’m on my own,” I said. It wasn’t really an answer, but it was true.
“Okay.”
We drove through the opened gate and into a wide courtyard.
“Dad says there was a moat here, but he’s just kidding, of course.”
I got out, now very curious. “Are your parents home?”
“No, they’re on a trip with some friends. They’re on the yacht. But they’ll be back this week, and I can take you for a short trip, maybe a day or so, if you like.”
“Maybe,” I said. I thought I would absolutely have to check with Mrs. Brittany first, and perhaps then I would know if this had all been prearranged or if it was just happening. Even if it was just happening, I wasn’t sure how she would react. Maybe she would think I had already gone too far.
“My father wanted to preserve the stone exterior. The house has a history. It was a nobleman’s castle in the seventeenth century,” Paul explained as we stood looking up at the walls around the front entrance. “Of course, such structures were cold and dreary inside, so part of the renovation involved widening windows to get more sunlight. There are twelve bedrooms. He kept the structure so that all of them are perfectly round. If you want to go around in circles, this is the place,” he joked, and opened the large, tall oak front door to reveal another, smaller courtyard. The more modern entrance with large glass windows was at the other side of that.
“Voilà,” he said. There were wooden benches, small ponds and fountains, beautiful flowers, and some statuary in the inner courtyard. “I’m on the third floor,” he said. “You’ve got to see the view.”
“Isn’t that what the fox told the hen?”
“Not quite, but close.”
I followed him over the stone walkway to the actual entrance. A woman in a light blue uniform appeared as soon as we stepped into the long, wide entryway. She looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties.