“It’s not the same thing. At some point you’ll see that, but it might take a while.” David had been Grace’s rock. He’d given her the emotional stability she’d craved. Protected by his love, she’d thrived.
“I am never going to forgive him. She’s twenty-three. He
has completely and utterly humiliated me. Everywhere I go, people are wondering about me. They’re talking about what I did wrong.”
“You did nothing wrong, Grace.”
“Then why did he leave?”
Such a simple question for a complicated situation.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not important. I’m never important.”
“That’s not true.” Mimi knew this was about more than David. “Your mom was sick. It was different.”
“Maybe the reasons, but not the result.” Grace’s words emerged in an uneven volley, between sobs. “I have to be cheerful and together for Sophie, and put on my best coping face whenever I leave the house.” She blew her nose. “People are looking at me wondering what I did wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Grace.”
“I must have done something, or he wouldn’t have left me for her.”
“Men sometimes do selfish things.” Mimi paused. “Women, too.”
She’d been selfish, hadn’t she?
It was something she didn’t like to admit to herself, which was why she’d never discussed it with anyone. Not even Grace. Her family saw only the facts—that she’d had a child.
They didn’t know the history of her heart.
Grace looked at her, her eyes bruised with grief. “He chose her over me.”
Mimi’s heart felt heavy in her chest. She knew this wasn’t just about David. “It’s not that simple.”
“Isn’t it? He is living with her. And now I have to go to Paris on my own.” The words were barely distinguishable between the sobs.
“You’re still going to Paris?” Mimi’s heart gave a little lift, like a bird catching a thermal.
“I don’t have any choice—” Grace hiccuped, sobbed, hiccuped again. “If I don’t go, Sophie won’t travel this summer. And I am not giving the tickets to David. I’m not that evolved.”
“Did he ask for them?” Surely even a man blinded by a new infatuation—she refused to believe it was love—wouldn’t do something so thoughtless and cruel?
“Yes. I told him I was using them.” Grace blew her nose. “And I can’t see a way out of it that doesn’t involve ruining Sophie’s summer.”
She would do it, Mimi knew, because Grace was an excellent mother. A far better mother than Mimi had ever been.
“You might enjoy it.”
“It would be a miserable trip. It feels like the wrong choice.”
“Paris is never the wrong choice. And staying here would be worse.”
Grace brushed her hand across her cheeks. “It was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime with the man I love.”
Mimi ignored the ache in her chest. “It can still be the trip of a lifetime.”
“Memorable for the fact that I’m alone in the City of Lights? Paris is for lovers.”