Page 80 of Be Less Panda
‘I’m sure he can wait until later,’ she said, clicking the ‘decline’ button. ‘Is your daughter ok?’
‘Yes, she is happy that we are getting on. But she wants me to go home. She’s worried about me catching this new virus.’
‘That’s probably what Mark wants to talk about.’
‘We worry about our children from the day they’re born, and then there comes a point where they worry about us.’
‘Though we never stop worrying about them,’ Nancy said thoughtfully.
‘Let’s take that side street,’ he said, guiding her across the road.
‘What did you do after I disappeared?’ Klaus asked.
‘I tried to track down your company, but eventually, I gave up. I used to check the postbox twice a day to see if you’d sent me a letter. But then I had to leave Paris.’
‘You went sailing? When I was in that cell, I used to imagine you at the tiller of a yacht, your hair flowing behind you as you sped across the waves.’
‘I changed my mind about the yacht trip,’ she said hesitantly.
‘That’s a shame. Did Patty make it around the world? We didn’t get that sort of news at home.’
‘No, she had to give up at Sydney. The boat had a major issue with its rigging. But on the positive side, the shipwright who looked at it for her turned out to be her ideal man. She still lives with him there now.’
They turned into another narrow street.
‘Have we walked along here before?’ Nancy asked. It was a typical old Parisian street, the sort you’d see in a tourist brochure. None of the tall, elegant buildings or the shops and cafés taking up the ground floor space rang a bell with Nancy, but something about the view in the distance was familiar.
Klaus smiled. ‘I think you will remember it very well in a minute. I hope so anyway.’
They carried for a few more metres, then he stopped and gently turned her around to face the building opposite. There was an old Art Nouveau clock on the wall between two windows. It had drawings of two stylised black cats curling around the clock face.
Nancy’s heart skipped a beat as she recalled the previous time she’d seen that clock. She was surprised he’d remembered. ‘Are we eating here?’
‘Sadly, it is no longer a restaurant, but I thought you might like to see it again.’
‘Did you pick tonight’s restaurant so we would have to walk past it?’
‘We might be taking a little detour,’ he whispered in her ear.
Nancy turned to face him and put her hand up to stroke his cheek.
Their eyes met briefly before he bent his head to kiss her. She felt his lips on hers. It could be 1964 all over again. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment as he held her close against his body. How long was it since she’d last felt this way? Years. Before Xander. Not since Hans had disappeared, to be honest.
‘Can we pick up where we left off?’ He whispered as he gently moved away.
‘Do you mean you’re going to wine and dine me, then panic and leave me frustrated at my door? ’ Nancy whispered back.
‘Absolutely not. I was referring to the last night we spent together.’
‘Do you think we could manage a night as passionate as that again?’ Nancy smiled at the memory. ‘It was an impressive enough performance for a couple of 20-somethings. It would be nothing short of a miracle at our age.’
‘I’m not sure I can be quite as energetic as I was when I was 25, but my heart is in it. I’m willing to risk giving it a go.’
37
‘Do you have to go?’ Klaus murmured as he lay watching Nancy get dressed in the dim light from his hotel room’s bedside lamp.
‘Olivia and I are flying home in a few hours.’