We'll Always Have Paris

The decision was hard, but it wasn’t that hard right? Cherry berated herself. A carton of milk or a pack of cigarettes? So what, if her boyfriend Dave wasn’t answering his phone, and she hadn't heard from him in over a month. So what, if she really wanted that puff of smoke for comfort. So what if it was killing her. You couldn’t eat a cigarette. Well, you could, but…gross. She giggled a little at the thought. She had given up that bad habit, right? Her stomach rumbled and she almost felt sick with the force of it. She had stopped here at the convenience store on her way home from work. The line at the cash register advanced and Cherry hesitated for a split second and then bought that jug of milk, paying for it with the last five dollars on her ATM card. She rested her hand lightly on her swollen tummy. The baby inside of her needed food and so did she. They said that when a pregnant mother smoked, the baby smoked too, and she really didn’t want that. Right?

Back upstairs in her apartment above the convenience store she had a generic box of bran with raisin cereal which she had been rationing for days, along with a few packs of Ramen noodle soup, a couple of apples and maybe a coffee pod or two. Though lately coffee made her feel sick. When she was done, she took one of her maternal vitamins, the last from a sample bottle that the public health nurse had given her a few weeks ago. She hoped the baby would be born with all of its fingers and toes, because she wouldn’t be able to buy any more until Friday. At least the morning sickness had passed. It was Monday today and the food bank was only open on Wednesdays so she had to make what little supplies she had stretch. She was working her usual night shift tonight and Pay day was on Friday. Her room mate hadn’t been home much lately, otherwise Cherry could have borrowed some money from her.

She had had $50 left in her account after paying her rent, which was just enough to cover her bus fare to work, and her cell phone bill. How was she going to care for a baby on her income? Why hadn’t Dave called her back? He had never not called her back before. He was usually pretty good about that. It was one of the reasons she loved him so much. Was it because she had told him about the baby? Had she been mistaken in him after all? I mean she wasn’t expecting a proposal or anything right? but to just not call her at all? She shook her head and called again. Mailbox full. Right. She hung up.

Cherry was the night cleaner for a big accounting firm down town, and she new she was lucky to even have a job when so many others were out of work right now. The bus driver dropped her off on the empty street in front of the gigantic, mostly glass structure, that was called the Bowen Plaza. The security guard, Gordon, let her in, scanning her card carefully even though he knew who she was. He was diligent like that, and she respected him for it. See you tomorrow Cherry he said and wished her a good evening as she walked away down the otherwise silent hallway. His polite words echoing hollowly in the large empty foyer. She smiled and waved over her shoulder at him. If she wasn’t so in love with Dave, and expecting his baby, she would have pursued a closer relationship with Gordon. He seemed really nice and wasn’t too bad to look at either. She giggled. It was also a plus that he was crazy about her.

Cherry took the elevator to the fourth floor and made her way to the janitor’s closet, where she began filling her cart with the usual cleaning supplies that she needed, ticking each item off on her mental checklist. She didn’t mind the job, she thought to herself as she filled up her mop bucket with hot water. Working with her hands left her mind free to wander. She couldn’t help but think about how if she hadn’t dropped out of community college at the end of May last year, she would have graduated this past June with her former classmates, and could be running one of these offices by now, like her room mate Viviane. She sighed. Maybe she would even have had food to eat and a car to drive too. Her life would be very different right now that was for sure.

She reminisced about how she had decided to take a year off of school to go backpacking around Europe, with some of her friends from high school. I mean you only live once, right? That was her outlook on life, and that was how she had met David Chevalier, the man of her dreams. She smiled to herself remembering how she had walked into a bicycle shop, in Paris, with a flat tire. The place had smelled like rubber and grease, but otherwise was clean and well organized. She spoke to the handsome young man at the counter in stilted French and was pleasantly surprised when he replied in fluent English. He had a large boyish grin on his face as he listened to her massacre his language. He was apparently Canadian too, like her, but from Montreal not Toronto. He had dual citizen ship but lived in Paris for most of the year, usually only coming home to visit his parents in Quebec. He had a lovely deep voice and a cute French accent that was to die for; calling her Cherie when she told him her name, which made her blush when he spoke it like an endearment. He replaced the worn and punctured rubber tube that was impeding her travel plans for the day. She watched him surreptitiously as he competently worked on her bike, making sure everything was working tickety boo. When the task was complete, he surprised her with a bill for zero dollars and an invitation to dinner. Of course she said yes. She was even more surprised later when they arrived at one of the finer restaurants that she had just recently read about in a brochure at the hostel she had been staying in. “Didn’t you have to wait like a year to get in here?” she wondered out loud. She was a little sorry she asked when his expression turned sad. Apparently, he had reserved the table over a year ago, for a romantic evening with his then girlfriend. He had planned to propose to her, but she broke up with him. He was heart broken at the time. He never did cancel the table hoping she would take him back, but then she married his best friend about six months ago, so his hopes had been permanently dashed. His mood changed in an instant, like mercury, and a smile split his handsome face instead of the frown. “I had an event reminder on my calendar this morning” he said with the accent that was making her tingle all over. “I was just about to pick up my phone to cancel because, who wants to eat alone?

Right? She interjected and he laughed; and then you walked in, n'est-ce pas? The most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Cherry was enchanted. So they both decided to take a chance on love. A chance that had paid off in spades it seemed, for both of them, or rather hearts if you prefer. She giggled. Cherry had never been so happy. She was literally on cloud nine all the time. She had completely forgotten that her time was running short, and when her travel visa expired, she had to return home to Canada. Weather she wanted to or not.

Rents were, as always, super high in Toronto. She contacted her friend Viviane whom she had met in college. Viviane had been a second-year student in office management while Cherry had been a first year. Viviane had graduated with honors and now worked at a large accounting firm downtown. She told Cherry that without her diploma she couldn’t work in the office, but they had an opening for a night cleaner, if she was interested? She landed the job, thanks largely to Viviane who had put in a good word for her and even invited Cherry to share her small apartment. Just until she could figure things out of course. Viviane seemed to be doing very well for herself, and she was generous.

Cherry talked often on the phone with Dave. She missed him terribly. They laughingly made plans to spend all their vacations together, and after a while they had even started talking about a future together, maybe even marriage. One of them could move, probably her, because he owned his own shop, though having dual citizenship would have made it easier for him to move back to Canada than for her to move. She didn’t mind though. So, she put in an application for a working visa and waited. Cherry had received her documentation in the mail six weeks later. She was going to surprise Dave with the news, but that was before she found out about the baby.

She had been feeling ill for days, and then she realized she hadn’t menstruated since she had returned home from France. She hadn’t noticed at first as her periods had always been irregular since she was a teenager. Anxiety, fear and a strange excitement vied for dominance. She had been on the pill the entire time, and Dave had faithfully used protection, so she was completely blown away when the test stick turned positive before her unbelieving eyes. How had that happened? She giggled hysterically; well, she knew how it happened; but really, how had this happened? Try saying legal aid? maybe she could support herself and her child with a billion-dollar law suit? Well guess they did say the pill was only ninety one percent effective. She guessed she was just that lucky 9 percent of females for whom birth control had failed. She reigned in her thoughts…however it happened, it happened. She stayed sitting in the bathroom stall for a long time, with her skirt around her ankles, before she could finally move and breath again. She wasn’t sure what to expect from Dave when she told him, but it was her body, her choice right? So, in a way it didn’t matter what he thought, but she really did love him and hoped he loved her enough to welcome a child into their relationship. 

Her evening continued to go smoothly that night at work as she thought about all these things and worried about her future. She went into the break room and cleaned out the fridge of old food first, looking for something snack worthy to tide her over until she got home. There was a brown speckled banana and half of a blue berry muffin that were still fit for consumption. She was sure no one would miss them. Time passed swiftly as she dusted, wiped down tables and mopped floors. She finished up with the microwave and then moved out into the sea of cubicles. She proceeded to empty each garbage can from every small enclosed space and then later in the bigger offices. Eventually she finished up by vacuuming the carpets and then voila, she was done. She signed out at 7:00 am, saying goodbye to Peter, who would have replaced Gordon at the security desk around midnight.  It was a half hour bus ride home, and it dropped her off a short walk from her front door. She found a note on the kitchen table from Viviane. Darling, she wrote. I won’t be home for a few days, I am going to a conference in Ottawa with Leo McAvoy. See you when I get back. PS. There is Chinese in the fridge.  Leo was the CEO at Bowen and Sons. Cherry was pretty sure that he was sleeping with Viviane, despite the fact that he was married. Apparently, he had given Viviane a big promotion which seemed to include spending nights at his place along with all the other bells and whistles, like a big raise, and a bigger office.  Cherry wasn’t sure how she felt about all that but who was she to judge, right? Cherry opened the fridge door, and smiled a wolfish smile. “Food” she said out loud. “Come to mamma” and then she giggled.

The following night was pretty much the same routine as always. When Cherry came to Vivienne's larger, and much nicer, new office, with the amazing view of the city scape, and real potted plants artfully arranged in front of the floor to ceiling windows, she felt a little envious. However, she had made her choices in life and she couldn’t change the past, nor would she want to even if David Chevalier dumped her and his baby. Guess they would always have Paris? She sighed. She didn’t feel like laughing at the cliché. She checked the garbage and found it empty of trash. It must have been a quiet day as normally it was full. She started to vacuum the carpet and bumped up against the mahogany desk. The computer monitor lit up unexpectedly at the jolt and the hard drive hummed. That was strange right? It was against the rules for an employee to leave their computer on after hours. Normally Viviane was very methodical and detail oriented; it was unlike her to forget. Cherry looked at the screen and saw a list of names and bank numbers in the accounting software which meant she was still logged in, which meant anyone could have used the computer if they had wanted to and no one would be the wiser. Cherry looked around curiously. Perhaps Viviane was still in the building? No? She did her friend a solid, and logged out of the computer and shut it off. Normally she wasn’t supposed to touch the computers but she didn’t want her best friend to get into trouble. Right? Even if that friend was sleeping with the boss.

And that was how her fingerprints had gotten to be on Viviane's computer keyboard and mouse that fateful night. And That is what she told the police when they woke her up after only three hours of sleep that morning, banging on her door and looking for answers that she couldn’t possibly give them. 

Did she know that Leo McAvoy's body had been found in a dumpster? apparently a victim of foul play? No, she did not know that, she had never even met the man she said truthfully. Did she know that traces of her good friend Viviane's blood had been found on his clothing? No, she did not know that either, nor did she know that Viviane had been reported missing. She felt fear sink into the pit of her stomach. “You didn’t notice she was missing?” the police man said sternly as if he didn’t believe her. “Would you like a cup of coffee officer Donnelly?" she said sweetly. “I think I still have one or two pods left” He didn’t reply, rather he walked to the door. “Were you aware that over 1.2 million dollars was embezzled from the company you work for miss Taylor since your friend was employed there? Her jaw dropped open. No? he said drolly before she could answer. He handed her a business card. If you think of anything else, call me he said, and then he told her not to leave town. “Why would I?” she said and giggled nervously; he didn’t even crack a smile.

After the police man left, she was too wide awake to go back to sleep so she went downstairs to check the mail. She couldn’t help but wonder if Viviane had killed Leo. It didn’t seem likely, but then you never know. Maybe she had seduced him and stolen his computer codes, then hacked the company accounts? Hey, even she’d thought about it but she didn’t think prison was a good option for a pregnant woman. She unlocked her postal box and there was nothing in there but a large brown manilla envelope which was addressed to her. She looked at it curiously. It was bulky and heavy. The letter was from a solicitor in Montreal. Maybe Viviane had sent her some of the heist? She giggled.

Dear Miss Cherry Taylor,

We regret to inform you that Mr. David Chevalier, a passenger on Air France, flight 2250 out of Paris, has passed away due to injuries sustained when the plane crashed while taking off from the Charles de Gaulle Airport, en-route to Toronto.

Cherry sat down on the floor with a thud. How could this be? Had he been coming to see her? Oh God he was; she remembered hearing about the crash on the news earlier in the month.

Mr. Chevalier named you as his heir, and as such you are receiving a sum of money in the amount of $250,000 from the sale of his business. $700,000. For the sale of his Paris condo, and also a settlement from the air line for $10,000,000. You will find three cashiers checks enclosed. In addition to the monies mentioned, Mr. Chevalier has left you some jewelry including a set of his and hers engagement rings.

Enclosed you will also find a letter of introduction to his parents should you need to contact them.

Yours in closing,

Thomas & Burns,

Attorneys at law. 

Cherry covered her swollen tummy with her shaking hands and wept uncontrollably, for all that she had lost and whispered tenderly "We will always have Paris my love"