Joe’s origins had been simpler and rougher, and more real. He was one of four siblings. His father had died when he was young. He had grown up in Michigan, had put himself through college, and worked from the time he was a teenager, at rugged jobs since he was big and strong. He had been a lumberjack, a stevedore, drove a truck while he was in college, and had discovered how much he loved to cook. He had gotten a job as a fireman, and was assigned cooking the meals at the firehouse when he was on duty, so he had a chance to hone his skills. He took several cooking classes, saved his money, quit his job, and went to Europe to work in restaurants in Italy and France, and finally became a master chef. He then moved to L.A. and started his own restaurant. He had met Athena on a cooking show, and they got along famously. They each felt as though they had found their other half. Athena had gone on to have her own successful TV show, while Joe preferred running his restaurant and having direct contact with clients. He also helped her run her vegetarian and vegan restaurants, which were popular lunch places, and much smaller operations than his. He was a smart businessman, a hard worker, and a warm, down-to-earth person. He had a natural instinct to protect people he cared about, so he hated to hear what Nicolas was putting Nadia through. Nicolas sounded like a spoiled boy to him, although he hadn’t thought of him that way before. He wanted to do everything he could to make Nadia and her daughters’ visit to L.A. as much fun as possible.
He had bought tickets to take them to a Dodgers game himself, and was hoping to have time to join them at Universal Studios. He knew Athena was taking them to Disneyland. It wasn’t going to compensate for their currently stressful home life, but he hoped that it would take some of the burden off Nadia, whom he liked a lot, and give them a chance to have some fun after two very tough months. He was aware that the girls didn’t know that their parents’ marriage was at risk. Athena had warned him, but he was sure that they sensed something, which was frightening for them too. He felt sorry for Nadia, and her kids.
He and Athena were both waiting as Nadia and the girls came through customs at LAX. He found a porter for them and folded them all into a big hug. He thought Nadia looked tired and stressed after the long plane ride from Paris, but the girls were happy and excited to be there, and Nadia smiled gratefully at him and her sister.
He took them out to dinner that night, at a restaurant with great burgers for the kids, and very good fare for the adults. They had several vegetarian options for Athena, and Joe ordered a steak.
“So how are my favorite French girls?” Joe asked all three of them. Nadia had lived there for so long that the whole family considered her more French than American now, and she did too.
“We are very good, and very happy to be here,” Sylvie said, pronouncing the words carefully with her French accent.
“And your English has gotten better,” he commended her and she grinned. “What about you?” He turned to Laure as she wrestled with an enormous burger with all the trimmings. She had ketchup all over her face.
“I want to see your dogs,” she enunciated carefully with a grin. She had recently lost her two front teeth.
“They’re excited about seeing you too. Especially Juanita and Chiquita. Your aunt Athena just bought them new ballet tutus.” He gave Athena a wry look and she laughed. “Hugo and Stanley are my guys,” the Lab and the mountain dog. “We go hunting together.” The weather was so warm that they swam in the pool after dinner at Athena’s sprawling ranch-style house in the hills above L.A.
Joe had his own small house he referred to as a “shack” in West Hollywood, but he hadn’t stayed there in years. He called it his “insurance policy” in case Athena ever threw him out. But Athena said they got along better than any of the married people she knew. “Why spoil a good thing?” she always said to her mother, when Rose suggested they get married. She’d finally stopped mentioning it. At forty-three, Athena knew what she wanted, and how she wanted to live. Since children weren’t on her wish list, getting married made no sense to her.
Athena had arranged a whole program for them in L.A. Since she wasn’t back on her show yet and was still on vacation, she had time to spend with them, and thoroughly enjoyed it. She took them to museums, Universal Studios, and Joe came with them as promised. Disneyland was the main event. Nadia and Athena walked all over with Sylvie and Laure, and they saw everything they wanted. Both girls fell asleep, exhausted, after the parade, on their way back to Athena’s house. They had stocked up on Disney pajamas, T-shirts, costumes, magic wands, and Minnie Mouse ears.
“That was really fun,” Nadia said to her sister. “I loved it.”
“Me too.” Athena smiled at her. Nadia was starting to look like herself again and had relaxed in the few days since she’d arrived. After they got the girls to bed, and went to sit in Athena’s modern, professional kitchen, Nadia told her sister her plan.
“I’m going to start the divorce when I get home. I don’t want to sit around and wait anymore for what’s going to happen, and for him to figure out what he wants to do. I can see the handwriting on the wall. Pascale is not a solid bet for the future, and he’s a fool if he thinks she is. He says he’ll end it with her in October after the baby is born, but I don’t think he’ll do it. She’ll probably stick around for a year or two, until the novelty of the baby wears off. I don’t want to waste my life waiting for him. I’m going to tell him I’m starting divorce proceedings when I get home.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want, and not what someone else thinks you should do? Like Mom or Olivia? I know they’ve both taken a hard line about it. But it’s your life, your marriage, and even if he’s a jerk, he’s your jerk, and if you love him, it’s really up to you what you want to do.”
“Thank you,” Nadia said softly and smiled at her. “You’re a great big sister. You should have been a mom. You’d be good at it.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Kids stress me out. Too much responsibility, and I’d be terrified to do the wrong thing and screw them up forever. I don’t know how you handle it, or Venetia, or Olivia.”
“You grow into it. Marriage is kind of like that too. Or I used to think so. Now I don’t know what I believe.”
“Do you think you’d ever come back to the States to live?” Nadia thought about it for a minute and shook her head.
“I have a business in Paris, I love our apartment. My kids are French and they should be close to their father, in the same city. I know it sounds weird since I grew up in New York, but I’m not comfortable there anymore. I’ve lived in Paris for so long that I feel like a foreigner when I’m here. It’s just easier in France. Sometimes I feel more French than American.”
“Maybe that’s why you didn’t file for divorce immediately. A lot of American women would have,” Athena said.