“You said it was over fast.”
“I should never have married him. We met while we were both in a play in high school for our drama class. It was a watered-down version of Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, better known as The Man in the Iron Mask. I played a maid and Christophe took the role of a groom of one of the Musketeers.”
“The Dumas tales are some of my favorites,” Raoul interjected.
“Mine too. We had a lot of fun and performed for four nights. Between the costumes and all the makeup, it was very exciting. He was cute and loaded with personality. Everyone liked him, especially the girls.
“After it was over, we started seeing each other until we became inseparable. He brought excitement into my life and I was convinced I’d fallen in love. We wanted to get married.” She flicked Raoul a glance. “Big mistake.”
Raoul eyed her intently. “Why didn’t it work?”
“Naively, I thought he wanted a real marriage. I intended to be the best wife possible. We got married midsummer and moved in with his parents. He had a Vespa and we got around on that until we could afford to buy a car. He was an only child. They had room at their house and insisted we live with them until we got on our feet.”
“You liked them?”
“Yes, but by the end of our first month I was unhappy.”
He squinted. “Only a month?”
She nodded. “By then I knew our marriage was never meant to be. He’d lost his job at a car body shop. I found out later he’d been going in late and not finishing his work. He was a child who liked to play too much. Christophe wanted things, but he didn’t have the money to pay for them.”
“How did you manage?”
“I got a job at a librairie and sold books.”
His brows went up. “So it was you who brought home the paycheck.”
“Yes, and his parents provided a home for us. He applied for another job at an epicier and kept it for a while. But one night he came home drunk, and confessed he’d lost that job. I found out later he’d gotten involved with a girl who worked there.”
Her story was a terribly sad one. “I’m desolé for you, Cami.”
“Things went from bad to worse. When I found out he’d been with another girl and couldn’t hold on to his next job, that was it. We weren’t going to make it. Thankfully I hadn’t gotten pregnant and couldn’t believe I’d gotten myself into such a bad situation. He had no desire to go to college or learn a trade. I told him I wanted a divorce.”
“How did that go over?”
“He took off. That was his way when he couldn’t cope. Of course he always came back to his parents when he ran out of money. At that point I didn’t care and went to court to obtain a divorce with the money I’d earned at the bookstore. Then I moved back in with Maman.”
“How could he have let you go? I can’t comprehend it.” Raoul couldn’t imagine it. “Didn’t he try to fight you on it?”
“Not Christophe.” She started to say something else, then held back. There was still something she wasn’t telling him. He had an idea it was important. Cami had sounded far away from him just now. Raoul knew a serious issue of some kind was going on inside of her that had nothing to do with her disastrous marriage seven years ago.
“We’ve talked about your divorce, but I didn’t ask if there’s someone else in your life now.” He didn’t really believe it, not after the way she’d returned his kisses, but he had to ask.
“More like something else.”
“You mean your new job.”
After a slight hesitation he heard her say, “Yes. I intend to succeed.”
Again Raoul had the impression there was more she wasn’t telling him. Before long he intended to find out what it was.
“As we both found out, not all marriages are happy ones, Cami.”
“You’re right. I quit my job and started going to work with Maman cleaning houses. That’s how my cleaning career got started. The pay was so much better and paid the insurance. When I’d saved enough money to pay for the first semester, I enrolled in business and finance at Sophie Antipolis University in Nice.”
His thoughts reeled. “That means you had to be a top student in high school.”
“My high school English teacher encouraged me to work hard and apply for a scholarship.”