He took a long time to answer. He kept his eyes on the road when he did. “I haven’t seen him in twenty-five years,” he said in an even tone, and she didn’t press him about it. She could see that it was a painful subject. He was a man of many facets and contradictions. His choice of working as a butler seemed like an odd one, but he seemed to like it. And he was good at what he did. He was fast, bright, resourceful, and efficient, and he seemed to have a wealth of knowledge on many subjects. She wondered what the story was with his brother but didn’t ask him. It was clearly off-limits, and she had no desire to pry. She had her own taboo subjects and painful family secrets.
They rode back to Paris in comfortable silence, with her new acquisitions in the van. They dropped them off at the new apartment on the way back to the quai Voltaire.
“Do you have enough food for tonight?” he asked her, and she smiled and said she did.
“Thank you for a fun afternoon, and for giving up your Saturday. Have a nice day off tomorrow,” she said, and closed the door of the van. She waved as he drove away, and went upstairs to make more lists of things she needed for the apartment. They were installing her new kitchen on Monday. They were moving ahead at full speed. She was well aware that she couldn’t have done it without Joachim. Their respective needs had dovetailed nicely. She was filling a gap for him, and he was helping her set up her new life in Paris. The timing for each of them was perfect, and just what they needed. In a way, it was almost too good to be true. And very exciting to have a beautiful new apartment in Paris.
* * *
—
Olivia met Joachim at the new apartment on Monday. He was overseeing the installation of the Ikea kitchen. The workmen were making an appalling mess, but they seemed to know what they were doing. They were leaving fingerprints everywhere, and she cringed when she saw the chaos in the kitchen.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be perfect when they’re finished. Their installers are magicians,” he reassured her. It was too soon to tell, and she was interviewing three cleaning women that morning. Two of them were very young, and only had short-term references. The third one was slower, older, but had worked for twenty years for the same woman who had recently died. So she had no reference, but she was immaculate and Olivia liked her. She looked trustworthy, and as though she knew her job. She was fifty years old and had worked for the Plaza Athénée before her long-term job. Olivia’s instincts told her she was the right one, and she hired her, to start immediately. They had managed with Alphonsine’s minimal English and Olivia showing her what needed to be done. And the agency had provided translations of her references. Olivia wanted the whole apartment scrubbed before she moved in. Alphonsine promised to start the next day. Olivia told Joachim over lunch that she had hired her.
“You didn’t like the younger ones?” he questioned her.
“Neither of them has stayed in a job longer than six months and that didn’t look good to me. Alphonsine worked for twenty years for the same woman. She just died so she has no reference, but she looked spotless and seemed serious.” He nodded.
By the end of the day, the kitchen was fully installed, and looked perfect other than the mess everywhere, which the new maid could deal with the next day. Joachim was very pleased with the kitchen installation, and Olivia was happy with it too, and liked the way it looked. The whole kitchen was lacquered white.
He drove her back to the seventh arrondissement, and then left for the night. He said he had promised to make dinner for his mother.
“She doesn’t eat well if she doesn’t have anyone to eat with. She says it bores her.”
“My mother was that way too, and once her mind started slipping, she couldn’t remember if she had eaten or not. I had to have nurses for her eventually. Losing your mind is a terrible thing.” Olivia had noticed that he was cool with her when they met again on Monday. She wondered if her mention of his brother had made him retreat. She had inadvertently touched a nerve, but by the end of the day he had warmed up again.