Mer: Ok. Your lack of response tells me you are freaking out. Trust me, Josie. It’s going to be fine. Just keep your head down, and watch the kid, and six weeks will be over before you know it.

I breathed out. My best friend knew me well.

And then what? I typed.

Mer: Then we’ll figure out your next step. Together. Love you

Love you too.

I closed the apps on my phone to save battery life and gathered my things as we pulled into the train station.

What had I been thinking? There should be a rule to never make life altering decisions after a traumatic day followed by three gin cocktails.

This job had disaster written all over it.

Chapter Six

I stepped off the train and walked through one of the ornate green double doors into the Nice Ville train station. The building was old and gorgeous, the main vestibule only about the size of a basketball court, but with ornate details on the walls and a roof dome of paneled glass that spoke of a bygone era. I stopped, and stared upwards, not realizing I’d come to a complete standstill with my mouth open until someone bumped into me with a muttered grunt.

“S-sorry.” Nervousness pinched my belly, and I made my feet move. I wasn’t sure if I was expecting someone holding a sign, but as I looked left and right, trying to stay out of the way of the stream of passengers coming after me, I saw no one who looked like they were here for me.

Someone jostled into me again. “Excusez-moi.”

“Sorry,” I muttered and headed toward a small stand that sold newspapers, candy, and cigarettes so I could get out of the way. I should at least buy a bottle of water while I waited and figured out my next move in case no one showed up. I pursed my lips together and dug in my purse for my sunglasses and slipped them on my face. I pointed to a bottle of water and handed over some of my Euros I’d managed to get out of an ATM at the Paris airport.

The sound of small feet running caught my attention. A small girl, dressed in a pink dress and Mary Jane shoes, and tangled honey-colored hair floating wild about her face flew around the corner of the newsstand and stopped dead when she saw me.

I squatted and pushed my sunglasses up to my hair, frowning. “Are you okay?”

“Dauphine!” A man’s voice boomed across the station, the sound panicked.

“Dauphine!” The man rushed past, then whirled as he saw us. He dropped to a crouch, yanking the small girl into his arms. He held her tight, his head falling into her shoulder like he was inhaling her desperately.