Oliver, standing on the bridge of the playground’s ‘ship’, pointed and yelled, ‘Maman!’

De Payns caught sight of Romy through the trees, walking along the path with a coffee in each hand. She was smiling and so was the woman beside her—Ana Homsi. Ana’s son, Charles, ran ahead, calling to Oliver.

Shifting along on the park bench, de Payns made room for the women and took his coffee from Romy.

‘Hi Alec,’ said Ana, letting Romy sit next to her husband. ‘Sorry to gatecrash. Charles really wanted to see Ollie.’

De Payns smiled as he got a kiss on the cheek from Romy. She’d come from her interview so she was dressed like a typical Parisienne in summer—sleeveless and classy.

‘So, how did it go?’ he asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Romy beamed. ‘We got along well. I really liked them.’

‘Who is them?’

Romy said, ‘The Tirol Council.’

De Payns hadn’t heard of it. ‘Tirol, like schnapps and lederhosen?’

‘No,’ said Romy, laughing. ‘They’re based in Geneva, former World Bank economists and thinkers.’

De Payns didn’t bite at that. In his world a thinker was either a bullshitter or a Communist. ‘What do they do?’

‘Policy work and research with the OECD and EU. They want someone to work on the historical drivers of wealth disparity between Western and Eastern Europe. It’s my thing.’

De Payns raised his coffee cup in a toast while Oliver and Charles argued about who was going down the slide first. ‘I knew that PhD would be useful.’

Ana leaned forward and looked at him, her dark hair falling across her face. ‘Talking of useful, you wouldn’t have a cigarette, would you, Alec?’

‘Not officially,’ he said, fishing his Marlboros and lighter from his windbreaker pocket and handing them over.

‘Oops, sorry,’ she said, wincing at Romy.

‘It’s not a big deal,’ said Romy, a little peeved. ‘I just don’t want the boys to see their father smoking.’

De Payns held up his empty hands as Ana lit a cigarette and handed back the pack.

‘I feel terrible,’ said Ana, biting her bottom lip. ‘But I can’t drink coffee and not have a cigarette.’

Her cell phone sounded and Ana looked at it, excused herself and stood to take the call.

‘So, happy about the interview?’ he asked Romy.

‘It went really well,’ she said. ‘They asked all the right questions.’

When Ana was back on the park bench de Payns looked at the two women. ‘So how come you guys are together?’

‘We bumped into each other at Port-Royal station,’ said Romy.

‘We were coming back from the doctor,’ said Ana. ‘Charles’s ears play up in summer. Must be the pollen.’

‘It was a real coincidence,’ said Romy.