“I’m a quick study.”

“Are we settled, then?” I ask.

Lena, Maxine, and Finn all nod.

“Then I’ll be right back.”

I rush to my room and throw an overcoat on over my dress. I still haven’t had time to change since my evening with Oliver.

As quick as I am able, I lace up my boots and grab an umbrella from a stand in the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Maxine calls after me, poking her head out of the guest room door.

“There’s a promise I have to keep.”

I hail a pedicab outside of the apartment and ask the driver to take me to the Sorbonne.

I know Oliver’s dorm only by the address I write on the fronts of the envelopes I’ve been sending him for the past three months, but I have a decent enough sense of direction. I’ll knock on every door if I have to. The campus is ancient-looking, built in a square around an onion-domed center building. The whole campus looks like something from a painting tonight, dark blue and slick with rain.

I’m lucky. Oliver’s dormitory is on the first floor, right off the main courtyard. I find it without issue, but I am soaked to the bone by the time I arrive at his doorstep. The umbrella was no match for the wind.

It’s well past ten p.m. now and I know he’ll be asleep. The glass is dark, the room behind it still and silent.

I knock once. Twice. Three times. No answer.

But I don’t give up.

The door is hard against my knuckles. I rap so hard I’m sure they’ll be bruised in the morning. Again and again I hit the door, the rain splashing around my feet as the storm carries on.

Finally, Oliver answers, wearing pajamas and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Are you all right?” He looks startled to see me.

“Perfectly. I’m sorry to scare you.”

He waves me inside. “God, you’re soaked, please come in, I’ll make tea.”

My wet hair whips around my face as shake my head no. “I’d love to, but not tonight. Can you come with me?”

He furrows his brow in concern. “You sure everything is all right?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

I wait outside under the eaves while Oliver changes into something other than pajamas, and he meets me outside with an umbrella of his own.

He slips off his dry coat and drapes it over my shoulders. “If you catch a cold on account of me, I’ll feel guilty for weeks.”

I’ve paid the pedicab with the walking-around money Maxine’s mother gave us. The automobile is idling at outside the gates of the school. Once in the warmth of the back seat, I do my best to explain.