Serial part 4
Confused by her feelings for Jack, Elaine was desperate to find him – but had he gone forever?
THE STORY SO FAR
Elaine is in her 80s and reminiscing with her niece, Issy, about her time in Paris in 1959, when she worked as an au pair for an American family called the Westons. In her first week, she meets Jack, a young British poet. The pair are attracted to each other, but when Jack reads one of his poems, it’s clear Elaine doesn’t like it much. Angry, he is condescending towards Elaine, so she storms out, coming face to face with Jack’s ex-girlfriend, Brigette. Brigette accuses Jack of finishing with her in a note. Later, Elaine’s boss Audrey suggests throwing a party and inviting Jack, to test if he’s interested in Elaine. Elaine agrees to the plan. But at the party, a drunk Jack humiliates himself by reciting a bad imitation of a romantic poem. He flees, dropping the pages he’d written.
When Elaine picks them up, she discovers the poem is called Elaine.
Four days had passed since the cocktail party and Jack’s humiliating poetry recital, and Elaine had not heard a word from him.
Part of her wanted to seek him out and make sure he was OK, but she was also reluctant to seem too keen. While seeing her name as the title of his romantic poem had been flattering, Elaine couldn’t help but feel a little nervous that she had made such an impact on someone so soon. When she’d mentioned this concern to her boss, Audrey Weston, she had laughed, ‘He thinks he’s a poet, honey! They all fall in love within five minutes.’
Now, Elaine sat at the kitchen table helping Audrey’s twoyear-old son, Sebastian, eat a Brie sandwich, most of which was smeared across this face.
‘Are you thinking about that boy?’ Audrey asked, bustling in and seeing Elaine’s downcast expression.
‘I’m just worried about him. He did make a bit of a fool of himself.’
‘We’ve all been fools for love!’ said Audrey dramatically.
Elaine couldn’t imagine anyone making a fool of her enigmatic employer.
‘He just looked so hurt when he ran off,’ Elaine sighed.
Audrey pottered around the kitchen, opening various cupboards and closing them again. ‘Well, you have a day off tomorrow. Why don’t you head to the hotel where he was staying and see if he’s still there?’
The thought of walking through the door of that loud, smoky hotel on her own was intimidating. But Audrey was only suggesting what Elaine had been considering doing herself. ‘Maybe I will,’ she replied.
‘Do it! You need to see him and put things right between you whatever happens. Jack’s friend, Jon, is part of our social crowd, so there’s a good chance you’ll bump into each other at some point.’
Elaine felt flattered that Audrey seemed to consider h
