Love Is Pink!

Barely two hours later, I lay in a freshly made canopy bed. Madame Segebade had given us clean bedding, and David and I had made up the second-floor guest rooms. A couple of times, as we slipped duvet covers on the comforters, our hands accidentally touched—and we exchanged bashful looks.

David and Emma slept in the room adjacent to mine. There was even a connecting door. As I lay in bed, I caught myself hoping that the door would slowly open and David would come over to me. I even thought I heard footsteps on the other side. I became quite certain that David was standing just a few meters away from me, wondering whether to come in.

Exhaustion overcame me and I fell asleep, unhappy in the knowledge that this was the last night we had together. Tomorrow, our trip would end. We’d separate forever.





32


It had stormed during the night, and I’d woken up a couple of times, as the wind rattled the shutters. Now, all the clouds had disappeared, and a bright-blue winter sky smiled at me. The kitchen was warm from baking. The aroma of fresh madeleines mixed with strong coffee hung in the air.

Outside, David was changing the tire. He knew exactly what he was doing. As had Madame Segebade when she was mixing the madeleine batter a little earlier. As did Emma, who was building a giant snowman next to David. I seemed to be the only one who didn’t know what to do. Either with myself or my life.

A dog snout nudged at me. Baby was already hobbling around pretty well.

“No,” I said. “That’s it.”

His dark-brown eyes held an urgent plea.

“You ate a whole chicken, and during breakfast Emma and Madame secretly fed you cake. Don’t look at me as though you’re starving!”

Baby whimpered mournfully in response. He drooled out of the sides of his mouth. I gave him another piece of cake. “But this is really the last one. From now on you’re on a diet!”

Madame appeared next to me and squinted into the bright sun streaming through the window. “Your boyfriend knows about cars. He’ll be finished very soon.”

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“Then you’ll get home quickly.”

“That’s what it looks like. If we drive straight through, we’ll get there today.”

Madame Segebade appraised me. “You don’t seem particularly happy about that prospect.”

I pushed my hair away from my forehead. “A few days ago,” I started, “I saw everything differently. I thought I knew exactly who I was and what I wanted. But now? I no longer know if going back to Berlin is the right thing for me to do. As crazy as it sounds, I’d rather cruise around in that pink-red hunk of rust and never arrive anywhere.”

The old woman’s face was filled with understanding coupled with wistfulness. “I completely understand what you mean. Sometimes you come to a fork in the road and it’s not clear which direction to take.”

“And how do you find out?”

“You have to do what your heart tells you. Reason is of little use. Believe me.”

“Unfortunately, my heart is clueless at the moment. The dumb thing isn’t telling me anything. Besides thump-thump.”

Madame Segebade started clearing the dishes.

“Maybe you need to listen a little more closely.”

A noise drew my attention to the window. David was standing outside it with Emma on top of his shoulders. She was tapping, or rather drumming, on the pane with her little fists. “Michelle,” she called. “We’re finished! We can go now!”

The old woman and I went into the hallway, where I slipped on my ski jacket and grabbed David’s duffel bag. Madame accompanied me to the door. She kissed Emma good-bye on both cheeks, patted Baby on the head, and, to my great surprise, hugged David and held him close for a few seconds.

“You will be getting mail from me,” David told her. Madame Segebade nodded gratefully before turning to me.

“Au revoir, Madame,” I said. “Merci bien. Thank you so much for everything.”

I hesitantly offered her my hand. Instead of taking it, she wrapped her arms around me. I was so surprised that a tear or two started rolling down my cheek.

“Don’t be sad,” she whispered into my ear. “You’ve known for a while what’s right for you.”

Moments later, our pink Citro?n started without a grumble. The new old tire seemed to be working well as we slowly drove away from the castle. For a long while, in the side-view mirror, I could still see Madame Segebade standing and waving at us from her door.





33


Our last day together.

Even though we covered the longest stretches of our trip in the hours that followed, I can’t report much about them. There’s no border crossing between Germany and France, of course, so we passed from one country to the other without incident. When we crossed the Rhein, the houses seemed a bit more antiseptic and elaborately maintained on the other side.

We got onto the highway and stayed in the right lane. David made sure not to exceed 90 km/h on the speedometer.

Sometimes we’d get honked at.

Little by little, the blue sky was overtaken by clouds, and eventually a faint rain began. Occasionally, it came down on the roof above us in buckets.