Consume Me by Kailin Gow Page B

it wasn’t for those long distance calls, I would have been flying to New York every other day.  But all those calls are good for a week or two, but I don’t want to go back to that… not so soon. I want you with me. You just got here.  I don’t get it.  I thought you wanted us to be together.  Why are you in such a rush to live separate lives?”
    Taryn reached out to take his hand. “You know better than that, Errol.  It’s not that I don’t want to stay here with you. This weekend has been great, more than I’d dreamed of, and I absolutely love it out here, but I can’t just ignore what’s waiting for me back home.”
    Nodding pensively, Errol took a few bites of his breakfast, took a long and loud slurp of his coffee, then set his cup down with finality. “Yesterday you sounded completely enamored with the idea of moving out here, of making France your home.  How much time did we spend on the internet looking for a new apartment?  I even took appointments to visit three of them and I thought you’d want to check them out with me.”
    Surprised and a little tickled by his attentive desire to tend to her new disdain for his apartment, she gazed at him.  “You took appointments?  You didn’t tell me that.”
    “I wanted to surprise you.  Of course, I didn’t know you’d want to go back so soon, so I made the appointments for next week.  I’ll have to call to change it.”
    “Errol, you didn’t have to do that…”
    “I knew you dreaded the idea of returning to my place, so I wanted to go back to Paris and check these places out.  After only a few nights in a hotel, we could be settled into a new place… just like that.”  He snapped his fingers.
    She smiled, touched by just how quickly he’d acted on her fears.  He could so simply have ignored them; pat her on the head and tell her to get over it.  “That’s really sweet of you, Errol.  I appreciate it, really.”
    “Appreciate it so much you're going to just leave and return to New York?”
    “Please don’t make me feel guilty for doing what I feel I need to do, Errol.  Think of your Nana.  If she were the one at home alone and in need of you, would you just turn your back on her so you could be with me?”
    He remained silent a long time then took in a long and deep breath.  “Fine.  After breakfast we’ll head back to Paris.  But will you at least humor me?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “At least take the time to come see the apartments with me, and then we’ll…”
    “And then we’ll what?”
    “We’ll see what we’ll do from there.  Maybe once you see our new home you’ll forget all about New York.”
    Not wanting to argue the matter any longer, Taryn nodded and finished her breakfast.  She thought she’d made her intentions clear when she’d arrived, but evidently she hadn’t.
    During the long drive back to Paris, Taryn was filled with melancholia.  She’d never thought of herself as a country girl, but the country air had quickly grown on her and leaving out here with Errol was something she could now very much imagine.
    More than anything she longed to stay at Errol’s side, whether in Paris or out here, but she wished he’d understand her need to return to New York.
    As the Paris skyline rose over the horizon, and the rolling green hills fell further and further behind, her heart pounded with anticipation and trepidation. Paris was beautiful, filled with so much history and art, and it was the culinary heartbeat of the world, but New York… Her home, her heart, her love, her family.  Leaving it all behind wasn’t that easy.
    “The first apartment overlooks the Seine,” Errol said as he maneuvered through the narrow streets bordering the river.  He pulled up to the impressive stone building.  They met the real estate agent in the front hall and took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor.
    “It has a smaller kitchen than I’m accustomed to,” he discreetly said to her, “but the bedroom