Moments Lost and Found by Olivia Jake

defined by Laurent, not that he asked her to be.  But
these last few weeks that they had spent together, with his family, she was
slowly fitting into his world. And she hated to admit, that she was
fitting so easily into it. Was it only because they were here in France? She
wouldn’t know until they got back home and got into whatever their new routine
would be. Everything up until now had been so intense, and figuring out how to
be in a relationship with him was such a defining part of who they were, what
would their reality be when they stripped away all the extreme circumstances?
    One thing was clear, she was
suddenly alone. Granted, Laurent was in the next room, but this brief
intermission made her realize just how much of an effort it was going to be for
her to maintain her identity. As a single person, that was never an issue
before, but it was much more difficult now that she was with Laurent. So much
of her identity had suddenly become defined by him, by her relationship to him,
much of it because of their working together, but sitting there in the bedroom
alone, she made herself a promise: she would not let herself get lost in the
world as defined by Laurent.
    Sam decided it would be a good time
to check in on her emails. She would be back home soon and now was the perfect
time to get mentally set for her return to reality. After the past two weeks,
her focus had been all on her relationship with Laurent, with Mme. Román’s
health, with her introduction to his family, and of course, with becoming a
target for the paparazzi. For the first time ever, she had not focused on work.
She knew that what she had with Laurent would change her life. If she were to
be with him, it would never again be just about work for her. And,
surprisingly, she liked that her life was so much more multi-dimensional than
it had ever been. She just became acutely aware that none of it could be all or
nothing anymore. Sam would have to learn balance. Maybe that’s what normal
people did every day, she thought. If the vast majority of people juggled kids,
relationships, jobs, friends, then there wasn’t any reason Sam couldn’t either.
Then again, most people weren’t Sam. More importantly, most people weren’t
Laurent.
     
     “You can’t possibly be
serious, George. Why are you wasting my time with this?” Laurent asked as he
poured himself a scotch.
    George chuckled that Laurent made no
move to offer him a drink. “You have lost your manners, Laurent? I’ll take a
drink too, thank you.”
     “My manners are just fine. You
won’t be staying long.” Laurent declared as he circled the room, watching
George. He was going to sit, but didn’t want to give George the appearance of
superiority.
     “Ever the dominant, eh
Laurent? That must be difficult with such a strong willed woman as Samantha,
no?”
     “Leave Samantha out of this.”
Laurent’s tone was even, his mouth in a flat line.
     “Seems I’ve struck a nerve, eh
Laurent?” George chuckled as he walked over and had the balls to pour himself a
drink. George clucked his tongue, “Laurent Román, wearing his heart on his
sleeve. She must really be, uh, special.” George winked. Laurent knew better
than to react, he knew that George was trying to go for the easy target. “So,
she’s ok with your, how shall we say, uh, tendencies? It’s surprising, no? Just
looking at her, she seems almost, plain.” He chuckled, “But it is often the
plain ones who are secretly wild in bed, non?”
    Laurent was not taking the bait, but
he was not going to roll over, “The difference, George, is that with you, you
mistake women who are struggling to get away from you as being wild in bed.
Unlike you, I’ve never had to force anyone to be with me.”
     “You always were a stickler
for semantics, Laurent.” George chuckled, making Laurent sick. He had heard the
stories about George, but George had him so convinced that he couldn’t possibly
be the monster that these women