| THREE+ WISHES |

| chapter 4 |

dedicated to JustPrettyStuff so you can practice your french haha

× BAISER • masculine noun ×

a touch or caress with the lips

Later on, Hugues disappeared to take a shower and I grabbed the opportunity to Skype my parents.

Patience had never been one of Mom's virtue. And if I could have forgotten that in the short amount of time I had been away from her, the shrieking sound she made when our Skype call connected was a reminder.

"How could you?! I haven't slept in two days Evangeline because of how worried I was! Your Dad was ready to call the police and the embassy. You should be ashamed to worry your parents so much-"

Hopefully nobody could hear any of that. Hugues had secluded himself in the bathroom and I really counted on the running water to cover the noise of this mandatory Skype call.

"Hi Mom." I barely whispered, knowing full well she wouldn't hear me over her scolding anyway. She was so loud.

Thank God for mute buttons.

I placed my fingers under my chin, watching her get mad on the laptop screen while enjoying the untroubled silence of this out-of-time room. It was obvious Mom had no idea that I couldn't hear her and I saw her pursuing her chiding complete with the package of hectic arm movements and eye rolls. At some point, Dad walked through the background waving and grinning at me before disappearing from the camera. I didn't blame him for not wanting to stay next to Mom though, had I been there I wouldn't have either.

But surprisingly, Dad came back seconds later agitating what appeared to be earplugs behind Mom's back.

"Cut it!" I mouthed at him while agitating my hand in between two fake coughs. Dad was really an old man when it came to technology. Mom wasn't though. And she saw him very distinctly on the screen bragging about the earplugs. He was screwed.

I turned the sound back on just in time to hear her scream at him.

"Are you earplugging me, Jonathan?!"

"Mom!" I called out, trying to save Dad's ass.

I was split between bursting out of laughter and keeping a stern face so that Mom wouldn't get even more furious.

"What?!" She snapped, her eyes back on me in an instant. "Are you willing to talk now, Evangeline? You better have a good excuse for not calling in two days!"

"I do. Actually I had so much fun I forgot to report to you." I lied, fingers-crossed. Telling her the truth about my trip here was not a solution. If she had learned I had wandered an entire night in a foreign airport then missed my connecting train to Normandy only leading to carpooling with strangers, she would have a seizure. And I could only imagine what she'd have to say about sharing a room with a boy I had just met – even if it was only temporary.

"I see. You don't care about your parents anymore. We have raised and loved you for eighteen years and this is how you thank us."

I bit my lower lip, annoyed at the obvious emotional blackmail. It had always been one of Mom's forte, pulling the "we've always been good to you" card. And I knew they had. Both Dad and her had done their best as parents of a cursed daughter. But I didn't need to be reminded of that all day, every day.

"I know, Mom." I sighed. "I sincerely apologize for not calling for two days. I'm going to call more often from now on."

"I'll take your word, Evangeline! You promised to call twice a day, remember?"