Read Online The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol - Free Book Online Page A

smile. He was tall and skinny, with chestnut hair that fell over his eyes, and hollow cheeks. He carefully hung his navy blue duffel coat on the back of his chair before sitting down. Joséphine thought him handsome and romantic.
    She didn’t dare tell Shirley about the man, because she knew what she would say: “You should have asked him out for coffee, found out his schedule. You’re so pathetic!”
    Well, nothing new there
, Joséphine thought with a sigh, doodling on her accounts book.
I see all, I feel all, I am the depository of thousands of details that stab me like shards of glass, and that other people don’t even notice.
The hardest thing was resisting panic. It always struck at night. Curled up under the covers, she would go over all her expenses in her head until her eyes were wide with terror.
    Today, though, to her relief, the numbers written in penciland red ink looked okay.
If the money doesn’t disappear too fast, I might be able to rent a house at the beach for the girls next summer, buy them nice clothes, take them to plays and concerts. They could eat out once a week. I’ll go to the hairdresser, buy myself a pretty dress. Maybe Hortense won’t be so ashamed of me.
    Joséphine suddenly remembered that she’d promised to help Shirley deliver an order of cakes for a big wedding.
    Shirley was waiting on the landing, tapping her foot. Standing in the doorway, Gary waved good-bye to them.
    “I think I just got a glimpse of the man your son will be in a few years,” said Jo. “He’s so handsome!”
    “Don’t I know it! Women are already starting to check him out.”
    “Is he aware of it?”
    “No, and I’m not going to be the one to tell him. I don’t want him to get too full of himself.”
    “Tell me, was his father good-looking?”
    “Yes, he was. The handsomest man on earth. That was his only real quality, for that matter.” She scowled and waved her hand as if to chase a bad memory away. “Okay, let’s get moving. You watch the cakes while I get the car. Ring the elevator and hold the door.”
    Joséphine did as she was told. They stacked the cake boxes in the back of the car, Jo keeping a hand on them so they wouldn’t fall.
    “I was scheduled to deliver these at five, but they called and said to come at four or to forget the whole thing. He’s an important customer, so he knows I’ll do whatever he says.”
    A moped cut in front of her, and Shirley unleashed a volley of choice Anglo-Saxon curses.
    “Good thing Audrey Hepburn didn’t swear the way you do. I’d have trouble translating that.”
    “How do you know she didn’t curse like a sailor from time to time? It’s just not in her biography, that’s all.”
    “But she seemed so perfect. Did you know that she never had a love affair that didn’t end in marriage?”
    “After what she went through as a teenager, she must have wanted a real home life.”
    Joséphine had learned that at fifteen, Hepburn had worked for the Resistance in Holland during World War II, carrying notes hidden in the soles of her shoes. One day, on her way back from a mission, she was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the Kommandatur with a dozen other women. She managed to escape, and hid in the cellar of a house. After a month, she finally came out of hiding in the middle of the night and found her way home.
    After hesitating for a moment, Joséphine decided to take the plunge.
    “There’s this guy I met at the library . . .”
    Joséphine told Shirley about the collision in the stacks, the books dropping, the laughing fit, and the immediate attraction she’d felt to the stranger.
    “So what does he look like?”
    “Like a perennial student. He wears a dark blue duffel coat. It’s the first time I’ve looked at a man since, well . . .” Jo stopped herself. She still had trouble talking about Antoine’s departure.
    “Have you seen him again?”
    “Once or twice. He smiled at me. We can’t really talk at the library, so we speak