And the smell! The nightclub had an odor that combined sweat, booze, and women’s and men’s cheap perfume and aftershave. Already, although we’d only been there a minute, my temples throbbed, and I wanted so desperately to go home, that I felt like a small animal trapped inside a cage.
“You are not happy here. I can feel it in the tension of your body,” Timothy said, peering down at me. “Your eyes are shuttered, your heartrate has accelerated, almost as if you’re about a mimute from total panic. We can leave, Penelope. I will not object. I only brought you here because I thought it would amuse you.”
Timothy had leaned over to speak into my ear, but I could hardly hear him. Yet, the parts that I could understand seemed to wait for my response. I didn’t hold back.
“Please! Let’s go,” I said.
He nodded, asked the lady for the return of our coats, placed mine around me, and then as quickly as we’d entered, we ejected ourselves out. My ears were still reeling. My head felt like someone had crushed it in a garbage compactor.
Timothy took my hand. “I am glad that was not your style. I am not fond of loud noise either, but I didn’t want to seem old. I wanted you to think I was as young as you are, and still possessed the kind of joie de vivre that you display.”
I knew little French, but that was one expression I was familiar with. I smiled up at him. “You’re not that much older than I am. How old are you?”
He smiled, then kissed me on the forehead and said, “We’ll save that for another day, my dear. Let’s go find someplace quiet and partake of another cup of coffee if you’d like. I bet we’ll be up all night anyway. I’ve heard that’s what going out on the town means.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I laughed. “I’ve never been much of a party person. My nightly activity is mainly curling up with a good book, and I usually do that in an old robe and fuzzy slippers.”
I giggled rather nervously then, already regretting my words. It was not what one should say to a man who thought you were full of joie de vivre.
But my worry was assuaged by the way his smile widened. “You are a delight, my dear. I’m so very glad I found you. Curled up on the couch with you at my side and a good book to peruse is exactly what I would enjoy most, well, other than certain activities which you don’t seem ready for.”