For the hundredth time tonight, Iโm back with Lulu, on Jacquesโs barge, the improbably named Viola. Sheโd just toldme the story of double happiness and we were arguing over the meaning. Sheโd thought it meant the luck of the boy getting the job and the girl. But Iโd disagreed. It was the couplet fitting together, the two halves finding each other. It was love. But maybe we were both wrong, and both right. Itโs not either or, not luck or love. Not fate or will. Maybe for double happiness, you need both.
Gayle FormanIt wouldโve been easier to die. Itโs not that I want to be dead now. I donโt. I have a lot in my life that I get satisfaction from, that I love. But some days, especially in the beginning, it was so hard. And I couldnโt help but think that it wouldโve been so much simpler to go with the rest of them. But youโyou asked me to stay. You begged me to stay. You stood over me and you made a promise to me, as sacred as any vow.
Gayle FormanAs the lightness buoys me, I wonder if maybe she was right. Maybe it's not about looking hot for guys, but about feeling like a place acknowledged you, winked at you, accepted you. It's strange because, of all the people in all the cities, I'd have thought that to Parisians I'd be invisible, but apparently I'm not. Apparently in Paris, not only can I skate, but I practically qualify for the Olympics!
Gayle Forman