involuntarily flinched at the question, unprepared to be asked something that would strike such a personal chord. She realized Cole had caught her reaction and saw his head cock with curiosity.
“Um...what do you mean?” she asked, stalling.
“Any childhood memory that has influenced you into adulthood,” René elaborated. “Whether a family member, a vacation, an award—” He quickly halted on that score, his gaze skittering to Marc and back as though he feared the other man would once more launch into his list of accomplishments.
She drew a breath. “I see. Well. I suppose it would have to be the death of my father.”
Focusing her eyes at a point above Cole’s right shoulder, she still couldn’t help noticing how his eyebrows furrowed, as though with pity.
“He died when I was fifteen, from surgery complications. It was...unexpected. And difficult.” Just how difficult, she didn’t want to elaborate on, recalling the deep well of loss over the years as she had witnessed her friends on father/daughter outings and the ache she’d experienced on her wedding day when her dad hadn’t been there to walk her down the aisle.
The group had fallen silent following this answer, the sound of nighttime insects creeping into their circle.
“Cole? A follow-up question?” said René.
Cole studied her, as though he had quite a few more things he’d like to ask. She was relieved, however, when he shook his head. She tossed the ball back, and he caught it, holding her gaze with his own for a moment, before shifting toward Aurora. The questions went around the circle several more times. Emma had the chance to talk a bit about Avery and even her arrival in Paris as an au pair, as well as naming her favorite movie—of course, it was An American in Paris —and the fact that she hated peas.
With each question, Emma sensed all of them relaxing a bit more, and by the time the game finally wrapped up nearly an hour later, she was pleased to notice that not only were they laughing and teasing with each other, but easily including Cole in the banter, as well.
As René took the beach ball from Cole, he encouraged them all to stand and move around a little since the next activity would be a bit more physical. While they stretched and chatted, Emma noticed René laying out squares of multicolored carpet in a rectangular shape along the patio’s pavers. Once he finished, he called them over and asked each member of the group, with the exception of Cole, to stand on the squares. They took their places, with Louis and Aurora side by side at the front, Giselle and Emma behind them and Marc standing on his own at the back.
“For our next activity, you will have the opportunity to learn more about your boss through the popular game Two Truths and a Lie.”
“Oh, I know that one,” Giselle announced.
“Then you know how it’s played. Cole will offer three facts about himself, and you must choose which two are the truth and which one is the lie. But there is a twist to our version.”
René stepped around the rectangle, gesturing to the squares of carpet beneath their feet. “For every time you guess wrong as to which statement is the lie, I will remove one of these squares. The object is that your feet must never step off the carpet. As the space shrinks, you will have to find room to accommodate each other. If one of you steps off the carpet and onto the patio, you are out of the game.”
Marc scoffed. “Easy enough. How hard can it be to spot a lie?”
The rest of them all looked over their shoulders to eye Marc. No one bothered to contest this statement, but it was obvious to Emma that they all recognized the challenge. Since they knew relatively little about their new boss, anything he said could be less than true.
“Do we all understand the rules of the game?”
Emma shifted, along with the others, to face René and Cole. She found herself eager to find out what facts Cole would share about himself.
She
“Um...what do you mean?” she asked, stalling.
“Any childhood memory that has influenced you into adulthood,” René elaborated. “Whether a family member, a vacation, an award—” He quickly halted on that score, his gaze skittering to Marc and back as though he feared the other man would once more launch into his list of accomplishments.
She drew a breath. “I see. Well. I suppose it would have to be the death of my father.”
Focusing her eyes at a point above Cole’s right shoulder, she still couldn’t help noticing how his eyebrows furrowed, as though with pity.
“He died when I was fifteen, from surgery complications. It was...unexpected. And difficult.” Just how difficult, she didn’t want to elaborate on, recalling the deep well of loss over the years as she had witnessed her friends on father/daughter outings and the ache she’d experienced on her wedding day when her dad hadn’t been there to walk her down the aisle.
The group had fallen silent following this answer, the sound of nighttime insects creeping into their circle.
“Cole? A follow-up question?” said René.
Cole studied her, as though he had quite a few more things he’d like to ask. She was relieved, however, when he shook his head. She tossed the ball back, and he caught it, holding her gaze with his own for a moment, before shifting toward Aurora. The questions went around the circle several more times. Emma had the chance to talk a bit about Avery and even her arrival in Paris as an au pair, as well as naming her favorite movie—of course, it was An American in Paris —and the fact that she hated peas.
With each question, Emma sensed all of them relaxing a bit more, and by the time the game finally wrapped up nearly an hour later, she was pleased to notice that not only were they laughing and teasing with each other, but easily including Cole in the banter, as well.
As René took the beach ball from Cole, he encouraged them all to stand and move around a little since the next activity would be a bit more physical. While they stretched and chatted, Emma noticed René laying out squares of multicolored carpet in a rectangular shape along the patio’s pavers. Once he finished, he called them over and asked each member of the group, with the exception of Cole, to stand on the squares. They took their places, with Louis and Aurora side by side at the front, Giselle and Emma behind them and Marc standing on his own at the back.
“For our next activity, you will have the opportunity to learn more about your boss through the popular game Two Truths and a Lie.”
“Oh, I know that one,” Giselle announced.
“Then you know how it’s played. Cole will offer three facts about himself, and you must choose which two are the truth and which one is the lie. But there is a twist to our version.”
René stepped around the rectangle, gesturing to the squares of carpet beneath their feet. “For every time you guess wrong as to which statement is the lie, I will remove one of these squares. The object is that your feet must never step off the carpet. As the space shrinks, you will have to find room to accommodate each other. If one of you steps off the carpet and onto the patio, you are out of the game.”
Marc scoffed. “Easy enough. How hard can it be to spot a lie?”
The rest of them all looked over their shoulders to eye Marc. No one bothered to contest this statement, but it was obvious to Emma that they all recognized the challenge. Since they knew relatively little about their new boss, anything he said could be less than true.
“Do we all understand the rules of the game?”
Emma shifted, along with the others, to face René and Cole. She found herself eager to find out what facts Cole would share about himself.
She
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