“La mer. Qu’on voit danser le long des golfes clairs. A des reflets d’argent
La mer”

The beautiful words of Charles Trenet are being played by a record player, while I’m staring at her dance. She moves so gracefully, but with enough emotion to make you feel her soul pour out on the very floor she is dancing. I have truly fallen in love with this foreign angel, and I will never be the same again. I light my cigarette as she grabs the merlot and inches closely towards me smiling and laughing. I try to keep my emotions hidden, why I sit in this leather chair drinking with this wonderful woman. She takes a drag of my cigarette and stares at my eyes, then kisses me on the cheek. She’s wearing nothing, but my half unbuttoned work shirt and socks, but I have never seen anything to make me so lustful. She is the temptress of Eden, and I can’t believe I have fallen so hard for this mysterious woman. I keep trying to tell myself to “keep it together” but it seems like an impossible mission. I look into her smiling light blue eyes and see the reflection of the Paris lights in the background, and wonder why the woman of my dreams is an ocean away? She kisses me again and we head to the hotel balcony, holding each other and stare out to the skyline of the city of lights, then start to slowly dance, while we hold each other tight to keep warm. Her small, fragile body was shivering, but she did not care because she was in my arms. As we held each other, the beautiful rose petal and citrus perfume caught my nose and I went weak in my knees. This experience was completely new to me in so many ways. She brings back memories of “Casablanca” and how I thought that love was never possible. She leads me back into the bedroom, laughing and saying something in French that I never could understand, and I would say something in English that would make her smile and laugh, but we didn’t care because we both knew what we wanted. We both wanted this majestic night to never end, but my plane was leaving tomorrow; what should I do? We lay together between the warm sheets staring into each others’ tired eyes, and as I was fading in and out, she grabs my hand and comes closer. It was the best sleep I have ever had, and when I opened my eyes, I was hoping I would see her beautiful body cuddled next to me, but she was gone. I looked in the bathroom and there was no sign of her. I looked on the marble counter and saw the napkin with a red lip stick print on the corner and “merci” was written out across the mirror. I smiled and grabbed my wallet, to notice my money was gone, and so was my wedding ring. I did not care anymore because I was still hypnotized by the beautiful trance she left me in, and I will never forget the beautiful night that ruined my life.