Karen's CHOICE

Their romance in Paris had been unforgettable – seeing his face again stirred unsettling memories

- Raymond Jamieson

When Karen opened the Sunday newspaper, the last thing she expected to see was a photo of her first boyfriend, Leon.

That part of her life belonged in another country, a lifetime ago.

She’d been a young literature student in search of adventure. The offer of a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in Paris for 12 months had been irresistible. And when she’d met the handsome French professor… well, he’d been irresistible too. For the best part of a year, they’d shared an apartment on the Left Bank. They’d walked the streets of Paris arm in arm, gazed at the Seine by moonlight, and felt like part of the city’s literary soul, meeting writers and poets in bustling cafes.

She had studied contemporary French drama, and Leon wrote poetry. Time flew, her scholarship expired. She’d returned home, full of plans for further study at the Sorbonne. But it wasn’t to be. Leon had remained in Paris and she decided to stay in London.

We never actually broke up, she thought. They’d simply been forced by circumstances to stop seeing each other. Perhaps that’s why she’d never forgotten him. Their romance had been nipped in the bud.

Here she was,14 years later, happily married to another man, and the mother of eight-month-old twins.

She was on the sofa in her silk dressing gown. The rest of the household was still asleep.

What would David think if he knew she was remembering the embrace of another man?

Her husband was an engineer, designing bridges and motorways. The two men could hardly be more different. David was a practical man, Leon a poet and a dreamer.