THE STORY SO FAR
Elaine is in her 80s and reminiscing with her niece, Issy, about her time in Paris in 1959, when she worked as an au pair for an American family called the Westons. In her first week, she meets Jack, a young British poet. The pair are attracted to each other, but when Jack reads one of his poems, it’s clear Elaine doesn’t like it much. Angry, he is condescending towards Elaine, so she storms out, coming face to face with Jack’s ex-girlfriend, Brigette. Brigette accuses Jack of finishing with her in a note. Later, Elaine’s boss Audrey suggests throwing a party and inviting Jack, to test if he’s interested in Elaine. Elaine agrees to the plan. But at the party, a drunk Jack humiliates himself by reciting a bad imitation of a romantic poem. He flees, dropping the pages he’d written. When Elaine picks them up, she discovers the poem is called Elaine.
Four days had passed since the cocktail party and Jack’s humiliating poetry recital, and Elaine had not heard a word from him.
Part of her wanted to seek him out and make sure he was OK, but she was also reluctant to seem too keen. While seeing her name as the title of his romantic poem had been flattering, Elaine couldn’t help but feel a little nervous that she had made such an impact on someone so soon. When she’d mentioned this concern to her boss, Audrey Weston, she had laughed, ‘He thinks he’s a poet, honey! They all fall in love within five minutes.’
