Naked Hero - The Journey Away

owed.
    “Don’t be silly, Lewis. What is it that you want to know?”
    He looked at her face. A degree of empathy sat there which helped him to continue. “I just wondered… What made you decide to start touring with Chantal? You couldn’t have just met then suddenly up and left to travel the world with her the next day?”
    “What a strange question, Lewis,” Marie replied, concealing her pleasure over the direction this was heading.
    “Sorry, I shouldn’t be so nosey. Forget it,” said Lewis.
    “Not at all,” she replied, giving him another hug and a chortle for good measure. “It’s only fair. I know all about your last affair. And a most amusing read it was as well. Our story is positively dull by comparison.”
    “So? I’d like to hear it anyway.”
    “So... I met Chantal almost four years ago in Paris. It was at a dinner party hosted by a mutual friend. Chantal was playing at the French Open, and I was working on my first book at the time. I was totally in awe of her… you wouldn’t believe how tongue tied I was at first. She asked me about my work, which was a big mistake! I probably bored her to death, but at least it gave me something to talk about. She seemed interested - I thought it was just politeness at the time, but apparently not. It was obvious there was an attraction, but nothing happened. We just exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch. I didn’t expect to hear from her again. But she called me after my book was published. Said how much she enjoyed it... despite the depressing ending, Lewis. She asked if we could meet when she was next in Paris, which we did, for dinner a few times, and things developed from there.”
    “So this was during the French Open?” asked Lewis, his interest heightening.
    “No, before that, she was playing at an indoor tournament. February, almost three years ago.”
    “And did you just… get together then, and that was it?”
    Marie shook her head. “No! Not so simple. At the time, neither of us was sure where the relationship would lead. My life was in Paris - and Chantal’s... well, as you say, she travelled the world. Nothing was clear, but we both knew that we wanted to continue seeing each other, and that it would be my life that must change if things were to develop beyond a brief affair. So I started to travel. The first trip I made was to Dubai, a few weeks later. I spent most of the time window shopping. It was difficult for me, coming to terms with her wealth. I didn’t want her to think that that was the reason I was with her. So I refused her offers to buy things for me.”
    “Have you managed to sort that out?”
    “Thankfully my books sell now, so I have my independence. I don’t mind spending her money now that I have my own. But before, it was very difficult. That sort of imbalance can destroy a relationship.”
    “A true one.”
    Marie noted the comment, and added to the list of questions she was mentally compiling before continuing her story. “Chantal spent the following month in America. You know the tour better than I do. I stayed in Paris, and then joined her when she came back to Europe in the spring. It was all very glamorous! Seeing so many beautiful cities, and staying at the best hotels. And we were never far from Paris if I needed to return.
    “The big decisions were taken after Wimbledon that year. She took a few weeks off, and we stayed at her villa in Monaco. It was a good time for us, to be away from the tour and all the pressures... time for us and nothing else. We knew for sure then that we wanted to be together, and decided that I should join her permanently on the tour. It took a few months before I could settle everything, but this has been my life now for the past two years.”
    “It’s fortunate that you can work away from home. It might have been difficult otherwise, no?” asked Lewis.
    “Perhaps… Thankfully I don’t need to ask myself what I might have done if there had been a choice to be made. At the time, the answer may not have been so easy. Now… that’s different.”
    “And Chantal... she was able to handle it okay? I mean being with you… when it all started… you know, at the tournaments. How did she cope?”
    “She knows how to compartmentalise. When she is training, or on the court, then that is her life, all else is excluded… Look at her - she’s not even aware of us now, Lewis. But when she is away from it and with me, then it’s still her life, but I become