Freedom Fries and Cafe Creme. Jocelyne Rapinac

Carla replied.

      ‘Because we Americans aren’t used to spending a long time sitting at a table smelling, tasting, sensing the food. Remember how long the dinner was? No, people definitely don’t have the time here,’ Rick concluded firmly.

      ‘But people like us do, don’t they?’ remarked Carla. She wanted to believe that she and Rick had healthier eating habits these days, and that they lived better than their friends and acquaintances.

      Armand brought in the main course and a salad.

      ‘Ah, how thoughtful of you!’ exclaimed Rick and Carla together, smiling appreciatively. ‘For dessert, did you also make …?’

      ‘Wait and see,’ Armand answered, winking.

      ‘I made the salad, and I put some colours into it!’ Juliette informed them proudly.

      ‘Like you always do in your pretty drawings.’ Carla smiled fondly, being full of admiration for the little girl. She had felt attached to her since the day they met. ‘It’s beautiful! Artistic talent definitely runs in the family.’

      ‘Talking about talent,’ said Rick as he took a generous portion of the Divine Meat Pie, ‘the afternoon we spent at the international Art in Food exhibition was simply fabulous.’

      ‘All the works of art were made of food,’ Carla explained.

      ‘Really, really?’ Juliette opened her eyes even wider.

      ‘Oh, yes. There were miniature Christmas trees made of spinach meringues.’

      ‘And they even had a fashion show with …’

      ‘… a dress made of various shades of pasta …’

      ‘… with jewellery made of dried fruit and beans, and hats made of bread.’

      Rick and Carla continued with ever more extravagant descriptions. Juliette looked at the two of them as if they were aliens from the planet Food.

      Armand was sure that his daughter was already thinking about the pictures she’d draw from all this.

      I personally prefer the kind of culinary art that stands on a plate in order to delight by being eaten, and that satisfies the eyes and the taste buds. All this seems a little wasteful when you think about the many people who are starving in the world. But, once more, Armand kept his thoughts to himself.

      ‘And the Petit Palais had a special exhibition of still lifes: La table des peintres. Totally first-rate!’ said Rick.

      ‘I would have liked that. Wouldn’t you, Papa?’ asked the budding artist.

      But Armand didn’t have a chance to reply.

      ‘Some of the paintings looked so incredibly real,’ Carla added, ‘that I felt like I wanted to plunge into them. I imagined myself sitting at the table wearing an elegant period dress, tasting the foods and drinks that were represented so beautifully, and being exhilarated by all the sensations of an idyllic vanished era.’

      A silence ensued. Everyone was struck by Carla’s images from the past, when people took time to eat, and enjoyed the company of their friends and families, and the outdoors, with a kind of simple nonchalance.

      It was time for dessert. Armand opened a small bottle of champagne and poured a few sparkling drops into his daughter’s glass.

      ‘I see you also thought of the Winter Fruit Delight! Thank you, Armand!’ exclaimed Rick and Carla.

      ‘To a New Year full of good meals!’

      ‘And healthy habits!’

      ‘C’est si bon, si bon si bon’, crooned Rick.

      After dessert, Juliette was ready to go to her room with the Armande doll and her new French book. She said good night to them all after making them promise that they would tell her all about their New Year’s resolutions the next day.

      When Juliette had gone to bed, Rick and Carla gave Armand their first gift. They never failed to bring him and his daughter a few presents whenever they went on their travels. Armand wondered if they felt sorry for him because he couldn’t afford trips like theirs. Not that he was at all interested in luxury travel – he personally thought it a bit superficial – though he did sometimes wish that he could see more of the world. But at least New York had a lot to offer.

      The first gift was a thick book about La table des peintres exhibition, which Rick and Carla began praising for a second time.

      Looking at them, Armand realised once again that he had never seen a couple get along so well: two married people who spent so much time together at the table, appreciating almost any kind of food, and constantly talking to each other. When he was with them he often felt as if he were part of the audience at a long and cheerful romantic play.

      That made him think about Liana …

      The way Rick and Carla had met was a good omen. ‘Impress me with a meal you’ve cooked and I’ll date you’ was a new concept in dating. The gathering of single people took place at a renowned and upmarket cookery school. The participants needed to know how to cook, at least a little bit. There was a pre-selection of fifteen women and fifteen men. Each participant was asked to cook his or her favourite dish, and then display it alongside everyone else’s on a long buffet table. Then everyone was invited to taste the dishes that appeared the most appetising. Carla literally fell in love with Rick’s Winter Fruit Delight, and Rick with Carla’s Divine Meat Pie. They found a little table for two away from the others and stayed until someone politely informed them that it was closing time and they were the only ones left.

      Back to the reality of their hectic daily routine, Rick and Carla had had to face the fact that they didn’t have time to prepare and enjoy the kind of meals they both loved because of their long working hours. Being extremely career-oriented, they spent their whole day working, eating only when they could spare a few moments. They were usually too tired to cook when they got home in the evenings: she, back from her law office; he, from the hospital.

      The new couple needed to find a solution in order to be completely happy. They were desperately searching for the answer when a colleague of Rick’s told him about the Art de Vivre show that was coming up.

      Armand was exhibiting at the show, trying to sell his services as a good-and-healthy-life coach, his slogan being ‘Too Busy to Cook? I Have the Solution!’ Not that Armand was all that motivated by the idea at the time, but he was anxious to find a job, and he liked cooking. Why not, after all? Especially since he wanted a new start after Han’s flight, and he was tired of selling holiday timeshares to people who didn’t really want them.

      Carla and Rick had hired him immediately: it was so fashionable to have a good-and-healthy-life coach, and a live-in one as well. This had suited Armand because he’d also needed a decent place to live for himself and Juliette, who was just a toddler then. Being Quebecois had been in his favour, Rick and Carla would later reveal, as they found his French heritage appealing.

      The couple now flew to Quebec City at least twice a year, ‘for the remarkable food experience and romanticism without the jet lag’, as they put it.

      Since then, Rick and Carla had been eternally grateful to Armand, who had helped them lead more stable and less stressful lives. He did the shopping, cooked balanced and tasty meals, supervised their workouts in their gym room, and organised their social events.

      Armand liked his job. An unusual kind of friendship had developed between him and his employers, plus he lived in a luxurious home – even if he found the furniture too modern and the many decorative objects a little too gaudy for his own taste.

      ‘The Tendance show at the Grande Épicerie was also a lot of fun! So many trendy and sophisticated groceries!’ said Carla, giving Armand a slender, elegant blue glass bottle with a white moon on it.

      He examined the label and discovered