{"id":60476,"date":"2025-03-30T06:09:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T10:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=60476"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:29:02","slug":"a-matchmaker-named-natasha-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/la-marieuse-sappelait-natasha-chapitre-7\/","title":{"rendered":"A matchmaker named Natasha - Chapter 7 (conclusion)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Might I find a gallant man here on earth, amiable and kind, like Grandpa Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric? Dear Grandpa, how I loved him! I helped him harvest the hay, dig up potatoes and pick corn and hazelnuts at summer\u2019s end. When my mom\u2019s eczema flared up, Grandpa would often take us to school. He was there for us too when our parents fought. Could I have fallen for a man who had all my grandfather\u2019s virtues? In the blink of an eye!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the men who might stand by me are as old as I. They don\u2019t pretend to be 30 or even 50. I secretly watch them every morning at the coffee shop, examining and comparing their attributes. I try to convince myself that the friendship we\u2019ve built through all our mornings together is much stronger than love\u2019s embrace. My faithful friends will very likely notice my lapses in judgment; hopefully they\u2019ll show me leniency. Even a woman as bold as I occasionally jumps the rails and strays from common sense. Drunk love is tempting at any age, dear readers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Natasha, my professional matchmaker, informs me there\u2019s one last chocolate left on the plate, I\u2019m tempted to cancel the entire thing. This lovers\u2019 posturing annoys, irritates, horrifies and exasperates me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ring, ring!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 \u201cHello, Mr. Renato. How are you? Natasha insists that you and I have a little talk before we meet in person.\u201d
\u201cAlright,\u201d I hear the man with the Italian accent murmur.
\u2013 \u201cDo you still work? Forgive my rudeness, but how old are you?\u201d
\u2013 \u201cBambini celebrate 75, on Sunday,\u201d he replies in his charming broken French.
\u2013 \u201cMay I ask where you live?\u201d
\u2013 \u201cCondo, but want to find good woman for villa in Italy and house in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He goes on, but the man of a few words fails to pique my curiosity. I\u2019m not even tempted to meet him. But Natasha the matchmaker insists on doing her job until the end, so she plans a lunch meeting for us in a popular pizzeria at March\u00e9 Central, not too far from the suitor\u2019s condo. And I say YES! Certainly not because I want to see his face or condo, but because I love the restaurant Natasha picked: Pizzeria Giulietta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, as agreed, three days later, I\u2019m at the pizzeria at noon sharp. I take off my jacket and order a tall latte to warm up. When my date arrives, I realize he\u2019s as short as his French vocabulary and, for my taste, short too on physical charms. I want to leave, but I remain calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man removes his overcoat, which is tailor-made I\u2019m sure, and an attentive waiter helps him get settled at the table. He orders an amaretto sour, served with a small bowl of mixed nuts on the house. Could he be a regular at this place? My smiling knight in shining armour tells me the name of the singer we can hear over the speakers as he taps his foot and eats his nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 \u201cNot very hungry,\u201d he claims, \u201cbut really like songs from my country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, on the other hand, suppress the desire to bolt with every bite I take of Giulietta\u2019s excellent pizza. But of course I stay out of politeness. I ask for another hot latte. Some 30 minutes later, I make up an excuse and leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside, the day is fading. Up there, in a purple-blue sky, two small clouds face each other. Could they be in love with one another? What will I do with all the handfuls of \u201cI love you\u201d I\u2019ve been piling up all these years? Turn them into more fudge, jams and Sunday letters? As for my loving heart, broken into a thousand crumbs, I\u2019ll probably have to throw it to the wind for the angels to catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora
\ud83d\udc96<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Might I find a gallant man here on earth, amiable and kind, like Grandpa Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric? Dear Grandpa, how I loved him! I helped him harvest the hay, dig up potatoes and pick corn and hazelnuts at summer\u2019s end. When my mom\u2019s eczema flared up, Grandpa would often take us to school. He was there for us too when our parents fought. Could I have fallen for a man who had all my grandfather\u2019s virtues? In the blink of an eye! Today, the men who might stand by me are as old as I. They don\u2019t pretend to be 30 or even 50. I secretly watch them every morning at the coffee shop, examining and comparing their attributes. I try to convince myself that the friendship we\u2019ve built through all our mornings together is much stronger than love\u2019s embrace. My faithful friends will very likely notice my lapses in judgment; hopefully they\u2019ll show me leniency. Even a woman as bold as I occasionally jumps the rails and strays from common sense. Drunk love is tempting at any age, dear readers! When Natasha, my professional matchmaker, informs me there\u2019s one last chocolate left on the plate, I\u2019m tempted to cancel the entire thing. This lovers\u2019 posturing annoys, irritates, horrifies and exasperates me. Ring, ring! \u2013 \u201cHello, Mr. Renato. How are you? Natasha insists that you and I have a little talk before we meet in person.\u201d\u201cAlright,\u201d I hear the man with the Italian accent murmur.\u2013 \u201cDo you still work? Forgive my rudeness, but how old are you?\u201d\u2013 \u201cBambini celebrate 75, on Sunday,\u201d he replies in his charming broken French.\u2013 \u201cMay I ask where you live?\u201d\u2013 \u201cCondo, but want to find good woman for villa in Italy and house in Florida.\u201d He goes on, but the man of a few words fails to\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":60477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Chapitre 7, la conclusion : Mme Cora se demande si elle aurait pu trouver un homme bon comme son grand-p\u00e8re Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"class_list":["post-60476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60476"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}