“Mind if I sit here?” the young man asks, touching the chair beside the woman. “Oh,” says the woman, flustered. “Um.” “Taken?” he asks. “Well—the thing is—see, we’re actually waiting for someone, actually.” “Oh okay, no problem!” With his smile, and those jeans, it’s evident to Blandine that no one has ever truly criticized this young man to his face, and that he’s a product of extreme parental love. He believes that the whole world ought to love him like that, Blandine assumes.
