Valerie is perhaps rather like an old pair of shoes, not broken or bad-looking, but rather simply comfortable and easy; when he slips his feet into them, Henri knows his boundaries and where he stands.
Valerie Maurel is smart, beautiful, and wonderful, but the moment he lays eyes on Agnes Towler he is no longer sure that he loves her. He thinks, sometimes, that all she can see is the twenty-three-year-old boy standing in the rain with his grandmother's ring after being rejected by the girl he's loved for thirteen years. Sometimes he's sure all he can see is the strong-willed ten-year-old with long red plaits and a dangerous smile he fell in love with.
But, no matter what, even if love has simply faded to lust, Valerie is still safe and Agnes is not.