Chapter 25
25
Back at the cottage, Sasha, excited at the thought of painting such a large commission but anxious at the same time, opened her sketchbook. It was a big project, the biggest she’d ever undertaken, and whilst she was confident she could do it, she knew it would take meticulous attention to detail. She’d have to measure everything out precisely on the wall, to make sure it was in proportion with the front windows of the orangery that she was reflecting in the optical illusion. The middle trompe l’?il would be the pièce de résistance , unique and special, she decided, whilst the ones on either side would be simpler open views of the chateau grounds.
Sasha lost herself in sketching out possible trompe l’?il scenes and the kitchen table was covered with discarded sheets of paper when Freddie returned at lunchtime.
‘Bread and cheese for lunch?’ Sasha said, closing the sketchbook and pulling all the loose sheets towards her. ‘I’ve lost all sense of time, sorry. You’ll never guess what happened this morning. Ingrid and Penny have asked me to do trompe l’?ils on the orangery wall in time for this wedding reception they’ve got booked. I’m so excited, even if I am shaking like a leaf at the thought.’
‘Brilliant news,’ Freddie said, walking over to the sink and washing his hands.
‘I’m also going to be helping on the wedding day itself.’ Placing the cheese and baguettes on the table, she glanced at Freddie. ‘You okay?’
Freddie nodded. ‘Yes. Just tired. Getting the fountains to work has been… let’s say… interesting. This afternoon, I’m going to do some twenty-first century plumbing and get your new shower in.’
‘I didn’t think the day could get any better, but you saying that, it just did,’ Sasha said. ‘I can’t believe we’ve been here for less than two months. Our old life in England almost seems like a dream that happened to different people.’
Lucas and Jean-Paul were already in the bar when Penny and Sasha walked down to the village that evening.
‘Where’s Alice?’ Penny asked, looking around.
‘She arrive late,’ Lucas answered, moving forward to greet them both with cheek kisses.
Jean-Paul, to Sasha’s surprise, followed suit and she murmured a quiet ‘ Bonjour ’ as his lips brushed her cheek.
‘We have been ask to keep you company until Alice arrive,’ Lucas said. ‘Now, what you want to drink?’
‘A glass of the local Muscadet for me,’ Penny said. ‘Thanks.’
‘Rosé for me please,’ Sasha said.
Sasha, catching Penny gazing after Lucas, said, ‘Lucas is lovely, isn’t he? I get the feeling he likes you too.’
Penny nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes. But I’m not ready for another relationship yet.’
‘Doesn’t have to be a relationship. You can be friends.’
Penny looked at her. ‘How long after your marriage broke up did it take for you to “make friends” with someone new?’
Sasha pulled a face and gave a sigh. ‘You’ve got me there. I haven’t yet. Sorry. I know it’s not easy, but on the other hand, you’ve come to France to get over Rory, so you are meeting new people. Me, I stayed put in the rut I’d created for myself. It’s only now that I’m actually making new friends. So my advice would be: don’t leave it as long as I have.’
‘Are you going to get to know Jean-Paul better then?’ Penny asked wickedly, glad of the chance to divert the conversation away from herself. She was barely out of a bad relationship, and she had no plans to head back into another one any time soon. That pull of attraction she’d felt when she and Lucas had met in Roscoff and every time since was definitely not being acted upon. She knew nothing about him, and she was going to learn as much as she could about any man before she entered into anything other than a casual friendship. But he was Alice’s young brother so he couldn’t be anything other than a good person, could he? Maybe she could get to know him as a friend.
A blushing Sasha answering her question brought Penny out of her daydream. ‘Jean-Paul seems to be a genuinely kind man and I haven’t met many of those recently so, yes, I would like to get to know him better.’
Lucas and Jean-Paul returned at that moment with the drinks and Penny asked, ‘How is Eliza today after last evening’s emotional events?’
‘She talk happily during the breakfast about all the memories the box make come up. And Merlin was a lot in her conversation,’ Lucas said. ‘Seeing that Merlin he was restored and was in the chateau mean so much to her because of the association with Grand-papa.’
When Lucas and Penny started discussing something in rapid French, Sasha sat back and tried to think of something she could say to Jean-Paul, who was typing a message on his phone. Sasha smothered a giggle when he flashed her a smile as her phone pinged with a text. She quickly read his message and typed a sentence into the translation app on her phone before holding it out for Jean-Paul to read. ‘Isn’t technology a wonderful thing?’ Sasha typed. ‘If you put it on mute for now, we can talk to each other silently like this. Yes?’
‘Yes. How are Mimi and Mitzi?’
‘Getting bigger. Your training is making a huge difference.’
‘I come and show you some more commands one day this week, yes?’
‘I’m going to be painting trompe l’?ils in the orangery for this wedding reception Penny is organising, but yes please.’
Penny’s phone pinged with a text and she broke off her conversation with Lucas to read it. She frowned as she read it. ‘Alice is sorry but she can’t make it after all.’ She glanced across at Lucas. ‘She is all right, isn’t she?’
Lucas nodded. ‘Yes. I think she really feel she should stay with Grand-maman this evening. She has a nostalgic mood and Alice think it will be good for her to talk.’
‘I can understand that,’ Penny said. ‘Seeing Merlin again must have opened up the memory floodgates for her.’
Alice and Eliza were sitting out in the small back garden of Eliza’s terraced cottage in the village enjoying a nightcap and watching the bats flitting around in the gathering dusk. Eliza took a sip of her drink and gave a quiet sigh.
‘I miss William so much, but I’m glad he never had to leave the Cottage du Lac to live here in the village. Leaving the estate would truly have broken his heart. And he would have hated being hemmed in by all the houses.’
‘I thought you were happy living here in the village, in the heart of everything.’
‘I am. It was a little lonely living in the chateau grounds after William died. Here, I see people every day and have most things I need, but it can’t help being a different sort of life. And not necessarily one that I ever wanted.’
‘Do you miss your old cottage?’ Alice asked gently. ‘You’ve got this one lovely and cosy.’
‘Yes, I do miss it. We moved in directly after we married in 1960 and for the next sixty years, it was home. There’s a lifetime of my memories in that cottage.’
‘I love how you and Grand-papa were childhood sweethearts,’ Alice said.
Eliza laughed quietly. ‘We were. Neither of us ever wanted anyone else.’ Eliza’s eyes misted over. ‘I miss him so much. Seeing Merlin in the chateau brought so many memories back.’ She glanced at Alice. ‘If you don’t hurry up, you’ll never get a fifty-year anniversary with anyone.’ Eliza gave Alice a serious look. ‘I do worry about you, and Lucas too. You’ve both concentrated on careers rather than sorting out your personal lives. And now look at the pair of you, both of you are jobless and no sign of a “significant other”, as you young ones put it, for either of you.’
‘My job went because of the fire,’ Alice protested. ‘And I am still looking for that significant other.’
‘Look harder,’ Eliza said. ‘It’s about time the two of you settled down and had your own families. I can’t hang around forever you know, waiting for great-grandchildren.’
Alice reached for her hand and squeezed it. ‘I know.’
The two of them sat quietly, both deep in their own thoughts for a minute or two before Alice spoke.
‘Have you heard from Mum recently?’
Eliza nodded. ‘Since I moved here, she’s rung every Sunday evening to check that I’m all right.’
‘Any chance of a visit?’
‘She’s talking of later in the year,’ Eliza said. ‘Will you and Lucas still be here then?’
Alice shrugged. ‘I can’t answer for Lucas. I’m helping Peter organise this fete on 14 July, but at some stage I need to find a new job.’
‘I am enjoying your company, so you can both stay for as long as you like,’ Eliza said. ‘And selfishly I hope you do, but you need to work on finding more than just a new job. You need that special person in your life. I’ll stop nagging you for now,’ Eliza said, smiling. ‘But remember, I’m on your case.’