Chapter 18
18
‘Who’s the woman?’ Tommy asked, putting a beer bottle down in front of Jacques and slapping him hard on the back with the other hand.
The beanbag contest might have reached its conclusion for the night but there were still many patrons in the bar making the most of the discounted prices. Tommy’s question had Jacques’s eyes going across the room to where he could see Orla was being introduced to Madame Voisin. Perhaps someone who talked more than anyone would be a good new focus for her…
‘What are you doing here?’ Jacques said, concentrating back on his brother, taking the beer and swigging quickly.
‘I asked a question first.’
‘She’s no one,’ Jacques replied.
‘Whoa. That’s harsh.’
Yes, it was harsh, but he couldn’t deny he still wasn’t over the assumptions Orla had made about him off the cuff. How she’d rattled out her opinions didn’t fit with the reporter he had thought she was. Finally he answered his brother. ‘She’s someone Delphine’s got to come here to… you know… write about Saint-Chambéry and all the crazy things they do at Christmas.’
‘Right, so not a date,’ Tommy said, sitting down.
‘No,’ Jacques said firmly.
‘No?’
‘What are you doing here, Tommy?’ With no warning. Without a heads-up so he could tell him not to come.
‘Why do you keep asking that? It’s like you’re not happy to see me or something.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I thought you were with Dad for Christmas.’ And he liked to know where his family was. It gave him a tiny amount of reassurance. If he knew where they were he could act quickly should it become necessary.
‘Yeah, well, Dad is heading to Hawaii.’
‘What?’ He had had no knowledge of that either.
‘The latest girlfriend who’s fallen for his online rizz and will probably fall out of lust just as quick once she sees his hairline… unless he’s already shown her his bank balance.’
Jacques shook his head. Ever since their mother had left some five years ago now, their dad had plunged straight into the dating pool with, it seemed, little concern for a plan to meet someone special and much more the idea of connecting with as many people as possible in every corner of the globe. He maintained he was completely happy with his trajectory but both Jacques and Tommy had their doubts.
‘And Mom and Jonathan?’ Jacques asked.
‘No idea,’ Tommy said. ‘I haven’t spoken to her since the last time she tried.’
‘Tommy…’
‘What? So you can live your life without talking to her but I have to build a bridge or whatever? No.’
It might have been five years since their mom had announced she was leaving – when Tommy was only thirteen – but the unexpectedness of it, the hurt, the pain it had caused his younger brother more than him, was still raw like it had happened yesterday. Jacques hadn’t been there. He couldn’t be there. But he still blamed himself for that despite knowing his presence alone wouldn’t have changed any outcome.
‘And Jonathan’s a dick,’ Tommy added.
‘We don’t know that.’
‘ I know that. Anyone his age who re-posts videos of girls lip-synching to Tate McCrae needs medical attention.’
‘You’re still stalking his social media,’ Jacques stated.
‘It’s part of my better life journey. I look at things to encourage me. I can’t help it if I’m encouraged by other people’s crazy-ass behaviour and the realisation that I may get low, but they definitely get lower.’
And it also meant that Tommy did care about their mother if he was concerned enough to keep looking at what the man their mother had married was up to on TikTok.
‘So, what’s the story with the woman then?’ Tommy asked, sipping his beer.
‘I told you,’ Jacques said. ‘She’s writing about the village.’
‘Yeah, I got that,’ Tommy replied. ‘Just trying to work out why that would mean you keep staring over at her. Unless you’re looking over at Madame Voisin. I like what she’s done with her hair. It’s… pearly.’
Jacques maintained his cool and shook his head, mouth going back to his beer. He hadn’t been looking over at Orla. Tommy was just trying to get him to admit something that wasn’t even something. But he had taught his brother at least some of what he knew and the student rarely outperformed the master.
‘There’s no other story here, Tommy,’ Jacques assured.
‘Maybe I’ll ask Delphine. She hasn’t spotted me yet… wait, shit, no, I made eye-contact and she’s on her way… with… OK, who is that goddess coming with her?’
Jacques looked across the bar and saw that Delphine was indeed coming their way and it was Erin who was alongside her.
‘Jacques, does my hair look OK?’ Tommy asked him, fingers going into the waves spiked upwards at the front.
‘What?’
‘Man, come on! Does it look OK? I’ve had my helmet on all the way from your house.’
‘What? You’ve been to the house already? And you’ve taken my motorbike?’
He didn’t have time to say anything else. Delphine and Erin were right there.
‘Thomas!’ Delphine exclaimed and then went on to ask him four different questions in French as she clapped her arms around him and immediately ruffled his hair so it was as out of place as it could get. Jacques also knew all the questions would never get an answer from his brother and that Tommy’s French hadn’t been fully used for five years. That’s what happened when the French part of your family left…
‘Is everything OK?’ Jacques asked Erin as his brother tried to deflect Delphine’s attention and sort out his hair.
‘Apparently we have to leave,’ Erin stated, indicating the cabin cases either side of her.
‘What?’ Jacques asked.
Was this because of what he’d said to Orla? She was really going? For a second he felt guilty.
‘Yes!’ Delphine announced, facing Jacques. ‘It is unfortunate but finally I will get new windows in the guest suite. You know how long I have been waiting for them and tomorrow they come. So, Orla and Erin will have to move in with you. I am still not decided on how the windows should open. Do I have a tilt or a wide-opening? It is cold now but in the summer it gets very hot up there.’
Jacques’s brain hurt from the speed with which Delphine was delivering the information. The women weren’t leaving? There were windows? Wait, had she said they were moving in with him?
‘Hi, I’m Tommy.’
‘O-K,’ Erin answered, looking Tommy up and down like his introduction might be some kind of trick.
‘And you don’t look like you should be carrying any kind of heavy bags with those perfect nails so I will take these outside and put them in my brother’s truck. OK?’ Tommy said as he took ownership of the cases.
What the hell was going on here? His brother was apparently staying with him and he was about to get two other house guests? He had to have alone time, just him and Hunter, and no one seemed to ever understand that. As Tommy and Erin began to leave the table with the luggage and head towards the door of the bar, Jacques turned to Delphine.
‘Delphine, I can’t have people stay at my house. You know that.’
He could. Theoretically. He’d been assured it was OK. But when you always trusted your gut and your gut still told you it was better to be safe and inhospitable than it was to take risks, it was hard to change that.
‘Jacques, what am I supposed to do? Make them sleep between the aisles of my supermarket? Or perhaps ask Gerard if they can bed down in the cellar with his brewing equipment? You are the only one around here with the space.’
‘Madame Voisin has the space. She rented out the whole top floor of her house to yoga students last summer,’ Jacques reminded her quickly.
But then Delphine struck him with one of ‘those’ looks and before she had even said anything he knew this wasn’t a situation he had a choice in.
‘Jacques, I do not ask for much. It will only be for a few days and then they can come back here… maybe… if the windows are done.’
It didn’t sound conclusive at all. But what was the alternative? He wasn’t the creating-a-scene kind of person. Besides, Tommy was already here. A risk was a risk no matter the multiples. And he would be helping out someone who had helped him out. Except maybe there was one thing he could nail down before he agreed…
‘OK,’ he replied. ‘But if I am to have house guests, then I need a firm date for when this pregnant reindeer will be here. You know, in case I have to also accommodate that.’
He struck Delphine with a look he hoped conveyed he was not going to take any half-truths now. He knew how she reacted under pressure. She was a rapid talker, a filler of gaps in any dead air, her expression warping and shifting as much as her lips. Except there was none of this happening. When she replied it was with confidence.
‘I have been told the reindeer’s transportation was delayed because of the extreme cold.’
‘How far is it coming from? Because I am thinking the vet in Grenoble would be better?—’
‘Should I send Orla and Erin to the vet in Grenoble too?’ Delphine interrupted. ‘Because I always thought Saint-Chambéry was a place where people… or animals… were welcomed without question.’
What could he possibly say to that?
He nodded. ‘OK.’
‘Good,’ Delphine answered. ‘But I would make sure you keep Tommy and Erin at separate ends of the house. The way the boy was looking at her was the way Hunter looks when he sees a wild rabbit.’