Chapter 8
Sabrina went back to visit the monastery again a few days later.
It was officially called St. Steven’s, but everyone just called it the monastery.
She hadn’t seen Xavier since they had dinner, so she hadn’t been able to ask him about his grandmother’s wartime activities, or if the tunnels were still intact under the chateau.
She spoke to Sister Anne about volunteering, and the nun welcomed the idea, and introduced her to Mother Regina, the Mother Superior, who was a tiny little woman with what appeared to be boundless energy and a will of iron, and who, Sister Anne told Sabrina afterward, was eighty-five. She looked sixty.
Sabrina found it comforting to be among the nuns.
There was a strong sense of community and productive activity, and the children reminded her of when her own children were young, and made her smile and laugh.
She played games with them, and even got roped into one of their soccer matches on the front lawn, where they tripped her as joyously as they did the nuns once they felt comfortable with her, shouting her name for the ball and blocking her brutally at the goal, and she was black and blue and happy when she left them.
She had just been to the monastery for the third time the following week, when Xavier called her.
She hadn’t heard from him since their Basque dinner in Biarritz, and she assumed that he was busy.
He suggested they have lunch at the dower house after the choir mass on Sunday and she accepted with pleasure.
He made pasta, a frittata, and a salad, and poured her a glass of wine when they sat down to lunch in his kitchen. He said he liked to cook.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called you. I had a busy week.
” She didn’t expect him to call, but it was nice to see him.
“I hear you’ve been volunteering at the monastery.
” News traveled fast in a tiny village. The woman where Sabrina bought her groceries knew about it too, and had mentioned it after the first time.
“I love being with the children. Which reminds me, the nun in charge of the school told me about your grandmother.” He smiled when she said it.
“She was a remarkable woman. She lived to be a hundred and one. She helped dig the tunnels herself. It was her idea. And incredibly, they never got caught during the war. I think they had some very close calls. My father remembered playing with the other children. She got them all to safety, more than nine hundred of them in six years.”
“Are the tunnels still there?” Sabrina was fascinated by the story. Xavier had impressive ancestors. And he was impressive too. He seemed in good spirits while they talked over the lunch he had made.
“They were destroyed after the war. My friends and I tried to find some remnant of them, but we never did. I think that’s why my grandmother had them filled in. She didn’t want anyone getting trapped or buried down there.
“I got pulled into a crazy project this week,” he told her with a gleam in his eye.
He seemed happier than he was before. And so was she.
The children had cheered her, and spending two days a week at the monastery made her feel useful.
She hadn’t told her own children about it, but she was enjoying it thoroughly.
And Sister Anne was an interesting, intelligent woman.
She had been a history teacher before joining the order, and was wise about the world.
She wasn’t a total innocent. She had been engaged, and her fiancé died of a brain tumor, which had inspired her decision, and she said she was happy with the life she led.
Sabrina couldn’t see herself making a similar choice, but she respected Sister Anne’s.
She was shocked to learn that they were the same age, and like most of the nuns, Sister Anne didn’t look it.
Spared from some of the griefs of the world, they didn’t show their age, and always seemed peaceful to Sabrina.
“Tell me about your project,” Sabrina encouraged Xavier.
“I got a call from a friend I went to school with, and he wanted my advice. There’s an old hotel a few miles up the coast. It closed when the owner died, when we were in our teens, about forty years ago.
It was quite luxurious, and fell to rack and ruin.
No one ever bought it, apparently it would have been too costly to repair and the bank never sold it.
They recently decided to get rid of it, and my school friend wants to buy it, fix it up, and run it as a luxury hotel.
It’s not a five-star palace like the H?tel du Palais, but I think if we pumped enough money into it, we could turn it into a very elegant hotel.
It’s Victorian, and it looks out over the ocean.
We could do a spa there. It’s a big project, and he wanted to know what I thought and how much it would cost to fix it up.
We met with a contractor and some builders for estimates.
It would take a lot, but I think we could get the same result for less, doing some of the work ourselves and with locals.
It sits on a nice chunk of land and I think everyone has forgotten about it.
Someone almost bought it about twenty years ago but backed out.
I don’t know, Sabrina…. I’m tempted. He wants me to go in as a partner.
He would have more money to put into it if he had a partner.
I could borrow against the chateau. I’ve never done that before.
But do I really want to own a hotel, and take on all the headaches of that, and rebuilding it?
There’s a lot of work to restore what’s already there.
But the bones are great.” His eyes were bright as he spoke of it and he sounded excited.
“He wants me as an equal partner, he says he has no imagination, he’s an accountant, and he thinks together we could do it, and maybe sell it in a few years, or keep it if it turns out to be profitable.
I’ve been looking for a job as a CEO, I’m not sure I want to be a contractor and a hotel owner.
” He looked worried, but excited, and she was happy to see it, despite his misgivings.
“Which way are you leaning?” she asked him, and he looked suddenly mischievous.
“My friend thinks we could do it for just over a million euros if we’re very careful.
It sounds crazy, but it’s the first project that has excited me since the start-up went down the tubes.
I like the idea of building on something and restoring it to its original beauty.
Something you can see and get your hands on, not something abstract that no one understands.
There is nothing like brick and mortar. If we do it right, we can’t lose.
There’s no prestige to it, it’s nothing like my old job, but it might be fun to do.
And I can still go to Paris for interviews if something surfaces.
But I’d be busy when I’m here, which I like.
” She thought that was a good idea too. “Sabrina, would you come and look at it with me? You have fabulous taste.”
“I’ve never remodeled a hotel,” she reminded him.
“No, but you said you took your house in Malibu down to the studs when you remodeled it. So you have some idea of what’s involved.
” She was flattered to be asked, and agreed to go with him.
He still had the keys the bank had given him, and they went that afternoon after lunch.
There was a spring in his step when they walked out to the car and he thanked her for going with him.
“This is fun,” she said, smiling. She loved talking to him and hearing about his plans.
When they got to the hotel, she expected to see an old building that had fallen into disrepair.
And it definitely needed a great deal of work.
But she didn’t expect the hotel to be as big or as beautiful as it was.
Xavier told her what his vision was, with terraced grounds and beautiful gardens.
There was another building where they could rent out space to luxury shops.
And an enormous indoor pool in its own Victorian building that hotel guests could use in winter.
And space to build an outdoor pool as well.
The entire property sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and when Xavier looked around, he could see everything he envisioned, and so could Sabrina when he explained it to her.
She looked excited too. It was going to be a big project, but both men thought they could keep a rein on it, and achieve a great look for a reasonable price.
“And then we’d have to run it and staff it, but first we have to restore it,” he said.
“It’s a big project,” she said cautiously, and he grinned.
“I know, and it sounds crazy but I love it. It’s another gamble but I think this one would be a winner.
” It was a much smaller project than his global travel service.
And for some reason, she thought it would be a winner too.
The bug of his enthusiasm was contagious, which was half the battle.
If he believed in it enough, he could do it, with the right partner, and he was confident about the one he had.
“He’d give me carte blanche with the design aspect, and everything construction and architectural.
He’s a genius with the finance aspect and making the budget work. ”
“How long do you think it would take?” That was a factor too.
“Six or seven months if we stay hard on it, and use local builders. They’re cheaper and they’re here.
If we start bringing them in from Paris, it’ll kill us, at Paris prices.
I’m dying to do it,” he admitted to Sabrina.
He hardly knew her, but he trusted her judgment. She was a smart, sensible woman.