Chapter 55
NOW
November and the winter had truly set in. But the lights strung across the streets and blazing in the shop windows brought warmth and a sense of excitement to the dark evenings. The air smelled like ice and smoke and warm winter foods being rustled up in restaurants.
It was Friday. Bella had just arrived back from picking up Kitty who was over for the weekend, this time with Ty. Ty was already tucked up in bed, fast asleep after his journey; the rest of them had all gathered in the kitchen.
It was her last night in the house. Tomorrow, she’d begin the process of moving her things to a new apartment she’d rented in the city – close to the college and closer to the hotel.
It was unfurnished, so she’d be able to move in the things from Peyrat she’d kept and put into storage after the sale.
Her stomach was a quiver of nervous excitement, but she was ready.
‘So you’re moving out?’ Brad had said when she’d told him a month before.
‘Yes – time I moved to somewhere of my own.’
He’d mock pouted. ‘What about me?’
‘Well, I’m pretty sure you’ll be there a lot of the time.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
They’d discussed moving in together, but things were going so well between them neither wanted to rock the boat right now. There would be plenty of time for all that in the future.
Tonight was about endings, but new beginnings too. Bella had bought two enormous bottles of champagne and had invited everybody to join her.
They were all there: Odette, who’d finally secured a meeting with the gallery owner for next month; Henri, whose father had apparently come round to the idea that his son was an academic rather than a business mogul; Claudine, who’d just arrived, sporting a long winter coat and furry boots which she’d kept on, complaining that the house was ‘too draughty’.
Bella sipped her champagne, feeling slightly queasy. When Brad had invited them all to come together, including Claudine, she’d felt that it had to be more than a simple collective drink he had in mind. Conversation was stilted; they could all feel that something else was going on.
She reached over, squeezed his hand. ‘No offense,’ she said, ‘but what’s this all about?’
‘Can’t a man share a drink with friends without there being a hidden agenda?’
‘A man can,’ she said, smiling. ‘You can’t. I can read you like a book and you’re definitely up to something.’
He grinned. ‘You got me!’
Then to her surprise, he looked at Claudine, who nodded slightly as if to give him the go-ahead. He stood.
‘Well, I was going to announce this later, only Miss Smarty-Pants here figured I was up to something. So I’d better get on with it.’
For one horrible moment she thought he might propose. That was something she might want later down the line. But not now, not yet.
‘Claudine here has agreed to let me invest in the hotel. We’re going to be partners. I kind of… It feels like a safe investment. Something I can actually be involved in properly. Although it has to be OK with you, of course,’ he said to Bella.
‘Hey, I’m just a general manager.’
‘True.’
‘And I’m not even working right now.’
‘Also true.’ He picked up her hand. ‘But you’re also pretty important to me, so you kinda get the last say.’
She looked at him, grinned. ‘OK.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah. It sounds… I mean it’s a really great step.’ She raised her glass.
‘Not so fast!’
‘There’s more?’
Claudine glanced at her watch. ‘Shortly.’
As if she’d conjured it, the doorbell rang out at that moment, making them jump.
‘She sure is punctual,’ said Brad.
‘Who? Who is punctual?’ Bella asked.
But he was silent as Claudine disappeared to answer the door.
There was the muffled sound of talking and then two steps of shoes clipped towards the kitchen.
As the door opened, Bella was surprised to see her boss with an arm around a woman in a chequered wool suit, with red shoes, holding a bemused-looking dog on a lead.
Bella rose to her feet. ‘Madame Roux!’ she said, smiling. Rounding the table, she gave the old woman a hug which surprised them both. ‘Call me élise,’ she said. ‘“Madame Roux” makes me sound old.’
The sharp, discerning eyes looked around the kitchen, taking in the basic decor, the large wooden cupboards, the scattered plates and mugs. ‘My God,’ she said, turning to Brad. ‘You said it was ugly, but this is—’
He grinned widely. ‘You’ll have to help me decide how to decorate, élise. Whole place could do with a refresh.’
Bella brought another chair to the table for Madame Roux to sink onto. She had a strange feeling that there was a joke that everyone else was in on but her. ‘So, it’s lovely to see you,’ she told the old lady. ‘And you’re going to help Brad… decorate?’
‘Oui. I will not live in squalor. I made that quite clear.’
Bella’s mouth dropped open. ‘You’ll be living here?’
‘Yes. Once you move into your new apartment. Just while they repurpose my room at the hotel. Claudine here feels that if I’m to be a permanent resident, I need a little more luxury,’ Madame Roux said. Coco barked, as if in acquiescence.
‘And perhaps,’ Claudine added, ‘one or two adaptations…’
‘Oh, adaptations!’ Madame Roux flapped a hand. ‘Anyone would think I was an old woman!’
‘Well,’ Bella said, nodding. ‘I think that’s brilliant.’
They raised their glasses again. ‘To new starts?’ suggested Bella.
‘Wait!’ A voice at the door took them all by surprise.
‘Yves!’ Bella exclaimed.
Yves looked very different out of the office. Gone was the smart suit and sharp tailoring. Instead, he was wearing jeans, a black sweater with the picture of a guitarist. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said. And Bella was about to tell him not to worry when she realised he wasn’t talking to her.
‘It’s fine,’ Claudine said, giving him her cheek to kiss.
Yves slipped an arm around Claudine’s shoulders and they both turned back to the group.
‘Oh,’ Bella said. ‘You’re… You two are—’
Claudine gave the slightest incline of her head. ‘Someone once told me that younger men can be a lot of fun,’ she said with a playful shrug.
‘So, we all here now?’ Brad said, looking around as if expecting someone else to turn up.
‘Yes. Get on with it!’ Claudine said.
‘Thank you. So, I also wanted to make a toast.’ He raised his glass. ‘To all of us. To the future. And most of all to overcoming.’
‘Overcoming?’
‘Yeah, you know. Odette and her paintings. Claudine, well, you know, it was hard for her for a bit with the hotel. You, going to see your sister, and working through that stuff,’ he nodded in her direction, and she returned the movement.
She didn’t want him going into any more details just yet.
‘And to Henri,’ he said, ‘who’s finally got his father onside. ’
‘And you,’ she said.
‘With the business stuff?’
‘Yeah, and the rest,’ she said, winking and thinking of the night before when he’d played the guitar softly to her as she lay on his bed. He flushed and she raised her glass, echoing Brad’s toast. ‘To all of us.’
‘To all of us.’
‘And to teaching an old dog new tricks!’ Brad added.
‘Hey!’ Bella said.
‘Oh damn! No, not you sweetheart. Not your course. You’re a young… dog.’
‘Thanks… I think.’
‘Then you are calling me the dog?’ Madame Roux asked disapprovingly.
‘No! Of course not. Bad expression. I’m talking about me! Claudine’s going to have to get me up to speed on everything hotel-related. I’m the old dog.’
‘To old dogs!’ Bella said, lifting her glass, much to the bemusement of the rest of them.
‘And to H?tel Benjamin!’
‘Non!’ Claudine said abruptly. They all looked at her. ‘There will be no more H?tel Benjamin.’
‘But—?’
‘What?’
‘Non. I have had enough of Benjamins to last me a lifetime.’
Brad’s mouth fell open. ‘But surely—’
‘Non, do not worry,’ Claudine grinned mischievously. ‘It is not the end of the hotel. Merely a new beginning. Time for Chez Claudine?’
‘Chez Claudine?’ Brad mused then nodded. ‘I like it.’
‘To Chez Claudine!’ cried Bella.
‘Yes! Chez Claudine!’
And in that moment, looking around at her friends, at Brad, Bella realised that she was no longer afraid. People would come in and out of her life; some staying, some moving on. There was no such thing as stability, not in any real sense. Things would change, times would change.
But there were different types of change. The change that happened to you, or the change that you drove yourself. Change could be terrifying. But it could also be exciting.
In that moment, she knew without doubt that she was strong enough to step into her future. And that whatever happened, she had what it took to land on her feet.