Chapter 10
10
It was absolutely typical, of course, she thought the following morning after dropping Lili off at school, that she’d bump into Michel straightaway – the moment she’d decided to be more open, to accept invitations and make friends as and when the opportunities struck. Mornings were often slow and today Monique had called to say she didn’t need her to be in situ until 10a.m., and suggested she treat herself to a coffee. ‘You have worked so hard,’ she’d said. ‘Why not go to the Café des Sports – they make the best coffee.’
The moment she’d walked into the cafe, she’d seen Michel sitting at one of the small, round tables, his head buried in a book. He’d clearly been there a little while, as his cup was empty, but he looked in no rush to leave.
Rather than interrupt him, she made her way to the counter and ordered her coffee, which came with a small chocolate on the side, but when she turned, she found that he had lowered his book and was looking at her with a smile.
She walked over. ‘ Salut .’
‘Sit down, join me,’ he said, gesturing at the chair opposite .
‘Oh, no. You’re reading. I don’t want to interrupt,’ she replied hurriedly.
He laughed. ‘You are rescuing me. My aunt gave me this book and I simply can’t get on with it.’
She glanced at the title – it wasn’t one she recognised. All out of excuses, she set her cup down and slid into the wooden chair opposite him. ‘I take it I should keep this information from Monique,’ she grinned.
‘Yes, perhaps, although she is used to me and my terrible taste!’ he smiled. ‘I might be a professor, but my subject is mathématiques , much to her dismay. She is trying to educate me with fine literature, but I still prefer modern thrillers.’ He shrugged. ‘So there we have it. I am beyond help.’
Adeline chuckled. ‘I’m partial to a thriller once in a while myself.’
He grinned and signalled to the man behind the counter that he wanted another coffee.
‘Don’t feel you have to stay for me,’ she said, sipping her drink and deciding that after all, she’d need to add both the sugar cubes proffered.
‘Ah, not at all. I am on leave for a few days – I have nothing to do!’ He seemed delighted by this.
‘It’ll be nice for Monique to see a bit more of you,’ Adeline said. ‘I don’t think she has anyone else. Family, I mean.’
He shook his head. ‘No. Or not family she will talk to.’
‘What about your mother? Her sister, I presume?’
Another shake. ‘Yes, she talks to my mother. But they are not actually true family. Not related. Monique is my aunt because she has been best friends with my mother for many years, since before I was born. So yes, we are family, but not by blood.’
‘Oh, I see.’
Adeline was itching to ask him why Monique had cut her mother out of her life – to find out more about her mysterious boss. She took a sip of her coffee instead and began to unwrap the foil-wrapped square of dark chocolate at its side.
‘And you want to ask me – why does Monique not speak to her mother? But you are too polite,’ he said, his eyes mischievous.
She felt herself getting hot. ‘It’s fine. It’s none of my business.’ Could everyone in this place actually read minds?
‘Well, I will tell you anyway. Because it is not a secret. She had an enormous row with her mother when she was very young – perhaps not even twenty.’
‘Do you know what it was about?’
‘Yes. My mother tells me it was something to do with a baby.’
Adeline lifted her head. ‘A baby?’
‘Yes. My mother told me Monique had a baby. She was very young and it was quite a scandal at the time. And of course, Monique’s mother was horrified. She wouldn’t let her keep the baby, and Monique could not forgive her.’
‘Oh.’ Adeline felt a question rise up in her that she couldn’t silence. ‘Michel, how long ago was this? When she gave her baby up?’
Michel shrugged, not realising the importance of his answer. ‘Perhaps forty years, or more. Before I was born, for sure.’
Adeline felt whatever had welled inside her snap; a strange cocktail of disappointment and relief washed over her. She thought then of Lili. She’d been in her mid-twenties when her daughter had been born, so it hadn’t been a scandalous age. But she had been single. At least once she’d told Colin she was pregnant. She tried to imagine how it would have been if she’d been forced to give Lili up. But her mother would never have done that to her. Mum had been with her from her first contraction to the final push.
‘Yes. It was the times, I think. Her mother… her mother re gretted it later. But it was too late. It was done,’ Michel continued, seemingly oblivious.
They were silent for a moment. Adeline feeling a surprise of tears prick at her eyes. ‘And she came here because of that?’
‘I think so. She went to a few different places. She was a bit lost, I think. Then here. She said it felt like home.’
‘I can understand that. It’s a nice place.’
‘ Oui . Although not much happens here. Except where Monique is involved.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’ His coffee arrived and he thanked Marcel, the server, and began to stir sugar into the tiny cup. ‘Monique always seems to be where the adventures are.’
There were two people at the counter now. Adeline recognised one as André, his back to her. She felt herself stiffen. He looked around, almost as if he could sense her gaze, his eyes meeting hers then moving away as if something beyond, through the window, had caught his eye. Should she get up? Take the opportunity to apologise? She felt rooted to the spot; embarrassed that she’d left it so long, not sure how to bring it up.
‘And you?’ Michel asked, after a pause.
‘Me?’
‘Yes. What brings you to St Vianne?’
‘Oh.’ She felt suddenly shy. ‘Well, it was chance really,’ she said. ‘I… well, I had a falling out, with family. And I’d been working as a teacher for so many years. I’d had enough. I’d got a bit of inheritance. It was as if everything came together at once.’
‘But France? And here? In this tiny place?’
She smiled. ‘Well, why not? I got my degree in French, and I was teaching the subject to bored teenagers. I’d kind of lost my way, my love of language. My school realised it didn’t need such a big French department.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘Someone was going to be made redundant. I volunteered. I was caring for my mum – both me and Kevin, my brother, were living with her by the end so that someone would always be there. Nights were terrible and I was exhausted. And I had a little saved. It seemed right.’
He nodded. ‘That was brave.’
‘It didn’t feel brave,’ she said simply. ‘Just… as if it were something that was right at the time. Then Mum… well she died before I’d even finished my contract. More quickly than they expected at the end. And I had all this time on my hands and absolutely nothing to do.’
Michel nodded quietly. ‘I am sorry to hear about your mother. It must have been very hard.’
She nodded. ‘Very. But then I found something. A family connection to this area. It seemed almost as if fate were propelling me.’ She stopped, surprised at her own words. ‘Not that I really… I don’t believe in things like that.’
‘At least you chose to come here,’ he said, clearly trying to inject some positivity back into the conversation. ‘It is a friendly place – welcoming.’
‘Most of the time,’ she said. ‘One or two people seemed less than thrilled at first.’
‘C’est vrai ?’ Michel raised an eyebrow.
‘Yes. I think some – well, not everyone likes newcomers,’ she shrugged.
Michel was watching André now, as he opened the door and exited into the sunlight, giving Michel a nod but avoiding Adeline’s eye. ‘And him? He is one of these people who don’t like newcomers?’ he asked, noting how Adeline studiously stirred her coffee during the brief encounter.
She made a face. ‘Not exactly. No. André was quite friendly until…’ She told him about knocking into him in the street, rushing away as his food rolled across the pavement. ‘I’m so embarrassed,’ she said.
Michel laughed. ‘I don’t think André would hold a grudge for this. He’s very easy-going. I will talk to him, don’t worry.’
‘Oh, you don’t need to do that!’
‘It is nothing. I am sure he has barely remembered anyway.’
She hoped not. André was one of the people who made the village what it was; someone she encountered almost every day. And someone, if she was honest with herself, she felt drawn to. It would be nice to clear the air at least.
‘And your job,’ he said, returning to their conversation. ‘You did not enjoy teaching the children?’
She thought of her unruly Year 11s and smiled. ‘Oh, I did. They were great. But in England, there isn’t as much interest in foreign languages as you might think. People aren’t always that motivated. I’d love to be able to really share my passion for it all – and I think choosing to teach students who have decided to specialise could be really fulfilling.’
‘I understand this,’ he smiled. ‘Teaching mathématiques has taught me that it is certainly not the subject for everyone.’
She laughed. ‘It never was my favourite subject at school.’
He clutched his heart in mock horror. ‘ Mon dieu !’ he said. ‘How could you say this! Maths is a beautiful language of its own.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’ She finally popped the chocolate in her mouth. It was bitter, soft on her tongue and she closed her eyes momentarily.
‘And the job?’ he said.
‘Sorry?’
‘How did you find it? I don’t think many people have even heard of St Vianne. ’
She shook her head. ‘It was strange. I was online. And fed up. And it was just by chance, really, that I did a few Internet searches. You know: Jobs in France and Teaching in France and Positions vacant – that kind of thing. Looking for something in the département – it’s where my family connection is. Most of what came up was a lot of nonsense. And then I found that I can’t teach here without doing a whole new qualification. I was about to give it all up, but suddenly I found this little ad for the job, tucked in the website of a local paper. And it seemed perfect.’
Michel’s eyes studied her face. ‘Yes, it is strange that you should stumble across this. Just by chance.’
‘Very,’ she agreed.
‘I would not be surprised if…’ he began. Then he shook his head. ‘No matter.’
‘No. Go on. What?’
He laughed. ‘No, I am starting to think like my aunt. I do not believe in her charms, her magic. But sometimes things happen around her,’ he shrugged, ‘well, they are hard to explain.’
She nodded in agreement, feeling something stir inside her. ‘Yes, I know what you mean.’
‘And did you come over for an interview and then…’
‘That was the strange thing. I rang the number on the ad, all ready to explain that I’d need a visa, and why I’d be coming, and hoping to convince someone that I could do a good job even if I wasn’t local, and Monique simply said she was glad I’d called and that I could start as soon as I wanted!’ Adeline still remembered the stunned silence she’d sat in after making the call, somehow having secured herself a job when all she’d meant to do was enquire. ‘I thought about changing my mind, but it all seemed so serendipitous…’ she shrugged. ‘So here I am.’
Michel laughed, shaking his head. ‘This is typical of my aunt. She believes in fate, believes that the right things will come to the right people. I can imagine that she simply felt you would be right, and didn’t need any more proof.’
‘Risky strategy.’
‘Perhaps. But it worked this time, non ?’
‘Well, yes.’ Adeline drained the last of her coffee; it was almost time to go. To her surprise, she’d really enjoyed speaking to Michel. There was something open, easy about his manner. ‘Can I ask you something?’ she said.
‘ Oui , of course.’
‘Is… I mean I’m not even sure if I believe in this stuff. But… is Monique psychic?’
He smiled, shook his head. ‘I am not sure if I believe in this stuff either,’ he admitted. ‘But I would say she is intuitive. She senses things. And sometimes things happen for her that I cannot explain.’
‘Oh.’
‘And some people – when she first came, many years ago – they said she was a witch. It was hard for her.’
‘Yes, she mentioned that. But why did they think that?’
‘Well, they said that she does magic. Perhaps she does. She likes crystals, charms. Nothing terrible. The kind of things perhaps all of our great-grandmothers did. She helps people – or tries to. And heals them too – with the books. Some people felt suspicious of her.’
‘Oh, wow.’
He shrugged. ‘People are often suspicious of new people, of strangers, at first, but after a time, they began to accept her. And they stopped saying she was a witch, and realised that she was a friend.’
‘She could be both, of course,’ Adeline said with a smile.
‘ Oui . She has something, some skill we do not understand. But when I asked my mother, she said she does not believe in anything like this. She says that Monique is simply a reader of people.’
‘A reader of people?’ Adeline tried the phrase. ‘I like that. We can read books, can’t we? And some people find more meaning – like reading between the lines. Perhaps Monique does this.’
‘She reads between the lines of people,’ Michel laughed. ‘Yes. I think she would like that description.’
The conversation petered out, a man walked through the door and went to the counter. Adeline glanced at her watch. An hour had passed. ‘Oh!’ she said. ‘It’s almost ten.’
He nodded. ‘Time to go.’
‘Yep. But thank you. It’s been nice. And you won’t mention to Monique about…’
‘That we talked about her magic powers? That you are a sceptic? That you think maybe she goes home on a broom with a cat?’
‘Well, yes.’ She felt herself get hot. ‘Some of it, anyway.’
‘Of course. It is between us. Although she would not mind. Monique, if nothing else, she is a character. And individual. And when we are a little bit different, people talk. She knows that. It is not always a bad thing.’
‘No, I suppose not.’ Adeline put her chair under the table and smiled at Michel again.
‘But your secret is safe with me. As long as you keep my secret too.’
‘Which is?’
‘That I think this book she has given me is terrible!’ he said, looking at the volume again. ‘She may be able to work magic, but I don’t think she will ever give me her love of literature.’