Chapter 19
Maxine had had no idea she’d feel so unfit the following morning as she hobbled to the shower. Like John Wayne. Stiff-legged, shoulders hunched. Her muscles had seized up and the cramp was ridiculous.
After a hot shower, she pulled on jog bottoms and struggled to the beach. Of course, the idea was to loosen up, to ease the aches. She had no intention of looking for Manu. Maxine wondered if he was fully a ten out of ten, now she’d spoken to him.
She was being silly.
Enjoying the bite of the sea air, she walked towards Plouvannec, past Le Shack. There was no sign of any activity, despite it being Saturday morning. It was a shame Joel didn’t open the restaurant for breakfast as Maxine was starving – a crêpe would be perfect.
The beach was almost deserted too. There was no sign of Bastien teaching yoga, or Gemma, with Macey Roux, or Shirl. She assumed Gemma was working in the boulangerie – Saturdays would be busy. Perhaps she’d call in for a chat.
She walked for less than a mile, then turned back. There were a few swimmers moving towards the rushing tide, swishing their legs with cold water. Maxine wondered if a swim would help her aching hips.
Back at the cottage, the little posy of wild flowers was in a carafe on the table, filling the kitchen with a sweet smell.
She imagined Manu knocking at her door yesterday afternoon, leaving the little bunch of flowers on the step when she didn’t answer, hoping she’d find them later and think of him.
But, for all she knew, it might simply have been someone who had known Clotilde, leaving a posy of the old lady’s favourite blooms in her memory.
Maxine made herself a peppermint tea, toasted some bread and sat at the table with a jar of honey. She’d enjoyed yesterday. It had made her feel strong and independent, being by herself. But she wondered what to do today. Some company might be nice.
As if in answer to her thoughts, there was a light knock at the door.
Maxine checked her reflection in the mirror and wondered why her heart had started to thump.
She knew in an instant she was worried it was J-F.
The drunken evening had been a mistake, but this could be an opportunity to tell him so, to put their relationship back on track. J-F was a friend, not a lover.
She pulled open the door to find Fliss standing outside, looking cool in jeans and a stunning faded jacket.
She saw Maxine’s admiring glance. ‘It’s a Vintage Louis Feraud Paris jacket.
And the shoes are Girotti rainbows.’ She held up a foot clad in a leather trainer with a multicoloured graffiti design. ‘We’re going out.’
‘We?’
‘Oh, the others have gone ahead, darling. Can we take your car? It’s not far. Would that be all right?’ Fliss pushed a hand through her silky blonde hair. ‘I hope you haven’t got anything planned. We’re having a day out.’
‘Oh?’
Fliss pointed at her joggers. ‘You’re dressed perfectly. You’ll need a jacket though. It might get a bit blowy.’
‘Oh, right.’
Maxine rushed indoors and Fliss followed her, looking around at her own handiwork. ‘Do you like what I’ve done with the place, Max? You don’t mind if I call you Max? I wanted to keep the décor clean and simple. You don’t think I should’ve put more colour on the walls?’
‘Not at all, it’s very relaxing.’ Maxine reached for a black jacket. ‘Will I be OK in this?’
‘Gorgeous. And the trainers are ideal.’ Fliss hurried into the kitchen. ‘Is the cooker big enough? I did think about getting a hob and an oven, but the stove makes it gorgeously rustic.’
‘I love it,’ Maxine replied.
‘And you’re on holiday – who wants to cook? Oh, look at these flowers – they’re beautiful.’ Fliss picked up the whole carafe. ‘Did you pick them?’
‘No, I found them at the door. I think they were left in Clotilde’s memory.’
‘Who knows?’ Fliss grinned mischievously. ‘I expect some local beau has designs on you.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so.’ Maxine hoped she wasn’t blushing.
‘I bet it’s Bérnard Barthez.’
‘Who?’
‘Bérnard speaks a strange version of English with all visitors. He learned it from his grandmother, who had a copy of Ivanhoe – he’s adorable.’ Fliss found it hysterical. ‘I expect he spotted you at Maurice’s funeral and wants to hook up.’
‘Oh, I hope not.’
Fliss wrapped an arm around her. ‘No, of course, you’re on holiday, darling. You don’t want anyone spoiling your break.’
‘I didn’t mean that.’ Maxine didn’t want Fliss to think she was completely against the idea of meeting people. ‘So – what are we doing?’
‘Grab your bag. This is my treat,’ Fliss said. ‘We’ll have fun. Then we’ll have lunch.’
‘Turn right here – follow the road all the way to Chapellin,’ Fliss said, checking her hair in the passenger-seat mirror and then reapplying her lipstick.
‘So, tell me, Max, this man you’ve just kicked into touch, the one who shagged your best friend – what did you see in him in the first place? You must have known he was no good.’
‘He was a waste man.’ Maxine remembered Ayeesha, whom she’d met at the Tsunami restaurant.
Meeting Ayeesha had been the turning point to the French holiday.
That and Russell’s infidelity. ‘I’m not great at relationships,’ she admitted as she slowed down behind a lorry that belched out grey smoke.
‘I suppose I just wanted companionship.’
‘Oh, I know what you mean.’ Fliss put her lipstick away.
‘Both of my husbands were ridiculous choices. Richard was completely flaky – I was flaky then too. Hugh was just the most pompous arse – what I saw in him, I’ll never know.
He has a knighthood now, a stomach ulcer and a vitriolic wife.
I wasn’t the best version of myself when I was young – I tried too hard to make people like me.
Of course, it didn’t look that way. I looked like a selfish brat. ’
Maxine didn’t think Fliss came across as selfish. ‘So, how did you change?’
‘A year ago, I was drinking too much, hanging around in bars, desperate for attention. I just wanted to check it still worked.’
‘What worked?’
‘It. Me still being magnetic. I’d got to the age when I thought it was my last fling at finding—’
‘The one?’
‘Any one.’ Fliss couldn’t help laughing. ‘Do I sound desperate, darling? Well, I was.’
‘And now?’
‘I’m seventy, would you believe? But I’m fitter and wiser than ever.’ Fliss didn’t seem to care how old she was.
‘You don’t look seventy.’
Fliss shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. ‘What’s seventy anyway?
Wrinkles? A Zimmer frame? I think I can be seventy and still be badass.
’ Fliss gazed through her window. ‘Oh, just look at those handsome cyclists. I mean – that rear! That’s something, isn’t it?
Firm buttocks…’ she said wickedly. ‘Just see if you can knock one over, just a small bump into the ditch, but don’t injure him. I could jump out and revive him.’
Maxine overtook the cyclists carefully. Fliss was right, they were all lean muscles and Lycra. She wouldn’t have noticed at all, if Fliss hadn’t mentioned it. She said, ‘You’re a bad influence.’
‘Oh, I know. But I do love men, darling. Mind you, I couldn’t eat a whole one, not these days.’
‘Because you’re older and wiser?’
‘Because I’ve changed. I came here for a holiday with Shirl last summer and my perspective on the world shifted.’
Maxine was interested. ‘Oh?’
‘I’d met up with Manu in Paris on a shopping spree – we go way back to when I ran my lingerie business – and he invited me here. He and I used to have a thing.’
‘Really?’ Maxine was even more interested.
‘But since he’s retired, he’s become more comfortable with who he is. I think I might have wanted to have another fling. He’s incredibly handsome, isn’t he?’
‘I suppose so,’ Maxine mumbled.
‘You must have noticed.’ Fliss shot her a look.
‘He has no idea how gorgeous he is. So I set my sights at a holiday romance. I always have to compete – I have to win. My mother’s voice was constantly nagging me inside my head.
“Felicity, you’ll never amount to anything.
You’re a disappointment.”’ Fliss had changed her voice to impersonate her mother’s haughty tone.
Then she laughed. ‘But one day, I was running on the beach and I just told her to shut up. I didn’t need to prove anything.
It would be so disrespectful to have casual sex with Manu – or his brother, Théo.
They’re my dear friends now. That’s worth so much more than a quick shag between the sheets. ’
‘I suppose so…’
‘Oh, it is, Max. I love them both to bits. And Maurice was so sweet. No, being here is glorious. I’ve just sold my house in Somerset, in a beautiful village, but it’s not for me now.
The difference is, I’ve integrated here, I have options.
I’d never rule out a long-term relationship, you know, one based on love,’ Fliss said. ‘And passionate sex, of course.’
‘You make everything sound easy,’ Maxine said. They had driven past the sign for Chapellin, and Maxine turned down the road that ran parallel to the river.
‘It is. Just continue down here – I’ll tell you when to turn. Oh, I say – more cyclists.’ Fliss pressed her nose against the window. ‘I do like a toned bod.’
‘Mmm.’ Maxine overtook them carefully.
‘So, what about you, Max? Perhaps I should introduce you to Théo, Manu’s brother?
He’s fit, you know. I still have this vision of him coming up the stairs half naked, waving a spoon at me, last summer.
Shirl’s granddaughter – Racy Moo – was teething.
’ Fliss grinned mischievously. She found her own joke hilarious.
‘Poor Shirl was exhausted and I had no idea what to do with a wailing baby – oh, turn left here.’
‘At the sign where it says canoeing?’ Maxine groaned. She knew exactly where they were going now.
‘Yes.’ Fliss rubbed her hands. ‘We’re off for a boat ride.’
‘We?’ Maxine drove down the path towards the outbuilding and the sign for Kastell Canoe-Kayak. Her stomach sank.
‘It’ll be great fun, I promise. Well, you’ve met J-F.
He’s a nice man. The first time I went canoeing, I fell in the river and lost a shoe.
It was one of my favourites. It’s probably still there on the riverbed, or in pieces in a fish’s tummy.
I was gutted.’ There was a peal of laughter.
‘Oh, look – everyone’s here. Pull up, darling. ’
Maxine parked the car next to several other cars and a shiny Harley-Davidson.
She felt gloom descend on her shoulders as she clambered out of the car and followed Fliss towards the small group of people.
She hung back a little, wondering how she was going to manage to ignore the embarrassment of it all.
Fliss was hugging everyone, kissing cheeks, then she turned to Maxine.
‘Max – we’re all going in twos. You know Théo and Manu, Shirl and Joel. And here’s Jean-Francois, who owns this place. Oh – I forgot – you two know each other, don’t you?’
Maxine looked at each smiling face in turn, then her eyes met J-F’s briefly before he mumbled, ‘Hello’ and she said, ‘?a va?’ at the same time.
‘You met at the cottage,’ Fliss announced.
‘I remember you messaging me when you first arrived at Clotilde’s, Max, that he’d turned up the worse for wear.
’ She turned to J-F, who was trying not to smile.
‘That’s right, isn’t it? You stayed the night, didn’t you, J-F?
Well, I hope you behaved like a gentleman.
’ Fliss laughed, turning to everyone in the group.
She noticed J-F’s sombre expression and Maxine’s tingling cheeks, and her eyes widened.
‘Ah, right. I see. Moving swiftly on.’ Fliss took a breath. ‘I’m assuming you both know each other quite well, then. That’s the introductions sorted. So – shall we all get into the canoes? Oh dear. I think I’ve just put my foot in it…’