CHAPTER 19
‘I’m sorry, chérie. There’s nothing,’ Carine says, when I tell her I’m looking for a restaurant to rent. ‘Certainly nothing reasonable.’
‘I don’t know why I thought there would be. I haven’t even the money to feed the pickers.’ What was I thinking of?
‘I’ll keep my ear to the ground. And talking of an ear to the ground, I hear there is a service at the church this morning.’
‘For Henri?’
She nods slowly.
‘How early?’
‘I just heard it was early.’
‘But hardly anyone will be able to make it – they’ll be at work or in school.’
‘That is exactly the point.’
‘What?’
‘From what I hear, it’s just a small service for the family, as Zacharie said it would be.’
‘But what about Rhi? What about his friends, the community?’
‘Non. Not invited.’
Then I hear the church bells ring and stare at her. ‘It’s now!’
‘He is trying to do it before anyone is open for business!’ Carine looks as enraged as I feel.
‘Well, I’ll see about that!’ I march out of the office. Carine scoops up her jacket and follows me, her kitten heels clipping on the pavement behind me.
I can hear the church bells and I quicken my pace. Down the alley, past the bistro, towards the church in the square.
There is a dark car with blackened windows. The doors to the church open. I step forward to rush in, but it’s Zacharie and a woman, both in dark glasses, and the priest who step out. Zacharie looks around. I stare straight at him.
He’s done it. We’ve missed it. I’m seething, my hands clenched.
‘He’s had the funeral service,’ I say to Carine, staring at the car as they step into it. He’d completely ignored everything I said and everyone who cared about Henri. ‘How could he?’
The car drives away and the priest glances at Carine and me on the far side of the square. He has the decency to look regretful.
‘No one was there. No one!’ I cry.
‘Let’s go and get a brandy,’ says Carine, and we turn up the alleyway towards her office, passing what used to be the bistro.
On the outside it’s unrecognizable. And then I see it. A sign, welcoming people to the restaurant’s opening … tonight.
‘Tonight! The day he said goodbye to his father. This is too much! Something needs to be done.’ But I still have no idea what.
I stand and stare at the new awning, the minimalist writing on the new window, ‘l’expérience’ all in lower case.
The red-and-white-check tablecloths are nowhere to be seen.
‘I know where there’s a really good bottle of brandy,’ I say. ‘Henri’s brandy.’
‘I thought Zacharie took the key from you.’
‘Yes, but he doesn’t know there’s a spare, just in case.’
I go to the geranium pot and lift it to see the key still sitting there.
‘Bingo!’ I’m fired up and angry.
For a moment I wonder if it will still work. I look up and down the street, then push it into the lock and turn it. It works. My heart is thumping. Looking over my shoulder, I push the handle, no longer brass but chrome, and let myself in.
‘Grab the brandy from behind the bar,’ I tell Carine, pointing. ‘The good one!’
While the front of the restaurant is practically unrecognizable, there are still reminders of the bistro in the kitchen, the bones of the place, the shape of it, the eyeline into the restaurant and the street beyond. I run my hand over the work surface. Here, I was happier than I have ever been. This place, Le Petit Mas, Stephanie and the children, I felt like I had it all. Now everything seems to be crumbling around me, as if I’m being punished for being happy.
Don’t wait until life stops being hard to be happy. I hear Henri’s words. A saying he lived by.
I look around the little bistro, taking in the changes. I walk upstairs. The pictures on the walls have gone, and in the apartment, there are more tables and chairs, more dining area. Nothing of Henri left at all.
I walk down the stairs. Carine is standing at the bottom, holding the brandy.
I slide the key onto the side, next to the trays of champagne flutes ready for tonight’s opening. I grab two of the bottles lined up there and head out into the alley as the day begins to heat up.
‘Let’s go back to Le Petit Mas, get drunk, angry and make a plan. There has to be a way to persuade him that he’s making a very big mistake in pushing Henri’s friends out. I’m not going to let that happen!’