Chapter 16
‘So how is your first day in Paris?’ Ashok asked on the video call.
‘Wonderful. And strange. And a few other emotions I’ve yet to quite work out.’
‘From what you told me in India, I’m not surprised. But you will work them out. It’ll just take time.’
‘Oh, stop being so bloody wise,’ I said, laughing.
His warm smile across the miles made me momentarily forget my insecurities.
‘So what’s on the cards for tonight?’
‘We’re going to dinner at a nearby café that looks nice and has good reviews. Apparently.’
‘Sasha has been busy?’
‘Incredibly! There’s a list of places as long as my arm to try, visit and see.’
‘That’s good. That’s what she’s there for.’
‘True.’
‘But don’t forget what you’re there for too.’
I swallowed. ‘Sometimes, I regret opening up about all this to you.’
‘No, you don’t.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘No. You’re right. I don’t. But I should.’
‘Nah.’ He laughed this time. ‘Plans for tomorrow?’
‘Food shopping in the morning at the local market.’
‘Your eyes lit up when you said that.’
‘I’m excited! Then I’m thinking back here to cook something fresh and amazing for lunch. Well, fresh at least.’
Ashok wagged his finger. ‘Ah ah! Sasha told me what a great cook you are, so no false modesty there. And then what?’
‘I don’t know, to be honest. I’m sure Sash has a whole itinerary but I’m a little less organised.’
‘That’s OK. Are you free in the evening?’
‘Tomorrow? I expect so. I’ve not quite got around to making our apartment the “salon” to come to just yet.’
‘Would you be available to meet me for dinner, with Sasha, of course?’
‘Dinner? Tomorrow?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where?’
‘Hotel Vert? Do you know it?’
‘No, but we can find it.’
‘I will send a car.’
‘Ashok, you don’t need to do that.’ I could see him about to object and I knew from previous occasions that I would not win this battle. Ashok was like a stick of rock with the word chivalrous stamped through the middle. But I had a more important question. ‘Are you in Paris?’
‘Not yet. But,’ he glanced at his watch, ‘if my flight is on time, I will be in about eleven hours.’
‘How come?’
‘Is it not enough to say I wanted to see you?’
I pulled a face. ‘Smooth but untrue.’
‘Fine,’ he grinned. ‘I want to do some surreptitious snooping of the hotel in Paris I just bought and I’m in talks for another. I have a meeting the day after tomorrow with the current owners and many, many lawyers.’
‘That sounds fun.’
‘Indeed.’
‘So you want to eat there tomorrow to check it out before they know who you are?’
‘Exactement!’ he replied with a chuckle.
‘And let me guess. You’re staying there too to see how things are being done?’
‘Correct again.’
‘Won’t they recognise your name when you check in?’
‘Somehow I doubt the staff have any idea who I am so I’m not concerned.’
‘You’re sneaky.’
‘I prefer to think of it as being thorough in my business.’
‘But surely you’ll be changing things anyway?’
‘Only if they don’t work. If there’s something I particularly like about the style or way of doing things, I’ll be careful to maintain that.
But it gives me an insight into what may need to be changed and what won’t.
All of which is to say that I’d very much love to have your company there tomorrow. ’
‘That would be lovely.’
* * *
‘Oh, Mum, I can’t! Sorry,’ Sash replied when I told her about Ashok’s call. After I’d hung up, I’d got undressed, slipped on my robe and begun running a bath before going back into the living area to get a glass of pre-dinner wine to have in the bath.
‘Oh. OK.’
‘You can still go, though. I mean, you have to!’
‘He’ll be sorry not to see you.’
‘I know and I’d have loved to have seen him too but I’m meeting a couple of other YouTubers who are based in Paris for drinks and dinner tomorrow. Sorry, I was going to tell you but I could hear you were on the phone.’
‘Not to worry. That’s lovely, though. Do you know them at all already?’
‘We all follow each other but I’ve never met them in person, no, but I love what they do and we’re even thinking of doing a couple of collab vids. I’m so excited!’
‘That’s great, darling. I’m so glad you’re making friends already.’
‘Are you going to be OK, though? I mean, I assume he’s sending a car or something because, well, it’s Ashok.’
‘Bingo. And yes, it’s absolutely fine. We always said we would each make our own plans here. The last thing we want to do is get on each other’s nerves.’
Sash had been sitting on the floor but at this, she stood up with the grace of a young antelope. Once upon a time, I’d had a similar grace but these days, it felt like I had at some point unknowingly traded it in for something more bovine in nature.
‘Mum, that’s not going to happen.’ She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight before pulling back. ‘I can postpone this if you want me to come. I don’t mind.’
‘No, no, no!’ I pushed back the tears that were threatening for reasons I was still unsure of. I was sure I’d be back on a more even keel once I’d got a good night’s sleep. ‘It’s lovely that you’re making friends already. I was worried you might get a bit lonely stuck here with me.’
‘Mum…’
‘I shall pass your regrets on to Ashok. The sale of this hotel is pretty much a done deal, from what he said, and if he’s looking at another here too, maybe we’ll see more of him anyway.’
‘Are you running a bath?’ She craned her head around to look behind me.
‘Oh, God!’ I ran back to the bedroom and launched myself at the taps that were just disappearing under bath foam that had now scented the entire room with French lavender.
I’d also bunged in some bath oil I’d been given one Christmas and had forgotten about, only discovering it when we’d begun packing the house up for the sale.
‘All right?’ Sash stuck her head around the door.
‘Yes. Thank goodness. That would be a good start, wouldn’t it? Flooding the place on the first day. Right, I’m going to have a soak and then get ready for dinner.’
After a long, luxurious soak with a new book, I stood up to step out of the bath.
From there, everything went rather downhill at quite some speed.
My arms windmilled uselessly as my feet did a comedy run on the spot before I plummeted face first towards the water, landing with a large splash back in the tub.
‘Mum!’ Sash came barrelling in just as I finished wrapping a large bath sheet around me with one hand. I was bent over, with the other hand gripping tightly to the side of the bath.
‘I’m fine.’ In truth, my face hurt so much that an entire paragraph of ‘Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks’ wouldn’t make a dent but as far as my daughter needed to know, I was fine.
‘Mum!’ She marched over, unpeeled my hand from the bath and stood there until I acquiesced in allowing her to assist me out of the bath.
‘I’ve no idea where you get your stubborn side from.’
‘Obviously it’s you, Mum,’ she replied and handed me my robe to swap for the towel. ‘What happened?’ she asked while she grabbed a flannel and ran it under the sink tap then handed it to me.
‘What’s that for?’
Sash moved me in front of the mirror. There was a small gash on my head and my nose was bleeding. Excellent. Bienvenue à Paris! I chose to deal with my nose first as that was gushing the most.
‘What happened?’ Sash repeated her question. ‘Did you get dizzy?’
‘No.’ I went to shake my head and thought better of it. ‘I just forgot how sodding slippery bath oils are. My foot slipped as I was getting out and I hit my face on the side of the bath.’
Sash scrunched up her face in sympathy. Something I was currently unable to do.
‘Ouch.’
‘Something like that.’
‘Shall I get you some ice? I put some in earlier when you went out.’
‘Thanks. That’d be great.’
‘Let’s get some food delivered tonight,’ she suggested on her way out.
I followed her, now holding a new flannel to my nose which, thankfully, seemed to have slowed its flow.
‘No, I don’t want to mess up our plans.’
‘Honestly, Mum. I’d rather. It was a really early start and the thought of getting out of my joggers now is less than appealing. I’d happily just sit on the sofa with you and watch something on the tablet and just veg.’
My whole face throbbed and a headache was now knocking at the door to join the pain party but I didn’t want to spoil things.
‘I mean it, Mum. I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I know you were looking forward to going out.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Very.’
‘OK. Do you want to choose something?’
‘Done. Go and get your jamas on and I’ll get a plaster for your head and some ice for your face. Hopefully, it won’t swell up too much if we do that.’
* * *
That hope was sadly misplaced. The following morning, after a sleep that was helped by the codeine painkillers I’d had to take for my face, I padded to the loo and caught a glimpse in the mirror of my face.
‘Oh. Bugger.’ I blew out a sigh and then padded into the living room.
‘Morning. Oh, wow!’
‘I don’t do things by halves, do I?’ Ironically, I was closer to that particular truth than I’d meant as I had not only one, but two, black eyes.
The cut on my head was healing nicely. I’d refused the plaster last night, hoping that leaving the air to get to it would heal it faster.
In one way it had. But beneath the now nicely healing thin line was a purple, bumpy bruise.
‘What are you going to do about dinner tonight?’
‘Urgghhhhhh.’ I tipped my head back momentarily before discovering that made it hurt more. ‘I’d forgotten about that with all the excitement.’
‘I can try and put some make-up on over it for you, if you like?’
‘Can you try that now? I’m desperate to go to market but I’d rather not look like I’ve gone three rounds with Frank Bruno before stepping out the door.’
My daughter wrinkled her forehead. ‘Who’s Frank Bruno?’
Sasha did her best but the truth was, nothing less than professional stage make-up was going to hide the blooming disaster of matching black eyes I was now sporting.
‘Can you ask Ashok to postpone it?’