Chapter 35
‘Did Reine really tell you your painting was shit?’ I asked as we walked along the bank of the Seine later, my arm tucked through his, his hand resting on mine.
We’d had an easy day, wandering the streets of Paris, stopping for lunch and coffee whenever we felt like it. I couldn’t remember being happier.
‘She did. I’ve offered to do another to replace it but she refuses. It says it reminds her of how far I’ve come. And it certainly keeps me grounded.’
‘It’s lovely of her to want that reminder.’
‘Yes.’ He paused. ‘Or perhaps it’s a way of making sure I don’t, what’s that phrase you used to use, get too big for my slippers?’
‘Boots. And I don’t think that’s an issue. Unless you’ve very much changed, being egotistical wasn’t one of your faults.’
‘Although there were many others,’ he grinned good-naturedly.
‘Oh, yes. Plenty.’ The tease was easy and fun.
From the beginning, I’d felt at home with Tomas and Gabrielle.
I’d been able to be myself. Or at least who I thought I was at the time.
It was strange really that I’d had more idea who I was back then than I’d had in the decades that followed.
But being back here now, back with those friends, made it easier to discover who I was now and what I wanted.
People pleasing, it appeared, had dropped dramatically down the list. Thank God.
‘Also, even with all your apparent success, with your sister as your manager, there’s no way on earth she’d have stood for any of that nonsense. ’
‘Very true.’ We stopped and leant on the wall of the Pont Alexandre III, both gazing down at the dark water beneath us, the ripples made by the gentle breeze catching both moon and streetlight, making it dance before us.
‘So,’ I said, turning and resting my back against the wall as Tomas remained facing it. ‘How did that come about? Gabby becoming your manager, I mean.’
His eyes fixed on a point far in the distance – or perhaps in the past – and it was a few moments before he spoke.
‘As you know, the grand plan of running the vineyard did not go well. I spent a couple of years travelling, doing an assortment of jobs. Gabby and I had fallen out with our parents and I wanted to take myself away from everything I knew here. Gabby and I stayed in contact, obviously, but she felt the same after our degrees finished. She went off to Milan and I, how do they say, bummed around. Eventually, we reconciled with the family and I took on the position they’d always wanted me to.
Even after two years, I couldn’t get you out of my head so I threw myself into it.
I thought that perhaps it would be a good distraction in that I had to use every atom of concentration to get my head around the business side of things.
I’d worked there growing up and had been happy to do the tours, remember the spiel and answer the questions.
But running a business? Knowing that people’s livelihoods depended on me?
I struggled with that pressure every day and night.
‘I made a couple of bad decisions then decided to bring in help. I interviewed a financial advisor who came with good references and promises to help turn things around. By this point, profits were already going down. It’s harder than it was in my parents’ and grandparents’ time anyway.
Back then, French wine was, what do they say now?
The bomb? Or perhaps that was last week’s phrase. ’
I smiled and felt relieved when a small smile also flashed on his face, however brief, before it turned serious once more. I could feel the tension in his body build as he’d begun recounting the unhappy time.
‘Now there is much competition from all over the world.’ He stopped and turned. ‘I don’t mean to say that is a bad thing.’ He shifted and gave a furtive glance to the left, then right. ‘Between you and me, one of my favourite sparkling wines is English!’
His expression was so serious, the check around so intense, that for a moment, I had thought there was about to be something of monumental significance to be imparted to me. Something at least worthy of knocking the threat level up a notch or two.
‘Oh, Tomas.’ I sighed and hugged his arm closer.
I doubted the French government were interested – although come to think of it, perhaps it was best not to pass this titbit on.
Tomas was currently their golden child of the art world.
Finding out he was partial to an English tipple might be considered close to high treason over here. ‘Your secret is safe with me.’
‘As I knew it would be.’
‘So, you hired someone? A financial assistant?’
‘It’s getting cooler. Shall we walk on? Are you warm enough?’
‘I am, thank you.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I promise. Come.’ I gave a gentle tug. ‘Which direction?’ I looked left and right.
‘Would you be free for dinner?’
‘I would.’
‘I’d like to cook for you, if you’ll let me.’
I knew from years past that Tomas had always been a dab hand in the kitchen.
Much to his parents’ dismay, he’d always been more interested in chatting to the chefs than he was in turning up for board meetings.
That really should have been one of the many clues they missed – or rather chose to ignore.
‘You don’t have to do that, Tomas. We can get something on the way.’
He shook his head. ‘I’d like to,’ he repeated. ‘I’m afraid it won’t be anything fancy. As much as I’d like to appear sophisticated, not to mention organised, I didn’t plan for this but I… I don’t want our time together to end yet.’
‘You always did do a mean omelette.’
His face broke into a boyish smile, innocent joy. ‘You remember?’
‘I do. You ruined me for omelettes entirely.’
The innocence turned mischievous. ‘Good.’
‘You’d better have eggs.’
‘I always have eggs.’
‘Good. So.’ I followed as he turned, presumably towards his own apartment. ‘What happened when the financial assistant arrived?’
‘He was a financial director so the first thing that happened was that I gave him a lot of money to come in the first place. But I thought it was an investment in the business.’
‘From your tone, I’m guessing that wasn’t the case.’
He pushed a hand back through his hair. ‘I must have had a sign on my back that read “Gullible Idiot”. A few months in and we were at risk of losing everything. It was then that I, by chance, met Christophe at a conference. Gabby had come with me. She’d not long split from her husband and moved back to Paris.
I think the trip was partly something to take her mind off the divorce, but I know she was worried about me.
’ He glanced across at me as we walked. ‘I think my little sister felt the need to keep an eye on her big brother.’
A chill that had nothing to do with the cool night air ran through my bones.
‘And did she have a reason to?’ The words croaked out and I cleared my throat.
Tomas stopped. A small puddle of light from a streetlamp illuminated the side of his face, the sharp plane of his cheekbone highlighted. He turned and I saw the gentle expression in his eyes.
‘Not in the way you are thinking.’ His voice was soft as his cool hand touched my now hot face as thoughts of what he had been going through, what might have been perhaps, if not for his sister, raced through my mind. ‘Not in the way you are worrying about. I am here, now, as you see me.’
I pulled my top lip in with my teeth and nodded.
‘Yes.’ I touched his hand with my own briefly before he tucked it back through his arm and we returned to our walk, turning down a cobbled street.
‘I was depressed, there is no doubt of that. But I think she was more worried that I might have another “brilliant idea” at this conference.’
‘I see,’ I said, part of me feeling relieved but the other part still lingering on the admittance that Tomas had suffered depression as a result of being pushed into doing something he never wanted to.
‘We were lucky in that we fell into conversation with Christophe, who had recently launched his own vineyard and was going,’ his eyes caught mine briefly, ‘gangbusters with it.’
My laughter burst out. ‘Gangbusters?’
‘Is that not a relevant term?’
‘It is to me. But ask my daughter or Benoit and I’m afraid you may just receive a puzzled look!’
He tilted his head and gave a huff of recognition. ‘I receive a lot of those although I’ve taken it upon myself to fill in some of the many gaps in my godson’s knowledge of cultural references.’
‘And how’s that going?’
‘Reluctance initially, as of course, his generation already know everything.’
‘This is true.’
We exchanged a grin.
‘But actually, it’s been fun. Watching films, visiting museums of all types, discussing history, it’s been good. Indeed, some of my happiest memories.’
I squeezed his arm in reply.
‘And when you met Christophe?’
‘Also a happy memory!’ He laughed and I was glad to hear it. ‘And an enlightening one. You see, he knew of my financial director from a previous hotel he had worked at. It turned out that all the references were fake. I didn’t know enough to check up on them.’
‘Or perhaps too trusting?’
‘Or perhaps too stupid?’
‘No.’ I tugged at his arm. ‘Don’t say that, Tomas. We all make mistakes and you were doing your best with, apparently, no help.’
Tomas got the gist of my comment.
‘My parents were very much of the sink-or-swim mind. They wanted to retire and so it was my job to take their place.’
‘Even if it meant losing everything, including your confidence and happiness?’ I heard the anger in my tone and clamped my lips closed to resist saying more.
Tomas made no reply but wrapped an arm around my waist and we walked on. He knew. He understood.
‘So what happened, after the conference?’ I asked, my tone back to conversational.
‘My FD was fired.’
‘How did that go down?’
‘Ah.’ He made a ‘pfft’ noise. ‘With many cries of unfair dismissal and threats of court cases.’
‘Oh!’
‘Yes. And then, the perfect denouement…’ He turned, laughter in his eyes. ‘The doors opened and my sister walked in with Christophe. The game was up, as they say.’
‘Ooh! It sounds like a film!’
‘Perhaps it should be,’ he laughed. ‘Gabrielle was brilliant. She took a seat, as calm as can be, and announced that we would be filing for damages due to his misrepresentation and the money we had lost as a result. Also, that she would also be reporting him to the police for fraud.’
‘Wow.’
‘Oui. And then she got up, told him he looked pale and offered him a drink.’
I chuckled, able to see this in my mind so clearly. My best friend, cool, calm and lethal.
‘The funniest thing was that he took it, which gave the police plenty of time to get there.’
‘Do you know what happened to him?’
‘We chose not to press charges in the end.’
‘Really?’
He shrugged. ‘He was, how do you call, a chancer?’
‘Still a crime.’
‘True. And believe me, we went back and forth about it. But in the end, we decided to ask them to let him off with a warning. This time. It was the first time he’d done it.
He’d been a disgruntled employee at the place where Christophe had worked and felt he could do better with a little blurring of the lines. ’
‘Lying.’
‘That too.’
‘And Gabby was OK with this?’
He blew out his lips. ‘Ah. Non. Not for some time. But eventually, we agreed.’ He chuckled. ‘It was a long night!’
I knew his sister well. ‘I bet. Did your willingness to give someone a second chance work out?’
‘He went back to college to study finance and business and passed top of his class. Once he was given the knowledge, he excelled at it, rather than just floundering. I already had the floundering part covered.’
‘Stop being so hard on yourself. I’m glad it worked out for him although I’m only sorry your original plan didn’t. It was a good and sensible one.’
‘I know. But perhaps things were meant to be.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It was the last straw for me. I was burned out. Everybody could see and I couldn’t do it any more. Gabby had had more control and sense in moments than I had in the whole time I’d been made CEO. She wanted a change from fashion and so proposed that I stepped down and she take over.’
‘And you were happy with that?’
‘Incredibly! Although not as happy as she was when she fired me in the very next moment.’ His laughter drifted about in the still air of the quiet street. ‘I did tell her she couldn’t fire me as I’d already stepped down.’
‘And?’
‘Oh, she knew it but couldn’t resist the opportunity to fire her big brother. Or at least pretend to.’
‘That sounds like Gabby.’
He nodded, smiling as he led us to the door of a beautiful townhouse. I looked for the buzzers, wondering how many apartments were within, but there were none.
‘What is it?’ he asked, catching my puzzled glance.
‘This is still one house?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yours?’
He lowered his lashes momentarily as he nodded. I knew the price of Paris property. This was literally a fortune!
He turned the key, opened the door and stepped back to allow me to enter first.
‘The fake financial director who became an excellent one advised me, once I began to make a little money, to invest it in property. I took his advice.’
‘Wait, you still know him?’ I asked as Tomas helped me off with my coat.
I turned to face him once the sleeves had slipped down my arms and he folded the garment over his arm while opening a huge walnut armoire, the scent of cedar drifting from it as he did so.
Carefully, he hung my coat, then his own inside before closing the doors once more.
‘Gerard is now the CFO of the family vineyard.’
‘Noooooo!’ My mouth dropped open. ‘Seriously?’
He nodded.
‘Gabby took him on?’
‘Uh huh.’
‘Wow. He must really have proved himself.’
‘Oh, yes. I think he was too terrified not to! Come through to the kitchen.’