Chapter 47
Sandy and Romain were at Villa Celestia preparing the villa for the second retreat there to open at the weekend. Unusually, they could hear Guy moving around upstairs.
Sandy looked at Romain. ‘D’you think he plans to tell us any time soon that Villa Celestia is going on the market? It’s such a worry. I thought we were safe until the end of our contract.’
‘It’s not like Guy to be secretive, I’m sure he has good reasons for not telling us,’ Romain said. ‘Even if he does put it on the market, these things always take at least three or four months to go through.’
‘Not in this case,’ Guy said, dragging a suitcase behind him. ‘It can go through very quickly.’
Sandy turned guiltily to look him. ‘Sorry, Guy, to be talking about you, but we are pretty worried about the rumours we’re hearing. What about our contract for running the retreats from here?’
They both eyed him warily and waited.
Guy looked at them both. ‘The last two weeks have been incredibly busy, but there was a reason I didn’t come and tell you about Villa Celestia. I wanted to iron out all potential problems for you before telling you how happy I am, knowing I have the perfect private buyers for it.’
‘Without it even being officially up for sale?’ Romain said. ‘I know it’s a special villa but good for you. Sadly, not so good for us.’
‘Okay, full disclosure time,’ Guy said. ‘I’m not selling it with the “restaurant with rooms” business or any of the licences, just as a private villa.
Your contract to run your retreats here until the end of the year still stands.
I’m hoping you will officially take over Villa Celestia on January the first next year, but the villa will technically be yours as soon as you sign on the dotted line.
’ Guy beamed at them both. ‘It’s all organised. ’
Sandy held up her hand, palm outwards towards him. ‘Stop. That word “you”,’ she said looked at him. ‘Are you talking about Romain and me buying Villa Celestia?’
‘Of course. Who else would I sell the villa to?’
‘But you don’t know whether we can afford it,’ Sandy protested.
‘I do.’ Guy looked at her. ‘Romain told me you were looking to buy and your price range at the barbeque and the villa is well within that range. Please don’t tell me you don’t want to buy it.’
‘Of course we want to buy it. We just never considered it would be possible. It’s wonderful news,’ Sandy said, moving over to throw her arms around him and give him a hug. ‘We can’t thank you enough.’ She gave him a look. ‘Does this mean you’re leaving Antibes? Or are you staying around?’
‘That will depend on how things work out in the UK in the next week or so,’ Guy said quietly. ‘But Liz and I will definitely be back for visits.’
‘When you will stay here with us,’ Romain said. ‘No argument.’
‘I’m so happy for you and Liz.’ Sandy smiled at him. ‘You deserve to be happy after everything.’
‘Talking of Liz, I’ve got a plane to catch,’ Guy said. ‘I’m off to surprise the love of my life. Ciao.’
* * *
Liz answered her phone happily when it rang at three o’clock Friday afternoon, the phone ID showing her it was Guy.
‘Hi. You’re early today. Everything okay?’
‘Everything is totally fine. Can I come and visit you please?’
‘You know you can any time. I’ve been wanting you to, but you’ve just been so busy.’
‘Have you finished your book?’
‘Sort of. I’ve got a first draft down, but I’ve still got to edit and pull it into shape a little more before I send it to my agent for her opinion. So another few days should do it.’
‘In that case, we’ll just have to celebrate early. I shall be with you in about an hour and a half with a bottle of champagne. Okay?’
But he’d hung up before a startled Liz could reply. She spent the next hour tidying the cottage, taking a batch of scones out of the freezer, before hurrying to the bedroom to make herself presentable and wondering about the timing of the unexpected but welcome visit.
* * *
She was waiting for him when he drew up outside Sunshine Cottage and flew into his arms. ‘I know we’ve been videoing and talking, but it’s not the same. I’ve missed you. The last few weeks have been hard. How long are you here for?’
‘As long as I want to be,’ Guy said. ‘We’ve got lots to talk about.’
Sitting out in the garden with tea and scones, Guy gave deep sigh as he looked around.
‘You have no idea how happy I am to be sitting in your garden with you.’
‘If it’s anything like I feel having you here, I think I do,’ Liz said. ‘So how did you leave things in Antibes?’
‘You mostly know what I’ve been up to since you left, but what I haven’t told you before is that the main thing I’ve been organising is for Sandy and Romain to buy the villa. I broke the news to them this morning that the villa is theirs if they wanted it. Which they definitely do.’
‘Oh, that is wonderful news,’ Liz said. ‘I know Sandy was worried about finding a venue. It’s such a perfect villa for retreats. I’d go back in a heartbeat.’
Guy glanced at her. ‘I want to go and see Dad soon and I’m hoping you will come with me so I can introduce the two of you properly face to face, instead of via video calls.’ Guy drank his tea and placed the cup back on its saucer. ‘And then we need to talk about our future.’
‘Have you decided what you want to do – stay in catering or do something completely different?’ Liz asked.
‘I love cooking and I’m proud of my Michelin stars and honestly I can’t imagine doing anything else,’ Guy said slowly.
‘My dream years ago was a small intimate restaurant in a country village, which rather got bulldozed into something else. You know the sort of place I mean – only a few tables, maybe a dozen people of an evening, one sitting, small menu.’
‘There used to be a restaurant like that in a picture-book cottage in the next village, very popular. The couple that ran it didn’t even have a table licence, but the cottage was opposite the village pub, so people would say the drinks they wanted, give him the money and off he’d go to the pub. It worked well for both of them.’
‘Why did it close?’
‘I think one of them became ill and they decided to retire. The cottage attracted a lot of interest because it’s so pretty, but nobody wanted to take on the restaurant.’
Guy nodded thoughtfully. ‘Now I’m here, I shall start to do some research into finding a suitable property. You can help me?’
‘Love to.’ Liz hesitated. ‘I’m very fond of Sunshine Cottage and thought it would be my forever home, but in the interests of us both starting afresh somewhere new, I would be willing to sell up and put the monies with yours into something we both want.’
‘It would be good to split our time between a home somewhere here, Devon or Dorset, and a small pied-à-terre in Antibes.’
Liz nodded. ‘I can write anywhere so long as the two of us are together.’
Guy stood up. ‘There’s something I haven’t said that I need to say to you right now,’ and he held out his hand and pulled her on to her feet. ‘Liz James, I love you.’
She reached up and whispered the three words back to him and he pulled her into his arms with a sigh of relief.
* * *
Later that evening as Guy gently twisted the bottle of champagne to ease the cork out to celebrate as promised, Liz looked at him with a smile on her face.
‘Remember you didn’t want me to make you the villain in one of my books? I hope you don’t object to being renamed and being the hero in the book I was inspired to write while staying in Villa Celestia. I only realised last night, the hero in my book is you in disguise.’