Chapter 27
I t’s Claude, popping the atmosphere like a malicious child stamping on a birthday balloon.
I feel angry and sick. He must have come in through the open cellar door and out through the front door, cutting off the corner of the house.
He probably wanted to see what’s been going on in the place without having to ask!
For a moment, Laurent doesn’t say anything.
‘ Laurent, bonsoir ,’ says Claude.
‘Claude,’ Laurent says, taking a swig from his beer.
‘I didn’t know you two were friends,’ says Claude, with an interested smile.
‘Actually, I was just leaving,’ says Laurent, his softness gone and his guard fully up. He swallows some beer and goes to stand.
‘Oh, no, stay,’ I say, looking up at him. ‘Finish your drink.’ I lift my chin. ‘We have things to discuss,’ I tell Claude.
‘As do we.’ He looks at me pointedly. Laurent narrows his eyes. ‘I heard you were planning to open the boulangerie in the village?’
I say nothing.
‘Just a reminder, the village already has a baker providing bread for them.’
‘Not a good one,’ says Laurent.
‘The locals seem quite happy with how things are, and wouldn’t want to change for a person who is here today and will be gone tomorrow. If I take away my vending machine, they will be left with nothing. And that will be down to you. You won’t be welcome after that.’
He’s threatening me.
‘ Allez vous en! ’ growls Laurent, telling Claude to go away.
And there’s a pause, unpleasantness filling the air.
‘I’ll leave you to your evening. Laurent.’ He nods again, bidding us goodbye. This time Laurent doesn’t bother to reply, just takes a long sip of his beer.
‘Claude,’ I call.
He turns back, surprised.
‘Use the path around the house, like everyone else,’ I say firmly. ‘This is my property now.’ And he’s not going to intimidate me in it.
He turns back and marches off to the path by the side of the mill.
I hear his car leave.
‘Another beer?’ I say to Laurent and, without waiting for a response, I hurry inside, down the wooden steps and slam the cellar door.
I hurry back up the steps and push the heavy sideboard over the trapdoor, grab a beer from the fridge, an opener and the bottle of red wine, and head back outside to where Laurent is.
‘It’s none of my business, of course, but with Claude, just be careful.’ For a moment Laurent is quiet and I feel uneasy. Then he says, ‘He and his family like to get what they want. As I say, be careful. They mean business.’
‘You clearly have quite a history between you,’ I say, and sip my wine.
‘It was his grandfather, Charles, who became my grandmother’s lover.
He seduced her, made her promises of a better life, and she left my grandfather for him.
’ He chews his bottom lip. ‘Then when he decided he no longer wanted her in his life, he threw her out. The whole village knew about it. She was left with nothing, not even her dignity. But my grandfather wouldn’t see her like that and brought her home.
’ He taps the side of his beer bottle with one of his silver rings.
‘Just don’t get too close. That family have a way of getting what they want.
Using people and spitting them out. He could make life very difficult. Just be careful.’
My cheeks burn with indignation. It seems that Claude and his family have a habit of ruining everything for everyone. ‘I will. Merci .’
I’m wishing that the earlier atmosphere hadn’t disappeared. I want to go back to where we were, talking about happy times, here at the mill, making me smile.
‘I should go,’ he says, standing. ‘ Bonsoir .’ As he leans in and kisses me on both cheeks, I feel I’ve finally made a friend in Laurent.
A very attractive one. And it feels good.
Whatever happens, he must never know that Claude kissed me.
I don’t want to lose our new-found respect for each other.
I like our friendship the way it is. Without Claude causing any complications. And that’s how it’s going to stay.