Chapter 25
It was late Sunday afternoon when Marc dropped Mel back at the villa. Not wanting the afternoon to end, Mel invited him in for a cup of tea and a b?che de Noel left over from the evening before.
Marc sadly shook his head. ‘I need to get the car back to the lockup before the security gates to the garage are closed. I’d rather not have to leave her on the street overnight. I can walk up in the week for tea and cake if you like?’ He gave her a hopeful look, and Mel laughed.
‘OK. I’ll see you in the week.’
Marc leant in to give both her cheeks a goodbye kiss and was gone.
After he left, Mel remembered to switch her phone back on, figuring Geoff had probably given up trying to contact her by now. Half a dozen missed calls and several text messages showed up but nothing for the last couple of hours. As she deleted them without opening them, Ginny rang.
When Mel said, ‘Hi,’ Ginny giggled down the line.
‘Oh Mel, what have you done? Upsetting Geoff like that. He rang me, furious, demanded to know where you are and, when I refused to tell him, accused me of aiding and abetting you. I told him he could think what he like, but as far as he was concerned, my lips were sealed – and he hung up on me.’
‘I suppose I ought to tell him what I’m doing,’ Mel said.
‘No, let him stew for a bit,’ Ginny answered. ‘Let’s face it. He hasn’t contacted you in weeks and wouldn’t have now if he hadn’t broken his glasses.’
‘True.’
‘How are things anyway?’ Ginny said. ‘Are you getting ready for a French Christmas?’
‘Definitely. Looking forward to Justin arriving too. I had friends here for drinks yesterday. And I had lunch in a wonderful restaurant today with a friend…’ Mel hesitated, wondering whether to tell her sister about Marc and decided, no, as she would build it up out of all proportion.
‘Brigitte, who runs the Vintage Vignettes shop in town, has invited Evie and I to a champagne and nibbles evening in a few days’ time,’ she added quickly. ‘Never had such a busy social life.’
‘After three months of the South of France lifestyle you will be so in love with it, you won’t want to come home, back to real life,’ Ginny joked.
‘Possibly not,’ Mel admitted. ‘But I have to come back when my visa runs out whether I want to or not.’
The phone call ended with both of them promising to be in touch again over the holiday.
An hour later, Mel was sitting out on the terrace, the tree lights on and a glass of wine on the table, still musing on her sister’s words.
She hadn’t been in Antibes for a month, and yet she was beginning to feel completely at home.
Not in the villa, of course, that kind of luxury would never be within her reach, not that she would want it anyway, but the everyday life of the place, the sunshine, the people, they all added up to a lovely lifestyle.
She was building up a rapport with shopkeepers.
New friends were being made, and she was getting a glimpse of a different life.
All things she would have to leave behind in February.
Even if Brigitte offered her a permanent job, even if she could find somewhere to live, and she got a proper visa, she still had to go home the last week of February when her current visa ran out.
But you could return with a longer visa and make a new life over here, a quiet voice inside her whispered.
Geoff would still be away for several months after she got home. Was she really happy to sit around waiting for him to return? Or did she want to take control of the way she lived her life from now on?
Mel picked up her glass and drank the last of the wine. She couldn’t say she wasn’t worried about the future because that wouldn’t be true, but she was determined to look forward to a different one. And she would start planning for it so, whatever happened, it would be on her own terms.
Her phone buzzed with a text and her heart sank in case it was Geoff again, but it was from Brigitte asking her if she could call in at Vintage Vignettes sometime tomorrow. She quickly replied saying she’d see Brigitte in the morning.
* * *
Brigitte and family had finished dinner Sunday evening when her phone rang.
Hervé. His daughters had arrived and he wondered whether she and perhaps Marc might like to join them for a wander around looking at the lights and a drink on Place Nationale where a local trio were playing in the bandstand.
Brigitte said she’d see them at the top of the market in about ten minutes.
‘That was Hervé,’ she said. ‘I’m going to meet him and the girls near the market and walk down to Place Nationale. Anyone else like to join us?’
Both Albert and Marc said yes.
Monique shook her head. ‘No, thanks. I’ll see them all at the party. I’ve got things I need to do now.’
As they walked down through the deserted narrow streets towards Cours Masséna marketplace to meet Hervé and his girls, Albert said, ‘Marc told me where you both went last night. A little traumatic I gather?’
‘Yes, a little, but the villa is so different now. I’ve been stupid letting myself get caught up in Maman’s bitterness all these years.
I loved the house and missed it a lot, but it was yours and Maman’s loss, not mine.
’ She looked at her uncle. ‘Tell me something I’m curious about.
When Marc finds a house, are you going to live with him like you did upcountry, buy your own place or stay with Maman? ’
Albert was quiet for a moment as they walked and crossed over the Cours Masséna to where they could see Hervé and his girls waiting. ‘I know my sister isn’t the easiest of people to live with – I’m surprised you’ve coped with her for so long.’
‘So am I, to be honest,’ Brigitte laughed. ‘The years just seem to have crept up on me.’
‘I think I’d like to stay living with her.
It’s nice and central, and she’s not a bad cook.
’ Albert grinned at Brigitte. ‘And I’ve probably hampered Marc’s style for long enough.
Although if Monique gets too much for me, I might decamp to his new place when he finds one, for the odd weekend.
So, your maman won’t be alone if you want to move out, if that’s what you were really getting at with your “just curious” question. ’
‘Not much gets past you, does it?’ Brigitte said. ‘Ah, here’s Hervé and the girls.’