Chapter 28
By the time Mel got back to the villa, it was lunchtime, but she wasn’t hungry. She’d eat later. Right now, she was buoyed up with her new layered hairdo, the red nails the manicurist in the saloon had persuaded her to have, and the thought of wearing such a beautiful dress to Monique’s party.
Mel spent the next few hours mending the tear in the silk dress.
It took her almost three hours, but it was finally finished and she was happy with her work.
She put the dress onto its hanger, slipped the protective cover over it and hung it in her wardrobe.
She gently stroked the velvet dress that was hanging next to it before she closed the door.
Now she was hungry and ready to eat the pan bagnat she’d picked up on her way home earlier.
The gate intercom buzzed at seven fifteen.
‘Bonjour?’
‘It is Hervé. I have the delivery I promised you.’
Mel pressed the button and opened the front door to wait for him.
Hervé jumped out of the van and lifted out a beautiful mixed flower bouquet.
‘Are you sure they are for me?’ There was only one person who could possibly be sending her flowers. If it was him, he’d instantly jumped several places in her estimation, and he’d already been pretty high up.
Hervé nodded as he handed it to her. ‘Definitely. There’s a card too. See you tomorrow.’
Mel took the flowers through to the kitchen and took a vase out of the cupboard and filled it with water. There was an envelope pinned to the cellophane wrapped around the flowers to protect them, and Mel carefully pulled out the card inside.
Thank you for a lovely Sunday. See you at the party. Marc x
Mel smiled. She’d guessed right. How lovely. The only person who ever bought her flowers these days was Justin – twice a year – Mothering Sunday and for her birthday. Geoff hadn’t bothered for years.
Mel picked up her phone and found the number Marc had insisted on putting into her contact list so they could keep in touch and rang him.
‘Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers,’ she said. ‘I enjoyed yesterday too. It was a lovely day.’
‘The first of many, I hope,’ Marc said. ‘See you tomorrow night,’ and the call ended.
Evie rang later that evening to ask about the dress code.
‘According to Brigitte, her mother likes everyone to make an effort and dress up.’
‘Great. I shall wear one of GeeGee’s dresses in that case,’ Evie said. ‘What about you?’
‘I bought a dress from Brigitte today,’ Mel said. ‘I can’t quite decide whether it was a good idea or not, but Brigitte said it was a dress that had my name on it. Anyway, I haven’t got anything else remotely suitable for a dressy party.’
‘Do you like the dress?’
‘Yes, I do,’ Mel said. ‘I felt good in it too.’
‘Then it will be fine,’ Evie said. ‘Come down to me early tomorrow evening and we can get ready together. Even have a glass of Crémant for Dutch courage.’
‘Oh, that’s a good idea, thanks. I was dreading walking down to town in my high heels.’
* * *
‘I wish I could smuggle you into this party tonight,’ Evie said as she and Rudi walked around Juan-les-Pins, the following afternoon.
‘I’m really looking forward to it, as I do love an excuse to dress up, but knowing someone else there, as well as Mel and Brigitte, would have been good.
I think I’m going to be one of the youngest people there. ’
‘You can tell me all about it when we meet in town for a drink afterwards,’ Rudi said.
‘That would be great,’ Evie said. Their relationship might lack a certain extra spark, but their easy-going friendship had begun to matter to her.
As they strolled towards the beach through narrow streets with shops and boutiques all decorated for Christmas, Evie gestured around her.
‘I’m sure GeeGee would recognise some of these streets today, as from the research I’ve done the village itself was relatively unscathed during the war.
It was the beach and the coast road that took the brunt of the German occupation, and the destruction after the Allies liberated the area.
’ Standing on the esplanade overlooking the beach, Evie looked in both directions.
‘But now it’s almost impossible to imagine this place with its barbed wire, gun placements and bunkers all along here.
I would have loved to see it back in the 1930s with its luxury villas and hotels.
’ She turned and sighed, looking at the blocks of modern apartments that had replaced the luxury villas and hotels that had once graced the seafront road.
‘But, amazingly, as modern as it is now, it does still have a certain glamorous vibe of the past about it.’
Rudi looked at his watch. ‘We’d better start walking back if we’re going along the coast via Cap d’Antibes.’
‘Yes, I want to see what’s happened to Le Provencal now it’s finally been renovated and turned into apartments,’ Evie said. ‘GeeGee mentions it a couple of times in her journal. And I’ve seen photographs of it when it was left to rot in the 1960s.’
Half an hour later, they were standing on the pavement opposite the newly converted Le Provencal.
‘Wow and wow again,’ Evie said. ‘It looks amazing. Apparently, they’ve kept as many of the original features as possible. Would love to see the inside of one of the apartments but…’ She shook her head sadly. ‘Realistically I know there isn’t a chance of that happening – ever.’