by T A Williams
‘That sounds like a sensible suggestion. Where’s your dad this morning, Faye? Still in bed?’
Faye shook her head. ‘No, I left him having his breakfast. He’s taking the car and going up to visit the Grand Canyon du Verdon today. He’s got a guide book and it says the gorge is Europe’s answer to the American one.’
‘Haven’t you seen it yet? Miss Beech sounded surprised. ‘Even if it’s not quite on the same scale as Arizona, it’s really worth a visit. You should go with him.’
Faye shook her head. ‘There’s no need; he’ll be fine. I’m really into the book at the moment and I’m keen to keep my promise and get it finished by Christmas. I’ll go there some other time. I’ll go when I’ve finished the book.’
‘Oh, Faye, but you really should.’ Miss Beech’s face fell. ‘Poor man. He’s come over to see his daughter and she sends him off on his own.’
‘He’ll be okay, honestly. Now, Miss … Anabelle, I have to ask, I wondered if by any chance you’ve made a decision about 1955? Would you like me to include the events of your first year or shall we leave them out? It’s absolutely up to you.’
Miss Beech glanced across at Eddie. ‘We were talking about that only yesterday, and Eddie’s convinced me to include it. As we were saying the other day, Faye, maybe having to go through all that heartache made me a better actress.’ She looked up defiantly. ‘Yes, decision taken: stick it in.’
Eddie nodded approvingly. ‘Just make sure you don’t name names, Faye, just in case it ever gets published.’
Faye nodded, secretly delighted to be allowed to include this chapter. She felt quite sure that it would add immensely to the power and appeal of the book if it ever came to publication. ‘That’s great, thank you. I’ll make a start on that chapter this afternoon.’ She remembered her father’s message. ‘Another thing: Dad said he would very much like to invite the two of you out for a meal while he’s here. How would you feel about that?’
Faye was unsurprised to see Miss Beech shake her head. ‘That’s very sweet of him, Faye, but I’d rather not. I’d very much enjoy his company, but I don’t really go out in public any more. So, please thank him very much, but say no. Tell him he’s welcome to come over here and eat with us any time. Tonight if he likes.’
‘We rather thought you might say that, so he came up with another suggestion. How would it be if you two came across to the stables for dinner one of these days?’ She saw interest on their faces and carried on. ‘He’s a very good cook, you know. He did all the cooking at home as I was growing up.’ She saw Miss Beech nod approvingly. ‘He said, if you like, he thought he’d make chicken and mushroom pie. It’s a very ordinary English dish, but it was one of my mum’s specialities and he thought you might like to try her cooking, even if it is second hand.’
‘What a charming idea, Faye. I would love that, really.’ Miss Beech was beaming. She glanced at Eddie. ‘What do you say, Eddie, are you ready to try the stairs up to the stables?’
‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’
That afternoon, although the sun was still shining, a layer of fine cloud at high level had reduced its force, the Mistral wind had started to blow, and the temperature had dropped by several degrees. As a result, while Miss Beech had her afternoon nap, Faye was able to take her canine companion for a walk after lunch without either of them overheating. As she hadn’t seen Gavin for a few days, she decided to head down to the farm with the excuse of buying some honey to give to her father to take home as a little present, but really just so she could spend a bit of time with him.
She understood Gavin’s situation, or at least she thought she did, but it didn’t make her stop thinking about him. In fact, if anything, it was more difficult now. At least when she had thought he was married to Dominique, their relationship had been simply friendship, and it had been second nature for her to step back and keep her distance, for fear of sowing discord in somebody else’s relationship. Now, she was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; he wasn’t taken, but he wasn’t available either. But that didn’t stop her looking forward to those brief occasions when they did meet up.
When she got down to the farm, she noticed that the car wasn’t there. Had he maybe gone off somewhere? An immediate feeling of regret struck her, but she mastered it and walked across to what she now knew to be Dominique’s door and knocked. There was no response, even though she knocked a couple more times, and she was just about to head off when she heard the other door open – Gavin’s door.
She turned to find him standing there barefoot, dressed only in a towel dressing gown, his hair soaking wet, clearly just out of the shower. Beside him was George the dog. Marlon, spotting his brother, dashed over to say hello, as Faye sought to sound unaffected by Gavin’s near-naked appearance.
‘Hi, Gavin, I thought you were out in the car.’
‘Dominique’s taken it. She and Elise are out to lunch with a friend, and hers is at the garage. She should be back pretty soon, though, as I’m off to Grasse again this afternoon. I’m afraid I’ve just been in the shower. I heard the knocking and saw you from the window. Do you want me to give her a message or anything?’ He was looking rather uncomfortable, and she saw him tighten the belt of his bathrobe.
‘To be honest, it’s you I was looking for, but I thought you were out. I wondered if I could buy a pot of your wonderful honey to give to my dad as a little gift from Provence.’
He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, sending drops all over the place, some of them even reaching as far as Faye and causing a delicious shiver to run down her spine. If she had had any doubt about the way her attraction to him was still continuing to develop, in spite of everything he had told her, this simple action supplied all the confirmation she needed. She wiped a drop of water from her cheek and had to repress the urge to lick her finger. His voice interrupted her thoughts.
‘A pot of honey, yes of course but, hang on a minute, is he travelling by plane?’
‘Yes, he’s flying home from Nice the day after tomorrow.’
‘And is he travelling with just hand luggage?’ Faye nodded her head and, as she did so, she realized where he was going with this.
‘Bugger. I’d forgotten that. They probably won’t let him take liquid honey on board, will they?’
He shook his head, sending a few more drops of water onto Faye’s bare legs. ‘I’m not sure, but I doubt it. Let’s think; there must be something else we could do for you. I tell you what: what about some of our own perfumed soap?’ He gave her a grin. ‘Well, not really homemade, but it’s made by people near Grasse using our roses and our lavender. Stay there a moment and I’ll go and see what we’ve got. We used to have some in gift boxes for agricultural fairs and the like.’ He glanced down at his dressing gown and Faye couldn’t help her eyes following his. ‘Just wait a sec and I’ll be back. I’d invite you in, but I’m in a bit of a hurry to get ready and, besides, I’m not exactly dressed to receive visitors.’
To Faye’s mind, he was perfectly dressed to receive visitors, as long as she was the visitor, but she made no objection and stood there waiting while he retreated into the house. She watched Marlon and George playing happily together and envied them their uncomplicated affection for each other. However complicated the circumstances of her relationship – if that was what it was – with Gavin, she was in no doubt that the attraction she felt for him was deep and lasting.
But it certainly hadn’t been easy. Having learned that he was free, only to discover, after all, that he had deliberately taken himself off the market, had been a bitter pill to swallow. She watched the two dogs rolling around on the ground, pretending to fight, and sighed to herself.
‘Here, I found these. Any good?’ Gavin’s appearance at the door shook her back to reality. In his hands, he was holding a box containing three bars of soap. He passed them over to her and watched as she raised them to her nose and sniffed. To her surprise, and relief, they smelt remarkably good, quite ref
ined, not with the overpowering reek of lavender she had been expecting. She smiled back at him.
‘These are marvellous. How much do I owe you?’
‘Take them, Faye. Compliments of the house.’
‘That’s not fair, Gavin. I don’t want to take advantage of you.’ It was an unfortunate choice of words and she felt the blood rush to her face as she spoke. She was also very pleased she wasn’t connected to a lie detector. He caught her eye for a moment and she read something in it: regret once more, maybe?
‘Take them, Faye, please. This way your dad won’t have any trouble getting your gift on the plane.’
‘Thank you so much. I’ll make it up to you somehow.’ Numerous ways of doing that crossed her mind, but she did her best to banish them as she continued. ‘Thank you so much.’
‘You’re very welcome. I still want to invite you for a drink, but I’m afraid I’ve got to dash now.’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Sooner or later, we’ll get together.’
Although she felt sure he was just talking about a drink, her spirits rose all the same. She summoned a bright smile, called Marlon, and headed back to the chateau with the soap.
***
The dinner party the next evening went very well indeed. Faye’s father had been into the shops in Aups and had returned with everything to make the pie, and it lived up to its billing. Both Eddie and Miss Beech managed to negotiate the stairs up to the stable apartment and pronounced the food excellent. Marlon came with them and spent all evening sniffing the air as the food came past his nose. Faye prepared a fruit salad and made sure the wine her father had bought was suitably chilled. Miss Beech was obviously very touched, not only that he had taken the time to prepare the food, but also that he had chosen a dish that had originated with her daughter.
All through the meal, they chatted, and by the time the party dissolved at ten o’clock, Faye definitely got the feeling of belonging to a bigger family. She was particularly struck at the end, when Marlon was caught trying to sneak off with one of her dad’s shoes. Clearly he felt the same way. The shoe was recovered in return for a leftover piece of chicken and Marlon, too, left with a smile on his face.
When the day came to drive her father back to the airport, Faye was really sorry to see him go and she told him so. She had thoroughly enjoyed having him with her and she looked forward to seeing him again at Christmas.
The weather finally broke at the end of October, but Faye didn’t mind too much. She was really busy by now, pulling everything together and making the final edits. As the autumn rains swept down on the valley, filling the streams and rivers and bringing blessed irrigation to the sun-baked fields, her only regret was that this gave her even fewer opportunities to meet up with Gavin.
She still took Marlon out for walks and now discovered his Labrador DNA coming to the fore. Finding the land awash with water, he leapt joyfully into every stream, river, or pool they passed and then, predictably, shook himself dry again, managing more often than not to soak Faye in the process. Nevertheless, this didn’t in any way diminish her affection for her canine companion. It was with real concern that she realized that, with every passing day, she was rapidly approaching the time when she and he might have to part.
As far as her life when the contract ended was concerned, she was still undecided what to do. On the one hand she knew it would be really good to stay somewhere close to her grandmother, Eddie, and Marlon, but on the other, she recognised that the sense of frustration at her non-relationship with Gavin was gradually beginning to strain her emotions and, maybe, the best solution to that problem would be to physically remove herself from his vicinity.
From what the agency had said, she would have to let them know pretty soon now if she did decide to go back. Consequently, decision time was almost upon her and she knew it would be one of the hardest decisions of her life. Should she opt for a return to her former life in England, or should she decide to opt for a new life in Provence?
Chapter Eighteen
The nights drew in and the rains dried up, to be replaced by the bitter Mistral wind, blowing in from the north-west. With Obelix’s assistance, Faye turned on the heating in the apartment and even lit the open fire a few times. She put her shorts away and pulled out her jeans and her winter jumpers. Over in the chateau, where she spent quite a lot of her time when she wasn’t glued to her computer, the fires were lit and she often found Miss Beech and Eddie, who was now walking without a stick, sitting by the fire in the lounge.
Apart from the sessions when she still quizzed Miss Beech on her life and times, checking and double-checking the facts she had put into the book, Faye often joined them for a drink or for dinner. Sometimes, they would go down to the cinema together afterwards and watch a movie. By now, Faye had watched every single film where Anabelle Beech appeared, even a couple of black and white westerns where she could just be picked out among the non-speaking extras.
The English classes continued to go well and Gavin’s appearance one evening was a great success. On Faye’s instructions, he performed in a number of different guises from over-polite, to brash, to downright unpleasant, and Faye’s students were groomed in the most suitable ways of dealing with each type of customer.
At the end of the evening, he accompanied them across the road to the café and insisted upon buying a round of drinks. Faye was delighted to see him smiling and even looking comfortable in company. From what Dominique had told her, this was just about the first evening outing he had made since the Fête du Vin. Hopefully, this meant he was beginning to regain his confidence.
Among those who accompanied him to the café was Désirée. She looked very pleased to see Gavin and she adopted a limpet-like position clinging on to his elbow, relegating Faye to the fringes of the group, feeling a sudden, annoying sense of jealousy. Shaking this off, Faye spent most of her time chatting to Chantal and Alain, now firmly established as a couple, and she arranged to go with them to the Grand Canyon du Verdon the following Saturday. As the group finally broke up, Faye was looking forward to walking back up the road with Gavin, but Désirée had other ideas.
‘I’ll give you both a lift.’
‘We can walk, Désirée.’ Faye and Gavin answered almost in chorus and found themselves laughing. It was good to hear Gavin laugh.
‘I won’t hear of it. My car’s right here.’ Désirée indicated a huge 4x4 parked half on the pavement and bustled them in. Faye sat in the back and somehow wasn’t in the least bit surprised when Désirée chose to drive up to the chateau and drop her off first. As the car turned and drove back down the hill, Gavin gave her a little wave from the passenger seat and Faye stomped up the steps to her flat, feeling distinctly miffed.
Could it be that Désirée had decided to revisit her childhood sweetheart? No sooner had she thought it, than she felt the same sense of annoyance at having allowed herself to let emotional entanglements get the better of her. It had all been going so well up to that night at the Fête du Vin. As she put the kettle on, she was snorting to herself in frustration.
On Saturday, Chantal and Alain stopped by the stables to pick Faye up for their excursion to the Grand Canyon. It wasn’t far, but it was a narrow, winding road to get up into the hills and it took quite a long time, although the views down across the vast expanse of the Lac de Sainte-Croix were spectacular. Not as spectacular, as it turned out, as the Grand Canyon itself. Faye had never been to America, so she had never seen the one over there, but there was no denying that this gorge was very, very impressive.
From the viewpoint where they stopped, right on the edge of the cliffs, Faye could see all the way down to the tiny ribbon of blue water that ran along the bottom of the gorge, bordered by white sandbanks, the river punctuated by tiny coloured dots, which Alain assured her were people in kayaks. All around were towering limestone cliffs and any surface that wasn’t vertical was covered by forest. It was on an epic scale and Faye couldn’t fail to be impressed.
‘I’m so glad you brough
t me up here. It’s amazing!’
Chantal smiled. ‘The first time I saw it, I was still just a little girl and it took my breath away. I often come up here just to sit and admire the view.’
‘Me, too.’ Alain, Faye noticed approvingly, was holding Chantal’s hand. ‘And I’ve canoed all the way down the gorge. There are some great white-water rapids and the views from down there are even better than they are from up here.’ He gave Faye a smile. ‘If you feel like joining the canoe club, I’ll be happy to take you under my wing. I keep trying to persuade Chantal to come along with me, but she keeps saying no.’
‘I’ve got much too much good sense, Alain. I have no desire to get cold and wet in a boat, thank you very much.’ Chantal shivered at the thought. Faye, on the other hand, rather liked the sound of that.
‘Well, I might take you up on that if I’m still here next spring. I don’t think I fancy it much in the winter, though.’ Where, Faye wondered, would she be next spring?
‘Just say the word.’
The sky was clear today, the cold wind had dropped, and the autumn sun still had some warmth in it. Chantal pointed out a white building a bit further along the rim of the gorge. ‘There’s that hotel I was telling you about, right on the edge. Shall we go along there for a drink? The view’s even better from there.’
Chantal wasn’t wrong about the view. When they got there, they found it was warm enough to sit outside on the hotel terrace, perched at the top of a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of metres to the river below. They sat and chatted and Faye was delighted to hear the two of them sounding relaxed and happy together. She liked both of them and really felt they made a lovely couple. Faye found herself talking in quite relaxed terms about Didier in London and she came close to telling Chantal about her feeling of attraction towards Gavin, but she restrained herself.
As it turned out, this was just as well.
