Ed downed the remnants of his pint. ‘Why don’t you two come with us on the yacht?’
Izzy frowned. ‘Sorry?’
‘You said you had nothing on for the next few weeks, so why not come with us?’
Jess squealed and beamed up at him. ‘We’d love to.’
Horrified by Jess’s acceptance, Izzy asked. ‘But how much will it cost?’ She ignored Jess’s loud groan. Someone had to think about money. Hadn’t they only this afternoon been fretting about their lack of it?
‘Um, not much,’ he said. ‘We don’t have to pay to charter the yacht, so it’ll be your contribution towards food and fuel, oh and your travel costs to Marseille. We’d go via Paris, where you can meet the others at my parents’ house nearby.’ He gave them both a smile. ‘Yes?’
Jess and Izzy exchanged glances. When he put it like that, it did seem do-able. She contemplated his words for a few more seconds. She had a small balance in her current account and it wasn’t as if they had anything else to do in Jersey at the moment. She could see Jess studying her face. Without speaking, both smiled and said ‘Yes’ at the same time.
His lips drew back into a wide smile. ‘Two of the people coming are here tonight – I’ll fetch them for you, so you can meet before we go.’
He left them and walked into the crowd.
Jess squealed. ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe what we’ve just agreed to do.’
Neither could Izzy. She looked across the room at Ed, now stopped in front of two guys who were being chatted up by a group of girls. One of them was the man they’d seen talking to Alex earlier.
‘Are you two nuts?’ Alex snapped.
Alex rarely shouted at her and never at Jess, so they both stared at him in shock at his outburst. ‘What’s the matter?’ Izzy asked, noticing Jess’s crumbling expression.
Alex leaned closer to them. ‘You don’t know these guys.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘Why would you agree to go on a cruise with them and their friends?’
‘But you said you went to school with Ed,’ Izzy snapped, furious with him for stating the obvious and making her consider something she’d rather not. ‘Are you saying Ed is someone we should steer clear of?’
Alex sighed heavily. ‘No, he’s a great guy, but you don’t know the others, do you?’
She shook her head, miserably. ‘No.’
‘Look,’ shouted Jess. ‘Here they come.’
The three of them sat silently watching Ed lead two friends over to their table; one dark, one blond. They were smiling and seemed friendly enough to Izzy.
‘Izzy, Jess, Alex,’ Ed said. ‘This is Roman and Xavier.’
Jess put her hand out for them to shake, but was pulled off her stool by the darker-haired Roman and kissed three times on her cheeks. ‘Ooh, bonjour,’ she said realizing he was French.
Izzy stepped down when Xavier took her by the shoulders and did the same.
‘Ed, he tells us you are willing to sail wiz us to the Cote d’Azur next week.’
Izzy nodded. ‘Yes, if that’s OK with you both?’
‘Mais, oui, c’est un pleasure.’ He looked at Ed. ‘You have to explain to the girls the details?’
‘Non,’ he said, immediately rattling off a string of sentences Izzy couldn’t decipher, despite having studied French at school.
Realizing what he’d done, Ed looked at them. ‘Pardon, I am being rude.’ He took the party invitation from his pocket and Xavier passed him a pen. ‘I’ll write down our phone numbers and the address where we’ll stay before travelling to Marseille. I have an email address too, so please email me tomorrow and I’ll forward all the details.’
Izzy took the invitation from him and read it.
‘If you decide not to join us, please don’t worry, we will understand. I don’t want you to feel pressured to go.’ He smiled at each girl. ‘Please let me know if you do change your minds though.’
She noticed Alex glaring at Ed and his friends with irritation. Izzy stood next to her brother.
‘I think we need to all have a bit of a chat, don’t you?’ Alex said quietly, bending his head down to her level.
Izzy nodded. The last thing she wanted was her brother kicking off and embarrassing her, and after all, he did have her best interests at heart. Her mood towards him softened. She moved to sit next to him to allow the others space in the banquette around the table and gave Alex a nudge. ‘I’ll be fine, I promise,’ she whispered in his ear.
He put his arm around her and Jess, and smiled at her friend. He cleared his throat. ‘Ed, I know you well and you’re a good mate,’ Alex began, staring from one to the other of the three guys sitting around the table. ‘Xav and Roman, I’ve only met you this evening, but I want you all to know that Izzy is my little sister and Jess is like my little sister.’
Jess gave a pained whimper. Izzy concentrated on not looking at her, but at the reactions of the three men.
‘I expect you to treat these two as if they were also your little sisters.’ He gave each one a pointed glare. ‘Any funny business and I don’t care where you happen to be, I’ll come and make your lives a living hell.’ Xavier swallowed and Roman nodded rapidly several times. Ed smiled. ‘Understood.’
‘Good, that’s settled then.’ Alex said. He peered down at Jess and then at Izzy. ‘You two make your arrangements, but if you change your mind at any time, you contact me, and I’ll bring you back. OK?’
The girls nodded. Izzy could see Jess was still devastated by Alex referring to her as his sister.
‘You wish to dance?’ Xavier said to Izzy. She instinctively glanced at Ed, though wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because as handsome as the Frenchman was, she couldn’t help feeling drawn to Ed. He gave her a hint of a smile.
‘Yes, OK,’ she said taking Xavier’s hand and being led onto the dance floor.
Jess and Roman followed close behind them and danced to ‘No Church in the Wild’.
‘You have been to France before?’ Xavier shouted over the music. The girls nodded.
‘Yes, many times, but not to the south of France,’ Izzy said.
‘Nor on a yacht,’ Jess added.
Xavier pushed his floppy blond fringe back off his tanned forehead. ‘I am certain you will like the two other guys who are joining us, and the other three girls. We know most of them since we were children.’
Roman laughed when Jess got carried away, as she often did on the dance floor, and twirled around him giggling. ‘They will love you girls, you are so, um, how you say …’
‘Fun?’ Jess offered, waving her arms in the air.
‘Exactly. You are fun.’ He laughed and copied her.
Izzy smiled at Xavier who shook his head in mock horror. ‘Roman is always like this when he has consumed one or two drinks.’
Izzy nodded in Jess’s direction. ‘They’ll get along well then.’
He leaned closer and in a loud whisper said, ‘Do not worry. I know we are strangers to you now, but we are good people. I am sure you will feel happier when you meet our mother and father at our home where everyone will stay before leaving for La Vieux Port in Marseille.’
Izzy made a mental note to relay this snippet of information to Alex. He would be much happier knowing that. ‘I look forward to meeting them,’ she said honestly.
Chapter Three
Izzy leaned over the back of the ferry, feeling more seasick than she could have ever imagined and wondered what the hell she’d been thinking agreeing to spend almost three weeks on a boat. She said as much to Jess.
‘It’s two and a bit,’ Jess said from behind her. ‘Remember we’re staying a couple of nights with the guys’ parents, though what we’re going to do there I can’t imagine. How will they fit ten extra people into their home?’
Izzy didn’t care right now. She simply wanted the boat to dock in St Malo, so she could get off and stop feeling so nauseated.
Three-quarters of an hour later, they carried their rucksacks off the metal gangplank and walked the f
ifteen-minute trek to the train station. The French road signs didn’t look much different to those at home. Then again, they were only one hour away by sea from Jersey. The only difference was the architecture, but even that was familiar to Izzy after so many trips with her mum to St Malo for birthday lunches and short weekend stays in Dinard.
It had been difficult to fit everything they’d hoped to take into their bags, but eventually they’d cut it down to one dress, one skirt, and a couple of tops each for going out when they were in port, and the rest of their luggage consisted of several bikinis, sarongs, shorts, and underwear. Izzy hated her blonde hair being wavy, but Alex was so amused when he’d discovered she’d packed her straighteners, she’d reluctantly left them behind.
‘I’m going to look dreadful,’ she moaned as they arrived at the small shop by the rail tracks. ‘I just hope I can top up the vague tan that I’ve got.’
‘You will, don’t worry,’ Jess said, grabbing two baguettes filled with cheese and ham and two bottles of water for their journey. ‘We’re going to need these, who knows what time the guys will pick us up?’
They watched the small hamlets and villages clustered together along their route to Paris over the next two and a half hours on the immaculate, air-conditioned train. Jess ate her lunch within the first half an hour and then fell asleep, leaving Izzy to ponder spending so much time on a yacht that would be tiny compared to the ferry they’d just taken. She hoped the sea was calmer than it had been between Jersey and St Malo.
She pulled the invitation out of her jeans’ pocket and turned it over, re-reading it for the twentieth time. She’d also printed out a few emails from Ed, giving them exact instructions about the train and where to wait for Xav and Roman when they arrived at Gare du Nord.
Izzy wasn’t surprised when her mum had been concerned about her going on this trip. She’d always been a little over-protective and Izzy knew it was because of her dad dying so suddenly. Alex had been good enough to stand up for her and eventually their mum had calmed down, although had remained far from impressed.
‘You barely know these men,’ Cherry said, slamming down a handful of wet clay.
‘I’m twenty-four, Mum, I can look after myself,’ she said, trying not to let her annoyance show.
‘She’s got a mobile phone, Mum,’ Alex said. ‘Don’t forget Izzy and Jess will be staying with the guys’ parents before they set off on the boat. That should give them a chance to get to know everyone a bit. She’s promised me that if she feels at all uncomfortable, she’ll call me and I’ll get her home again.’ He looked pointedly at Izzy. ‘Didn’t you, Iz?’
‘Yes, Mum, so please stop fretting. I’m also more than capable of making my own way home without needing Alex’s help. I have been away before you know, and further than the South of France.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Cherry said. ‘But I can’t help worrying about you. Your father was always impulsive,’ she added pushing her thumbs into the latest work of art taking shape in front of her. ‘I remember him carting me off to some moss-covered hut in the Outer Hebrides when we were first together.’
Izzy frowned. ‘So how is that different to what I’m doing now?’
‘Isabelle,’ her mother said, clay-covered hands on her hips. ‘I was with your father at the time. You, on the other hand, are going away with a group of people you barely know.’
‘Alex knows Ed, he went to school with him. And Ed works at the manor, so I’m sure you can always contact the Seigneur for information about him if you feel the need.’
Pacified a little, Cherry relented. ‘I’m sorry, I know you’re an adult and more than capable of looking after yourself,’ she said. Izzy nodded ‘Give me a hug. I know I shouldn’t ask, but will you contact me every few days?’
‘Mum, I’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll make contact as often as I can, but don’t forget I’ll be at sea a lot of the time, so I might not be able to do so as often as you’d like.’
Jess grunted, bringing Izzy back to the present. She watched her friend yawn as she woke up.
‘Are we there yet?’ Jess asked, rubbing her eyes.
Izzy shook her head. ‘No, another twenty minutes I think.’
Jess stretched and drank some of her water. ‘Right, make-up time then.’
‘You look fine without it,’ Izzy said. Jess really didn’t need any make-up at all with her long dark lashes and perfectly arched black eyebrows. She, on the other hand, did need something to define her features, being so fair.
Jess raised a dark eyebrow. ‘Fine isn’t the look I’m aiming for though.’ She squinted at Izzy and shook her head. ‘I think you need to make a bit of an effort too.’
Izzy pulled a face and laughed. ‘Thanks.’
‘Joking.’
By the time the train pulled into the station, both girls had freshened up, plaited their hair, and made themselves up, though not enough to look like they were trying too hard. Izzy scanned the area and pointed to the exit. ‘I think we go out through there and wait somewhere on the left.’
The noise of the station was exhilarating. Jersey could be fun, but since the Germans had taken up most of the tracks during The Occupation in the forties there hadn’t been any trains, and there certainly weren’t any huge stations like the Gare du Nord, so this was an exciting experience. The tinny voice over the Tannoy and the rattle of suitcase wheels along the platforms delighted Izzy. Excitement coursed through her. ‘I think we’re going to have a ball,’ she said, putting an arm around her friend’s shoulders. ‘Maybe Catherine’s elopement wasn’t such a terrible thing to have happened after all.’
They checked the signs and made their way to where they hoped someone would be waiting to collect them. There was no one there. ‘They’re not coming,’ Jess said, panic filling her voice. ‘They’ve forgotten.’
‘No, they haven’t,’ Izzy said with more certainty than she felt. She scanned the area several times, and just as she was thinking that maybe Jess had been right, she spotted an older man waving at them from across the parking area.
‘Who’s he?’ Jess asked, doubtfully.
‘Let’s go and find out, shall we?’ Izzy ran over. ‘Bonjour.’
‘Bonjour,’ he said, getting out of the car and dropping a cigarette onto the pavement. ‘Isabelle et Jessica?’ They nodded. ‘Je m’appelle de Lys. Err, the boys, I have collect you.’
‘Sorry?’ Jess glanced at Izzy.
Izzy smiled at him. ‘You’re taking us to the boys?’
‘Oui, Xavier et Roman.’
‘He’s taking us to their home now, I think,’ Izzy said. Both girls nodded. De Lys loaded their luggage and Jess quickly got into the back of the car, leaving Izzy to join the older man in the passenger seat.
He drove off so quickly their heads shot back, and Izzy was grateful for the headrest.
They’d been driving for almost an hour when he drew up onto a bridge and stopped. A couple of gendarmes came over and Izzy was surprised when they didn’t reprimand him and make him drive on. ‘Venez ici?’ he said smiling and motioning for the girls to follow him.
Jess glanced at Izzy.
‘Come along,’ Izzy said, grateful to be out of the car for a bit. ‘Let’s just follow him. I think he wants to show us something.’
They walked behind him as he made his way over to a wall on the side of the stone bridge and waved at someone below. Izzy and Jess peered over at a noisy crowd below them, stunned to notice that they were cheering up at him and frantically waving flags.
‘What the hell?’ Jess said.
‘Le Maire. Le Maire,’ the crowd chanted as the older man waved at them and bowed his head.
‘Bloody hell, I think he’s the mayor of this place,’ Izzy said, remembering that today was Bastille Day. ‘I thought he was a chauffeur.’
Jess giggled. ‘Me, too.’ She moved closer to the edge of the wall and waved down at the crowd, who immediately cheered louder.
Izzy laughed. Typical Jess, loving the attentio
n. It didn’t seem to be worrying the mayor either. In fact, he grabbed her by the wrist and held her hand up in the air and the cheers got louder. He must be well loved, she thought looking down at all the beaming faces as they clapped and waved up at him.
‘This is your village?’ Izzy asked, fascinated by this surreal experience of adoration.
He nodded. ‘Is in my family, many years.’
She wasn’t certain if he’d misunderstood her but smiled anyway.
‘We go,’ he said giving the crowd one last salute and bustling them over to the car. ‘Is Bastille Day, er, dejeuner avec ma femme et mes fils.’
‘His wife and son,’ she whispered to Jess who looked confused. ‘We’re having lunch with them.’
‘Bum, I want to go and see Roman and Xav.’
‘We can’t be rude,’ Izzy said. ‘Not after he’s driven us all this way. We’ll soon catch up with the guys, Jess.’
‘Fine, but I hope this lunch doesn’t take too long, I’m getting more and more nervous about meeting up with Roman and Xav again and I want to get it over with.’
Izzy was feeling the same way, but didn’t add to Jess’s anxiety by saying so. They got back into the car and quickly fastened their seat belts when the old man sped down the narrow roads and out of the village. A short way down a grass-banked lane, he shocked them both by slamming on the brakes just as the car reached two huge stone pillars.
‘Château De Lys,’ he said, indicating the worn stone name on one of the pillars.
‘Château?’ Izzy heard Jess murmur from the seat behind her.
The car took them down a lengthy gravel driveway with elms in rows down each side, like soldiers standing to attention. The branches reached across from one side to the other, their branches touching above the driveway making a shaded, leafy archway for them to travel through with lupins clustered along each side.
Surely he couldn’t own this place, wondered Izzy, unable to shake off the vision of this mayor standing on the village bridge. What had they agreed to, she wondered, when they said they’d go on this trip?
He slowed down slightly. Izzy held her breath as the aged Peugeot turned in through more gates, this time ornate iron ones with a gold-painted crest. He slowed near to the double oak front doors, slamming on the brakes once again.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 67
