‘Of course,’ Ashley said; she could hardly say anything else. She glanced at Haydon. ‘That’s OK, isn’t it?’
‘I’d love it,’ he said. Ashley couldn’t help but notice that he looked far from comfortable, however, and had to wonder whether it was something to do with the obvious scrutiny her mother now had him under. Ashley would have to have a word with her about that later too. It was understandable that she wanted to protect Ashley, but there was a line she was in severe danger of crossing.
‘I will help Molly to get the extra drinks,’ Maurice said, taking the twenty-euro note from Molly’s hand and giving it back to Ashley. ‘You keep this money for another day.’
Ashley would normally have argued, but she was so shell-shocked by the way events seemed to be slipping from her control that she simply nodded and put it back in her purse as Maurice took Molly back to the bar.
‘So… you’ve had a good morning?’ Sue asked, looking very pointedly at Ashley. At least Ashley thought so, but perhaps that was because she knew why. Haydon didn’t seem to notice it, or if he did he certainly didn’t react. She pulled a spare seat from a nearby table and sat down with them. ‘You’ve had fun?’
‘We’ve had a great time,’ Haydon said. ‘The girls get on so well… We were just saying that, weren’t we, Ashley?’
‘Yes.’
‘So everyone’s happy,’ Sue said. ‘Well, isn’t that lovely? And what are your plans for later?’
‘I don’t know,’ Ashley said. ‘What are yours, Mum? Are you and Maurice planning to stay with us all afternoon?’
‘I would have been happy sitting in the garden,’ Sue said, continuing the subtext of their conversation. ‘But Maurice insisted that we come to town and how were we to know we’d see you here when I expected you to be at the beach?’
‘It is a coincidence,’ Haydon said. ‘There seem to be a lot of those this week.’
‘Don’t there?’ Sue said, looking at him now as if she might want to cut some delicate bits of his anatomy off.
Ashley held in a groan. This was going from bad to worse. At this rate her mum would let the cat out of the bag before Ashley had a chance to do it properly. It was obvious Sue was dying to launch into a tirade and tell Haydon exactly what she thought of men like him and Ashley was beginning to regret telling her about it.
‘Here we are…’ Maurice returned with four glasses of wine. He placed one in front of each adult, despite the beginnings of an argument on Haydon’s lips. ‘You are in France – you must drink wine with your lunch!’
Molly and Ella settled back at the table with their Cokes while Maurice grabbed another chair and joined them.
‘So… you are going to the beach again after you have finished eating?’ he asked.
‘I think so,’ Ashley said.
‘Yes!’ Molly said. ‘We’re just getting the hang of bodyboarding now so we need more practice.’
‘Bodyboarding?’ Maurice said with a grin. ‘That sounds wonderful! I will come with you!’
Ashley put the wine glass to her lips and gulped a mouthful back.
Great – that’s all I need.
‘Dad…’ Ella sat on his bed, watching as Haydon combed through his hair and spritzed himself in a woody cologne.
‘Yes?’
‘Do you like Ashley?’
Haydon paused, a hand to a shirt button he was doing up, and turned to her.
‘She seems nice,’ he said carefully. ‘You like her and Molly, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but I mean like.’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘No reason.’
Haydon gave a tight smile. ‘Is it because we’re meeting Audrey tonight?’
‘Maybe.’
‘It’s not a date – I told you that. We’re just having dinner with her.’
‘I know, but she’s pretty.’
‘She is.’
‘And Ashley’s pretty too. And nice and funny.’
‘Yes…’
‘So what if you liked them both? Who would you choose?’
‘Ella… What is this? There’s no reason for me to choose either. Audrey is just a new friend we’ve made, and Ashley is someone we’ve spent today with because you and Molly and Bastien have made friends. And to be honest,’ he added, ‘I must have been crazy to suggest that day on the beach because I’m knackered and the last thing I want to do is venture down to the town to meet anyone for dinner. My face will be in the soup as soon as I sit down.’
Ella giggled, her questions seemingly forgotten now. ‘I’ll keep kicking you awake.’
‘You’ll have to kick hard.’
‘I can do that.’
‘I know. I’ve still got the bruises from when we played football in the garden last year.’
‘Dad!’
He smoothed a hand over her hair and kissed the top of her head. ‘Go and get ready or we’ll be late.’
‘I am ready.’
Haydon stared at her. ‘But… I thought you’d got your swimming costume on.’
‘This is a bodysuit, Dad!’
‘Oh. But you’re going to put a skirt on?’
‘I have got a skirt on.’
‘Oh. I thought that was one of those little skirt things you wrap around your swimming costume when you’re away from the pool.’
‘Nope. I’m completely ready.’
‘Oh…’ Haydon wavered between the dad who insisted that his daughter dress appropriately for her age and the dad who didn’t even know any more what age-appropriate was. Ella was growing up so fast he couldn’t keep pace with her impending womanhood. But the fact was tonight she looked like a girl on the brink of womanhood as she sat in what he considered a skimpy outfit and he didn’t know how he felt about it. Then he realised she was also wearing make-up and it made her look older still.
‘Maybe you should take a jacket then,’ he added lamely. ‘You might get cold.’
‘It’s boiling, Dad.’
‘Not at night on the seafront, it isn’t.’
‘I bet it will be.’
‘Well… it’s your problem if you get cold,’ he said, not knowing what else to say. He heard Ella sigh as he hunted for his shoes. ‘What?’ he asked, looking up.
‘Are you nervous?’ she asked with a shrewd look.
‘Nervous? About what?’
‘Meeting Audrey?’
‘Why on earth would I be nervous?’
Ella shrugged and hopped off the bed. ‘I’m going to get my jacket,’ she said. And Haydon smiled thinly as he watched her go. He wasn’t so much nervous as torn. He wanted to meet Audrey and he still liked her very much, but after his day with Ashley he wasn’t sure whether meeting Audrey was entirely fair to her.
He shook off the thought. Nobody had said it was a date, had they? And Ashley wasn’t exactly returning his signals – as clumsy as they were – so it wasn’t like anything was going to happen there anyway. Audrey was beautiful and she was sweet, and he could do a lot worse than getting to know her a bit better.
Pulling his shoes from underneath the bed he slipped them on and tied the laces. They were going to meet Audrey for dinner and they were going to have a great time and that was that.
The tiny restaurant Audrey had suggested was tucked away in a side street just away from the harbour and it had taken them a while to find. It wasn’t glamorous and airy like the tourist traps along the front; it was intimate and rustic, with scrubbed wooden tables and terracotta tiles, the main floor of the restaurant sharing a space with the open kitchen, and the air was fragranced with fresh herbs and roasted garlic.
Audrey was waiting at a table, chatting easily to a man in a white apron and chef’s hat, her lithe arms waving expressively and her eyes alive with humour. She was wearing a simple white linen dress that showed off her tanned skin and her nutmeg hair was loose around her shoulders, and Haydon had to stop and collect himself as he stood in the doorway, still unable to believe that such a woman had said yes to him. It’s no
t a date, he kept reminding himself, just like he’d kept telling Ella, but they all knew that really it was. Audrey turned now and spotted them, and she rose gracefully from the table and strode across the restaurant to greet them.
‘I am so glad to see you,’ she said, kissing both Haydon and Ella on the cheeks. ‘I thought perhaps you might come to the market today.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry about that…’ Haydon began, but Ella jumped in.
‘We went bodyboarding,’ she announced. ‘With our new friends.’
‘More new friends?’ Audrey raised her eyebrows and smiled at Ella. ‘Everywhere you go you make so many friends! It is because you are so charming.’
‘No.’ Ella laughed. ‘They’re our neighbours. They’re English.’
‘Not all of them,’ Haydon said. ‘They’re staying with some French relatives at the villa near to ours. They have kids around Ella’s age so naturally…’
‘No need to explain,’ Audrey said. ‘Of course Ella would want to spend time with them. Come and sit. The fish has been caught this morning but it will not get any fresher if we do not hurry and tell our chef how we would like it cooked.’
‘Do they have other things?’ Ella asked as they followed her back to the table.
‘You do not want to try the fish?’ Audrey asked. ‘But the restaurant we sit in is famous for the fish.’
‘I don’t really like fish all that much. Does it have heads on here?’
‘I am sure they can take the head off,’ Audrey said with a musical laugh. ‘I think if you try it you will be surprised how much you like it.’
Haydon looked doubtful. ‘Unless it’s covered in breadcrumbs and shaped like a finger I don’t think she will.’
‘No,’ Ella said, smiling brightly at Audrey and clearly in the mood to please her, ‘I will try it. Maybe I’ll find a new thing I like.’
‘I don’t think it’s going to replace our McDonald’s at a weekend even if you do like it,’ he said. ‘A bit far to come.’
‘But perhaps you will have a reason to visit Saint-Raphaël again soon,’ Audrey said, offering Haydon a coquettish smile that he couldn’t fail to interpret as romantic interest. Suddenly, he wasn’t quite as hungry as he had been when they’d arrived. Don’t blow it, he thought. Don’t mess this up. He didn’t know quite how this – whatever it was – could turn into anything long-term, but he didn’t want to think that far ahead, not tonight. He was in the company of a charming, beautiful woman who was actually interested in him, and why couldn’t that be enough, just for now?
‘Mum…’ Ashley whispered. ‘I don’t suppose you have time for a chat?’
They were out on the veranda of Violette’s house. Maurice was sitting on the steps sharing a home-rolled cigarette with Antoine that Sue had forbidden him to smoke, and it looked as if he’d imagined she hadn’t noticed the sneaky puffs he was taking when he thought she wasn’t looking. They conversed in rapid French, bursting into laughter every so often at some shared memory. Sue and Ashley were sharing the swinging seat, as had quickly become their habit. Violette was pruning her herbs – also a daily habit, it seemed – while Molly and Bastien splashed about in the swimming pool around the back that had only been cleaned that morning of years of grime, ready for the party later in the week. The sun was on its way down to the horizon and, although the evening was fragrant with flowers whose perfume grew in intensity with the dusk, it was still hot enough to have Ashley sitting out barefoot in shorts and a tiny vest.
‘Chat away,’ Sue said. ‘Nobody’s listening… I expect if I made a couple of very easy guesses I might know what you want to talk about?’
‘I expect you could. Maybe we should go for a walk?’
‘I wasn’t planning to venture out tonight if I’m honest. Is what you want to talk about that complicated? Surely you’re just waiting for another chance to give him the news. Unless you’re going to go over now and do that, in which case you don’t need me with you.’
‘I wasn’t…’ Ashley sighed and tipped her head to the sky. ‘It’s just getting more complicated than that.’
‘I don’t see how.’
Ashley turned back to her. ‘I really liked him, Mum. All those years ago I thought… He hurt me, that’s all. He broke my heart and seeing him now… I thought I wouldn’t care but I do.’
‘You want to try again? After all he’s done?’ Sue’s voice rose with her incredulity and Ashley shushed her, flicking a glance around to see if anyone had noticed.
‘Of course not, that would be ridiculous! But today… he was so lovely. Can you blame me for feeling mixed up about it?’
‘He’s a good actor. He might seem lovely but believing that’s the real man – isn’t that what got you in trouble in the first place? I bet he seems lovely to every woman whose heart he breaks. Mark my words, the good-looking ones are always trouble.’
‘So Maurice isn’t good-looking?’ Ashley raised her eyebrows.
‘He’s got what you’d call an interesting face. Anyway, I’m talking about the young good-looking ones. The older ones have already sown their oats and settled down.’
‘Haydon’s not that young, Mum.’
‘Do you even know how old he is?’
Ashley coloured. The shameful fact was that despite him being the father of her child she knew very little about him.
‘I know he’s around my age.’
‘A wild guess on your part?’
‘An educated guess.’
‘Still a guess. Hardly the basis for a serious relationship.’
‘People on first dates don’t know this stuff about each other.’
‘People on first dates don’t generally already have children together.’ Ashley widened her eyes as Sue’s voice rose again, and Sue grunted in acknowledgement. ‘First things first,’ she said, her voice lower now. ‘Before you have any dreams of a happy ever after you should go and see him and tell him the thing he needs to know.’
‘What if he doesn’t believe me?’
‘Then you’ll have all the answers you need and we can happily ignore him and his daughter for the rest of the holiday.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Ashley replied, gnawing her lip as her pensive gaze went to Violette, who was now bent over a vast rosemary shrub, snipping away as she cut it into shape.
‘But if I were you,’ Sue added, her voice harder now, ‘I’d steer well clear. It’ll only end in tears, I guarantee it.’
‘I appreciate your concern but I think you’ve got him wrong.’
Sue folded her hands in her lap, her gaze following Ashley’s to Violette, who had now stepped back to appraise her work with a small, satisfied smile.
‘We’ll see.’
They fell to silence for a moment, and then Ashley stood up.
‘I’m going to see him now.’
Sue merely gave a short nod.
‘I’ll know one way or another then,’ Ashley added.
Sue only nodded again.
But then Ashley sat down next to her once more, elbows on her knees, chin resting on her hands.
‘I thought you were going,’ Sue said mildly, and Ashley turned to her helplessly.
‘So did I. Saying it is easier than doing it. How do I have that conversation?’
‘There’s no easy way to have it but to come straight out with it. If he’s as nice as you think he is then you’d expect him to be happy about it eventually.’
‘Eventually. What about the beginning and in-between bits that come before eventually? Those are the bits that worry me.’
‘I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid. I’d offer to go across and tell him but I expect you’ll want to do that yourself.’
‘I don’t think it’s really appropriate for anyone else to do it.’
‘Neither do I. But he’s never going to know if you sit here staring at the lawn.’
Ashley nodded slowly. And then she got up and went to the house for her shoes.
* * *
&nbs
p; Ashley closed the gate to Haydon’s holiday villa behind her and set out on the path back to Villa Marguerite. Once again her plans to come clean had been thwarted and now, instead of nerves and apprehension, frustration was the emotion that seemed to be overwhelming everything else. How hard did this have to be? All she wanted was ten quiet minutes to say what she needed to say, for the load to be lifted from her shoulders, and she couldn’t even get that. When they’d spent the day at the beach together Haydon hadn’t mentioned any plans to be out that evening, but then, she supposed, just because they were spending time together it didn’t mean he was obliged to. Still, she had expected him to be in and finding an empty house was beyond annoying.
There was no car outside, so did that mean he’d gone for a drive out? Perhaps to one of the more glamorous neighbouring towns like St Tropez? Or perhaps he’d simply gone to the supermarket? Ashley toyed with the idea of waiting around to see if he’d return any time soon but, after less than five minutes of watching the horizon for any signs of a car, she let out a long sigh and turned back to the path that would lead her to Violette’s home. A lizard streaked across her path, so fast she could barely make out the eggshell markings on its back. The part of her that was still a big kid had longed to catch one of the many that hid amongst the rocks and shrubs of Violette’s garden, just to know she could be fast enough, but as yet they’d all been too quick for her. Now, however, the event barely stirred any interest at all.
She’d left the occupants of Villa Marguerite preparing to stage some huge elaborate card game involving the entire family, and she supposed she’d be expected to join in with that when she got back, though she was hardly in the mood. It was going to be difficult to keep her current feelings hidden too, and if Sue didn’t notice she was quite sure Molly would pick up on it. Maybe it would be a good idea to stay out a little longer, walk the fields until she’d managed to shake them off. With the decision made, she swung round and retraced her steps, taking the path to the coast.
Outside the restaurant the night air was still balmy but a brisk breeze that whipped in from the sea sent an intermittent chill across the harbour. The sun hadn’t quite set and the sky was washed in pinks and lilacs over the horizon, giving way to deepest indigo as the first stars winked into life. Haydon and Ella followed Audrey out onto the patio area. His cheeks ached from laughing and it had been a long time since he’d felt so relaxed and content and so utterly charmed by a woman. He could see that Ella had fallen under her spell too, and she gazed up at Audrey now, smiling broadly, hanging on to every word that fell from her perfect lips. If Audrey had announced that the world was flat, at that moment, Haydon had no doubt that Ella would believe her completely.
The Summer Getaway_A feel-good romance novel perfect for holiday reading Page 13
