by Klaire, Jody
Berne chuckled. “You have no floatation vest this time.”
Madame Henri’s eyes twinkled. If Berne didn’t know better, she’d think Madame Henri really liked Rebecca and was trying her best to hide it. For sure, Rebecca was the only person other than Berne who had ever stuck up for herself.
Hmm...
“Bonjour!” Monsieur Henri’s bellow filled the house, followed by the usual slam of the door. “Where is my baby girl? I have something for her.”
Dede let out an excited squeal. “Papa, you got it?”
“For you, always.” He oof’d then laughed as Dede must have flung herself at him. “Do not say your old papa does not care for you.”
“I never say this.” Dede let out another squeal. “How did you get it?”
“He does not get anything,” Babs said in a mock bored tone. “I find it on my travels.”
“I love it!” Dede squealed again. “And I have something to surprise you... come.”
Berne gripped hold of the chair as the sound of Babs’s heels clicked ever closer. Madame Henri gripped the frame of the floor to ceiling window; Rebecca gripped hold of her knees and Pippa sat nonchalant like she was certain of Babs’s reaction.
“Your lemon head is here,” Dede said in her best English accent. She sounded more... Irish?
“My...” Babs rounded the corner. Her gaze fell on Berne, on Pippa, on Stephanie outside the window and her mother. Almost as if she didn’t dare look in case it would break her heart.
Rebecca stood up. “It’s lemon slice,” she said, sticking her shoulders back and turning to face Babs. “... My little French seashell.”
Dede clutched her prize in her hand. “I love them.”
“Then I’ll make sure I pick you up some cool ones from England.” Rebecca winked at her.
Dede peered up at her with adoration in her eyes. Well, she had won over the youngest Henri.
“So, you kicking me out or what?” Rebecca focused on Babs who was looking anywhere but her.
Babs took a long breath and moved her gaze to Rebecca’s shoes—nothing. Berne chewed her lip; to Rebecca’s legs—a flicker of... something: her waist—Babs’s hands shook; her bust—Babs’s lips twitched; and up to her face—Babs’s eyes tracked over every inch.
Berne clutched a cushion wanting to hide behind it.
Rebecca pulled up her boxers above the waistband of her trousers. “I’m not wearing frilly knickers.”
Babs put her hands over her mouth. “You look so... boring.”
“Thank you!” Rebecca yanked off her jacket and shoved her sleeves up to show her tattoos. “I feel like I’m in a straightjacket.”
“They dyed your hair.” Babs lifted her eyebrows.
“Yeah.” Rebecca shrugged. “I’m so much more ginger than this.”
“I know.” Babs’s eyebrows twitched.
Madame Henri looked to Monsieur Henri who raised his grey eyebrows; Pippa blushed; Dede looked at Berne—It was better she say nothing to that.
“So did I get assaulted by car-roll-lean for nothing or what?” Rebecca folded her tattooed arms across her bust. “Where’s your manners, woman?”
Babs’s lips twitched, then she smiled, then she laughed. Her eyes lit up with energy, with passion, with relief... with love. “I do not know... I think I leave them with my handbag.” She launched into a sprint. She hurled herself at Rebecca, wrapping herself around her and Rebecca swept her up into a kiss.
Berne blew out a breath, hearing that she wasn’t the only one. Pippa hugged the cushion beside her; Dede bounced on her toes, clutching her seashell and Madame and Monsieur Henri nodded to each other.
A match. A perfect one.
Chapter 18
My head was buzzing by the time we arrived back at Babs’s apartment. Her family had chatted on in rapid-fire French, laughing and joking. I’d loved every second but my poor brain needed rest, English, and maybe more chocolate. Stephanie had been quiet the entire time and I was worried about her. I don’t know who had been on the phone but the pain in her eyes gave me an idea it was Emilie.
Unlike me, it seemed Rebecca was holding her own in the battle of the hearts. Babs hadn’t been able to keep her eyes, or hands, off her. So much so, that I hoped the walls in the apartment were thick, really, really thick.
The next morning, I woke up in the room by myself. It was quiet so Rebecca and Babs couldn’t be there and Berne’s side of the bed was cold.
Hmm.
My stomach rumbled enough that I wandered into the kitchen to find a strapping young boy rifling through the refrigerator.
“Um... are you okay there?” I asked. What was the correct etiquette when finding a stranger in the fridge?
“Pardon?” He pulled his head out, something resembling ham dangling from his lips. Brown eyes, five foot nothing and looks that could be on a catwalk.
“You must be Fabrice?” I asked with a chuckle—Babs’s youngest brother.
“Oui?” He looked me up and down. “Are you lost?”
“No. I’m Pepe.” I pulled up a stool, enjoying watching his confusion turn to recognition.
“You are Pepe?” His mouth dropped open. “Non!”
“Oh yeah.” Every member of Babs’s family had all pulled the same face, the “you are the dozy clothhead who left Berne” face.
“Berne is very...” He paused, shoving his ham in his mouth.
I raised my eyebrows.
“Lucky...” He mumbled. “Très, très lucky.” He looked me up and down.
“Oui, and Pepe is our expert for the afternoon,” Babs said, striding in. “Pepe, I have five cars and we need your help.”
I held up my hands. “I don’t have a clue where to start on luxury brands.”
Babs raised an eyebrow. “He wants a Mini... an old one.”
Oh I loved him already.
“I thought that may get your attention,” Babs ruffled Fabrice’s hair. “You will only grow outwards if you eat between meals.”
Fabrice frowned. “I could still grow.”
They both looked to me. I was a beanpole to them, most people were. “Passion often hurtles at you in small packages.”
Babs laughed a raucous laugh and Fabrice blushed. Oh he was cute. I wanted to keep him.
“Alors, We have much to do...” Babs motioned to me.
“Lead the way.” I grinned.
Fabrice chuckled and blushed harder,
“What?” I had clothes on, what was the issue?
“Pepe, you are in your pyjamas,” Babs said with a shake of her head. “I have heard much of you visiting places like this... mais... it is not the attire for clothes shopping, oui?”
Ah. I doubted silky and oversized was the in thing in Monaco—They were missing out. Babs’s sheets were all silk so I’d had great fun zipping across the bed. So much so, I’d spent an hour doing it.
Childish and so much fun.
“Allez” Babs clapped her hands.
Right. Focus. Car shopping.
Five clapped out old bangers later and we trudged back to Babs’s car.
“What was wrong with it again?” Babs asked, frowning up at me.
“That is a nineteen eighties Mini,” I said pausing to lean against the bonnet.
Ooh, hot car, hot metal.
Fabrice snorted out a laugh.
I poked my tongue out at him. “As I was saying, there is no way it had only done fifteen miles.” I shook my head. “The tyres were almost bald...”
Fabrice and Babs exchanged a glance.
“If the tyres were worn then the car needed to be moving... further than fifteen miles,” I wiped the sweat off the back of my neck. We’d driven hours outside Monaco, traipsed up and down windy hills and none of the Minis were in a good enough condition.
“What is the problem with this?” Fabrice flicked his floppy blond hair out of his eyes.
“If they can do something as illegal as that, they can fiddle with a lot of things.” I met his eyes. “I
’m sorry but this is me stepping in. It’s like falling in love, sometimes you need a spotter.”
Fabrice cocked his head. “You needed this for Bebe?”
“If you’re going to tell me off for leaving her...” I held up my hands. “I’ve already yelled at myself enough.”
“You leave to protect her.” Fabrice wagged his finger. “You break your own heart to try and protect her. You are incroyable.”
What did I say to that? “At least someone understands... but yes, I could have really done with a spotter, and your sister definitely needs one.”
“Moi?” Babs raised her eyebrows as we got in, Fabrice clambering into the back. Sports cars were not made for comfort.
“Current form excluded.” I smiled. Rebecca was a fantastic choice to fall in love with. Even with the previous lemon hair, the cockiness and the ridiculous tattoos.
“There was no one who moved me as she does.” She zipped us along the road, making me long for Clio. Clio was old, nippy but had a tiny engine. Babs combined with the raw power of a sports car made my stomach roll. Whatever size engine it had under the bonnet—No, wait, some had them in back. Was it one of those?—anyway, Babs and lots of roaring was scary.
“Is this counting liaisons?” I glanced back at Fabrice who was attached to his mobile, his earplugs in.
“Love, bien sûr.” She winked at me. “Liaisons do not count.”
“Or you lost count?” I clung on as we hurtled around a bend.
Babs let out her bellowing laugh. “You are perhaps right with this.”
Good thing her and Rebecca were both... well... not picky about their liaisons. “It’s amazing how, um, bonded you are.”
Was that the right word? I’d made them sound like joins in the wood. Berne would have been impressed.
“You worry over this?” Her tone was careful. “Pepe, I know you wish to protect her.” She flashed me a debonair smile. “There is no need with me. She has my heart.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “Without other liaisons?”
She bellowed out her laugh again as we rounded a corner and caught up to a bicycle race. “Only with her.”
“And... I mean...” We whipped around the bunched up riders at the back. “You know... well... you’re planning to be official about it?” I fiddled with my seatbelt, my hands clammy.
“Pepe, are you asking me to wed?” She slowed so the cyclist alongside me peered in and waved.
I waved back, running my other hand up and down the seatbelt. “It just feels right.”
Babs screeched the car to a halt. The cyclist swerved around us. She launched herself at me, planted a kiss on each cheek and honked her horn.
She opened the window and leaned out. “She wishes to marry!”
A chorus of cheers roared up from the cyclists peddling by. They looked bemused yet thrilled for us.
Fabrice peeked out of the window, pulling his earphones out. “Ça va?”
“Pepe says oui,” she bellowed out of the window again.
Cue another cheer.
Babs honked the horn again. “She loves me!”
An even bigger cheer.
She honked her horn a third time, planted a smacker on my lips, and roared the car into life, making the cyclists scatter.
Fabrice blinked at me as I touched my hands to my burning cheeks. “Mais, I thought you love Bebe, that my sister loves the lemon, non?”
I nodded. “Every lemon needs her... um...” What wouldn’t sound odd or innuendo? “Um... fellow fruit?”
Yes, Saunders, because that didn’t sound like either, did it?
“D’accord.” Fabrice smiled a pleasant smile, nodded with satisfaction and went back to his phone.
I glanced at Babs as she pulled out a printed list from her bag, tapping the address into her sat nav. I winced as we wobbled about on the road. “Pepe, you are a lemon to me also.”
I smiled, more so because she’d finished tapping away and both hands were back on the wheel and her eyes were on the road.
Phew.
She thought I was a lemon. I liked lemons. More so if they were in ice cream or a cake or maybe a nice cold drink with lots of sugar. I smiled out at the countryside. Babs loved lemons. She wanted to marry Rebecca. I felt a big beaming warmth drift over me.
Well done, that lemon.
◆◆◆
Berne wandered in from the poolside, glad that Babs had her own private space to bathe. It had helped ease the ache in her back, Pippa’s massages too... a little. She rubbed at the sore spot. She needed to be more careful. The doctor had told her there would always be a weakness.
“Ça va?” she asked as she spotted Stephanie in the kitchen. She’d not seen her all morning.
“If you have hunger, I think there is...” She sniffed and her shoulders shook.
Berne hurried over. “What troubles you?”
Stephanie sighed. “She has sent Natalie to the house.” She shrugged, tears breaking free. “They have undone all the work we do.”
“Why does she do this?” Berne tried to hide the exasperation, the anger.
Why Emilie would act so coldly? She had sent the text message which split them up, Emilie had been the one who professed her love to another woman. What could Stephanie do? She’d had no choice but to leave.
“You sound surprised.” Stephanie wiped the tears away. Her eyes were puffy. She’d been crying for a good while. “She has always been happy to remind me that she is better.”
“Not better.” As far as Berne was concerned, Emilie had been fortunate Stephanie liked her at all, that she’d loved her and put up with so much. “Why now?”
“Natalie sees what you do. She tells her that I breach the contract so they smash up our work and send pictures,” Stephanie held up her phone.
Berne turned to the cooker to hide her scowl. Natalie had always been a good worker. She’d trusted her. It made no sense. “We are not paid.”
“Emilie feels I pay you... some other way,” Stephanie muttered.
Berne spun around to stare at Stephanie but she handed over her phone. Berne read and re-read the message. First the pictures of the damage then Emilie’s accusation.
“She says you do this with Pepe?” Berne gripped hold of the phone. Even the thought of it burned. “She cannot take the house so she damages it?”
Stephanie’s tears fell thick and fast. “Oui, she tried to take it but Babs’s lawyers help me.”
Berne growled, Stephanie tensed and she sighed, placing the phone on the countertop. “I am not angry with you. I would not hurt you.”
Stephanie stared at the phone. “No matter how far I run, I am still that scared child in here.”
Berne gripped her arms. “You are a woman now. You have a home with friends, you have friends.” She hoped, prayed that she’d see. “You are loved.”
Stephanie’s chin wobbled and she then collapsed into her arms. Berne held on. Emilie must know what she was doing to her. She must know the effect of her words. If Emilie could do such a thing, she was no friend of hers.
“What sets it off?” Berne pulled back to look into Stephanie’s misty eyes. “Something sparks her change.”
Stephanie flicked her gaze away. “I do not wish to speak of it, Bebe.”
“Mais, I need to know.” She dipped her eyes to capture her gaze. “Please.”
“Erique,” she mumbled. “I stay at his for a while when Emilie and I split up.” She shook her head. “He is my friend. He picks up the pieces, non?”
Berne nodded. All while she was in hospital unconscious and unable to help. “Why would she think otherwise?” And more so why was it Emilie’s business after they had parted? She’d made no effort to hide her conquests.
“She likes to taunt me, to make me feel I am nothing.” She sighed. “I was on site a few weeks ago... she taunts me, she says I stay with Erique, says that maybe he has more chance. I get angry.” Stephanie dabbed at her eyes and Berne fetched her a box of tissues. “I say t
hat I could be with Erique if I wish, non?”
“I do not blame you.” She smiled. It was good to hear that Stephanie had defended herself.
“Her mood turns...” Stephanie looked away. “She pushes, she brings over Natalie, the others, demands I say... that I say I am only interested in women. That Erique is nothing to me.”
Berne felt her stomach twist. “Pardon?”
Stephanie shrugged. “I would never declare such a thing. I love Erique... I would never say that I only wanted a woman.” Her eyes glinted with pain and worry. “And I will not so she fires me.”
Berne smiled. Now Pippa’s random conversations about people not needing labels, about how love was love no matter who it was with, made sense. She’d been trying to hint. She’d known. “You do not wish to be with Erique?”
Stephanie laughed, more in relief by its sound. “I know him too well.”
“That is not what I ask.” Berne lifted Stephanie’s chin so she could not escape the question.
“I think he very handsome but I know his heart.” She shrugged. “It is a shame he will not allow it to settle.”
Berne nodded. She doubted it ever would. “So she acts this way because you bruise her pride?”
“It does not matter. Natalie, the others, you know how they feel about this.” She sighed. “I find a new job, I start again.”
“For now, you work with me. You live with Pepe.” She nodded at the exasperation in Stephanie’s eyes. “My back is sore, you help me.”
Stephanie dived into a hug. “I thought you would wish me to leave when she talks of Pepe and I.” She met Berne’s eyes. “I would never do this, Pepe would never do this.”
Berne kissed her on the cheek. “If you resist my brother’s charms, you have much restraint, oui?”
Stephanie laughed. “You are both full of charm and I adore you for it.” She gave Berne a squeeze. “And you are so very good to know.”
“Hey, if you two are cuddling, I think it’s only fair I get one.” They both jumped at Rebecca’s sleepy tone. She waved it off and let out a big yawn. “Where’s Pip?”
“They shop for cars.” Berne smiled. They’d been out all morning.
