by Agnès Ruiz
“Joanna, my darling, I tried calling you.”
“My phone wasn’t charged”, Joanna lied, pulling a face which tried to look sorry.
“How’s your father? He told me he had a dizzy spell.”
Joanna started laughing at the news. Lorelli raised an eyebrow at her daughter’s attitude which she found indifferent.
“That’s not like you. What’s going on?”
“Joshua said the same thing.”
“It wasn’t a reproach from me. On the contrary, I prefer seeing you like this.”
“Cooler?” Joanna laughed.
“Yes, it suits you. Your eyes are shining. I’m intrigued...”
Joanna thought she probably shouldn’t go too far. Otherwise, her mother would want to know everything. And that was out of the question.
To move on, she jumped on the first thing that came to mind to shift her mother to a different subject. Lorelli would be a wise choice of ally.
“Dad thinks Joshua and I are parasites.”
Lorelli looked at her daughter carefully. She seemed troubled. Had she realised that Joanna wasn’t telling her the whole truth?
“He said that?” she asked.
Joanna gave her the details. Curiously, she couldn’t stop and let out everything that had been weighing her down.
“And all that, because he found out that somebody had been in his office.”
“It all started there, in any case.”
“You know, my girl, he has lost his mind with this little spring chicken at his side. It will end badly.”
“She seemed to calm him down when he had his fall,” Joanna commented, aware that she was speaking in Cécile’s favour for no reason.
Lorelli threw her a dark look.
“I found it quite amazing that he called me just to let me know he had a fall.”
“I suppose he told you that we’d had words, too”, said Joanna.
“He kept it to himself that he’d called you and your brother parasites. To hear him, it was as if he was the only one with something to complain about. But don’t worry, Joanna, I know your father. I know what he’s capable of, the best and the worst.”
She let Joanna take in the words before she could tell her about the absent receptionist.
“You’re too lax with the staff, Joanna. You shouldn’t just do their job like that. You have a life, too. She should respect her hours.”
“Except I can’t get in touch with her.”
Joanna spoke of Mélanie’s absence.
“And she hadn’t even told me she couldn’t make it. It’s not like her.”
“I saw her yesterday, at the party, for Marguerite’s retirement.”
“Yes, I let her pop in to have a look”, Joanna confirmed.
“And she thanks you by not coming in. You see, that’s what I said; you’re too lax.”
“And that’s not the way to treat your staff... Arghhh! I can almost hear Dad!”
“For once he’s not wrong.”
“Mum, please. That’s not what I need, right now.”
“I completely agree. You need to have fun. Life is short, Joanna. The hotel isn’t everything!”
“Well, I’m going to sort out Mélanie’s absence.”
Joanna wanted to stay on a safe subject. She mother was quick to move onto subjects that she had no desire to talk about. Even less so today, where she had indeed enjoyed life, as she said.
“Anyway, Joshua seemed to take good care of the little receptionist, yesterday.”
“What do you mean?” Joanna asked.
“I mean your brother seems to take after your father in liking much younger women. This time I have to say I was pleased that stuck up little madam, Cécile Burnier intervened.”
It was Lorelli’s turn to tell Joanna about the evening, where Joshua had had too much to drink and offered to take Mélanie home.
“And we haven’t seen her since last night”, Joanna finished, suddenly worried.
52
She looked at her mobile phone automatically. No new messages. Since then, she had called Sylvie to ask her to come to work today and tomorrow.
She preferred checking for tomorrow, too, just in case Mélanie’s time off would continue. Better to be prepared.
And what if Mélanie decided to let them down then and there? Maybe she found the work too tiresome, or Joshua had been out of place and she refused to turn up with him there?
“She can’t leave like that, without warning”, Lorelli objected. “A young girl with no brains, that’s what she is”, she concluded.
“That’s not fair”, Joanna defended her. “She’s done her best until now. No, I’m sure it’s something else. Maybe she’s ill and...”
“And she can’t speak?! Huuu! I suppose you’re joking. She can always let us know. Especially when it’s more than just half an hour.”
Joanna couldn’t think of any more reasons. She thought of her brother who hadn’t answered her numerous messages, either. He had also been absent for most of the day. What if they had ended the evening together? She thought, horrified.
She kept her theories to herself in front of her mother and was relieved to see Sylvie arrive. Lorelli waited a while then decided to go to see Rodolphe.
“I’m going to tell him what I think.”
“Mum”, Joanna called her, “Don’t get mad at him...”
“Don’t you worry about that, my darling.”
Joanna decided to wait until tomorrow to get on with her enquiries about Mélanie. If she reappeared, she could talk to her about what was done and not done, in a professional environment. If she didn’t come back... She would do what she had to.
She wholeheartedly hoped that she wouldn’t need to go so far. Getting Mélanie’s parents involved was not her usual way. She was old enough.
But Joanna also had a daughter who would be 18 one day, too.
And she would want to know.
Joanna went out the back to walk in the garden for a bit. She appreciated the well-cleaned pathways, the well-trimmed groves and fragrant flowers. Grégoire was a great handyman. She should tell him more often, she thought.
Without realising, she had walked to the tennis courts. There were two of them. During the summer, they were always buzzing. She would have like to offer more, but it wasn’t feasible in the budget and would probably never happen.
Perhaps it was the sound that had brought her here.
Joshua had come to make some passes. Images of them arguing over points came to mind.
“I wonder if Guillermo plays”, she mumbled.
They could enjoy the grounds this weekend. And if he had never played, she could show him, she decided, happily.
She got to the edge of the courts. A high hedge hid the tennis courts, providing some privacy for the guests who preferred the garden and wanted to forget the sea for a while.
Unsurprisingly, she recognised Joshua. He had just scored a point. She admired his precise movement. He had always played better than she. But Joanna defended herself quite well. She could have given lessons, too. If she had insisted. She had preferred letting her brother shine on his turf.
Was that another mistake?
Joanna continued dreaming in front of the two players. A laugh broke out during the long and incredible game. Joshua had just returned the ball, with his back facing, and scored a point. He amused the young girl by hitting the ball from between his legs. He definitely knew what he was doing.
Joanna would have been able to appreciate her brother’s extravagance. Except his opponent was none other than Cécile Burnier.
53
Joanna asked herself how she hadn’t recognised her to begin with. Of course, the young woman had her back to her and was in sports shoes, but still.
Cécile Burnier played tennis, then. Even better, she came to practice even when her fiancé had had a fall.
“You’re better than I remember”, the young woman said jogging towards Joshua to shake his hand.
Joanna realised she was being petty. Even Cécile had the right to relax. And her father had never really liked tennis while Joshua was a specialist.
Yet it wasn’t that which bothered Joanna. It was what Cécile said: “You’re better than I remember”.
What did that mean?
Joanna was unable to remove herself from the intriguing scene she had involuntarily witnessed.
Joshua and Cécile held each other closely; too close for a girl who was about to become his step-mother. Joshua held her by the waist. They were joking like two old friends.
Joanna instinctively stepped back as they approached the bank, not far from where she was. Her heart was beating wildly. She shouldn’t be there, spying, she repeated to herself.
“I won, Cécile. You must tell me everything...”
“I owe you nothing at all”, the young woman murmured mischievously.
“We had a deal”, Joshua insisted (he tapped the side of his nose with the end of his finger; a gesture which did not escape Joanna). “If I won the match, you would tell me why you came.”
“I’m in love with your father. Is that not enough?”
“I don’t believe it for a second.”
“You’re wrong, Joshua. And you were wrong when you told me about your tyrannical father. He’s not like that.”
“Either you want to make me jealous...”
“You have to be in love to be jealous”, Cécile gave him an ambiguous look.
Joshua looked down, as if searching for a response. He ended up smiling and continued:
“Or you used me to get to my father.”
“Throw you aside for something better, it’s a seductive plan”, Cécile replied with a distant look.
She pointed in front of her and waggled her finger from right to left, to show him he was going the wrong way.
“That’s not the case, you are completely wrong.”
“A sincere and true love, then”, Joshua mocked.
“Believe what you want.”
“I’ll find out why you’re here, Cécile.”
“Don’t ruin it all, Joshua.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Joanna noticed a change in tone between the two. Cécile’s voice became brutal with a disturbing note.
She moved closer to the trees, fearing that her shadow would give her away. At the same time, a bird flew away, shaking the branches of the same tree.
“What’s that?” Cécile cried.
Joanna knew it was no good hanging around there. She took advantage of the confusion and the noise from the birds to sneak off out of range.
It was a good job, as Cécile appeared from the other side to make sure there was nobody there.
Joanna returned to the hotel unscathed, but her mind was in a frenzy. Joshua and Cécile seemed to know each other well. Since when? Obviously well before she had met Rodolphe G. Gaspardin.
This whole thing didn’t feel good. Not good at all.
Joanna did some quick research online. She typed Cécile Burnier’s name to check if she had a profile on any kind of social network. No. She drew a blank. Well, to be precise, there were several Cécile Burnier’s, but none seemed to correspond with the one she knew.
What else could she do? Hire a private detective? That didn’t make sense. And what if her father found it?
Then she thought of Marguerite. Why did she leave before her official retirement? Did that have something to do with Cécile Burnier as she had always suspected?
54
Joanna found herself walking along the conference room. Her eye fixed on the pictures she had hung on the wall for Marguerite’s departure for retirement. She had forgotten to take them down. She went there to find a solution when she stopped cold. The frames were all empty.
Of course, she should have thought of it herself. Marguerite was taken with those photos. It was highly probable she had taken them before leaving. As well as displaying them, it was a photo album that she should have given her.
She checked her watch and went to her car.
She only needed a few minutes to get to Marguerite’s house. She rang and soon saw the silhouette of the old woman stand out through the glass door.
“Can I speak to you?” Joanna asked.
“What a surprise.”
Joanna was sure she was angered by the visit.
“Were you waiting for somebody else, perhaps?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“I wanted to apologise.”
Marguerite raised an eyebrow at the comment.
Joanna would have preferred it if she would open the door, that they could talk over tea in the intimacy of her home. Marguerite was clearly having none of it. She even blocked the entrance with her frail body.
“Why do you want to apologise exactly? For throwing me out into the street after all those years?”
“I know, about you and my dad”, Joanna announced.
Marguerite was stunned. Joanna, too. She had no intention of bringing that up.
“What are you after? That’s none of your business. I could understand if it were Lorelli coming to see me.”
“It’s a bit late for that it seems.”
“I don’t think so. My memories are all I have left. If at all, when my memory doesn’t give out.”
“Your memory is excellent”, Joanna assured. “You loved my father.”
“But it wasn’t mutual”, Marguerite strongly regretted. “And I was mad to imagine that he’d leave his wife and children for me.”
“Did he make you believe he would?”
Marguerite confirmed with a sharp nod.
“He lured me with promises of a beautiful life together, far from everything. He wanted to forget about the seaside hotel. Start again from scratch, just the two of us.”
“Let me guess, there was always something in the way of those lovely projects.”
“I was deceived like so many other fools before me.”
“You caused pain to others around you.”
“I made mistakes, like everybody.”
Joanna had trouble deciding if it were true or false. And what if her father had decided to leave with her? She would have broken a home because of love. If that was love!
“Why are you here?” Marguerite spat as Joanna stood firmly before her, too quiet.
“I wanted to talk to you about the photos.”
“Ah! He’s sent you even for that. I’ve got nothing to say to you. Except that Rodolphe is a coward. A heartless monster who wasn’t even gracious enough to say goodbye to me. I didn’t ask for any favours. I wanted him to be there. That’s all.”
“At least you decided to take the photos as a souvenir. I should have thought to give them to you myself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the photos I’d framed that were on the wall, during the party...”
“Yes, I understood. But I don’t have them anymore. They were given back to their owner.”
The words were full of hatred and bitter. Joanna was stunned at what she heard especially as it involved her.
55
“It was you that was in his office last night, then!” she murmured.
“Your father didn’t tell you?”
“What could he tell me? He doesn’t know anything, only that somebody was in his office...”
Marguerite laughed nastily.
Joanna suddenly realised that it smelled like trouble. Had her father kept an essential element of the so-called break in of his office to himself? That would explain why he hadn’t told the police.
“I no longer want anything to do with Rodolphe G. Gaspardin”, Marguerite began. “He ruined my life. I thought I had him all to myself until this little schemer turned up... I did everything for him. I was loyal ‘til the end. All that for nothing. For nothing”, she repeated. “My life is empty now. I didn’t have any children; I have nobody at my side. I’m just an old woman thrown to one side, becau
se she became useless. Leave now, Joanna. Go where I can’t answer to myself.”
“But Marguerite, what happened in his office last night?”
“You are a good person, Joanna. Perhaps the nicest person at the seaside hotel. At least your father has done one good thing in his life.”
She shut the door on Joanna. She had come to talk. She certainly got what she bargained for.
But now she had more questions than before.
Her father knew who had been in his office, and yet he said nothing. Worse, he dared to accuse her or her brother.
Joanna got back into her car and drove randomly, unable to make sense of her thoughts, or her life. The only buoy on this sinking ship was Zoé, her beautiful and fearless Zoé. And Guillermo.
She had just parked in front of a carpark. She was in Deauville, close to the place she had been with Guillermo. Where he had kissed her for the first time.
She ditched her mobile phone and got out to walk up to the Boardwalk. Impulsively, she took off her shoes and ran to the sea. In the distance, she saw a couple flying a kite. Without thinking, she went into the water. The first waves licking her naked feet.
Joanna shivered. The Channel was still cold at this time of year. She loved the familiar feeling and walked forward, laughing at her wet trousers and Guillermo’s shirt.
“It’s only water”, she said, echoing her daughter’s words when she had spilt the spaghetti sauce.
56
Guillermo called Joanna’s mobile for the second time. It was already ten o’clock in the evening and she hadn’t called him.
Yet she had told him they would spend the weekend together. Because of her lengthy silence, Guillermo wondered if she had decided off the top of her head and now regretted it.
He had also asked himself a lot of questions. He hadn’t moved to the region for that. Far from it.
The events came one after the other. He hadn’t realised the course of action which he held on to stubbornly. He had blithely crossed the line, forgetting his reluctance to mix business with pleasure, forgetting that it was bound to lead nowhere.
