Page 16 of Summer on the French Riviera
Deciding that she liked the idea of having something to fill her time and give structure to her week, Harriet had agreed to be Hugo’s Saturday girl for the summer, as well as his midweek emergency staff member. To her surprise, she found that she actually enjoyed working in the gallery, learning about the paintings that Hugo exhibited and meeting the public. Saturday lunchtimes, when she and Hugo ate together, always surprised Harriet by how quickly they disappeared. The two of them laughed a lot and conversation was never dull. Getting to know each other slowly was fun and Harriet began to value Hugo’s friendship. The dinner date still had to happen, but Hugo kept assuring her it would very soon. ‘In the meantime, I’m enjoying our lunches together,’ he said.
As she returned from walking Lulu one morning in the middle of May, the yellow La Poste van pulled up outside the villa and with a cheery ‘Bonjour’, the postman handed her a packet of forwarded mail.
Gabby was in the kitchen making a coffee as Harriet walked into the house and held up her cup. ‘Join me?’
‘Please,’ Harriet answered, bending down to unclip Lulu’s lead. ‘There’s more forwarded post.’
‘Let’s take it out to the terrace. I’ll open it while we have our coffee.’
As Harriet sipped her drink, Gabby went through the contents of the envelope.
‘It seems to be all for Elodie this time – looks work-related. Oh, there’s one for you,’ and she handed Harriet a brown envelope with a handwritten address, postmarked Torbay.
Harriet frowned. She didn’t recognise the handwriting. It didn’t look like Lizzie’s. The wedding would be over now. She was the only person from the old days who knew she was back from Australia and living in France. Harriet slid her finger under the flap and tore the envelope open. A photograph slipped out and Harriet saw the signature at the end of the accompanying letter. A letter she quickly pushed back into the envelope. Aware that Gabby was watching her, Harriet held out the photograph. ‘Wedding day photo of Lizzie’s daughter.’
‘Lizzie looks good as the mother of the bride and her daughter was a beautiful bride,’ Gabby said, before handing it back. ‘That was kind of Lizzie to send you a photo. Aren’t you going to read the letter?’
‘Later,’ Harriet said, putting the photograph back in the envelope with the letter. She wanted to be alone when she read it. ‘You’re looking very glam this morning by the way. You off out?’
‘Philippe is taking me to Cannes. I’ve finally tracked down a kitchen shop there that sells La Cornue stoves.’ And Gabby gave Harriet a happy smile. Telling Colette that the one thing she wanted in the kitchen was a La Cornue range cooker had prompted her to begin the search for one. It would be the perfect stove for the villa’s kitchen.
‘Where’s Elodie this morning?’
‘Gone to interview an ex-pat couple for a woman’s magazine.’ Gabby looked at Harriet. ‘Have you got anything planned for today?’
Harriet shook her head. ‘Not really.’ The vague plan of going for a swim and then seeing if Jessica fancied meeting up for a coffee had been pushed away with the arrival of the post.
‘Lovely bright light today. Might be a good day for art,’ Gabby said quietly. ‘You keep promising you’re going to start painting again, but so far I haven’t seen any evidence of that.’
‘We’ve barely been here five minutes,’ Harriet protested. ‘Now we’re more settled I will make a proper start soon, I promise. Need to find my confidence before I dive into the oils, though. Start with a few pastels or something,’ Harriet shrugged.
‘You’ve got the house to yourself for a few hours so you could sketch away and start to try to find that confidence.’ The gate intercom buzzer interrupted Gabby’s words. ‘Ah, Philippe’s arrived. We’ll continue this conversation later.’
Harriet stayed out on the terrace after Gabby had left, deep in thought. She knew her mother was right. It was more than time for her to start painting again. Hugo kept teasing her that he was still waiting for her to show him something, but right now a few pencil line drawings seemed to be all she was capable of producing, which, she told herself, was better than doing nothing.
As she reached out to pick up the envelope, her mobile rang. Hugo.
‘Are you a mind reader?’ she said, laughing. ‘I was just thinking about you nagging me to do some painting and up you pop.’
‘That wasn’t why I’m ringing,’ Hugo said. ‘But I’m glad you’re at least thinking about painting. I was actually ringing to see if you’re free for dinner tonight?’
‘Yes, I am.’ Harriet answered without having to think about it. She liked Hugo and enjoyed his company, dinner with him would be fun.
‘Good. I’ll pick you up at seven thirty.’
‘Thanks, Hugo. See you then.’ Harriet pressed the button to end the call before picking up the envelope. She stared at it for several seconds, wishing she could ignore it, throw it away unread, before she slowly pulled the contents out, placing the photograph on the table and unfolding the letter.
Seeing the wedding photograph, Gabby had assumed Lizzie had sent it and Harriet hadn’t corrected that assumption, not wanting to have to find answers for the questions that would follow. As she started to read the letter, Harriet struggled to control the panic that threatened to engulf her.
Dear Harriet,
Lizzie gave me your mother’s old address in Dartmouth and I hope this letter will be forwarded on to you. Lizzie tells me that you are now living in France with both your mother and daughter.
I was thrilled to hear from Lizzie that you were back in Europe and I had hoped we could catch up in person at Nathan and Kelly’s wedding. I am so disappointed that didn’t happen.
France is on my list to visit this year, sometime in the next couple of months – maybe we could arrange to meet somewhere convenient for you? If that proves to be impossible, could we at least write the occasional letter to each other, maybe even a Zoom call, get to know one another again and learn about how each other’s life has been since we last met?
I look forward to being in touch with you again and to hopefully meeting up in the not too distant future.
