Page 53 of Summer on the French Riviera
Jack had spotted her approaching and was standing up to greet her, which he did with two cheek kisses that once again she wasn’t quick enough to dodge. He grinned at her knowingly.
‘I’m glad you could make it,’ he said. ‘And I’m glad Elodie isn’t here yet. It gives me a little time to talk to you and try to sort us out.’
‘There is no us,’ Harriet said as she sat down on the chair he’d pulled out for her.
‘There was once and I believe there can be again. I still have such powerful feelings for you, Harriet.’
Harriet opened her mouth to speak and closed it again as a waiter arrived with a chilled bottle of rosé in an ice bucket and proceeded to pour them both a glass.
‘Merci,’ Jack said.
Before he could continue the conversation, Elodie arrived. She went straight to Jack as he stood up and happily accepted his greeting cheek kisses. ‘Hi, Jack.’ She was about to sit down when she hesitated and moved across to Harriet and awkwardly kissed her cheek. ‘Hi, Harriet.’
Harriet’s eyes widened in surprise. Cheek greeting kisses had never happened between the two of them before.
‘Hi. Have you had a good morning?’ she asked in an attempt to cover her shock.
‘Yeah,’ Elodie nodded. ‘And I saw Gazz for ten minutes or so before I came here. I nearly invited him to join us and then I remembered you said just the three of us. A family meal,’ Elodie said, looking at Jack. ‘So I didn’t.’
Jack poured her a glass of rosé. ‘Santé.’
‘I still can’t quite get my head around having lunch with “my parents”,’ Elodie said. ‘Who’d have thought that would ever happen?’
‘We can only apologise that you’ve had to wait so long,’ Jack said. ‘But I promise you that this is the first family lunch of many that the three of us will have in the future. Right, Harriet?’
‘Whatever you say, Jack,’ Harriet said, deciding to play along with his ‘happy family’ version of the future.
The waiter returned at that moment, notebook in hand, ready to take their orders. Harriet quickly picked up the menu. Jack, she knew, would choose a meat dish of some description, Elodie would go for mussels and frites and today she’d have… ‘A salad Niçoise please,’ she said, smiling up at the waiter.
Once the waiter had taken their order and left, Harriet sat back and sipped her wine, listening to the light-hearted banter between Jack and Elodie. She was glad that the two of them had already established a friendly relationship.
‘So what do you think, Harriet?’ Jack said.
Hearing her name, she realised she’d zoned out of their conversation. ‘Sorry, I was miles away. What do I think about what?’
‘The two of us visiting Jack in America in the autumn – I mean the fall,’ Elodie smiled. ‘It could be fun, the two of us going together, a bit of mother and daughter bonding.’
Harriet looked at Elodie in surprise. Was she serious and offering a tentative olive branch? It was a nice thought but then Harriet remembered the exhibition and the paintings she had to complete and she shook her head. ‘Sorry, no can do. I’m committed to my exhibition. But there’s nothing stopping you from going.’
She immediately regretted her words as she saw the look of disappointment flash across Elodie’s face. ‘But maybe we can go together another time? I’m told spring in New York is wonderful.’
40
A week later, Gabby and Philippe were sipping their after-lunch coffees in Gabby’s favourite Juan-les-Pins restaurant. The one where Philippe had first taken her to lunch last Christmas and where he had organised the party for her seventieth birthday on New Year’s Eve. The walls of the restaurant were covered with black and white photographs of Juan-les-Pins dating from the nineteen thirties through to the sixties and included several of the Hotel le Provençal when it had been one of the most famous hotels on the French Riviera.
Gabby had just finished her coffee and replaced the cup on its saucer, when her mobile pinged with a text from Colette.
‘Sorry, I need to read this,’ she said. ‘It’s important.’ Today was the day of the auction in Paris of the brush pot. She hadn’t told Philippe about the auction and Colette had promised to let her know as soon as the pot was sold. She was going to watch the auction live on the internet.
Gabby let out a short gasp as she read the text:
Sold for two million euros above the estimate
And struggled to contain her emotions as the phone shook in her hand.
‘Are you okay?’ Philippe asked anxiously. ‘You’ve gone pale.’
‘I’m fine,’ Gabby said shakily. ‘I do need to talk to you later about something that has happened, though.’ She gave him a smile. ‘It’s something good, something very good in fact, so don’t worry.’
