Page 34 of A French Adventure
‘That would be the ideal for me. My daughter wants me to join her in Sardinia. But the two businesses are such different propositions, I’m struggling to find a buyer who would like the two,’ Marie-France shrugged. ‘I think I’m going to have sell the house with whichever one of the businesses sells first.’ She turned to Olivia. ‘Would you like to view the house?’
‘Yes please,’ Olivia said. ‘It looks an amazing property from the outside.’
The door of a large barn was open as they walked past and Olivia caught a glimpse of canoes in racks, a six-seater inflatable RIB, and shelves of wetsuits and life jackets. A Land Rover and trailer took up some of the free floor space. Thierry stopped to have a longer look before catching the women up as they reached the iron-framed conservatory at the side of the house, with its breathtaking view down over a gorge.
‘Why don’t the two of you have a wander while I organise some coffee and set the laptop up ready to show you the other side of the business,’ Marie-France suggested.
Olivia was deep in thought as she and Thierry wandered around the sitting room, a dining room, a family-sized kitchen and a cloakroom, before climbing the stairs to look at the three bedrooms, one with an en suite, a family bathroom and a study/office.
‘Are you seriously thinking about buying an outdoor activity centre and the rest of it?’ She gestured with her hand.
Thierry nodded. ‘It definitely appeals, but depends on a lot of things working out that I have no control over.’
‘Like?’
‘We’ll talk later. Right now, Marie-France is waiting for us and I need to hear what she has to say.’
Sitting around the table in the kitchen with coffee and biscuits in front of them, Olivia and Thierry listened as Marie-France explained how she and her husband had run the businesses.
‘I was in charge of the violet farm and Charles organised the activity centre. Mind you, I also did all the paperwork for both.’ She pushed the laptop towards Thierry and Olivia. ‘Activities are booked on a daily basis either by individuals or groups and depend on various things – weather, number of visitors, their experience and the particular activity they want to do. Activities take place either in Bar-sur-Loup or in the Gorges du Verdon – both, as you know, are quite close. We would transport the equipment and meet everyone there.’
‘Did you ever think about offering the complete package?’ Olivia asked. ‘Accommodation and food?’
‘We did think about it in the beginning, but the house isn’t big enough. There is a barn that could be converted intodormitory-style accommodation if you or whoever buys the business wants to go down that road.’
Marie-France pressed a key on the laptop and a slide show started up showing scenes from past seasons. As it finished, she looked at them hopefully. ‘I know it’s impossible for you to make a decision just like that, but do you think you could possibly be interested in buying the business? It would be wonderful if you were. You both feel like you could be the right people for me to sell to.’
It was gone one thirty before they left Marie-France, with Thierry promising her he’d be in touch one way or the other very soon.
‘Lunch in Tourrettes?’ he suggested as they did their seatbelts up.
‘We can be home in about three quarters of an hour, less if there’s not much traffic,’ Olivia said. ‘Back to my place for an omelette and salad? You have a lot to think about and you can use me as a sounding board without anyone overhearing.’
‘Your place it is,’ Thierry agreed as he turned onto the main road.
‘Bit naughty of you to tell Marie-France that we were business partners,’ Olivia said quietly. ‘Gave her the wrong impression of us, I think.’
‘She already had the wrong impression of our relationship,’ Thierry said. ‘I was just correcting her tactfully. But I have to ask does the thought of us being business partners for real appeal to you? The violet farm and the activity centre clearly worked as a business for her and her husband.’
‘Probably because they were married and spent more time together than we would as just business partners. Would you live in the house?’
‘Definitely. We could both live there if you wanted to leave Antibes. It’s not got enough accommodation for paying guests, but for the two of us there’s plenty of space to live separate lives. We could share the office, although as partner you’d have to agree to doing the paperwork for both businesses, okay?’ Thierry gave her a cheeky grin. ‘I hate paperwork.’
‘There’s the deal-breaker right there then,’ Olivia said, shaking her head and striving not to think about living with Thierry. ‘Because I hate paperwork too.’
‘No problem. We’ll employ someone in that case.’
There was silence for a few moments as Thierry concentrated on his driving and Olivia lost herself in thoughts about what it would be like to be Thierry’s partner in business, or even in life. She pushed that thought away quickly. They were friends and that was the way it was going to remain.
‘There’s still a little bit of a problem, though,’ Olivia said. ‘I can see you as a macho all-action man, white-water rafting your clients down the Gorges de Verdon and I’m sure that side of the business would work well for you. On the other hand, I know nothing about violets and I’m no horticulturist, or even that good a gardener. Cut flowers I can deal with, but growing them, I’d probably kill the lot off within the year.’
‘Do you know that English ditty about violets. Is ditty the right word?’ Thierry looked across at her.
‘Depends, tell it to me.’
‘Roses are red, violets are blue, my dog is my favourite, but you’re okay too.’
There was a stunned silence, before Olivia burst out laughing. ‘That’s definitely a terrible ditty. How about this one.Roses are red, violets are blue, these jokes are getting old, and so are you.’
