Page 54 of A French Adventure
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With Natalie out for the day with Olivia and Leonie, Vivienne was determined to take the opportunity to edit the last chapter she’d written. Today was probably the last day she’d get to do any work. They were leaving in forty-eight hours. She’d barely settled herself on the terrace with her laptop when her mobile rang. The caller ID read unknown caller and she hesitated before picking it up. If it was Sadie again with a different phone, she’d hang up.
‘Hello?’ she said cautiously.
‘Vivienne, it’s Gilles Rocher.’
She smiled as she let out a sigh of relief.
‘I’m down in Antibes unexpectedly and I was wondering whether you, and possibly Natalie, would like to have lunch with me.’
‘Natalie has gone to Monaco with friends,’ Vivienne said.
‘How about you? Would you like to have lunch? Or are you busy?’
‘I’m editing, but I do stop for lunch and…’ Vivienne hesitated. ‘It would be lovely to see you again,’ she said, surprised at howpleased she was to hear his voice and to accept the surprise invitation.
‘Bon. Would twelve o’clock suit? Or is that too early?’
‘No, it’s fine. Where shall I meet you?’
‘How about by the bandstand in Square Nationale?’
‘I’ll see you there at twelve.’ Which gave her precisely an hour to get ready.
Vivienne closed her laptop and went downstairs to have a shower and to think about what to wear. It was a lovely day and at midday it would be warm, if not downright hot. She’d not yet worn the wrap dress she’d bought at Giselle’s all those weeks ago. It would be cool and smart, but was it too much for a lunchtime date?
She stopped as she went to put the dress on. Was this a date? She was still a married woman, so no, it couldn’t in any way be regarded as that. It was simply two new friends having lunch together and hoping to get to know each other better. Was she hoping to get to know Gilles better? She couldn’t deny that she’d liked him from the moment he’d spoken to them outside his family home. She slipped the wrap dress on. Gilles had said he often came to Antibes; the fact that he had rung her so soon after meeting didn’t mean anything. Right, sunglasses and sunhat and she was ready.
Gilles was waiting for her as Vivienne crossed the square and smiled his welcome. ‘Will you accept the usual French greeting of a kiss on the cheek?’ he asked.
‘Just the one,’ she laughed as she caught the whiff of his aftershave – spicy with a hint of sandalwood – as he kissed her fleetingly.
‘You look lovely.’
‘Thank you.’
‘I’ve booked a table at a restaurant near the marina, I thought we could have a look at the boats on our way.’
‘Are you a sailor?’
‘Not a sailor who longs for his own boat but a sailor who likes the occasional day sail and is quite happy to spend time on the water crewing for someone else,’ Gilles said. ‘I preferred to be up in the sky. I was a pilot until recently,’ he explained. ‘I was made redundant in the last round of cutbacks at the airline I worked for after the various lockdowns of Covid which hit the travel business badly.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. At my age, I was lucky to be employed for so long. I’m enjoying life right now and I got a generous redundancy package. We go this way,’ and they walked under an archway and there in front of them was the marina. ‘The restaurant is on that side of the marina,’ and he pointed past the boats to the left, where Vivienne could see a cluster of tables with open parasols in the far distance.
‘So many boats,’ Vivienne said. ‘I wonder what would happen if they all decided to put to sea at once.’
‘Chaos is the answer, I think,’ Gilles said. ‘May I ask you a question? Your name is Vivienne, but the card you gave me had a different name on it.’
‘Ah, yes,’ Vivienne said. ‘My secret alter ego. I gave you the wrong card by mistake.’
Gilles nodded thoughtfully. ‘You do not like people knowing you are a successful author?’
‘It’s not that exactly. When I meet people as that person, it’s fine and I’m happy to talk about and sign books, but it gives me and the family a degree of privacy if people don’t always know about my day job.’ Vivienne smiled at him.
‘I looked you up and bought one of your books.’
