Page 60 of A French Adventure
‘Tea would be good. Are you okay?’ Thierry asked. ‘You look as if you have been crying?’
Maxine nodded. ‘I have. Tears of outrage at Daiva for his behaviour after something Leonie said when I took her to the airport. But I also shed a few tears of happiness knowing that Leonie is back in my life.’ She made him a cup of tea and handed it to him. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you today?’
‘I wanted to check you were all right after seeing Leonie off.’
‘Thank you.’ Maxine looked at him. ‘You are so like Pierre, such a kind man. You know your papa was very proud of the man you have become? And I think he had every reason to be. I wish he was here to hear the news about you and Olivia. He adored Olivia and would be so happy to know that the two of you are planning to marry.’
‘I wish he was still here too,’ Thierry said quietly. ‘But it is good you and I – and Olivia too – can talk about him.’
Vivienne spent the first eight or nine days back in England in a flurry of sorting things out. Being busy helped to stop the ache in her heart of longing to be back in France.
After organising the divorce lawyer, the next thing to do was to ring the literary agency and speak to Rupert, the owner and senior agent. When she told him she wanted to leave the agency because of Sadie’s behaviour, he was gratifyingly horrified on her behalf and asked if she would reconsider if he personally handled her account.
‘I don’t want to lose you as a client,’ he said. Vivienne had hesitated, but in the end agreed, simply because it made sense for her not to change. The agency in the past had always been so supportive of her work.
‘I’d like to stay with the agency on the condition that I don’t have to deal with, or see Sadie, ever,’ Vivienne said.
‘I will personally make sure of that,’ Rupert agreed. ‘I will also look into this film offer and see if it’s still on the table.’
Gilles rang a couple of times to see how she was and one morning he rang minutes after Jeremy had left, following one of his unwanted and infuriating visits, which invariably left Vivienne feeling uptight. The divorce was in the hands of the solicitors now, but Jeremy was furious every time her solicitor not only challenged his demands but laid out Vivienne’s own legal rights.
Gilles clearly sensed her tension over the phone. ‘Are you okay?’
Vivienne sighed and tried to shrug her annoyance away. ‘Jeremy has just left after another moan at me for using a woman solicitor who is obviously a feminist and out to deprive him of his rights. Honestly, if the words coming out of his mouth weren’t so blatantly sexist, it would be funny.’
‘How’s everything else going? You told me you were ticking things off your to-do list every day, so do you have a date forreturning yet? Maybe you could return sooner rather than later? I’d like that.’
‘Oh, if only that were possible. Anyway, enough of that. How are you and Pascal?’ Vivienne said, changing the conversation.
Afterwards, she found herself wondering about her return date to France. Could she go back sooner than she’d planned? She’d far rather be in Antibes. She didn’t have to wait for the Valbonne villa to be hers officially. She could rent somewhere whilst all the official stuff was happening. Why couldn’t she go down now rather than wait another six or eight weeks? She could deal with everything back here from down there – it was the age of the internet after all. Jeremy and the solicitors could deal with selling this house and she’d be on hand for anything the notaire needed for her new villa purchase. She’d already paid the deposit by bank transfer and the ten-day cooling-off period required under French law would finish in a couple of days. Neither she nor the seller could pull out of the transaction after that without paying a penalty. Her divorce solicitor was sorted, surely from now on they could correspond by email or Zoom.
Vivienne picked up the phone, found the number she wanted and pressed. There was no harm in finding out.
‘Hi Olivia, it’s Vivienne. How are you? I was wondering…’
Ten minutes later, she had a plan in place. She’d stay for one more week to give her time to sort things in the house and then she was going to return to Antibes. Olivia’s top apartment wasn’t available until the end of September, but Olivia was moving out to the farm with Thierry very soon and was more than happy to rent the bottom apartment to Vivienne while she waited for her house purchase to go through. So long as she didn’t mind Olivia popping in to use the flower room a couple of times a week. Vivienne had assured her that wouldn’t be a problem at all. Suddenly, her optimism about the future bounced back.
She bought a book of red stickers and went through the house sticking them on the few things she wanted to take – mainly things she’d inherited from Jacqueline. She emptied her wardrobe, taking most of it to the local charity shop, packing the things she was taking into a suitcase. Different clothes were going to be needed for her new life in the sun.
For the next few days, she either avoided Jeremy whenever he came to the house or refused to engage in one of his rants. She didn’t intend to tell him she was leaving until the last possible moment, knowing he would probably react selfishly to the news.
Natalie and Tim both came for supper on her last evening in the house, with Natalie staying overnight to drive her to the airport in the morning. Both were fully supportive of her moving to Antibes early.
‘I think you will find it easier to deal with things here when you’re away from them and getting on with your new life down there. And having Gilles around will help as well,’ Natalie said, smiling.
‘We’ll both miss you, Mum,’ Tim said. ‘And as soon as you own your new home, we’ll organise getting your bits and pieces down to you. Must say I’m looking forward to visiting. How’s Dad reacted to you leaving early?’
Vivienne looked at the two of them. ‘I haven’t actually told him. I thought I’d leave a goodbye note on the kitchen table in the morning!’
42
The next day, an exhausted but happy Vivienne found herself boarding the midday flight to Nice. Natalie had driven her to the airport and after she’d handed over a fortune for her excess luggage, the two of them had had lunch. Outside the entrance to the departure lounge, Vivienne hugged Natalie tight as the reality of what she was doing suddenly hit her. ‘I’m going to miss you so much. You will visit soon, won’t you? There’s a spare room in the apartment.’
‘I’ll be down for the weekend at the end of the month, and Tim’s going to try to come with me,’ Natalie said. ‘Too late to get cold feet, Mum – you’re going to have a wonderful new life in France.’
As the plane taxied down the runway and she settled into her seat, Vivienne took a deep breath. Just two more hours and she would be in the place where she would begin her new life. She knew she’d miss Natalie and Tim, but they had their lives to lead and now she had a new one of her own to get to grips with, and despite that little wobble with Natalie in the airport, she couldn’t wait to call Valbonne home. Sitting there, literally flying above the clouds, Vivienne thought about the things she wanted to doin the weeks to come: a visit to Cannes to finally meet up with Céline; start to visitbrocantesandvide-greniersfor furniture and other things for the villa; think of a name for the villa; get to know Gilles properly.
Ah, Gilles. He’d wanted to meet her when she arrived, but Vivienne had protested, saying Maxine had already promised and it wasn’t fair to drag him all the way down from Puget. She’d suggested instead he came down and spent the day with her tomorrow, something she was looking forward to.
