Page 22 of A French Country Escape
‘If she’s not with you, I bet you bloody welldoknow where she is, sotell menow.’
Peter took the phone from Ingrid and held up his hand before she could respond. ‘Rory, do not speak to any of my family like that ever again. Penny is not here and we don’t know where she is. But guessing from your attitude, she has finally left you – something we’ve been urging her to do for weeks. So even if she had told us her plans, we certainly wouldn’t tell you. Emma saying she has gone to the Lake District may or may not be true, but for your sake, you’d better hope Penny is okay because if she’s not, I shall hold you entirely responsible. Do not phone here again – and stay away from our daughter in the future.’
Peter ended the call, put the phone down on the table and worriedly rubbed his face as Ingrid looked at him.
‘Where the hell is she?’
17
Penny knew she would be forever grateful to Dawn for insisting she move in with her whilst she rearranged her life without Rory. She’d packed a suitcase and moved out of her own place the day Dawn had told her to. Rory had no idea of Dawn’s address, or even the area of town she lived in. The relief as she’d locked her flat door behind her was almost palpable and once she was safely ensconced at Dawn’s, her head cleared, and she was able to think straight for the first time since she’d told Rory they were over. Having Dawn repeatedly telling her ‘You are doing the right thing getting away’ was infinitely reassuring.
But as it got closer and closer to the time she’d told Rory she’d meet him – a meeting that she’d never had any intention of keeping – Penny began to feel a little mean. It wasn’t in her nature to lie, but she’d known that if she’d told Rory over the phone that there was zero chance of them getting back together, he would have piled on the pressure and harassed her more than ever. She knew that by telling him she would meet to discuss things, he’d believe that he would be in with a chance of talking her round, as he had done in the past.
When she mentioned to Dawn she was feeling mean about standing him up, and maybe she ought to at least phone him and cancel the meeting, Dawn’s reply was a robust ‘Penelope Chevalier, you are out of your mind. You will do no such thing. After the way he’s treated you, you could have done far worse,far worse, than lying to him about a face-to-face meeting. Not turning up tonight is not even a minor offence on your part.’
So last night, whilst Rory was expecting her to join him in Billy’s Bistro, Dawn, as planned, had driven Penny to the station to catch a train to Plymouth. She’d booked a hotel room close to the port and downloaded a foot passenger ticket for the early morning ferry to Roscoff on her phone. Once she was settled in her seat and the train was eating up the miles to Plymouth, Penny had taken out her phone and sent her parents a message.
Coming to stay for a bit. Will message you a definite arrival time soon. Love Penny. xxx
It was gone ten thirty the next morning when Sasha made her way up to the château, hoping the guests had gone out for the day. Ingrid was on her own and pleased to see her.
‘Where’s Peter?’
‘Freddie needed some help in the orangery this morning, so he’s down there giving him a hand,’ Ingrid said.
‘Guests okay?’ Sasha asked.
‘They’re driving down to the coast to spend the day in Concarneau. Look, are you sure you don’t mind acting as the château chambermaid today and tomorrow?’
‘Of course not. I wouldn’t have offered if I’d minded,’ Sasha said. ‘I’ll go straight up and sort anything that needs sorting.’
The guests had left everything neat and tidy, so there was very little for Sasha to do other than plump the pillows and straighten out the bed. Even the bathroom only needed the damp towels to be rearranged on the heated towel rail.
Back downstairs, she made them both a cup of coffee. ‘Have you heard from Penny?’
‘We had a text yesterday evening. She’s coming to stay for a while, but she didn’t give a definite date. We’ve also had a phone call from Rory demanding to talk to her, calling us liars when we said she wasn’t here. So it sounds as if she has left him, but we have no idea where she is.’
‘She’s still got her phone switched off?’
‘Yes.’
‘Perhaps she’s travelling – on her way here even as we speak,’ Sasha said.
Ingrid held up her crossed fingers before taking a sip of her coffee. ‘Wouldn’t that be good?’
Sasha left after coffee to take the pups for their first walk on a lead. She’d decided to take them along theroute de galoptowards the gate at the far end. Clipping their leads onto the collars of two hyperexcited puppies proved to be easier said than done. Mitzi was the first to stand still long enough for Sasha to clip the lead in place, but trying to grab Mimi and attach her lead whilst holding on to Mitzi, who wanted to wind her lead around Sasha’s legs, ended with Sasha sitting on the floor laughing. Which proved to be the answer, as both puppies immediately tried to climb all over her, and she could finally clip the lead onto Mimi’s collar and grab hold of Mitzi’s trailing lead.
Sasha was still laughing as she opened the garden gate and went down the lane, pulled along by two pups eager to explore this wonderful new world. The gate at the end was open and a tractor drove out of the field and stopped in the lane. Jean-Paulwaved a hand in greeting as he climbed out to shut the gate. Gate secure, he turned to wait for her to join him.
‘Bonjour,’ Sasha said smiling, hanging on grimly to Mimi and Mitzi who were determined that Jean-Paul was their new best friend.
Jean-Paul laughed, gave a short whistle, and a collie dog jumped out of the tractor and stood at his feet looking up expectantly. ‘Ça va?’ Jean-Paul said before he pointed to the puppies. ‘Les chiots de Bruno?’
Sasha nodded. ‘Oui.’
Jean-Paul’s dog began to walk towards them. ‘Viking,assis.’
Viking sat immediately and, to Sasha’s astonishment, the puppies followed suit and sat in front of her for all of four seconds before they were up again. Viking watched them disdainfully without moving.
