Page 11 of Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky
‘Zazz insisted she was staying up here and I couldn’t let her be alone. Agnes is happy down with Theo so that is something at least.’
‘How is Zazz?’
‘Truly? I’m not sure. I’d hoped that once the angsty teenage years were over she’d start to communicate with us again but,’ Francine paused, ‘I’m sure there’s something going on in her life that she doesn’t want me, us, to know about. Since we left Bath she seems to have become a stranger.’
There was a short silence. ‘Maybe a few days in Cannes together will bring you closer again.’
‘Hope so,’ Francine said. ‘We’ve got the notaire’s meeting soon, after that we should be able to start working out what we can do this visit. I think we’re going to have to come back a couple of times to sort things, empty the house out for a start, before we can get rid of the place.’
‘Once you’ve seen the notaire you’ll have an idea of all the necessary formalities and be able to work out a timescale. We can come over together later and organise things. Get a house clearance company in if necessary.’
‘That’s true. We don’t have to do it all ourselves.’
‘What are you all doing this evening?’
‘Supper in a local restaurant and hopefully an early night.’
‘Enjoy that then. I’ll ring you in the morning.’
When Francine went downstairs ready to leave for the restaurant sometime later, Zazz was in the sitting room curled up on the sofa typing a WhatsApp message on her phone.
‘Ready?’ Francine asked, disconcertingly noting how completely at home Zazz looked sitting there.
‘Two seconds,’ Zazz said. ‘Need to send this to a friend.’ She pressed send and stood up. ‘Let’s go.’
‘I think rue Saint Antoine is in this direction,’ Francine said, locking the front door behind them and pointing to her left.
‘It definitely is,’ Zazz said, followed by ‘What?’ as Francine turned and looked at her.
‘How could you possibly know that?’
‘My friend Mr Google told me.’ Zazz laughed lightly before quickly stepping in front of her mother to bypass another pedestrian. Rue Saint Antoine with its numerous restaurants, boutiques and jewellers was popular with locals as well as holidaymakers and its narrowness coupled with the crowds made it impossible to walk side by side. Talking to Zazz as she’d hoped to do as they walked was not going to happen, Francine realised, so she resorted to window shopping at several of the boutiques they passed. Zazz, a couple of metres in front of her, came back to join her as she stood for a moment in front of an upmarket boutique shop window filled with jewellery.
‘What’s caught your eye?’ Zazz asked.
Francine pointed at a simple silver necklace with several small diamonds spaced around the chain. ‘It’s beautiful but gosh, the price tag!’
‘I’ll tell Dad you’d like it for Christmas, shall I?’ Zazz said as they both moved away from the window. Francine laughed and shook her head.
‘No point. It’s way out of our Christmas present price range.’
13
Theo and Agnes were already seated at a table in the restaurant when they arrived and Theo stood up to greet them as the maître d’ ushered them in.
Once they were seated and settled, a waiter placed a plate of hors d’oeuvres on the table whilst another lifted the bottle of champagne from its ice bucket and poured them each a glass.
Francine raised an eyebrow. ‘Champagne?’
‘I wanted to celebrate having you all together back in Le Suquet,’ Theo said quietly. ‘So the toast is, to the future.’
Raising their glasses they murmured, ‘To the future.’
Zazz, conscious of Theo regarding her, his eyes with a definite questioning look, decided that this moment would be as good a time as any to tell her mother and grandmother what she had done. She took a few long sips of her drink for courage before looking at her mother.
‘Mum, Granny, what I’m about to tell you is probably going to upset you but as Uncle Theo has pointed out to me, it would be more upsetting if I kept it secret and didn’t tell you.’
Francine gave her a sharp look. ‘I knew there was something on your mind.’
