Page 48 of Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky
Francine looked at him in surprise. ‘Are you serious? Our lives are back in Devon and Maman lives there.’
‘Maybe Agnes will decide to move back here now that Oscar is dead.’
‘That’s a possibility, I suppose,’ Francine said. ‘Especially now that Denice is back in her life.’
‘I think Theo will have a bigger influence on her than her sister. The two of them seem to have grown closer than ever in the last week or so,’ Edwin said.
Francine was silent for a moment. ‘Do you honestly think after all these years that’s likely to happen?’
Edwin nodded. ‘I do, but only time will tell if I’m right. So shall we spend the morning window shopping in various estate agencies?’ he said. ‘Just for fun. Pretend we are going to come and live down here?’
‘It will be something to do this morning,’ Francine said, laughing. ‘So long as we don’t get carried away with the idea. Because I honestly don’t think it’s feasible. First though, I vote we have a coffee in Piers’s cafe.’
A couple of hours later, when they returned to Oscar’s, they found Suzette sitting in the kitchen typing rapidly on her laptop.
‘Hi. Just waiting for the final couple to finish their second look and then I’ll get out of your way. Back to the office and await developments.’ She smiled at them. ‘From some of the comments, I’d guess we will receive some serious offers soon.’
* * *
Zazz carefully took the green dress off its hanger and slipped it over her head at the same moment there was a gentle knock on her bedroom door.
‘Can I come in?’ Francine called out, a hesitant note in her voice.
‘Please. You’ve timed it perfectly – you can zip me up.’ Zazz turned her back towards her mother gratefully. She was sure there had been a bit of a sea change in her mother’s attitude towards her recently for some unknown reason. Less bossy and abrasive, more like she had been before the house move to Dartmouth.
‘Are you looking forward to this evening?’ Francine asked as she gently slid the zip up.
‘Yes, but I’m also feeling a little nervous,’ Zazz confessed. ‘Do I look okay? I’m not used to physically being in the limelight, I’m usually showcasing something or someone else on social media. Not showing off myself in public. Having said that, could you take a photo of me? I probably need one for Insta if nowhere else.’
‘The dress is lovely and you look beautiful in it,’ Francine said. ‘The colour really suits you. Where’s your phone?’
Zazz pointed to it on the bed. ‘Over there.’
After Francine had taken the photo, Zazz glanced at her. ‘I’m very grateful you arrived in the nick of time to zip me up, but did you come up for a reason?’
Francine smiled at her and gave a small shrug. ‘I just wanted to see if you needed a hand getting ready and to say…’ She hesitated. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve been difficult lately. I’d not exactly forgotten you are all grown-up and independent these days, but I’ve found it hard trying to manage the difference between inadvertently interfering or simply giving you some motherly advice that you can choose to take or to ignore.’ She paused. ‘And of course on top of everything else it didn’t help that you came down here without a word to anyone, to meet Oscar.’ She held up her hand as Zazz went to speak. ‘It’s fine. I understand why you did it. I just feel sad that I made it too difficult for you to confide in me about how you felt. Anyway, Dad’s downstairs waiting to see you all glammed up, so I’ll leave you to finish your makeup. And I’ll see you down there.’ Francine closed the bedroom door behind her as she left.
Five minutes later, Zazz went downstairs to join her parents in the sitting room and to wait for Dominic. When he arrived he was happy to enjoy a small aperitif with her parents before they left hand in hand for the Palais des Festivals.
41
With only three more nights to go, the film festival might be drawing to the end but still the hype continued to build excitement around which film would win the coveted Palm d’Or on Sunday evening, and which actors would personally win awards as people tried to second guess the panel’s decisions before Sunday evening.
Zazz stood at the beginning of the red carpet clutching Dominic’s hand as they waited their turn to begin making their way along the carpet and up the steps into the Palais des Festivals. ‘I can’t believe I’m here,’ she whispered. The paparazzi, four or five deep in places, were everywhere, shouting at celebrities walking up the famous twenty-four steps to ‘give us a smile’ or ‘look this way’.
‘Believe it.’ Dominic squeezed her hand. ‘You’ll be blinded by flashlights as soon as we start to walk. You’re looking so lovely tonight everybody will be wondering who you are.’
‘Thank you, but look who is in front of us,’ Zazz said. ‘Isn’t that the teenager currently at the top of the charts with her hit song? Nobody will notice me after her. Which will be quite a relief. I can’t imagine living life in the public eye like she and all the other stars do.’
‘Here we go,’ Dominic said. ‘Shoulders back and smile. It’s our turn to walk the walk.’ Zazz took a deep breath and strolled as confidently as she could at Dominic’s side on to the red carpet where the two of them were greeted by a salvo of flashlights going off from all directions.
‘Told you,’ Dominic muttered. Zazz gulped and tried to smile. What was it everyone was supposed to want? Fifteen minutes of fame? Maybe this was hers.
Once they were seated in the packed auditorium Zazz breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well, that should make your day,’ Dominic whispered. ‘Look at who’s sitting over there. George and Amal.’
‘I can now claim to have been in the same room as them,’ Zazz giggled. As the lights dimmed Dominic’s hand claimed hers and they settled back in their seats to watch the film.
Two hours later, as the lights came on, Zazz wriggled in her seat and looked at Dominic. ‘Please don’t ask me if I enjoyed that.’ She sighed. ‘If only George had been in it.’
