Page 47 of A French Inheritance
Elliot shook his head. ‘No need to come with me, there won’t be a scene, I promise.’ And he turned and left the kitchen with Luna.
Briony exchanged a glance with Adam, who shrugged resignedly, before they both watched Elliot as he crossed the yard towards the Corn Store, Luna walking as close as she could to him, clearly sensing the tension in his body.
* * *
Robyn had found Elliot’s 4x4 outside the Corn Store and was leaning against it as Elliot approached her. ‘Thought this would be your vehicle. Hello, Elliot.’
‘What the hell are you doing here, Robyn?’ Elliot said. ‘If you are here to cause trouble, I have to warn you, Adam is prepared to call the local gendarmerie and have you escorted off the farm. And regardless of whether you intend to cause trouble or not, I have nothing to say to you. So perhaps you’d like to leave now.’
Robyn shook her head. ‘I’m not here to cause trouble. I wanted to see you and to have a civilised conversation with you.’ She glanced around as she saw both Adam and Briony, as well as two guests from the Cider House, all standing around and watching the two of them. ‘A private conversation.’
Elliot sighed and gave in to the inevitable. ‘You’d better come in then,’ and he opened the door to his cottage. ‘Five minutes. You say what you’ve come to say and then you leave.’
* * *
‘So why are you here?’ Elliot demanded as he and Robyn stood in the main room of the Corn House.
‘Do I have to have a reason to come?’
‘Damn right you do.’
Robyn shrugged. ‘I simply thought we could have lunch, have a chat, mend some fences.’
Elliot stared at her. ‘I do not want to have lunch with you, have a chat or mend fences. What do you want?’
There was a short silence before Robyn spoke.
‘You’ve been offered a TV follow-up to the programme that?—’
‘The programme that ruined my life in England?’ Elliot interrupted. ‘That programme? The one I have no intention of being involved with? Which, incidentally, the producer already knows.’
Robyn gave a brief nod. ‘Yes. That one.’
‘So, again – why are you here?’
‘To persuade you to accept the job. I asked if I could be considered for the presenter’s job and the producer said yes – with one condition. You have to accept the job. He thinks that the two of us working together would give the programme, what he called, “an extra dynamic”. So full disclosure here. If you don’t accept the job, I don’t get mine either.’
Elliot gave a short cynical laugh. ‘Work with you? Are you for real?’ He shook his head. ‘No. Never. You are wasting your time even thinking that you can get me to change my mind.’
‘You’re being offered the chance to clear your name once and for all. Get rid of the “guilty by association” tag that you acquired.’
Elliot shook his head. ‘The people that matter know the truth. And I’ve made a new start away from all the lies that were bandied about. I have no intention of dragging them into the light again.’
‘But you?—’
Elliot held up his hand. ‘No. You’ve asked. I’ve refused. Your five minutes are up – you can leave. I’ll walk you to your car.’ Elliot turned away from her, but Robyn made no attempt to move.
‘If you don’t take the job, I…’ She paused and Elliot turned to look at her.
‘You what?’
‘I lose my chance to present another TV documentary. I’ve been blacklisted by every other company.’
‘You expect me to be sorry about that after what happened to me with your last documentary where you failed to tell me the truth about what you were actually doing?’
‘No, I don’t need you to be sorry, but we were happy together once and I was hoping that perhaps, for old times’ sake, you’d help me.’ Robyn sighed. ‘I need the job. I’ve run out of money and I seem to be unemployable in the world of TV production.’
‘Let’s be honest here. Us being happy together didn’t last long enough for me to feel nostalgic about those few years. Especially after the decision you made regarding our baby,’ Elliot said. ‘If things are that bad work-wise, maybe you should think about a change of career?’
