‘Nonsense! You thought I was past it! Just a silly old woman who needs to be consigned to an old people’s facility.’
‘No. You have to believe that I thought the home was a good thing! I wasn’t trying to?—’
‘Ah, it is not just your fault,’ Madame Roux said, her eyes suddenly downcast. ‘After George died, I was not myself, when I first came here.’ She waved her hand as if filling in the blank in her sentence. ‘But time passed, and I became myself again. Only nobody realised, and I had forgotten how to show them.’
‘If you didn’t want to go to a home?—’
‘I know. Perhaps I accepted my lot too much,’ the old woman continued. ‘People forgot to listen to me, but I also forgot to speak. It was only Bella… When I saw that she took my advice, I began to wonder whether I was complicit in my own downfall because I had not raised an objection.’
Claudine nodded. ‘Well, nothing is fixed,’ she said.
‘And Bella, she gave me a chance to show what I could do. When I had forgotten myself. And I had forgotten what a joy it is to create something from nothing.’
Bella found herself welling up.
‘Of course she has not taken my fashion advice today,’ Madame Roux said, her eyes darting up and down Bella’s skinny jeans and loose blouse. ‘She looks as if she is here to collect the trash. So I suppose I still have a lot of work to do.’
Claudine and Bella looked at each other momentarily before both started to smile. ‘Well, thanks, Madame Roux, I think…’ Bella said.
‘Non. Thankyou.’
51
NOW
Time passed in a flash. The next day was spent rehearsing, standing on the podium that had been erected in the event room, in front of the screen which scrolled through images of the hotel, the biographies of key players, the wider Parisian setting.
At five o’clock she finally made her way to the door; there was just enough time to go home, shower and change, then return. Bella had bought a black, elegant dress especially for the evening and she was quite excited about getting dressed up, about everything she’d worked for over the past few weeks coming to fruition.
She was exhausted, spent from cleaning, from worrying, from rehearsing so much her throat felt a little sore. But the exhilaration and adrenaline she felt raised her above this, and she was almost buzzing as she walked along the road to the house she’d begun to think of as home.
It was only when she rounded the final corner and the house came fully into view that she realised something was different. At the bottom of the steps leading to the front door was a woman wearing a long white dress, enormous boots, a light jacket. Her hair was loose and glistened in the sunshine. And as she looked towards Bella her face split in a wide smile.
It couldn’t be.
‘Juliette!’ she called, running towards her.
‘Ma chérie!’ her friend replied, laughing and opening her arms.
Bella flung herself at her old friend and, once she was wrapped in her embrace, felt a weight she didn’t know she was carrying slip from her shoulders. ‘With everything going on, I forgot you’d said you’d come!’ she said.
‘This is the welcome I get, after travelling for almost four hours?’ her friend replied with an arch look.
‘I’m sorry.’ Bella stepped back and looked at Juliette as if to check whether she was really there. ‘It’s wonderful, it really is. Only it nearly didn’t happen, the presentation. I was sort of fired. And there was a fire. And… but it’s all fine. Don’t worry. Honestly. And you’re here.’
‘Yes,’ Juliette said drily. ‘I am here. And I’ve brought you something for tonight.’ She stood and for a moment Bella thought her friend was reaching forward to hug her. Instead, she fastened something around the back of Bella’s neck. Bella’s fingers flew to her throat. ‘Oh, your lucky pendant! I can’t.’
‘No,’ Juliette said, showing Bella the pendant she still wore at her own neck. ‘This one is yours.’
Bella’s fingers touched the tiny four-leaf clover. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Say thank you. And go and show those delegates what you’re made of. Then come and tell me all about it.’
* * *
An hour later she was ready. Odette had helped her to create a half-up, half-down do with her hair, which was now past her shoulders. Juliette made her up, using some of the posh cosmetics she swore by. And it had been hard not to notice Brad’s eyes widen when she’d stepped into the kitchen earlier for a quick drink of water before setting off.
It was still light, the June evenings were stretching towards the longest day, but cloud cover had given the light a muted tone. It seemed to Bella as if she were looking at the sky through a pair of thin sunglasses, a faded vignette at the edges of her vision. She was suddenly aware of time passing, slipping through her fingers like sand.
