‘You are. Now shut up and let me rescue you.’ And he leant towards her and brushed his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and let him kiss her, relaxing into his arms and feeling, for the first time in so very long, utterly safe, protected and loved.
53
NOW
It was odd not having anything to do. After visiting the emergency room and having a boot fitted, she’d been advised to rest. Claudine, more than happy with her work and overtime in recent weeks, had told her to take a week off at least. And Brad had made her promise she would.
But after three days of ‘rest’, she felt edgy. It was strange, moving from full, high-pressure days to ones filled with options and time. Her mind, free from thoughts of delegates and Superior rooms and presentations, decided to fill itself with other thoughts instead – thoughts about her potential future, about her divorce, about the hotel and Brad and the Versailles house share.
Brad had been on hand since her fall to help her around, but had disappeared today on what he’d called a ‘secret mission’, making a face that had made her collapse with laughter when she’d likened him to James Bond.
Odette was out of the house and Henri, while now a little friendlier towards her, was making himself scarce.
From her position on the sofa, leg raised on a pouffe, she could hear the daily rumble of noise outside – of people and purpose and life. And while her leg still ached, she suddenly felt that she didn’t belong in this quiet, restful room, but somewhere else – outside with people and sunlight and colour and noise.
She found the boot a little clunky to walk on, but there was hardly any pain. Heaving herself up, she tentatively stepped forward and, gaining confidence, grabbed her bag and made it out onto the street.
She felt a little stiff-jointed, but otherwise OK. It was pleasant to be out in the sunshine, despite the fact it was a little chilly without her cardigan.
As she walked, she thought about what the preceding months had brought – Pete’s bombshell, the house sale, her trip to Versailles, Hôtel Benjamin, Henri and now Brad. The lies she’d told, the fallout, where she was right now.
The truth was, although she’d been relieved not to lose her job, she wasn’t certain that working at the hotel was something she wanted to do long term. And she knew she didn’t want to live in a shared house for much longer. The sale of the Peyrat property would complete in a couple of weeks and she’d have a little money. The world in so many ways was her oyster. Only she was afraid to open it, in case instead of a pearl, it simply revealed scratchy grains of sand.
She thought about time, about her fear of it running out and how unfounded that had been. And about her mother and how much her unexpected death had coloured everything else in her life. About Dad and his new life and the fact that although he claimed to be there for her, he really hadn’t been.
Bella walked for almost an hour before her leg began to ache and she suddenly realised how tired she’d become. Her mobile pinged – it was Brad asking where she’d got to and she felt a stab of guilt. He’d be worried, of course. It was easy to forget there was now someone who cared where she was, whether she was OK. It would take some getting used to.
‘Just gone for a walk,’ she typed.
‘Whereabouts?’
She looked up at her surroundings and her eye caught sight of a small white feather, resting against a black painted railing. Beyond the railing was a school of some sort, a square, modern structure covered in windows, reflecting the light. As she bent to pick up the feather, it moved slightly, passing through the gates into the grounds of the institution. She stepped through too to retrieve it.
Picking it up, she straightened and noticed a sign. She was on the edge of a college campus.
It was funny how, despite the fact this building was miles – and years – away from her old school, there was still a familiar atmosphere to the place. As if the energy of thousands of pupils’ homes, dreams, stresses and achievements had been absorbed into the building and its grounds.
She thought of her own experience at school, and how her stomach had dropped when she’d opened her results. How in that moment she’d known she’d let her mother down, even though she hadn’t been there to see it.
She realised that she’d been running away since then. Trying to find happiness, stability. Trying to create a world in which she felt safe.
Only it hadn’t worked, not really. Because the feeling wasn’t to do with anything external. It was buried inside her.
‘Near the college,’ she replied.
‘Shall I come get you?’
‘No. But I’ll be back soon.’ She paused, feeling something flood through her. An idea. No – more than that. A realisation. ‘And I’ve got something to tell you.’
54
NOW
‘We got it!’ Claudine was almost alarmingly not like herself. She burst into Bella’s office waving a piece of paper. ‘We actually got it!’
It had been a month since the presentation and each day they’d waited, hardly daring to hope.
‘The accreditation?’
