‘Eating meals?’
Bella shrugged. ‘It’s hard, cooking for one.’
‘Pah! That is a pathetic excuse. I am cooking for one most of the time if you don’t count Jolie. And I manage just fine.’
Even in her miserable state, Bella felt the edges of her mouth turn up. Juliette’s forthright manner was a breath of fresh air in her current confused state. It had been Juliette who’d convinced her to apply for a job, to give herself a financial stopgap. Time to think. She’d felt quite buoyed up about it last time they’d spoken. That was before she’d realised just how unemployable she was.
‘Yes, but you like being single.’
Juliette shrugged. ‘Sometimes. Anyway, this is not a visit to talk about me. We need to talk about you.’
Bella had met Juliette a couple of months after moving to France. She worked with themaireas a secretary, as well as running the local social club. When Juliette’s grandparents had come to visit, they’d stayed at Bella’s B&B, somehow cementing their friendship.
‘Do we have to?’ Bella moaned, sitting down on the sofa.
‘Yes. We do. Because I can see that you are not well.’ Juliette peered at Bella’s face. ‘You have been crying,non?’
Bella shrugged. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘Yes, Bella, and Pete is not worth your tears. You know this! He left you in a terrible situation.’
‘He doesn’t love me any more.’
Juliette shrugged as if this were an insignificant detail. ‘Perhaps, but he still has responsibilities. A business. He left that all with you. You should be angry, not sad.’
Bella nodded. ‘I know.’ It was hard though, when she felt Pete’s absence in every corner of the house. ‘Anyway,’ she waved vaguely at her face. ‘These tears aren’t about him. Not this time.’
‘Oh?’
Bella explained how she’d spent the afternoon enquiring about local work, but since she had no experience in doing anything here bar running a B&B, she’d been pipped to the post by other candidates. ‘It’s not that I’m not good enough,’ she said. ‘It’s just that they’re better.’
‘I doubt it,’ Juliette said, loyally.
‘Well, I even applied for that job at EcoMarché. You know the one I said I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole? And guess what. Not even an interview!’
‘Perhaps that is a blessing?’ Juliette detested the cheap supermarket in their local town, preferring to visit the butcher’s and buy the rest of her food from the market.
Bella shook her head, unable to join in with their usual humour. ‘I’m in serious trouble. Financially, I mean. The agent, Nathalie, is pretty sure those last viewers are going to make an offer. But even if they do, it’ll be at least three months before I see any of the equity.’
‘Well then you need to strategise,’ Juliette said. ‘Cast your net a little wider.’
‘Wider?’
‘Yes! You are not tied to Peyrat. Or Aubusson. Why not try Paris? I have a friend there, and she says the hospitality industry is crying out for staff.’
‘Paris! I won’t be able to afford to live there.’
‘If you have a job, you might?’ Juliette raised an eyebrow. ‘And there are lots of attractive men in Paris.’
‘Forget it. I’m off men for good.’
Juliette nodded, all mock seriousness. ‘Of course. How could I forget.’
‘I just don’t think… I mean, going to Paris. It’s a lot. I’m not sure I could…’
Juliette shuffled closer and put her arm around Bella’s shoulders. ‘Mon coeur, you are looking at it the wrong way! Maybe it’s what you need. To get away. Have an adventure. Forget about the house and the village for a while. Why not?’
‘I love you, Juliette, you know that. I love your… faith in me. But I’ve just failed at one business. I have no idea what I’m doing. And everyone but you can see that. I have no qualifications, no experience that seems relevant to employers. I can’t see myself getting a job at all.’
