‘It is?’
‘Yes. So homely. Oh, I get so tired of all the clean lines in my apartment. This reminds me more of coming home to my mother’s. You have recreated the look perfectly. The curtains! The vintage couches, even the corks – I love how everything is repurposed and you haven’t wasted anything. You must be very environmentally conscious.’
Bella tried to smile. ‘Well, yes. But also I’ll be changing it a little when my divorce goes through and I’m able to buy?—’
‘No.’ Claudine put a hand on her arm and looked at her, all seriousness. ‘You must not change a thing. It is perfect.’ She set her drained coffee cup down on the table.
It was odd. But Bella decided she’d take the compliment. Perhaps now she’d be able to guide Claudine to the door and on her way without being discovered.
As if malevolent fate could read her thoughts, at this moment the door opened and Henri wandered in, wearing just a pair of tiny tight briefs, through which he was sporting the beginnings of an erection. His hair was tousled, he was yawning, his eyes were almost closed.
He looked at Bella then at Claudine, then down at himself and abruptly turned and left the room.
Claudine looked at Bella, raising an eyebrow. ‘Was this your lover, Henri?’
‘Yes, that was Henri, but we’re not?—’
‘Oh my! I must go. I will let you lovers carry on with your day.’ Claudine tipped her head knowingly and Bella got the impression she had now gone up several points in Claudine’s estimation. She walked her boss through to the hall, her heart rate slowing a little. Relieved that despite a few near-misses she’d managed to keep up appearances.
Seeming to be in no hurry, Claudine paused in the hallway and began to carefully appraise Odette’s seascape.
‘I love your painting!’ She leant to inspect it more closely. ‘Is it a Soraya French?’
‘Oh. No. It’s my— it’s Odette’s. She’s one of the… tenants.’
‘She lives here?’ Claudine was almost reverent. ‘Well, if she is one of the messy tenants, I understand you forgiving her slovenliness. If she can produce art like this, she can live how she wants!’
‘I didn’t know you liked art?’
‘Oh,oui. My family— My father was an artist. And my sister owns a gallery and knows lots of curators. I have grown up learning to appreciate good work. But then who could not love this?’ Claudine gestured at the seascape. ‘Give her my compliments, won’t you?’
‘I will,’ Bella said, stepping towards the door in the hope that Claudine might follow. She didn’t want to be rude, but the longer her boss stayed, the more likely she’d slip up.
‘Well, see you tomorrow!’ Claudine said, stretching her legs on the front doorstep.
‘Yes. Bye!’
And she was off, disappearing around the corner and leaving Bella weak with relief.
34
2016, FRANCE
They’d completed the formalities at themaire’s office earlier that day, but this unofficial ceremony felt more like a real wedding. Simple, beautiful, and held in the garden of their new house. Bella had booked an English celebrant, mainly so the guests could understand what was happening, and they’d fashioned an aisle from mismatched chairs, each tied with a cream-coloured ribbon.
There were fifteen guests in total. Kitty and Stu, Pete’s parents and sister, two new friends from Peyrat they’d asked along and a few friends who’d made the trip over. Still, the morning had been difficult. Bella had hoped that having the wedding so far from her childhood home would mean she didn’t feel her mum’s absence so deeply on the day itself.
Everything, from having her hair pulled into an updo, small tendrils curling around her head, to slipping on her dress, had felt somehow devastating without Mum by her side. Worse, perhaps, because she knew that if her mum had had anything to do with it, she’d have been there. Yet Dad seemed not to want to know.
Kitty made a fuss of her, and fluffed her dress and handed her champagne and tissues. But she still felt the wrench of loss every time she realised that on this pivotal day, she was effectively an orphan.
The string quartet struck up a rendition of the Beatles’ ‘Something’ and she stepped forward on the grass, holding a small bouquet of white roses. Pete turned, his face splitting into a smile as she approached.
A small breeze was buffeting the longer grass that surrounded the part of the garden they’d prepared for the wedding site, and as she walked she saw it: a single white feather, softly travelling along the uneven ground, moved gently by the wind. Noticing it, Kitty moved forward and quickly picked it up, tucking it into Bella’s bouquet.
For some reason it felt comforting.
I promise to love you every day, to share each adventure with you. To always be around and never leave your side – unless you’re sick of me!Pete’s vows caused a ripple of laughter at this point, and he grinned, pleased.To hold you when you need to be held, to listen when you need to talk. To be your rock from now until the day I die.
