Chapter 21
When Fran checked the time and clambered to her feet, turfing an indignant Red from her lap and telling him she’d see him later, questions continued to circle like birds finding thermals in the sky. Hopefully not, Fran thought, like vultures circling over a dead body.
It was true to say Fran didn’t know how best to navigate much of her life. If she’d heard about anyone else suddenly discovering they had a father like Bill Wilding, Fran reckoned there was a fair likelihood of phrases like ‘meal ticket’, or ‘set for life’ popping into her mind. Perhaps she should be harvesting this new-found money tree. After all, she had very little yet in the way of an emotional attachment to this person, and if she stopped to think about it, he hadn’t said anything about future plans, for example about whether or not he intended introducing her to the rest of the family.
Although, to be fair, if Bill Wilding was to introduce her to his family, only someone with the weakest grasp on mathematics would fail to work out that at the likely point of her conception, he was married to the first of his trio of wives. Awkward.
So, why bother to seek her out at all? It would have been far simpler for Bill Wilding to have ignored the news stories and chosen not to acknowledge her existence. Why the scrabble to visit her in Lyme, to suggest he wanted to make up for his absence?
Could it be as simple as him wanting that? Wanting to make up for those lost years?
And could her reaction be as straightforward as to take him at his word? To enjoy the opportunities which had already come her way, the possibilities of what might come in the future.
With nothing in the way of an answer, Fran packaged her thoughts away and headed for the chateau, and her first shift on lunch service. Before long Fran didn’t have time for stray thoughts at all, as the orders came in thick and fast from the area of the terrace she was covering.
Glimpses of Penny were all Fran caught for the majority of the shift – she was covering the bar and they seemed to pass one another without managing to speak at all. It was most unlike Penny, who had never been short of a quip or a side comment since Fran had arrived at the chateau, even when time was tight. And once the rush slowed, and the kitchens took a well-deserved rest, Fran couldn’t see Penny anywhere. It was as though she’d avoided Fran on purpose.
Or perhaps Penny had something she needed to do, and there was nothing more to it than that. Sometimes, Fran decided, it was easy to over-analyse. Especially when experience had taught her to second-guess and mistrust her own instincts.
When Johnny wandered across the terrace as Fran was cleaning the last of the tables, his fingers self-consciously brushing at the bruising on his face, she greeted him with a smile. Not a waitress’s smile, a real one.
‘Are you wanting lunch?’ she asked. ‘I think the kitchen just closed.’
The shake of his head was accompanied by a smile. ‘No. I’m not hungry, thanks.’
‘How are you feeling?’
His fingers brushed at his jaw again, but Fran wasn’t really asking about his physical well-being. Had he made any decisions? Fran wanted to know if he was feeling morepositive about his path. He shrugged, looked dejected, but then brightened.
‘I spoke to my brother. Got a couple of things cleared up.’
‘Good. I’m glad.’
‘It’s time to move forwards with my life, so I’ve decided to visit Chateau des Rêves again this afternoon, with the agent this time.’
‘You’re still considering it as an option, then?’
‘I need to take control of my life,’ he said. ‘It’s about time I did what’s right for me, not just what’s best for everybody else.’
He moved into the shade, leaning against the huge blocks of stone forming the chateau’s exterior wall as he pocketed his hands, a frown flitting across the features of a face Fran was becoming used to seeing. His was a face she enjoyed, but it wasn’t only his looks she liked, there was more to it than that. He was a person she was beginning to want to spend time with, for no other reason than it felt like it would be time well spent.
Then he grinned. ‘And anyway, Estelle would absolutely love to live in a fairy castle. Natalie was right about that, at least.’
At the mention of Natalie, he sucked in a big breath, his expression losing focus as he stared into the middle distance. A beat of time passed before he refocused.
‘Any chance you can get some time off and join me?’
‘When are you leaving?’ she asked.
Johnny checked his watch. ‘I need to get going shortly. Say, twenty, twenty-five minutes?’
‘I’ll have to check, but let me see what I can do,’ Fran said, wiping the final quarter of the glass-topped table and grabbing the spray disinfectant. ‘I’ll be right back.’
She was grinning like someone who’d just been handed a winning lottery ticket by the time she found Penny. Fran was surprised by Penny’s lack of enthusiasm, a mask of indifferenceshrouding her features as Fran asked for some impromptu time off.
‘I don’t have to go, if there’s too much to do here,’ Fran said, an unexpectedly strong wave of disappointment washing over her at the thought of Johnny going to Chateau des Rêves without her.
‘No, you go. We can cover you.’
