Fliss smirked.
‘I just have a stupid crush on him. That’s all. You have seen him? But I think he has a girlfriend, or a friend with benefits. Marine. She’s very glamorous. She stayed over the other night.’
‘That’s a shame. I was only allowed up because I made these.’ Fliss as always was more interested in talking about food. ‘Try one?’ She offered Hattie a plate of still warm cheese straws. ‘I thought I’d practise a few little appetisers –’ she grinned ‘– and I wanted to play in the kitchen. It really is wonderful and I think I’m going to learn so much from Solange.’
‘I wouldn’t count on that, she’s not around that often,’ said Hattie before lowering her voice. ‘I’m not really sure what she does. But I don’t want to cause trouble. She’s supposed to be the housekeeper but, well, if you have a good look around, you’ll see there’s not been much keeping going on.’
Fliss nodded. ‘I guess she’s like an old family retainer. And I take it that Monsieur Grumpy Vigneron who tramped mud all across the floor this morning is her son.’
‘Who? Alphonse? He’s not grumpy, he’s a sweetie.’
Fliss pulled a face. ‘Hmm, he’ll be a dead sweetie if he doesn’t take his boots off before stepping intomykitchen.’
‘Oh dear.’
Fliss gave a satisfied smirk, her eyes twinkling. ‘He didn’t take kindly to me telling him off. Seemed to think that because he’d been walking across the floor quite happily for the last twenty years, he would carry on, and he wasn’t going to pay any attention to some Englishwoman who will only be here for five minutes.’
‘What did you say?’
‘That, five minutes or not, I had high standards and I wasn’t going to let some inelegant oaf, in need of house training, in my kitchen if he didn’t know how to behave like a gentleman.’
Hattie winced. ‘Ouch. How did he take that?’
‘He turned very red in the face and stomped off like a big bad bull.’ Fliss looked very pleased with herself.
‘Have you met his sister yet?’
‘Not in person. I saw her outside through the window. The redhead.’
‘That’s her.’
‘She was having a very sulky conversation with Luc.’
‘Sounds like her. She’s a bit like an unexploded bomb, always cross about something, and you worry how easy it is to trigger her.’
‘I can see that. Solange is so sweet. How did she end up with a pair like that?’
Hattie shook her head. ‘They’re okay. Although Yvette’s a bit prickly. For some reason, she’s dead against having a wedding here.’
‘I wonder why?’ mused Fliss.
‘You and me both. You’d think it might be a potential boost for the local economy. We’ll source as much as we can locally and we’re going to have to employ some local serving staff. Maybe we could pay Solange to help?’
‘That’s a good idea.’
‘Although maybe that’s why Yvette is against it, because she feels it might be too much work for her mother.’
‘Funny. Luc was complaining to Yvette abouthermaking extra work.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, I didn’t quite catch the gist of it, especially as half of it sounded nonsense. If my French is correct Luc seemed to be talking about rabbit poo.’
‘Rabbit poo?’ Hattie frowned.
‘Yes. I’m sure he said something likeAre you pleased you made extra work? Next time you’d do well to remember that rabbit poo is a lot bigger.
Hattie sifted through the words and something struck a chord. She whipped out her phone.
