‘Really?’ Jacques asked.
‘If, you know, you know someone who might like one. And, by someone I don’t mean anyone in Saint-Chambéry because Sebastian did tell me he was single earlier.’ She took a breath. ‘I mean you.’
Her heart was skipping more beats than the brass band had earlier, until it hit hard and strong as Jacques got to his feet and came to her side of the table. He pulled her up and out of her chair and put his hands on either side of her face, cupping it gently.
‘I don’t want a shituationship,’ he told her.
‘Neither do I,’ she breathed. ‘I might be going tomorrow but, Jacques, I’m coming back. I promise you, I’m coming back.’
‘Then, Orla Bradbee, would you allow me to find out who I am as a boyfriend… to you?’ he asked her.
The way he had asked was so perfect. She smiled. ‘Hmm, let me think… if I say no, will you have to pin me to the table?’
‘I may do that no matter what you say.’
‘Then, yes,’ Orla answered. ‘My answer is yes!’
His mouth found hers the second the words left her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him hold her tight. What had started as an assignment she hadn’t even wanted to take had ended with a new beginning she could never have imagined.
EPILOGUE
SAINT-CHAMBÉRY
Spring
‘We are gathered here today to say goodbye to a true servant of the community. Many have gone before and many will go after, but we will remember your time with us, always.’
Madame Voisin sniffed and wiped a tear away at Gerard’s words to the group of villagers gathered in the square.
‘This is the weirdest funeral I have ever been to,’ Erin remarked a little too loudly. ‘Is it even a funeral? Like is there a burial or a cremation or something else?’
‘I think they just chop it up and put it on the fire,’ Tommy said. ‘That’s why Jacques is up there with the axe.’
‘Savage,’ Erin answered.
‘Shh,’ Orla said. ‘The other villagers are looking at us.’
Erin’s phone beeped once, then twice, then a third time.
‘Aw, man, it’s like Burim’s with us,’ Tommy said.
‘We commit this friend of the community, our friend, into the arms of our forefathers,’ Gerard continued.
‘Delphine,’ Erin said, bending a little towards the wheelchair. ‘Can you see OK?’
‘I can see that nothing is as it should be and Gerard is making far more of his part than necessary. That is because he built this version of thebrouette,and it has lasted the least amount of time of any in my lifetime!’
‘Well,’ Tommy said. ‘Jacques and I have made the new one and there’s plenty of your lifetime left to see how long it lasts, right?’ He put his hands on her shoulders.
‘Not if I have to eat any more kale,’ Delphine moaned. ‘Or watch you burn any more croissants. They are not meant to be toasted, I keep telling you!’
‘I like them burnt,’ Erin remarked. ‘With cheese.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ Tommy agreed. ‘Burim actually made one into a pizza last time he was here. That was epic.’
Orla smiled at the banter going on as thebrouettethat had held all the gifts at Christmas time was retired from service and committed to the wood pile, its replacement ready to be sworn in. A lot had happened during the weeks that had followed her pre-Christmas departure. She and Erin had celebrated Christmas Day with their parents and Auntie Bren and, as soon as all the bank holidays were over she had helped her parents prepare for their counselling, talking through some of their issues, and getting them to agree to go forward with compassion and respect for each other at all times. Then, after a failed attempt at the Cadbury’s Heroes eating contest, Sonil had actually broken a Guinness record for Celebrations eating claiming his Achilles heel in the festive contest had been the Dinky Decker. That party night had been a chance for Orla to say goodbye to her colleagues and have a happy farewell to her time atTravel in Mind.
In late January she had returned to Saint-Chambéry for Delphine’s operation and helped Tommy and Jacques keep village store/café and sometime bed and breakfast going.
