‘Really? Most people love weddings, us women anyway. Or is your best friend’s mother marrying someone horrible?’
‘Oh no! He’s good. In fact, he’s kinda a sweet guy. Lucy likes him. She’s pleased her mum’s marrying again.’ She flicked her eyes at her father. ‘Peopleshouldmarry again. It’s not good being on your own.’
Closing his phone, Luc got to his feet and glanced at his watch. ‘I must make a move. I’m picking your gran up in half an hour, Emma. What are you doing with yourself today, or do you want to come with me?’
‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m taking her shopping of course. Need you ask?’
‘Oh, poor Dad. But no, thanks, I’ll pass on that. In fact, Josh is coming for me in a bit. We sort of thought we might get a train and give Menton a look-see. There’s a crowd of us meeting up.’
‘Poor Menton.’ Luc caught sight of the dog, lying in his makeshift bed with his weird ears everywhere and looking exhausted before the day began, the way dogs do. ‘And what about him?’ he demanded. ‘Who is going to look after this dog you are bludgeoning me into keeping?’
Emma looked uncomfortable. ‘Can’t you take him with you? Gran likes dogs,’ she added.
‘No, she does not, as you should very well know.And if you think I’m trekking round half the designer boutiques in Nice with a dog that looks like a lamb in tow, you’ve got another think coming. You said you were going to look after him; you take him with you.’
‘Oh, Dad, I can’t, not on the train and everything. Anyway, we might stay over in Menton because there’s a party tonight.’
‘There you are! You see! This ispreciselywhat I’ve been saying all along! Neither your life nor mine can accommodate a dog.’
‘Oh, stop ranting! Nic will look after him.’
‘No, she will not. Nicole asked me before you came down whether I would mind if she spent the day with some women she’s met at the mosque and of course I agreed. It’s good for her to be making friends. She is getting ready now and coming with me in the taxi.’
‘Then Billy can take him,’ Emma said, adding wildly, ‘or Tom. They’ll be here any minute.’
‘I’ll look after the dog,’ I said quietly.
‘No, Billy or Tomcannot. Apart from being the weekend, it’s Boxing Day in case you hadn’t noticed, and Billy and Tom do not work on public holidays, as you should very well know.’
‘Boxing Day isn’t a public holiday in France, as you should very well know.’
‘Don’t you get lippy with me, young lady!’
‘I will look after the dog!’
A deep – if welcome – silence had fallen at that point.
‘I’ll look after the dog,’ I had repeated in a normal voice. The silence, however, had been short-lived because they had both immediately spoken at once.
‘Oh, Alix, you’re mint!’
‘No, you certainly will not!’
And so on and so forth. Really, the Mandeville father and daughter needed a buffer zone to keep the peace between them. As I had sat down opposite her at the table in Jess’s restaurant, I had wondered what she would have to say about it.
***
‘You mean he’s a breed dog?’ I asked first, settling Alphonse and his ears at my feet. ‘I mean, he’s a lovely little boy but he looks so… well… so unusual, I assumed he was a… well… a Heinz 57 as my dad used to say.’
‘A mongrel? The French call thembatards.’
‘Bastards? That’s not very friendly of them.’
‘No, but then the French always call a spade a spade. But no,’ Jess repeated, ‘this dog is the real thing, a genuine pedigree. A show piece in fact.’
‘How do you know?’
