Then he looked at me. ‘I’ll need to speak to your mum but if –ifwe consider this, there would have to be rules. Daily check-ins. A proper place to stay.Plans, Margot.’
He’d barely finished speaking before I rushed over to him and gave him a hug. And then I hugged Mum too. The excitement, it was like nothing I’d ever felt before, because it wasn’t just for the competition, it was for the future, the potential.
Dad put the organizing on hold for a couple of hours. I messaged Lili for her parents’ phone number and Dad spoke to her mum, who sent him links to the room she rented out.
I sat beside him as he made the call, my body fizzing with excitement as he wrote down details.
‘OK,’ Dad said when he hung up the phone. ‘We are all meeting Lili’s mum, Mrs Moreau, this evening. She will take us to the house to see your room, where you’ll be living – one of the students has just gone back to Germany, so it’s good timing …’ His voice trailed off, like it was all just hitting him now. ‘Margot, are you sure about this? It’s a big step.’
‘Dad. I’m ready,’ I said, unable to contain my excitement. ‘And if it doesn’t work out, or it gets too hard, I can always come home.’
Dad smiled and put an arm round me. ‘It’s going to be so quiet without you.’
‘I think those two are capable of making enough noise that you won’t even notice I’m gone.’ I nodded outside towards Rue and Wren.
‘I still remember you being that age like it was yesterday.’ Dad smiled sadly to himself.
‘Me too,’ I said, seeing myself there at the little plastic table with a bowl of Nesquik cereal, my skin plastered in suncream.
‘Change is hard,’ he said.
‘But sometimes it can be great,’ I replied.
I stood up. ‘I’m just going to tell Felix my news.’ He was the first person I wanted to know I was staying.
‘AndI’mgoing to take the girls to the supermarket,’ Dad decided.
‘Margot?’ Mum called as I started walking down the path. I turned round. ‘Could you get the number of Felix’s mum, please? I’d like to speak to her before we leave.’
‘Sure,’ I said, smiling.
I jogged to the Brasserie and crashed straight into Delphine.
‘Sorry!’ I said as she stepped back and gave me a quizzical look. ‘Can I still compete tomorrow?’ I could barely get the words out in the right order.
‘The qualifier? Of course. I never took out your name. You will be there?’ Delphine asked, trying not to grin.
I nodded. ‘Is Felix here?’ I asked.
She didn’t say anything, just nodded towards the bar.
I rushed past tables full of customers to the covered bar area, scanning it for Felix. And when he saw me, there was a sadness in his expression. But it didn’t last long. I was smiling so hard that he creased up his face in the cutest confusion.
‘Why do you look so happy to leave me?’ he asked from behind the bar. I sat on a stool and twisted a curl in my finger.
‘I’m not leaving,’ I said.
And his face lit up, eyes and all. ‘You are serious?’
I nodded and smiled.
Felix just stared at me in disbelief, his eyes twinkling. He filled a glass with ice then poured lemonade into it. ‘One minute, I will be right back.’ He picked up the drink and walked across the bar.
I turned on my seat to scan the Brasserie. I could not stop smiling. I would be staying here, in France. A world away from my life in Belfast.
I caught Delphine’s eye as she carried a tray of glasses back towards me.
‘So you really are staying?’ she asked.
