A Year of Taking Chances Read online

  It had been a real coup de foudre moment when Tina introduced her to Ben. She’d known instantly that her life was about to change.

  For once, she and Tina had been working at the same event, the Frankfurt Book Fair. Tina was manning a stand with the literary agency she worked for and Jodie had been assigned to represent her company, who were handling the PR for one of the big six publishers at the Fair. It was the very last evening and they were at the closing party when Tina said, ‘Oh, Ben’s here. Come on, I’ll introduce you.’

  ‘Who’s Ben?’ Jodie hissed, dodging around a large man blocking the way as Tina led her across the crowded room.

  ‘Benjamin Delahaye, crime novelist. Used to be one of my clients but sadly got poached by a big agent with lots of connections. Couldn’t blame him for leaving – they had the expertise I didn’t at the time for him to expand in the US.’

  As Tina introduced them, Jodie’s hand was taken and held firmly by a tall man who regarded her intently with the most amazing chocolate-brown eyes she’d ever seen, and who, as far as she was concerned, eclipsed every other man in the room. His sexy French accent when he said ‘Enchanté’ took her breath away and she realised she was unlikely to return to her humdrum existence any time soon if Ben had anything to do with it. She was right. From that moment, things took on a life of their own.

  Ben bought her a drink, they found a quiet corner and talked to each other nonstop. His English was good and Jodie could have listened to his sensual voice telling her about himself all night, but he wanted to know about her too. Two hours later, when they were asked to leave as the venue was closing, Ben escorted her and Tina back to the hotel, asked Jodie for her telephone number and promised to ring her the next time he was in London, around Christmastime.

  ‘So, you liked Ben then?’ Tina had said, smiling at her as the lift carried them to their room on the seventh floor. Jodie had nodded, happiness shining from her face. The next day she’d returned home in a daze, wishing the next two months away. She’d been back just twenty-four hours when Ben rang. He was in London, longing to see her again, and would she please join him for dinner?

  Just eight weeks later, in the Mairie’s office of the small French village where Ben lived, they were married. Ben’s mother, Annette, and Tina, who flew over especially for the ceremony, were the only witnesses. The day had been perfect in every way, except that her mother wasn’t there to share in her happiness. Jodie had never missed her so much as she did that day, and she’d only just managed to keep back the tears.

  Thinking about her mother now, Jodie’s fingers clasped the chain of the gold locket around her neck. Her mother’s locket. Two years ago, Jacqueline Saville had been knocked off her bicycle by an out-of-control car driven by a joyrider. The hospital had fought hard to save her but she’d died from her head injuries less than twenty-four hours later, a distraught Jodie holding her hand.

  The locket had been around her neck ever since that horrible day when the nurse had gently removed it from Jacqueline’s body and handed it to Jodie. Dazed with grief she’d opened it and stared at the picture of herself as a toddler standing between her parents, holding their hands. The nurse had come running back when she’d screamed at the pair of them for dying and leaving her alone in the world.

  When she and Ben fell in love, it had been left to Tina to assume the grown-up position with regard to Jodie’s sudden rush to get married. Although she was openly envious of Jodie’s unexpected change of fortune, Tina had taken her to task about the quickly arranged wedding and the new life she was throwing herself into.

  ‘Think about what your mum would say. You barely know Ben. You’ve been a townie all your life. The only place you ever go on holiday is Devon because you reckon it’s the perfect place – you’ve been muttering for years about moving down there one day. And now you’re getting married to a Frenchman and actually going to live in France? You’ll probably never set foot in Devon again. You don’t think you’re maybe rushing things a bit?’ Tina had paused for breath and shaken her head. ‘I just hope you know what you’re doing burying yourself in a village in a foreign land.’

  ‘Mum would have loved Ben,’ Jodie said. ‘And he would have adored her too.’

  ‘Maybe, but giving up your career and being a kept woman in a foreign country isn’t necessarily the right choice for you,’ Tina insisted. ‘You’re always out attending some party or launching a product. Your social life is as busy as your nine-to-five one. And…’ She’d paused as though what she was about to say clinched it. ‘You love shopping. How many shops are there in rural France? Not many.’

  Jodie laughed. ‘I know, but honestly it’ll be a relief to step off the merry-go-round. Besides, I’m still going to have a social life, Ben knows lots of people. We’re only going to be an hour away from the Riviera so I’ll be able to go shopping on Rue d’Antibes in Cannes whenever I want. That can’t be bad, can it?’

  ‘But what exactly are you going to do all day?’ Tina asked. ‘Turn into a Stepford wife overnight?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Jodie had answered. ‘For a start I have to brush up my French. Try to become fluent so I can talk to the natives and make friends. Ben has promised me, once this latest book is finished, we can go house-hunting for a new home together. So I am going to be busy – just with different things. And I will look for another job, once everything has settled down.’

  ‘Have you asked Ben about moving over here?’ Tina demanded in one of their heated ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ exchanges. ‘After all, writers can write anywhere. All they need is a laptop, a gallon of coffee, and to be shut in a room to write!’

  ‘True, but to be honest I haven’t even mentioned the possibility of him moving to London,’ Jodie said.

  ‘Why not?’ Tina asked.

  Jodie hesitated. ‘Because his mother is still alive.’

  Tina had looked at her open-mouthed before closing her eyes and nodding understandingly.

  When Jodie had refused to even think about postponing the wedding, or worry about moving to France, Tina had given in, throwing herself wholeheartedly into helping her friend organise the wedding she’d always dreamt about. Quiet and romantic. The phrase ‘marry in haste, repent at leisure’ was voiced once and then never again uttered.

  Something for which Jodie had been extremely grateful. But why was it popping back into her head now, two months later?

  Chapter Three

  Wide awake now and knowing further sleep would be impossible, Jodie carefully edged herself out of bed leaving Ben to sleep for at least another hour. Picking up her dressing gown from the chair and slipping it on, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Still not quite light, she could hear the gentle morning breeze rattling the roofing sheets of the lean-to sunroom attached to the kitchen. Tess, Ben’s collie dog, raised her head from her basket in the corner and thumped her tail as Jodie switched on the lights, but didn’t bother to move.

  ‘Silly time to get up, isn’t it?’ Jodie said, giving Tess a stroke before switching the kettle on and spooning coffee into the cafetière. Ten years of working in a busy PR firm in London had etched the early morning wake-up routine deep into her subconscious. She sighed. How many years would it take for her to lose the habit?

  Now, near the end of February, and two months after her whirlwind romantic wedding, the major flaw in her new life was spending less time than she’d expected with Ben. Increasingly she was beginning to feel a tiny bit… not bored exactly, just lost. Her initial enjoyment at not having to adhere to a daily work routine was also beginning to wear off.

  Jacqueline Saville had drummed the need to be her own woman into her daughter from an early age, making Jodie fiercely independent and instilling a need in her to be self-sufficient financially. With Jacqueline’s insurance money still untouched and a respectable savings account of her own, it did mean getting another job wasn’t currently high on her agenda, but she definitely needed more to do. Contributing to the
ir joint finances and not just being ‘a kept woman’, as Tina had so succinctly put it, was an essential requirement in this new life of hers.

  She was missing Tina too. Quick texts and a Skype chat at weekends just weren’t the same. Jodie couldn’t help feeling they were drifting apart as the course of their lives changed. Still, only another few weeks until the London Book Fair when she and Tina could have a good catch-up. Jodie made a mental note to ask Ben which hotel they would be staying in so she could let Tina know. Hopefully he, or his agent, had remembered to book one. Rooms in central London were like gold dust during Book Fair week.

  Pushing the cafetière plunger down and inhaling the deep aroma, Jodie debated whether to take a cup up to Ben but decided to leave him sleeping. Heaven only knew what time he’d got to bed last night. When she’d gone up at eleven, tired of waiting for him to join her, he’d still been in the study, furiously typing away.

  Apparently, meeting her, getting married and going on honeymoon had interfered with his normal working target of a book a year. Not that he had any regrets of course, he assured her, but it did mean meeting the deadline for his latest book was seriously under threat.

  ‘I’m going to have to burn the midnight oil for a few weeks,’ he’d said. Which was exactly what he’d been doing since they’d arrived back here the first week in January after spending Christmas and their honeymoon in the French Alps.

  Since meeting Ben and finishing work just days before their whirlwind wedding, Jodie had relished the unfamiliar feeling of not having anyone imposing impossible deadlines on her. Spending so much time alone during the last few weeks had at least given her time to catch her breath after the frantic pace of her previous life. She knew she’d been exhausted and close to burnout when she and Ben had met. But surely her new life in France wouldn’t always be this quiet and… and if she were truthful she had to acknowledge that it was currently quite a lonely life. She needed to meet more people and find something to do.

  Tess thumped her tail as a dishevelled Ben appeared. ‘Morning, ma cherie,’ he said, kissing Jodie. ‘Couldn’t you sleep?’

  ‘Don’t think my body clock has adjusted yet,’ Jodie said, pouring him a coffee. ‘Although I’ve always been more of a lark than an owl. Unlike you,’ she added. ‘You were late to bed last night.’

  Ben nodded. ‘I was on a roll. A couple more weeks and I’ll have finished. Have we got any croissants?’

  Jodie lifted the lid off the breadbin and put two pains au chocolat on a plate. ‘These do you?’

  ‘Perfect.’

  After breakfast Ben disappeared into his study for the morning, as per normal, and Jodie poured herself another coffee and sat in the sunroom enjoying the view. A view so different from her previous one, when she’d been living with Tina in one of London’s high-rise apartment blocks, she caught her breath every time she looked at it. She doubted it would ever stop amazing her.

  In London the view from the flat had been all grey rooftops and skyscrapers with the noise of the traffic reaching even the ninth floor if she or Tina dared to open the double-glazed windows. Here, where the suburban buildings had been replaced by woods and green fields, windows seemed to be almost permanently open – even this early in the year – and the early morning noise was dominated by the cockerel on the farm up the lane and the mooing of the cows as they were led in for milking.

  The spire of the village church where the vicar had blessed their union following the civil ceremony was just visible over the tops of the trees. Ben had told her there were often deer down there in the woods and she longed to see them. She longed, too, for the long summer days when the two of them could eat dinner out on the terrace in the cool of the evening under the pergola.

  But a little niggling, negative voice had started slyly whispering in her ear: is this what you really want? A quiet life in a small French village? She might be in love with Ben but had Tina been right when she’d told her she was rushing things?

  Thoughtfully, Jodie finished her coffee and walked back into the kitchen. Today, at least, she was going to be busy. She was having her second French lesson with Madame Colbert in the village. Making new friends and being accepted into the community was difficult when you couldn’t speak the language fluently, so telling Tina that brushing up on her French had to be a top priority in her new life had been the truth.

  After the lesson she planned to finally investigate ‘Le Gout de la Campagne’ or The Taste of the Countryside – a shop on the main road just outside the village. The wooden, chalet-type building looked just the kind of place she’d enjoy browsing in and she’d been promising herself that she’d do that for weeks now.

  Become a Stepford wife like Tina had suggested? No chance. She’d never let that happen in a million years.

  Chapter Four

  Strolling around the local flea market, killing time on Saturday morning, Tina turned at the sound of her name being called. Beth, a friend from college she’d lost touch with, waved at her excitedly.

  ‘Hi, long time no see. What are you doing here? I thought you were living in Scotland these days?’ Tina said. ‘Let’s have a coffee and you can tell me all your news.’

  Two hours later, when coffee had turned into a lazy lunch at the Italian coffee bar and they’d filled each other in on all the details of their lives, Beth looked at her watch and said, ‘I’ve got to dash. I’m supposed to be meeting someone the other side of London in half an hour. Here’s my card. Email me!’

  Tina quickly scribbled her own address and email on a piece of paper. ‘Sorry I don’t have a business card on me today. We must stay in touch,’ she said, handing the paper to Beth. ‘Give me a shout next time you’re in town. I’ve got a spare room since my flatmate moved out, so I can even offer you a bed.’

  ‘Are you looking for someone else to share with?’ Beth asked. ‘Only I know someone who’s desperate for somewhere to live. They’re having to couch-surf right now.’

  Tina shook her head. ‘No. After having a few weirdos apply, I’ve given up on finding anyone suitable. Besides, I’m getting used to having the place to myself.’

  ‘Shame,’ Beth said. ‘I think my friend is having a really hard time at the moment. Never mind. I’m sure she’ll find something soon. Bye.’

  Once home, Tina unpacked her shopping, gave the flat a quick tidy and pushed the hoover around, with the niggling thought buzzing in her mind all the time – had she been too hasty in refusing to even meet Beth’s friend who was having to resort to couch-surfing as a way of life?

  It had been hard finding somewhere decent to live when she and Jodie had first arrived in London. It had taken them months of living in a less-than-desirable bedsit before they’d found this flat. Telling Beth she was getting used to having the place to herself was the truth but that didn’t stop it being lonely in the evenings and at weekends. Particularly at weekends. And the rent was quite high. Jodie’s contribution had definitely helped there. She couldn’t go on making up the deficit from her savings so she should really think about looking for a new flatmate. There had to be a non-weirdo out there somewhere looking for a place to live. Having someone new living in the flat would be a start to climbing out of the rut she was in. Maybe she should at least see what Beth’s friend was like?

  Opening her laptop, Tina typed in Beth’s email address from the card she’d given her. ‘No guarantees but I’ve been thinking. If your friend wants to come and see the flat sometime, maybe we can work something out.’

  Half an hour later her email programme pinged. ‘Hi, Beth says you possibly have a spare room I could rent. I’m desperate to find somewhere so please may I come and see you later today? Beth’s given me the address. Maisie.’

  Tina sat for a moment, her fingers poised over the keyboard. Whoever Maisie was, she was clearly as desperate as Beth had said. She wouldn’t turn out to be yet another weirdo, would she? No, Beth wouldn’t have suggested her if that was the case.

  Tina started to type. ‘Sur
e. Seven o’clock would suit me. Look forward to meeting you.’ She hesitated a fraction of a second before pressing the send icon. She could always say no, once she had met Maisie.

  Time to ring Jodie for their weekly chat – at least this time she had a little bit of news to tell her.

  Chapter Five

  ‘Au revoir, Jodie. Same time next week,’ said Madame Colbert as she showed Jodie out.

  ‘Merci,’ Jodie said, her head buzzing from the effort of concentrating for the last hour on the difference between regular and irregular verbs. Dragging up vocabulary from her schoolgirl French had been painful and Madame Colbert was a hard taskmaster. She’d even given Jodie a page or two of homework to do before the next lesson.

  There were a few people wandering around the village as Jodie walked through, making her way towards The Taste of the Countryside. Chairs around the tables on the pavement outside the village café were occupied with people enjoying coffee or an aperitif before lunch.

  Further on from the café, Jodie stopped to look in the estate agent’s window. Apartments, villas, cottages, even a donkey shed were offered. The picture of a small, red-roofed cottage with wisteria climbing over the front porch caught her eye. Jodie squinted, trying to make out the price. €350,000. A quick look at other cards told her it was one of the cheapest properties for sale in the area. Only the donkey shed appeared to be cheaper.

  Was the cottage in their price range? Was it the kind of house he even had in mind? She had no idea of the answer to either question. Standing there, it struck her for the first time how little she really knew about the man who’d swept her off her feet. Oh, she knew how kind he was, how generous, that he loved animals – that he loved her.