A Year of Taking Chances Page 9

  As she lifted the organiser out, her mother’s happy face looked up at her from a silver-framed photo. Sitting on a stone wall bordering a beach, she was licking a large ice-cream cone and looked so happy. This was how she wanted to remember her mum.

  Jodie lifted the frame up. ‘If you knew how much I miss you, Mum,’ she whispered before gently kissing the frame. There was no way she could put this back in the box now she’d found it. Turning, she crossed the room and decided she would place the frame on her bedside table. Perfect.

  Carrying the Filofax, Jodie made her way back down to the kitchen. Time to prepare lunch. Afterwards she’d make a start on the to-do list and then Skype Tina to discuss things in more detail.

  Jodie had just placed the baguette and tomato and mozzarella salad on the table and was about to call Ben when her phone rang. Nicola.

  ‘Hi. Tea tomorrow afternoon? I’d love to. About three? OK. I’ll walk down. OK if I bring Tess? See you then.’

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tina stepped back and surveyed the new office area in her bedroom critically. An old wooden kitchen table, a lucky find down at the weekly market, now stood in front of the window, a typist’s chair with a red seat cover pushed up close.

  She’d scrubbed and cleaned the battered table before placing her laptop on it. A pretty table lamp was on the right-hand side, along with a jam jar of pens and pencils. The single long drawer at the front of the desk now held paper and envelopes.

  A cork board for notes and reminders had replaced the picture on one side of the window. On the floor alongside the desk was her printer. She’d keep a lookout for a small table for that to go on, as well as some freestanding shelves. Other than that, the office of Tina Matthews Literary Agency was as ready as it could be for business.

  She heard the flat door open and Maisie call out, ‘Anyone home?’ as she walked through to the sitting room.

  ‘I’m in the bedroom, just doing the final tweaks to my office,’ Tina said. ‘Come on in.’

  ‘Looks good,’ Maisie said. ‘I’ve bought you a good luck present.’ And she held out a small carrier bag.

  ‘Oh, Maisie, you shouldn’t have,’ Tina said. ‘But thank you, I love him.’ She laughed as she took out a frog-shaped desk tidy. ‘So much better than this jar,’ she said as she swopped the pencils and pens over.

  ‘When d’you start officially?’ Maisie asked.

  ‘I need to talk to Jodie about getting the word out with a bit of a fanfare but I’m thinking in about a week.’

  Later, as they sat eating supper, Tina said. ‘Are you still enjoying life down here? You seem a bit quiet this evening. Regretting your decision to stay?’

  ‘No!’ Maisie glanced at her anxiously. ‘You don’t want me to leave, do you?’

  ‘No, of course not. But more importantly, do you think you want to stay? The month we agreed is up in a few days and your parents must be wondering what you’re going to do. Whether they should be preparing to welcome you home.’

  Maisie didn’t answer immediately and Tina looked at her curiously before breaking the lengthening silence.

  ‘Something is obviously bothering you. I’m sorry I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my own work problems and now getting things organised for the agency. We’ve not had much time to talk. Is work not going well?’

  ‘No, it’s not that. Both jobs are fine – especially the boutique. I love it there. It’s… it’s John, my ex.’

  ‘I didn’t think you were in touch with him,’ Tina said, surprised.

  ‘I wasn’t. He came into Guy’s last week for lunch with a couple of his new co-workers. Talk about a surprise.’ Maisie laughed. ‘Not sure who was the most surprised to be honest.’

  ‘So how was he?’ Tina asked quietly.

  Maisie fiddled with a lock of her hair. ‘Things down here haven’t gone as well as he expected. His new relationship broke up, plus his original job didn’t work out. He has a new one now in an office near the coffee shop.’

  Tina regarded her shrewdly. ‘I can see where this is going. He’s wanting you to get back together again, isn’t he?’

  ‘He hasn’t actually said that but he’s sorry for hurting me and realises he made a mistake. He does keep saying he wants us to be friends.’

  ‘How do you feel about that?’

  ‘Honestly? I don’t know. You know we’d been together as a couple for some time before he came down here, but growing up in the same neighbourhood means we’ve known each other forever. Our parents are friends. We have lots of mutual friends back home. When he dumped me, the thought of him not being in my life any more hurt like hell,’

  ‘I know it hasn’t been easy, but you’ve survived without him for the last few weeks,’ Tina said.

  ‘That’s been down to your kindness,’ Maisie said.

  ‘I gave you a room. You’re the one who went out and got two jobs and pulled yourself up off a very dangerous slope,’ Tina said. ‘Did John ask how you managed in the days after you arrived down here with no one to turn to?’

  Maisie shook her head. ‘Not really. I did tell him a bit about being homeless and he apologised, saying he felt guilty. Even offered me money if I needed it – with the proviso, of course, that I’d pay him back eventually.’ Maisie hesitated. ‘What d’you think I should do?’ Her voice broke as she looked at Tina. ‘I do like living here. And I like both my jobs. If he’s going to be coming into the café every day I’ll have to be polite to him, otherwise it could be awkward. He definitely wants us to be friends again. But…’ Maisie shrugged despondently. ‘I know him. In a couple of weeks he’ll start pushing for us to be more than friends. Which I’m pretty sure I don’t want.’

  ‘I’m not you, but personally I’d find it difficult to trust any lover who’d treated me like John did you, ever again,’ Tina said quietly. ‘Don’t let him use you. Do you still have feelings for him?’

  Maisie shrugged. ‘To be honest, no. I could cope with being friends again – I think. Once I got over the shock of seeing him and I’d told him how cruel I felt he’d been to me, it did feel like a load off my mind. Talking to him at lunchtimes is sometimes like pulling on a comfortable jumper, if you understand what I mean.’

  ‘Familiarity is the word you’re looking for,’ Tina said, regarding her thoughtfully. ‘I think, if you’re planning to stay down here and not return home in the near future, you should tell John that you’ll keep to being just friends for a while and see how things go. No commitment on either side. Do you think John would agree to that?’

  ‘Next time he starts on about how close we were, I’ll remind him we’re just friends now,’ Maisie said. ‘And that isn’t going to change in a hurry.’

  ‘So, when you speak to your parents again you’re going to tell them… what? That you’re staying down here for the time being and that you’re in touch with John again?’

  Maisie smiled. ‘I do seem to have made the decision about staying, don’t I? I can’t thank you enough.’

  Tina waved her thanks away. ‘You wait until you see the rent I’m going to charge you. Joke!’ she added quickly as she saw the look on Maisie’s face. ‘We’ll sit down one evening next week and work out a realistic sum – one you can afford.’

  She didn’t add that if Maisie went ahead and let this John back into her life as more than a friend, which she suspected she might be bullied into doing, she planned on inviting him to supper one evening to check him out.

  Chapter Twenty

  The sun was shining as Jodie walked down to Le Jardin de Dominique, Nicola’s house next to The Taste of the Countryside.

  Nicola was working in the garden and smiled as she saw Jodie and Tess. ‘Perfect timing. I was just thinking about stopping,’ she said, pulling off her gardening gloves.

  ‘Where are the twins? Having an afternoon nap?’ Jodie asked.

  ‘Gilles has taken them down to the play centre for the afternoon. We’ll sit under the loggia for tea. Be a bit cooler there.’

>   ‘This is a lovely cottage,’ Jodie said, looking around. ‘Have you lived here long?’

  ‘About seven years. I bought it when I first came out here, long before Gilles and I were married.’

  ‘Ben and I are waiting to hear from Herve about a house we’ve fallen in love with. He rang yesterday to say the owners were away and he was having trouble contacting them.’

  ‘Nothing quite like the stress of buying a house,’ Nicola said. ‘Apart from that, how are things going?’

  ‘Ben’s started his new book and I’m picking up the threads of my old life in PR, helping a friend get her business off the ground. Oh, and my French is improving too – thanks to your suggestion of Ben talking to me in French for an hour every day. Madame Colbert is pleased with me.’

  ‘So you’re busy-busy then?’ Nicola sighed. ‘That’s a shame for me.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I was going to ask if you could help me with some promotion for The Taste of the Countryside.’

  ‘Of course I can. I’m not that busy. Not sure my French is good enough yet, though. Remember, too, my contacts are all in the UK.’

  ‘I already have a file of contacts here,’ Nicola said. ‘I need to do more with the website and increase the marketing and there aren’t enough hours in the day. I need your expertise to show me how to go about it.’

  ‘Shall I come down to the shop later in the week and you can go through things with me?’

  ‘Brilliant,’ Nicola said. ‘Now let’s get the tea and cakes out on the table.’

  Walking home an hour or so later, Jodie hummed happily to herself. What with being involved with the agency with Tina, Nicola wanting her help and, fingers crossed, a house move soon, her French life was shaping up to be as busy as her old life in England. She was beginning to find her way in this unexpected life in a foreign country. Life was good.

  Ben was still working in his study when she arrived home, so she opened up her laptop and Skyped Tina for a quick update on things.

  ‘I’ve sent a couple of press releases out and contacted a couple of journalists who, hopefully, will be contacting you for interviews.’

  ‘I’ve been busy too,’ Tina said. ‘Business bank account is now set up, I’ve ordered business cards and accepted an invitation to give a talk at a writer’s conference in September.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ Jodie said. ‘Have you set up a Facebook page yet? Twitter?’

  ‘Planning on doing that this evening,’ Tina said. ‘I’ll send you the links later.’

  ‘We also need to sort an official “open for business” date. Would sometime next week be too soon, d’you think?’

  ‘Before or after your birthday?’

  ‘After, I think,’ Jodie said. She’d forgotten her birthday was so close. ‘Once the agency’s name is out there, it’s best we keep a high profile for a few days. Take advantage of all the publicity. I don’t want to take a day off in the middle of things.’

  Finishing the call with Tina, Jodie closed her laptop down thoughtfully. Would Ben spend all day in his office on her birthday? Or would he take the day off? She’d ask him over supper tonight what he planned to do.

  But Ben refused to be drawn on the subject of plans for her birthday when she raised the subject.

  ‘I’m definitely taking the day off,’ he said. ‘But that’s all I’m saying. You’ll have to wait and see.’

  ‘You’re planning a surprise party?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Give me a hint?’

  Ben shook his head. ‘No. You’ll have to be patient for the next few days.’

  When Jodie went downstairs on her birthday morning, Ben was already in the kitchen preparing a breakfast tray.

  ‘Happy Birthday, ma cherie,’ he said. ‘I was planning on giving you breakfast in bed.’

  ‘Was that my surprise?’ Jodie teased. ‘Shall we have it out on the terrace instead? It’s a beautiful morning.’

  ‘Go on out there then – take the cushions with you. I’ll be another couple of minutes.’

  Sitting there, waiting for Ben to bring breakfast, Jodie sighed happily. The early morning sun was climbing over the hills and the sky was already a brilliant blue, Tess was at her feet and… and there were deer down in the woods at the bottom of the valley. The first time she’d actually seen any there.

  As Ben placed their tray on the table she said excitedly, ‘Look, the deer are down by the edge of the woods. How brilliant is that on my birthday?’

  They both sat watching the deer for several moments before the herd retreated back into the woods and disappeared from sight.

  Jodie sighed. ‘I’m so happy I’ve finally seen them.’

  ‘Right, birthday girl. I was going to make Bucks Fizz but then realised, in view of what’s happening later this morning, it wasn’t a good idea. So, we’ve got coffee instead. We’ll have champagne for dinner.’ Ben poured the coffees and pushed the plate of pains au chocolat towards her.

  ‘What’s happening this morning then?’ Jodie asked.

  Ben tapped the side of his nose. ‘For me to know and you to wait.’

  ‘Am I going to like it?’

  ‘I’m in trouble if you don’t. More coffee?’

  Jodie held out her cup. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘I’m planning on walking Tess this morning, by the way,’ Ben said.

  ‘Really? Which way shall we go? Down through the village or up in the hills?’

  ‘No, you stay here. You deserve a break from chores on your birthday.’

  ‘Tess isn’t a chore,’ Jodie protested.

  ‘No, I insist. You can have an hour or so doing exactly what you want – or doing nothing. But you are not to work. Then when I get back we can… we can start the day in earnest. OK?’

  Jodie laughed and gave in. She stayed sitting out on the terrace when Ben left for his walk, simply enjoying the peace of the morning and resisting the urge to check her emails.

  Ben and Tess had been gone barely ten minutes when Annette arrived carrying a scrumptious-looking chocolate cake.

  ‘Is Ben around?’ she asked, following Jodie into the kitchen.

  ‘No – for some reason he’s elected to be dog walker this morning. Said I could have some time off.’ She laughed. ‘He’s up to something, I just know it!’

  ‘He’s cross with me, so I’m delighted to have missed him,’ Annette said. ‘The last thing I need right now is another lecture from Ben.’

  ‘He’s very protective of you,’ Jodie said. ‘I did talk to him about you and Thierry – I thought, and hoped, his attitude had changed a bit.’

  Annette smiled. ‘I know. Thank you. And he did seem to be trying to be nice to Thierry before I told him about this mini break we’re having together. Since then he’s back to being grumpy with me.’

  Jodie pulled a sympathetic face. ‘Try not to take any notice – I’m sure he’ll come round. Your mini break sounds exciting. Where are you going?’

  ‘Venice. Which, according to my darling son, is wrong for several reasons. Not least because I’m not here to celebrate your birthday properly.’

  ‘Don’t worry – there’s always next year. A visit to Venice, on the other hand, is not to be missed.’

  ‘I’ve wanted to go for years,’ Annette sighed. ‘Thierry knew that and decided to surprise me. Anyway, I’ve made you a cake. Happy Birthday,’ she said, putting the cake on the table before turning to give Jodie a hug.

  ‘Thank you so much. Shall we celebrate with a slice now?’

  Annette shook her head. ‘You and Ben enjoy it later.’ She opened her large shoulder-bag. ‘And this is a little present for you.’ She handed Jodie a prettily wrapped package. ‘I’d better go. I haven’t finished packing yet and we’re leaving at midday. Have a lovely birthday and I’ll see you when we get back.’

  After Annette had left, Jodie unwrapped her present. A beautiful silk scarf in blended shades of red – from the palest of pink to the brightest scarlet – nestled in tissue
paper in a bag from one of the famous designer shops in Monaco. A shop Jodie could only dream of shopping in. Gently she fingered its silky surface. It would go perfectly with the creamy lace dress she was thinking of wearing if Ben took her out for a birthday dinner that evening.

  She’d just finished dressing an hour later, having indulged in a long, perfumed bubble bath, when Ben arrived home.

  ‘Ready for your birthday surprise?’ he said, taking her by the hand. ‘Close your eyes and come with me. No peeping.’

  Carefully he led her out of the front door and out onto their driveway. ‘You can open your eyes now. Happy Birthday.’

  Jodie gasped with delight as she saw the red car parked alongside Ben’s 4 x 4.

  ‘You’ve bought me a car?’

  ‘I did promise you I would. I’m only sorry it’s taken so long to find one I thought you’d like. You do like it?’ he added anxiously.

  Jodie slipped into the driver’s seat. ‘I love it. It’s the perfect size for me. Can we go for a drive? I want to get used to it.’

  ‘You’re driving us up to a village near Roquesteron where I’ve booked a table for lunch,’ Ben said. ‘Let’s go.’

  With Ben at her side, quietly pointing out things she needed to know, Jodie began to relax and enjoy the experience of driving her new left-hand-drive car on the narrow roads. As they drove into the back country, negotiating horseshoe bends and the occasional tunnel through the mountains became a routine occurrence and something she conquered with aplomb. The fact that there was little traffic around definitely helped.

  Lunch on the terrace of a popular restaurant overlooking a slow-running river was delicious. The sound of cicadas and noise of the water tumbling over the river stones made for an idyllic location.

  Sitting there after lunch, enjoying a leisurely coffee while watching a group of teenage boys jumping off a high rock into the river, Jodie fingered her pendant and remembered previous birthdays. She glanced at Ben.