Tina had been busy finishing agency stuff so she could close the day before Christmas Eve until the first week of the New Year and Maisie had been busy-busy at the boutique, working until nine o’clock most evenings.
‘So, what gives between you and Sean?’ Tina said, opening a bag of Brussels sprouts and starting to peel them.
‘I like him a lot,’ Maisie said. ‘He’s so different to John.’
‘That’s a bonus,’ Tina said.
‘He and Tony are really grateful for the invite to lunch today.’
‘No problem. Christmas lunch is always better celebrated with lots of people. Did you go anywhere last night? Or were you too late finishing work?’
‘The shops in the mall were still open when I finished so we had a wander around, had a pizza and then came home. You? How was it at Luc’s?’
‘It was a good evening,’ Tina said. The Eldriches had included her in such a way as to make her feel a part of their family. A tipsy Fiona had even muttered to her at one point, ‘Gretna Green is always an option if you want a quiet wedding.’
‘Today’s tea party will be a lot quieter, that’s for sure,’ she said now to Maisie.
Sean and Tony arrived bearing gifts of chocolates and champagne for the two them. When Tina and Maisie handed over identical chocolates and some special Belgium beer instead of champagne everyone burst out laughing.
Lunch was declared delicious by everyone and it was nearly three o’clock before Sean and Tony got to their feet, insisting on helping to clear the dishes that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher. Tony then said he was going upstairs to have ‘forty winks’ while Sean asked Maisie if she fancied a walk along the embankment, finishing up in a pub that had live music for the evening. Ten minutes later Tina was pleased to see Maisie leaving hand in hand with Sean.
When her phone rang and the caller ID showed it to be Luc, she answered it quickly. ‘Nothing wrong, is there? You are still coming?’
‘We’re downstairs. Penny would like to take her new scooter to the park before it gets too dark. Is that OK?’
‘Of course. I’ll be right down.’
By the time they returned to the flat they were all scootered out and it was dark. Tina switched the tree lights on and lit a few of the candles that were out of Penny’s reach.
‘Your tree is pretty,’ Penny said.
‘Thank you. One of the presents underneath it is for you – the other one is for Daddy,’ Tina said, as she put mince pies, stollen, Christmas cake and turkey sandwiches on the table.
Penny squealed with delight when she tore the paper off her present and saw her penguin onesie and insisted on putting it on straight away. Before Luc opened his present, he handed Tina a package. ‘With love from Penny and me,’ he said.
‘I did the card, do you like it?’ Penny said, pushing her legs into the onesie.
Tina smiled. ‘It’s beautiful. Thank you.’ And she placed the card with its silver-glitter overload on the table before opening her present. A narrow silver bracelet with an oval turquoise stone set in the middle. She slipped it over her hand. ‘It’s beautiful, thank you,’ she said, glancing at Penny, who was still struggling to get her feet into the onesie, before leaning in to give Luc a kiss.
A minute later, watching Luc open his present and find the invitation, Tina held her breath, hoping he liked the holdall and that he’d accept the invite. ‘D’you like it?’ she asked as he looked up at her.
Luc nodded. ‘I do. Thank you. We’ll have to make sure we do some travelling – starting with France for the New Year. Always supposing we can get tickets this late.’
Tina smiled. ‘Not a problem. I took a chance and booked us on a flight last week. We fly out on the 30th, back on the 2nd January.’
Both of them turned as they heard a sob from Penny. ‘Sweetheart, what’s the matter? I thought you liked your penguin onesie,’ Tina said, dropping to her knees and cuddling the little girl who was now in floods of tears.
‘I do. But you’re going away. Leaving me.’
‘No, we’re not. You’re coming with us.’
Penny stopped sniffling and looked at her. ‘To France? In a big aeroplane?’
Tina nodded. ‘Yes. We couldn’t leave you behind.’
Penny threw her arms around Tina’s neck, nearly throttling her in the process.
‘I guess you like the idea,’ Tina said, laughing, when she could speak again.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Walking towards the check-in desk at London City airport, Tina saw Luc and Penny waiting for her. Luc with a smile, Penny jumping up and down and waving to attract her attention.
‘Hi, you two. I thought I was early, but you’ve beaten me to it.’
Luc smiled wryly. ‘This one’s been up since five o’clock, worried we’d miss our flight. It was easier to just get here and wait.’ He leant in and kissed her. ‘I hope you know what you’re taking on.’
‘She’s bound to be excited, flying for the first time,’ Tina said, knowing Luc wasn’t simply referring to the flight. ‘And yes, I do,’ she added quietly for his benefit. ‘Croissants and hot chocolate before we board?’
Once the plane took off and seatbelts were unbuckled, Tina and Luc pointed out various landmarks to Penny as she gazed out of the window. As the plane gained height and flew over the Channel, Penny realised the clouds that had been above were now passing underneath them and she shrank back from the window and looked at Luc.
‘Are we in heaven now?’
Luc, startled, shook his head. ‘No. We’ve just flown up through the cloud layer. Why d’you think we could be in heaven?’
‘Because you said heaven was above the clouds and that’s where Mummy went when she died.’
‘Come and give me a cuddle,’ Luc said, helping Penny onto his lap and holding her tightly. ‘Nobody really knows where heaven is because while we’re alive we don’t get to go there. Because grown-ups like to believe that such a place exists for when people die, we say that heaven is up above the clouds, but really, it’s just a saying. We don’t know where heaven is.’
‘So if we’re not flying in heaven, we’re not going to see Mummy and other dead people?’ Penny said.
Luc blinked and shook his head. ‘No.’
‘OK,’ Penny said, climbing off his lap and going back to her window seat. ‘I didn’t really want to be in heaven before I got to France.’
Tina stretched out to squeeze Luc’s hand in empathy, as he took a deep breath and leant back with his eyes closed. ‘Well done,’ she whispered. ‘Kids’ questions, eh?’
By the time they’d landed at Nice, collected the hire car and started to make their way towards the N202, Penny was fading with tiredness and within ten minutes had fallen asleep. With Luc concentrating on the driving, Tina was happy to enjoy the view this time.
As they turned off the main road for the village, Penny woke up. ‘Are we nearly there yet?’
‘Yes, almost,’ Tina said. ‘Look at all the snow on those mountains.’
‘Can we make a snowman?’
‘Not sure there’ll be snow at Jodie’s,’ Tina said. ‘But maybe.’
Jodie and Ben were waiting for them at the house. While Ben helped Luc carry the luggage in, Jodie took Tina and Penny into the kitchen, where Penny immediately started stroking and playing with Tess.
By the time the men joined them, the kettle was on and a chocolate cake was on the kitchen table. Jodie looked at Tina hopefully. ‘I don’t suppose you remembered the ginger biscuits?’
‘Of course I did. You don’t want one now, though, do you?’ Tina teased, before opening her bag and pulling out a packet. ‘There are another dozen in the case.’
‘I’ve eaten so much over the last week I really shouldn’t, but you won’t believe how much I’ve craved these,’ Jodie said, opening the packet and devouring a biscuit.
‘So what plans do we have for the next few days?’ Tina asked.
‘Annette and Thierry are coming for dinne
r this evening,’ Jodie said. ‘Tomorrow we thought we’d go up to the mountains for the day and then back here for supper to see in the New Year.’
‘Sounds a perfect end to the old year to me,’ Tina said.
Epilogue
New Year’s Eve
This Year
Annette and Thierry declined the invitation to join the party for New Year’s Eve. ‘We’ll open a bottle of champagne and toast you and us, and then collapse into bed. We don’t do late nights these days,’ Annette confessed.
Penny, desperate to stay up, had taken little persuading to change into her penguin onesie after supper, so when she fell asleep sitting on Tina’s lap at ten o’clock, Luc gently carried her upstairs to bed where Tina tucked her in. She and Luc stood hand in hand silently for several seconds, looking down on her. ‘I hope she knows how much she’s loved,’ Tina whispered as they left the room.
At a minute to midnight, Tina jumped up and pulled Luc to his feet while Jodie did the same to an amused Ben.
‘Come on, we have to hold hands and sing “Auld Lang Syne”. It’s a tradition,’ Jodie told him. ‘And afterwards, as a reward, you get to hug and kiss the person nearest you. Which for you will be me.’
Tina, standing between Luc and Ben, holding their hands, with Jodie, opposite her, doing the same, started the countdown. ‘Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and… Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. Happy New Year, everyone.’ And she turned to kiss Luc while Jodie kissed Ben.
Afterwards, glasses were topped up for a final nightcap, orange juice again for Jodie, champagne for everyone else. ‘I think this will go down in history as the best New Year’s Eve ever,’ Tina said.
‘Definitely one of them,’ Jodie said. ‘Last year, when Luc and I were on honeymoon – that was rather special too.’
‘The last two for me have been rotten,’ Tina said. ‘I went to bed with a book last year. As for the year before…’ She shook her head. ‘We were both so fed up that night. D’you remember that party we ended up going to in the park? The fireworks were like explosives going off, they were so loud.’
‘Think we had a lot of Prosecco that night,’ Jodie said.
‘We did. We were trying to drown out the fact that our lives were so boring. We promised each other if things didn’t change by the time we hit thirty, we’d run away to deepest Wales and keep alpacas. You wanted cats, I remember. D’you remember what else we did?’
Jodie nodded. ‘We shouted at the Cosmos.’
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
‘Yep. We ought to say thank you to the Cosmos,’ Jodie said, looking at Tina.
‘Terrace?’ Tina said, and the two of them stood up.
‘Come on, you two,’ Jodie said to the men. ‘We need to go outside.’
‘It’s cold outside,’ Ben said.
‘Only for two minutes. We have to do something,’ Jodie said. ‘Pretty please?’
Ben and Luc looked at each and shrugged before following the girls out onto the terrace, where everyone stood looking up at the night sky.
‘Look at those stars,’ Luc said. ‘And listen to that silence. I can’t get over how quiet it is here. No traffic at all.’
Jodie, holding Ben’s hand, looked at Tina. ‘Ready?’
Tina, catching hold of Luc’s hand, nodded.
Together Tina and Jodie looked up at the star-laden sky again and shouted, ‘Thank you, Cosmos – you done good!’
No fireworks to drown out their shouts this year – just a lone falling star shooting its way across the sky. And their respective partners looking at them as if they were both mad.
Acknowledgements
Big thanks to the team at HQ Digital and, in particular, my editor Charlotte Mursell.
Thanks also to my internet writing buddies – you know who you are – for boosting me up on the days when I needed help.
I must also say a big Thank You to all my readers – the most important people of all. I love it when you get in touch via social media and take the trouble to tell me how much you’ve enjoyed one of my books.
If you loved A Year of Taking Chances then turn the page for an exclusive extract from Rosie’s Little Café on the Riviera, another sparklingly brilliant romance from Jennifer Bohnet!
Chapter One
‘Bonne chance,’ the notaire said, counting the large wad of euros Rosie had given him before pushing a bunch of keys across the desk towards her. ‘The Café Fleur is now yours.’
Five minutes later and, juggling the keys happily, Rosie walked along the ancient ramparts edging the Mediterranean towards the beach and the Café Fleur. Day one of the rest of her life was here at last and it felt oh so good. It had seemed to take forever, but one of her lifelong dreams was about to became a reality.
Owning and running her own successful café had been her number-one dream for several years now. Her other dream of being married and having a family by the time she was thirty had been foiled by her own seeming inability to build a long-lasting relationship with any man.
It was after a wine-fuelled thirtieth birthday hangover that she’d decided enough was enough. Life was passing her by. Okay, she’d failed to meet and marry Mr Right, but owning her own café was still within her grasp. So, Dream Target No 1 became saving enough money to open her own beach café in the South of France. Now, a couple of months before her thirty-fifth birthday, she was about to realise her dream.
Glancing across the bay to where several boats were making their way to the marina entrance, her smile faded. She recognised the hull of the boat leading the way, flying the English ensign. A Sure Thing, the yacht she’d been chef on for the past few years, while she squirrelled away enough money to gain her independence, was returning to port.
Briefly she wondered if Antoine, the skipper, had forgiven her yet for deserting him. He’d been less than happy when she’d told him her plans.
‘Sacre bleu, Rosie, Charlie’s going to be furious when he finds out you’ve left. He’ll probably make William fire me for letting you go. Rosie, please, for me – one more summer?’
‘No. Definitely not.’ Rosie shrugged. ‘He already knows I’ve left, but Antoine, DO NOT, under any circumstances, tell Charlie the whereabouts of my restaurant. Understood?’
Antoine had given her a resigned nod and wished her well, knowing when he was beaten.
Rosie sighed. She could only cross her fingers and pray that the message had got through to Charlie that she wasn’t interested in a relationship, however much he wanted to rekindle their long-ago college affair. She had enough to do getting the Café Fleur ready to open without having to deal with him as well.
Hopefully the yacht was coming into port to take on fuel and stock up with food supplies and wouldn’t be staying long. Maybe they had plans to motor across to Corsica, one of Charlie’s favourite places. Corsica would be good. Go to Corsica, Rosie silently willed.
The longer she could keep the location of her new business from Charlie, the better. The scene he was sure to make when he realised what she was doing was not one she looked forward to. Not that she cared these days what he thought, but no way did she want him turning up at her opening party next week. He definitely wasn’t on the guest list.
Tansy, ex-stewardess on A Sure Thing, her best friend and, as of today, her sous-chef, waitress and chief washer-upper, was waiting for her in the car park at the back of the restaurant. ‘Signed your life away?’
‘Yep – and I’ve got the keys to prove it,’ Rosie said, stretching to raise the security grill before putting the first key in a lock near the top of the door and turning it. Another large, old-fashioned key went into a lock in the middle of the door and finally she bent down to insert a small, gold-coloured key into the lock six inches from the bottom, before turning the handle and opening
the door.
‘I guess the last guy had a security obsession,’ she said. ‘At least, I hope that’s all it was.’
Inside, dusty tables and chairs were arranged in neat rows, a pile of parasols leaned haphazardly against the far wall and faded curtains hung limply at the sides of the shuttered windows. In the kitchen a huge, old, white-doored fridge, which looked ancient enough to have graced Elizabeth David’s kitchen fifty years ago, held centre stage. Its presence dwarfing all the other, equally old, utensils. Rosie prayed it would all be in working order once she and Tansy had cleaned things.
No way could she afford to buy a lot of new equipment. Paying the notaire had seriously depleted her bank account. She needed to be open and putting money into her new business account as quickly as possible. Otherwise she would be in trouble financially before the season even got going.
‘Right, let’s get the shutters open and make a start,’ Rosie said.
‘What’s behind that door?’ Tansy asked, pointing to a door at the side of the bar.
‘Stairs to a store room,’ Rosie said. ‘I didn’t take much notice to be honest, I was more interested in down here. Come on, let’s get scrubbing.’ She handed Tansy a pair of pink rubber gloves before pulling on a pair herself.
While Tansy got to grips with the kitchen, Rosie went through to make a start on the restaurant. Sliding the bolts back on the front door, she stepped out onto the terrace to fold back the shutters with their peeling Provençal blue paint and stood for a few moments, visualising it busy with customers. Her customers. Eating outside on the terrace was an essential part of her plan for the café. People loved eating al fresco.
Two large eucalyptus trees gave some perfumed shade where the terrace ran down to the beach. The French phrase pieds en mer – feet in the sea – described it perfectly, Rosie thought, looking around. Oleander bushes already budding up. Yachts sailing in the distance. A woman and a young girl beach combing. Shimmering sea.
A vine with a thick, tree-like trunk covered the loggia running along the length of the restaurant. Rosie sighed. It really was an amazing location come true for her dream. It had to be a success for so many reasons. Not least because it was her final chance to make something of herself. And of course there was the little matter of being bankrupt if she didn’t make it work. She took a deep breath. Failure was simply not an option.
A Year of Taking Chances Page 23