by Susan Lewis
‘You should see it from where we’re sitting,’ Sarah gasped. ‘I thought you were going to throw up at one point. I know I nearly did. How the hell does her husband put up with her?’
‘You mean you haven’t had that pleasure!’ Danny cried. ‘He’s as bad. No, I take that back, he’s worse. They’re a double act.’
‘Oh my God! Look!’ Louisa cried.
Instantly Danny plastered herself to the wall. ‘She’s back?’
‘No, it’s the sun!’ Louisa laughed. ‘Look!’
‘Quick, get your bikinis before it goes,’ Sarah cried excitedly. ‘Ah, too late, it’s gone.’
‘But it has stopped raining,’ Louisa pointed out, springing up from the sofa. ‘I’m going to get some food. Set the table on the terrace, I don’t care if we’re up to our knees in puddles, tonight we’re eating outside.’
By the time Louisa finally extricated herself from the nightmare of Carrefour, just outside Antibes, where the Godzillas of French womanhood convened for their weekly pillage and rampage, almost two hours had passed and the rain had started again. Not as heavily, but the drizzle was perhaps even more depressing than the downpour. As she hauled the heavy bags up onto the terrace and let herself in through the kitchen door she noticed that no attempt had been made to set the table outside. Well, there would have been little point, they couldn’t dine in the rain.
Dumping the shopping on the kitchen table, she removed her shoes and wandered into the hall.
‘Danny! Sarah!’ she called. ‘I’m back.’ Her voice echoed through the arches that opened into the sitting and dining rooms, reverberating upwards to the solid oak beams above.
There was no response, so assuming they had gone to their separate bathrooms to shower before dinner, Louisa went back to the kitchen to start preparing their meal.
Half an hour later a succulent seafood paella, prepared by the poissonnerie at the supermarket, was warming nicely in the oven, delicious crottins of goat’s cheese were ready to sizzle in the pan and the green salad was dressed and tossed. Louisa was just wondering if she had time to go and grab a quick shower herself when Sarah and Danny came into the kitchen.
‘Hi,’ Louisa said. ‘I was beginning to think …’ She stopped, suddenly confused by the way they were dressed. ‘Are you going somewhere?’ she asked.
‘Yes, we’re going out,’ Danny answered shortly.
‘Out? But I’ve just prepared …’
‘We’re sick to death of hanging around this bloody house,’ Danny interrupted, ‘so we’re going out.’
Louisa stared at her. ‘Don’t you think you could have told me before I went to all this trouble,’ she said, looking at Sarah.
‘We didn’t even know you were back,’ Danny responded curtly. ‘You were gone so bloody long we thought …’
‘You know how long that damned supermarket takes,’ Louisa cried, dimly wondering what had happened in the time she’d been away. ‘And you can’t go out now, the food’s almost ready. Besides, I saw Jean-Claude in the lane and invited him and Didier to join us.’
‘Well that sounds a wonderful evening, doesn’t it?’ Danny retorted. ‘Us three and two gay men. Well, the pleasure can be all yours.’
‘Just a minute,’ Louisa protested, putting a hand to her head. ‘What’s going on here? Why are you being like this? What did I do?’
Sarah and Danny looked at each other. ‘Are you going to tell her, or shall I?’ Danny said.
Sarah looked away.
Danny turned back to Louisa. ‘Quite frankly, Louisa,’ she said, ‘Sarah and I have just about had it with holding back on the things we want to do because you can’t afford it. We’ve offered to pay for you, but since you so stubbornly refuse to let us we don’t see why we should deprive ourselves too. So we’re going out for dinner and then on to Parady’z in Monaco.’
‘We appreciate the fact that you have to stick to your budget,’ Sarah said awkwardly, ‘and of course you can come with us if you like, but the idea of hanging around here for another evening …’ Her voice trailed off.
‘I see,’ Louisa said, hoping she didn’t look as hurt as she felt. ‘Well, far be it from me to stop you enjoying yourselves. I hope you have a nice time.’
‘Thank you,’ Danny said. ‘We hope you do too.’
‘Why don’t you come?’ Sarah said.
‘No, thank you.’
‘You see, it’s always the same,’ Danny said crossly. ‘We’ve been cooped up here for two fucking weeks doing next to nothing and that’s still all she wants to do.’
‘I don’t believe you’re saying that!’ Louisa cried. ‘We’ve been out! We went …’
‘To all those horrendous B-B-Q’s, yes I know. While they might be your idea of fun, they’re certainly not mine.’
‘Come on, Danny, ease up,’ Sarah said. ‘It’s not Louisa’s fault things aren’t turning out the way we expected. And she has been going around gathering up all the information about what’s going on here to find us something to do.’
‘And it was you, Danny, who didn’t want to do it,’ Louisa reminded her heatedly.
‘We’re not talking about visiting fucking perfume factories in Grasse,’ Danny retorted, ‘or touring the Rainier’s Palace in Monaco. God, you’re so parochial sometimes!’ she seethed, stamping her foot. ‘We’re talking about meeting people, Louisa! Going to cafés, wine bars, restaurants, places where people hang out.’
‘Have I ever said I didn’t want to do that?’
‘You’ve never said you do,’ Danny responded. ‘You’ve always seemed to prefer sitting around here playing Trivial Pursuit or plundering the ex-pat morons for material for your precious drama or disappearing off to your computer when the mood takes you.’
Louisa looked at her, for the moment too angry and too hurt to answer. Then she turned away, not wanting them to see the tears that were suddenly burning her eyes. OK, she had never suggested that they go to places as expensive as Parady’z, but nine times out of ten it was she who suggested that they at least go to one of the numerous cheaper and cosy restaurants in the village. Danny never wanted to though, because she couldn’t stand the English who frequented them. Danny preferred to stay at home where she wouldn’t be recognized and Sarah had never seemed to mind what she did. At least, that was what Louisa had thought, but obviously she had misjudged the situation.
‘Well, we’ll be off then,’ Danny said. ‘I don’t know what time we’ll be back, but lock up if you like, we’ll take another set of keys.’
‘Won’t you at least stay and have a drink with Jean-Claude and Didier?’ Louisa said.
Sarah turned to Danny. ‘We could,’ she said.
Danny looked at her watch. ‘We haven’t got time,’ she said, ‘we’ve booked the restaurant for eight, we’ll only just make it now.’
When they’d gone Louisa picked up a spoon and stirred the paella. Then pouring herself a large glass of wine she slumped down at the table, seething with anger. Of course she was embarrassed, she knew that, not having enough money to be here was even more intolerable to her than it was to the others, but to have had it thrust in her face that way was unforgivable.
She started as the telephone rang then got up to answer it, taking another sip of wine. It was Danny’s parents calling to find out how they were all getting on. Louisa assured them they were having a wonderful time, laughed and complained about the weather and told them she’d pass on their love to Danny.
When she rang off she stalked back into the kitchen, checked on the cheeses then set about laying the table. To hell with feeling sorry for herself. It would all work itself out in the morning, or at least when the damned sun came out it would, and on reflection some kind of flare-up had been on the cards for days. It was better to clear the air, let Danny get her resentment off her chest and it wasn’t so unusual for her to pick on Louisa like that. Louisa didn’t blame Sarah for going along with her, it was boring staying at home all the time, especially when they’d com
e here with such high expections of exotic weather and wild, extemporized parties. But if Danny thought she was going to get away with many more outbursts like that then Danny could just damned well think again! It had been different when she was the star of the series, there hadn’t been much choice then but to put up with her tantrums and try to placate her, but they were all on an equal footing now and the sooner Danny realized it the better. She’d never put up much of a fight with Danny before, but they’d never yet been in a situation where it particularly mattered …
For some reason Didier hadn’t come over for dinner, probably Jean-Claude had said why, but Louisa couldn’t remember now. All she knew was that she had probably drunk too much and was basking like some over-fed cat in the sonorous, seductive tones of Jean-Claude’s beautifully accented English while watching the lines around his humorous blue eyes deepen as he smiled.
‘And you ’ave to realize,’ he was saying, ‘that Marcia, ’ow you call ’er, Name-Drop? as insufferable as she is, is lonely. She never ’ad any children so she tries now to make us all ’er children.’
‘Heaven forbid,’ Louisa shuddered, making him laugh. ‘How many children do you have?’
‘I ’ave two. My son, ’e is twenty-nine and my daughter, Lili, she is twenty-seven and will be a mother next month. They both live in Paris, not far from their mother.’
‘Is it because of Didier that your wife is divorcing you?’ Louisa asked.
‘Yes. And also why my daughter will no longer see me. My son, ’e ’as to see me because I must be in touch with what ’appens at the bureau, but ’e is not ’appy with my love for a boy who is younger than ’im.’ He laughed. ‘It is not a question of age, of course, it is because Didier is male. And you, beautiful Louisa, does it give you a problem?’
Louisa laughed softly and reached out for his hand. The way she felt about Jean-Claude was the way she’d always imagined feeling about a father or an older brother. ‘Not at all,’ she assured him. ‘Maybe it should, but it doesn’t.’
‘Why should it?’ he asked, confused.
‘Because, well, I suppose I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find you attractive.’
Linking her fingers through his Jean-Claude said, ‘Didier thought you might, that is why ’e would not come this evening. ’e saw your friends leaving and told me ’e would not come to spoil things for me. I told him ’e was silly, but ’e would not come. ’e thinks that still I want to make love with a woman, but as beautiful as you are, Louisa, that is no longer so. Do I offend you?’
‘No,’ Louisa smiled. ‘Not at all.’
With their fingers still entwined they sat quietly, companionably, for a while, each with their own thoughts, until Louisa laughed.
‘Why do you laugh?’ he asked curiously.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she answered. ‘Maybe because I feel happy. Happier than I have in a long time. Now how have you managed to do that to me when I hardly even know you?’
‘I think the wine, ’e ’elp a little,’ he teased. ‘But what about your boyfriend, did ’e not make you ’appy?’
‘Sometimes, yes.’
‘Did you love ’im very much?’
‘I think so, at first. But looking back I think we’d grown apart long before we broke up. What about you, did you love your wife?’
‘Yes. I still do, but she doesn’t understand that I can love ’er when I can love Didier. But of course I love ’er in a different way now. She is a remarkable woman, I ’ope she meets someone who can make ’er more ’appy. And you?’ he said. ‘Will you meet someone who will make you more ’appy?’
‘I don’t know,’ Louisa sighed. ‘I’ve never really been able to get it right with men.’
‘Mmm, it is ’ard, this business of love,’ he sighed, but his eyes were dancing. ‘Even when it comes we can never be sure ’ow long it will stay. Sometimes it just checks in for the night, sometimes it arrives with all its baggage for a ’oliday and sometimes it brings no baggage and stays for always. It is a crazy thing, so unpredictable, sometimes so painful, but would any of us be without it?’
‘I don’t know,’ Louisa answered solemnly. ‘Sometimes I think I would.’ She smiled and squeezed his hand. ‘But don’t let’s talk about that. Tell me some more about you. Tell me what you do with yourself down here. Where do you go, who do you see?’
He chuckled. ‘Would I be boasting if I told you I ’ave so many friends that I ’ide from them? They all want to visit from Paris, from Genève, from London, from America, from all over. I say yes only to the special ones or I should never ’ave any peace. Didier ’e is very ’appy when there are lot of people in the ’ouse, but I am not so young any more. I like to be quiet sometimes and think and read and do things old men like doing.’
‘How old are you exactly?’ Louisa laughed.
‘Fifty-eight. Old huh?’
‘Very,’ she answered gravely and he gave a shout of laughter.
Seated as they were in the warm glow of candlelight at one end of the long dining table, with the high beamed ceiling lost in shadow overhead and the spacious sitting room enclosed in darkness beyond, there seemed such a sleepy intimacy about the small space they occupied that only the occasional echo of their laughter reminded them of the rambling openness of the house.
‘I am sorry that your friends were unkind to you tonight,’ he said.
‘Oh, it doesn’t matter,’ Louisa shrugged, embarrassed now that she’d told him. ‘We’ll make it up, it was just the weather getting us all down.’
‘Ah, yes, that I can understand. It is not normally like this. Maybe it rains for a few days, but …’
They both looked round and blinked as suddenly the front door opened and the hall was flooded with light.
‘Oh my God,’ Sarah gasped, seeing the candlelight, half empty wine glasses and joined hands. ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize …’ She bumped forward as Danny came in behind her, telling her to get a move on.
‘Oh shit!’ Danny muttered, her eyes widening with astonishment as she saw Louisa and Jean-Claude holding hands. ‘Oh, God, what timing. Look, we’re sorry. We’ll go out and come back again,’ and grabbing Sarah by the arm she made to drag her outside.
‘It’s all right,’ Louisa laughed. ‘You don’t have to go. Danny! Come back!’
Danny and Sarah stopped, looking uncertainly over their shoulders.
‘We’ll just go straight to bed,’ Sarah declared. ‘We won’t interrupt you a moment longer. Oh the light! Sorry,’ and hurriedly she flicked off the overhead light.
‘It is all right, I think maybe we need the light to see our way into the kitchen,’ Jean-Claude laughed, dabbing the corners of his mouth with his napkin and getting to his feet.
‘Oh, you don’t need to do that,’ Louisa told him. ‘I’ll clear away.’
‘No, no!’ Danny cried. ‘Why don’t you two go and make yourselves more comfortable somewhere and we’ll clear away.’
Louisa and Sarah gaped at her, dumbfounded.
‘We will?’ Sarah said stupidly, then, as Danny nudged her, ‘We will! Of course we will.’
Louisa caught Jean-Claude’s eye and both of them burst out laughing.
‘I think it is time I was leaving,’ he said, taking Louisa by the shoulders. ‘Thank you for a wonderful dinner, I look forward to returning the favour, soon.’
‘Well, what was all that about?’ Danny laughed incredulously as Louisa closed the door behind Jean-Claude. ‘I thought he was gay.’
‘He is. We were just holding hands, nothing else.’
‘Mmm, looked pretty intimate to me,’ Sarah commented.
‘Well it wasn’t. So what are you two doing back so soon, I wasn’t expecting you until the early hours.’
‘We’re back,’ Danny answered, ‘because neither of us could finish our meal we felt so mean about the way we’d treated you.’
‘So we came back to say we’re sorry;’ Sarah added.
‘It was all my fault,’ Danny w
ent on. ‘I’m a spoiled, selfish, egotistical, nasty, spiteful bitch, who took it out on you because it was raining.’
‘And I’m just as bad for listening to her,’ Sarah declared.
‘But we’re taking you wherever you want to go tomorrow night for a slap-up meal to try to make up for it,’ Danny continued. ‘And we’re not having any arguments.’
‘No, no arguments,’ Sarah insisted. ‘And you’re also relieved from cooking duties for the next week, Danny and I will share them.’
Louisa’s eyebrows were raised, her eyes were dancing with mischief. ‘It’ll do for starters,’ she said. ‘You do remember where the dishwasher is, don’t you, Cinders has a headache so she’s off to bed.’
‘The hell you are!’ Danny cried. ‘You’re not going anywhere until you’ve told us all there is to tell about Maurice Chavalier. Is he gay or isn’t he?’
‘You know he is. And apparently it’s how he managed to shake Mrs Name-Drop, by telling her that he and Didier were lovers. As you can no doubt imagine, she didn’t want them anywhere near her B-B-Qs after that.’
Danny turned to Sarah.
‘Don’t look at me,’ Sarah cried backing away. ‘I’m not pretending to be gay just to get Mrs Name-Drop off your back.’
‘Why not? It would get the dog off yours,’ Danny responded.
‘Yeah, well, I might just prefer him,’ Sarah said, turning up her nose as she looked Danny over. ‘Anyway, let’s get on with what we really came back for.’
‘You mean it wasn’t to apologize to me?’ Louisa challenged.
‘Of course it was, but we also decided that it was about time we did something about this godawful situation down here. We might not be able to change the weather, but our social lives we can. At least we think we can. Between us, you, Danny and I are going to do what we should have done before we left London and that’s call up everyone we know who has a house down here or might know someone who has a house here who could be worth getting to know. Because, what we reckon is that the in-people are a pretty exclusive bunch and we need some introductions. OK?’