Her grandmother was lying at the bottom of the stairs, and there was blood on the floor.
Immediately, Sebastian took out his cell phone and called an ambulance while Annie bent down and pushed the hair from her grandmother’s face.
“GiGi? Can you hear me?”
GiGi opened her eyes and smiled a very weak smile. “I think I fell.”
Relief washed over Annie. “Yes, I think you did.”
As her grandmother tried to move, she winced and cried out.
“Stay still,” Annie said. “Don’t try to move until the ambulance gets here.”
“Angelique? Can you tell us what hurts?” Sebastian knelt down beside Annie and her grandmother.
GiGi groaned. “Oh Sebastian, how embarrassing.”
“Nonsense. I’ve taken a fall many times in my workshop...” He smiled and squeezed her hand.
“Everything hurts,” she replied. “But I think my arm is the worst.”
“Alright, don’t worry, the ambulance will be here soon.”
Four hours later, Annie and Sebastian found themselves sitting beside GiGi’s hospital bed, smiling while she regaled the nurses with the full gory details of her fall.
She had broken her arm and had a cut on her head where she’d caught it on the banister, so the doctors wanted to keep her in for a couple of days’ observation. They also wanted to run some tests so they could make sure the fall hadn’t been due to anything more sinister than simply low blood sugar or feeling a little dizzy.
“Oh, I am a silly old woman,” GiGi said for the fiftieth time.
“Accidents happen,” Annie tutted. “Now, what would you like us to bring you from home?”
Annie’s grandmother reeled off a long list of items, then suddenly seemed to come over extremely tired.
“Alright, Angelique. We will fetch your things and see you later.” Sebastian patted her hand and stood up, gesturing to Annie that they should probably leave.
“Thank you,” GiGi said, softly. Then just as Annie began to rise from her chair, she added. “Annie... the festival. Mayor Debois was expecting me to call her with some arrangements. Can you explain what has happened? I’m not sure I will be able to continue organising it. If I knew how long they’d want me to stay in here–”
“Of course,” Annie said, patting her hand. “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll sort it all out.”
Back at the chateau, Annie burst into tears as soon as they crossed the threshold. Stepping towards her, Sebastian wrapped her in a large tight hug. “She’s alright, Annie. She’s going to be fine.”
“But if we hadn’t been here...” Annie pulled away from him, wiping at her tear-stained cheeks. “She shouldn’t be living here alone.”
“It’s okay Annie,” Sebastian put his large firm hands on her upper arms and gave a little squeeze. “I live just outside. I check on her every day.”
“But you shouldn’t be doing that Sebastian, she’s not your grandmother...”
Sebastian blinked and slowly took back his hands. His expression had changed and Annie felt as if she’d upset him somehow. “No, she isn’t. But she’s the closest thing to family I have. She has always looked after me, so I look after her as best as I can.”
Annie shook her head. “Of course you do. I didn’t mean to make it sound as if...” She stopped and took a deep breath, letting the air fill her lungs and calm her down. “I’m sorry Sebastian. It’s all just been a little overwhelming.”
Sebastian sighed and, for the first time – possibly in the entire time she’d known him – his face crumpled into an expression that made him look deeply worried. “If you collect the things she asked for, I’ll call the mayor and explain what has happened.”
“Alright,” Annie nodded and, as she walked towards the stairs, stopped and looked back. “Sebastian, what about your work? Surely you can’t just take an entire day...”
“My client will understand, she is a friend of your grandmother.”
Annie smiled at him, but she could see that she’d dented his feelings.
Sebastian’s parents had died when he was just nine years old, which was why he’d moved to the village of Saint-Sabran – to live with his aunt. She had done her best, but she hadn’t been particularly warm or loving towards him and Annie knew that Sebastian had always doted on her grandparents. She shouldn’t have reminded him that they weren’t his real family, and she wished furiously that she could take it back.
She opened her mouth to apologise, to try and make it better, but he was already walking away.
Annie had just finished packing her grandmother’s clothes and toiletries into a quilted overnight bag when Sebastian tapped on the door.
“Come in, I’m almost finished,” Annie called, folding a soft pink nightdress and squeezing it in beside a wash bag full of soap. As she waited for Sebastian to appear, she held her breath, praying he wasn’t still feeling hurt by her thoughtlessness.
But when Sebastian’s head popped around the door, he looked just as he always did. Handsome and smiling, he waved his phone at her. “I spoke with Mayor Debois.”
“What did she say?” Annie zipped up the overnight bag and jostled it onto her shoulder.
“She would like to come and talk with you.”
“Me?” Annie frowned. “Why?”
“She is very sad about your grandmother being hurt, of course, but also she is worried because so many people were excited about the festival.” Sebastian paused and rubbed the back of his neck. “She is hoping that you might...”
For a moment, Annie couldn’t figure out what Sebastian was saying, but then slowly it dawned on her. “She wants me to organise it?”
“Would you?” Sebastian asked, quietly, as if he didn’t want to scare her.
“I...” Annie’s head was swimming. A couple of days ago, she’d been in London, power-dressing and attending meetings with celebrity clients. Yesterday, her world had been thrown head-first into a whirlwind of emotion because of Sebastian and the chateau and GiGi’s talk of selling-up. And now, her grandmother was in hospital and the mayor of Saint-Sabran was asking her to step in and organise a festival.
Annie swallowed forcefully. “We don’t know how long GiGi will be in hospital for, Sebastian. She might be able to…” She trailed off. Sebastian was looking at her with his wide, sparkling blue eyes. Eyes that made it almost impossible to say no. “Let me think about it. I’ll talk with Mayor Debois. Of course, I will.”
“Great,” Sebastian’s lips spread into a knowing grin, clearly he was no longer upset with her. “I already told her you would – she’s coming by this evening.”
Annie put her hands on her hips and shook her head at him.
“Ah, I missed that look,” he said, his eyes taking her in, making her feel nervous and shy and self-assured all at once.
“We should get going.” Annie tutted and gestured to the door, trying not to smile at him.
“Yes,” he said. “We should. Shall we go through the village? Pick up some flowers?”
“Of course,” Annie nodded. “She’d love that.”
Downstairs, they locked the large wooden front doors and headed towards the garage at the side of the house. Annie assumed they’d be taking Sebastian’s truck, but when they got there he gestured to a small mint-green scooter and handed her a helmet.
Annie’s eyes widened as she took it in. “Sebastian... you did it! You got your scooter!”
“I did,” he replied, climbing on without bothering with a helmet for himself. “Quite a few years ago now. I use the truck, mostly. But the scooter is nice on a day like this.” He looked up at the cloudless sky then patted the scooter’s handlebars. “Want to drive?” he asked her, tilting his head playfully.
“Um, no.” Annie fastened her helmet and climbed on behind him. “I’ll leave that to the professional, thank you.”
“Okay then, off we go...” Sebastian zoomed out of the driveway, down the tree-lined entrance to the property and through
the large black gates that shielded them from the rest of the world.
The chateau stood on a hill – hence its name Chateau du Colline– and as they wound their way down towards the village, the breeze on Annie’s face was overwhelmingly refreshing. She breathed deeply and tilted her face up at the sun; this was what she and Sebastian had always talked about. They had dreamed of buying a scooter and setting off on adventures together... discovering all of the wonders that the beautiful South of France had to offer.
Back then, Annie and Sebastian had been rather bored with Saint-Sabran. They had ambitions to travel further, to the lavender fields, and the picturesque cities, and the Pond du Gard – a giant Roman aqueduct that teenagers often jumped from into the river, despite the fact it was far too dangerous. And Annie had always longed to visit Les Beaux du Provence – a town carved into a rocky hillside, with spectacular views across the surrounding valleys.
On the plane ride over, she’d thought about all of those things. She’d thought about hiring a car and taking GiGi with her to do some sight-seeing. But now she was here, on the back of Sebastian’s scooter, with her arms around his waist and the sun on her face, she didn’t care where she was. She didn’t care whether she was standing at the top of the Pond du Gard looking down at a wide sparkling river or simply riding through sleepy Saint-Sabran with the sun on her face – she could think of nowhere else she’d rather be.
As they approached the village, Annie peered over Sebastian’s shoulder and smiled. It felt good to be seeing it again.
Saint-Sabran was small but perfectly formed – surrounded on three sides by a wide, slow moving river, it was accessed by either bridges or a small one-car road. The buildings were typical of the South of France – tall, light stone, with blue shutters and Juliet balconies that housed colourful plants.
The centre of the village was made up of a collection of shops and restaurants that opened onto a square with a fountain in its middle, and this was where Sebastian stopped. Driving under the archway of the clocktower that stood at the head of the square, he pulled up beside the florist’s and told Annie he’d be right back.
A few moments later, he returned with a bouquet of sunflowers and handed them to Annie.
She beamed at them. “These are my favourite.”
“I know,” Sebastian said, smiling coyly. “This is why they are for you.”
Annie looked up from sniffing them. Even though they didn’t give off a scent, she just loved to breathe them in. “Me?”
“Ah, yes.” Sebastian was trying to seem nonchalant about it but Annie was sure that he was blushing.
“What about GiGi?”
As she spoke, a short middle-aged woman with black hair emerged from the florist’s. She was holding a purple orchid and said something to Annie in French as she handed it over.
“She says, ‘Can you manage?’” Sebastian asked.
“Of course,” Annie said to the florist, wishing she could make her brain work quickly enough to translate the phrase into French. “Merci.”
Handing Sebastian back the sunflowers, she asked him to strap them to the back of the scooter, along with GiGi’s overnight bag, so that she could hold on to the orchid. “She will love it, Sebastian. Thank you.”
Sebastian smiled, climbing back on in front of her. “No need to thank me.”
Annie smiled and, with the orchid tucked under one arm, wrapped the other around Sebastian’s waist. How many times had she dreamed of doing this when she was a teenager? How many times had she lain awake at night just wanting to be near him?
As they pulled out of the village square, Annie tightened her grip. At least for the next twenty minutes, she wasn’t letting go.
9
Annie
At the hospital, GiGi informed Annie and Sebastian that her stay might be a little longer than they first anticipated; her doctors were worried that the fall had been caused by a dizzy spell, and that a dizzy spell could be a sign of something more serious.
After hearing this, Annie was reluctant to leave her grandmother but Sebastian took her hand and told her everything would be alright.
Still, when they returned to the chateau they were both a little more subdued than when they’d left it.
Walking through the house, Annie headed to the sunroom to water her grandmother’s orchids. GiGi loved the one Sebastian had picked out for her and had asked the nurse to display it proudly on the reception desk outside so that everyone could enjoy it.
It was stiflingly hot in the sunroom. Outside, it was almost thirty-five degrees and the large glass windows seemed to magnify the heat. But, still, Annie sat for a moment on GiGi’s little indoor bench and breathed in the smell that she remembered so well from her childhood – earth and moisture and greenness.
When Sebastian appeared with iced tea, they headed out to the terrace. “Shall we go down to the pool?” he asked. And, for a moment, Annie forgot that it was empty. She pictured dipping her feet into the water and letting it cool her toes.
“The pool?”
“It’s shady down there, and there’s often a little bit of a breeze. The terrace is a sun-trap at this time of day.”
Annie nodded and followed him. Together, they sat on worn out wooden deck chairs beneath the shade of a large olive tree that Annie remembered her grandfather planting, looking at the waterless swimming pool.
“I’d give pretty much anything for a swim right now,” Annie said wistfully, resting her sunglasses on her nose and wondering whether she should have added another layer of sunscreen, despite the fact they weren’t in direct sunlight.
“Perhaps tomorrow we could go to the Lido?” Sebastian glanced at her quickly as he asked the question, as if she might say no.
“That would be great. Are you working tomorrow?”
Sebastian laughed and stretched out his legs. “Tomorrow is a bank holiday.”
Annie frowned. In London, especially in her business, public holidays meant very little. She worked evenings, weekends, holidays... in fact before coming back to Saint-Sabran she hadn’t had a day off – apart from Christmas Day – since they’d started the business.
“In France, no one works bank holidays,” Sebastian said with a smile. “In fact, maybe we could go to the coast? The beach will be busy but if we leave early...”
Annie hesitated and felt her nose wrinkle.
Sebastian, reading it as a sign she wasn’t keen, shook his head and looked down into his iced tea. “It doesn’t matter... just an idea.”
“No, I’d love to,” Annie said, dipping her head so that she caught his eyes. “I was just thinking about GiGi. It feels… I don’t know… strange to be going out having fun when she’s in the hospital.”
“She wouldn’t want us to sit here and mope for her,” Sebastian said gently. “If we go early to the beach, we can visit her on the way back…”
Annie tucked her hair behind her ear and bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted so badly to go to the beach with Sebastian. But the fact she wanted it so much was making her feel uneasy. She hadn’t been in many relationships over the years. Jeremy was probably the most serious and, even with Jeremy, she’d never once felt excited to spend time with him. But now, thinking about heading to the coast with Sebastian, on the back of his scooter, with the wind in their hair, was making her stomach flutter almost uncontrollably.
Annie took a deep breath. Then, totally at odds with the voice that was warning her not to get carried away, she said, “Okay, sure. The beach would be lovely.”
Sebastian grinned at her and clapped his hands. He seemed excited, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. He’d been the same way when he was a teenager... bubbling with energy and just so happy to be spending time with her. Annie remembered it taking her off-guard when they first met. She’d never known anyone who carried their feelings so openly and for a long time she’d almost been suspicious of it – until she realised that it was just the way Sebastian was.
Annie smiled, picturing the cl
ear sandy beach, the warm water, and the cafes along the seafront. “Can we get mussels and chips for lunch?”
For a second, Sebastian frowned at her. And then he let out a loud, booming laugh and slapped his thigh with the palm of his hand. “Mussels and chips? You make it sound so horribly British...” He cleared his throat and put on an upper-class accent. “In French we say, ‘Moules frites...’”
Annie blushed and pretended to pout. Sebastian had always loved making fun of her ‘uptight’ English way of saying things. “I know,” she said, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Moules frites...” she gave her best shot at a French accent. “Is that better?”
Sebastian grinned at her, then made an ‘okay’ sign with his thumb and forefinger, kissed it, and said, “C’est magnifique, Annie – very well done.”
As the sun began to set over the chateau, Annie and Sebastian had just finished eating a plate of fresh French bread dipped in gloriously rich olive oil when the front gate buzzed, announcing a visitor. Sebastian got up from the table. “It must be Mayor Debois. I’ll let her in.”
Annie nodded, straightening herself as if she should make an extra special effort to seem presentable. The mayor was an old friend of her grandmother’s and extremely important in their small village. Annie had never met her before – or if she had it was so long ago she didn’t remember – and when she appeared, Mayor Debois looked nothing like Annie had expected; she was extremely thin with a dark sun-kissed tan, crinkled skin, and long flyaway hair. She was wearing a knee-length linen dress and an enormous smile.
“Annie!” The mayor stepped forward and offered Annie the traditional three-kiss greeting, then she stood back and said, “Your grandmother has shown me pictures over the years, but you are so much lovelier in person. How old were you when you were last here? It has been a long time, yes?”
The True Love Travels Series Box Set Page 32