“So we climbed up into our old treehouse – the one Grandpa built us.”
“And we waited there, talking about our dreams…” Sebastian’s eyes were searching Annie’s face. Did he just move a little closer? Or was she imagining it?
“And you asked me…” She stopped. The words trailed off and became nothing more than a small, delicate sigh that escaped her lips before she could stop it.
Sebastian put down his wine glass and, this time, Annie knew he really was leaning in closer. He reached out and took her glass, resting it beside his while not – even for a second – taking his eyes away from hers. And then, just as he had back then, he traced his index finger ever-so-gently down the side of her face. “I asked you to be my girlfriend. And you said–”
“I said…” Annie smiled at the memory, her cheeks flushing as she pictured sixteen-year-old Annie in her denim shorts, trying to play it cool. “I said, ‘I’m not sure I can decide… until you kiss me.’”
Sebastian’s lips curled into a grin that dimpled his cheeks. “And the kiss was what persuaded you to say yes?”
Annie tilted her head to the side and nibbled the corner of her lower lip. “Hmmm. I actually can’t quite remember…”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at her, clearly unsure of what she was about to say.
She breathed in deeply, forcing herself to be bold. “Maybe you should refresh my memory?”
Sebastian looked at her. His eyes seemed even bluer than she remembered. She wanted to lose herself in them. She wanted him to kiss her and wind back the years and pretend they hadn’t spent so long apart. But just as she thought he was finally going to sweep his lips across hers – he stood up and walked over to the window.
“Sebastian?” Annie’s skin felt hot and prickly, and not in a good way. Embarrassment crawled up her throat and made her voice come out as nothing more than a whisper. “I’m so sorry... I misread the situation. I thought...”
When Sebastian turned around, his usual laid back smile had vanished. He lifted both arms and put his hands behind his head, jutting out his elbows and letting out a heavy sigh. “Annie...”
Annie stood up, because it felt strange to be sitting when Sebastian looked like he was about to start pacing up and down, and waved her hands at him. “Please, it’s alright. You don’t have to say anything. I shouldn’t have... I mean, of course you don’t want to kiss me.” She laughed and shook her head, looking down at her unshapely clothes. “Look at me,” she shrugged, “I’m a mess. And I broke your heart. I ignored you for over a decade, and I live in London now, and–”
Sebastian stopped her by stepping forward and taking her hand in his. “Annie. Are you kidding? I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you more than anything in the world.” He tugged playfully at the hem of her t-shirt. “Especially dressed like this.” He was smiling, but then his smile wavered. “But you’re right. You did break my heart. And I’m not sure I’m brave enough to let it be broken again.”
Annie felt tears welling up behind her eyes. She wanted to look away or tell him that she broke her own heart too. She wanted to tell him that she’d thought of him almost every day they’d been apart and that the moment she saw him again she knew she would fall for him all over again, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t make herself say it. So, instead she pulled away from him, wrapped her arms around herself and said, “I understand.”
Annie woke in Sebastian’s bed. She was still wearing his scruffy joggers and his white t–shirt, and could see him asleep in the hammock. She had barely slept. The howling of the wind and the rain had kept her awake until the early hours of the morning, and she was pretty sure Sebastian had been awake too; although neither of them had spoken, she had felt him there.
So many times, she’d wanted to call his name so that they could lie beside one another and talk. So that she could tell him how she really felt. But she hadn’t. And he hadn’t either.
Beyond the window, early morning sunlight was dancing on the leaves of the trees outside. The living space Sebastian had created was nothing short of beautiful, and Annie’s stomach swirled viciously as she thought of him having to leave it.
She got up and tip-toed downstairs, walking over sawdust and soft sandy wood to Sebastian’s unfinished kitchen. After several attempts, she managed to fire up the hot plate and boil some water. Then she made two strong black coffees and headed back upstairs.
When she emerged, she saw that Sebastian was no longer in the hammock – he was outside. At the far side of the room, the wrap-around floor-to-ceiling window now had a door-shaped opening and Annie noticed a balcony that she hadn’t seen last night in the darkness of the storm. Sebastian was standing on it, looking out towards the village.
Annie stepped barefoot out onto the balcony and handed Sebastian a mug of coffee.
“Merci,” he replied, immediately taking a sip despite the fact it was still far too hot.
“Did you sleep?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Ah, a little. Did you?”
“A little.”
“Annie...” He wasn’t looking at her. Usually he was open, friendly, totally unashamed to wear his heart on his sleeve. But this morning something was different. Annie had tried to kiss him and he had refused; she was the one who should be feeling awkward. And yet, Sebastian was the one behaving differently.
“Mmm?”
“Last night...”
Whatever Sebastian was about to say was drowned out by a series of shouts from just beyond the trees. “Annie?! Annie?!”
“Jeremy?” Annie looked down and squinted at the path that led from the lawn to the old stable.
Below them, Jeremy appeared. He was still wearing his suit, and when he spotted them he waved stiffly. “Are you alright?” he called.
Annie glanced at Sebastian, then back at Jeremy. “I’ll be down in a second. Wait there.”
When she opened the door and stepped outside, Jeremy looked her up and down – immediately noticing that she wasn’t wearing her own clothes.
“Sebastian lent them to me. Mine were soaked in the storm.”
“The chateau is okay, but a couple of trees seem to have come down on the driveway. Power’s back though. And your grandmother is fine.”
“Thank you.” Annie scuffed the floor with her toe. “Thank you for looking after her.”
Jeremy shrugged.
“I suppose you used the time to convince her that your friend Charles is the chateau’s best hope of survival?”
“I didn’t need to convince her, Annie. She’d already decided. You know that.”
Annie shook her head and folded her arms in front of her chest. “This is all my fault. I should never have told you she was in trouble.”
“Annie, listen. I know you think I’m the Big Bad Wolf here, but believe it or not I was trying to help you. I know I behaved like an idiot. I am an idiot. But I’m still your business partner and we need you back in London.”
Annie couldn’t help herself, she actually laughed. “Wow. Once again, Jeremy, your motives are faultless... there was me thinking you’d gone to all this trouble to help my family. Slightly misguided trouble, but still trouble. But really, you did it because you need me to come back to work.”
Jeremy looked at her with wide eyes, as if he genuinely couldn’t understand what the problem was. “Well, yes. Of course. Annie, I still care about our business – even if you seem to have forgotten about it. We set up the agency because we wanted to be important, we wanted to have our names on something fantastic, we wanted to have a luxurious lifestyle and feel proud of what we’d achieved. I still want that. And I think, deep down, you do too.” Jeremy glanced over Annie’s shoulder at the old stable. “All this is very lovely, for a summer vacation. But it’s not you.” He paused and caught her eyes with his. “It’s not you Annie.”
Annie felt her mouth drop open. She was speechless. She wanted to tell Jeremy how wrong he was, but a little voice in the back of her head was saying, Is he? Is he
wrong?
Yesterday morning, she thought she wanted nothing more than to stay in France with Sebastian. She thought they could run the chateau together. She thought they could make it work. But Sebastian had rejected her. She had asked him to kiss her and he had refused. And GiGi had decided to sell the chateau. And now Annie was utterly confused.
Was Jeremy right? Was upending her life and moving to France simply a lovely idea, and an impractical reality? Like it had been when she was a teenager?
She’d backed out once before – she had returned to England, finished school, attended a great university, started a great business and created the kind of life most people would be jealous of. And she’d enjoyed it.
So, perhaps Sebastian and the chateau were meant to stay in the past? Perhaps they were nothing more than tantalising what-ifs?
She sensed movement behind her and turned to see Sebastian leaning inside the doorframe of the stable, coffee in hand, watching them. Her stomach somersaulted uneasily, as if somehow Sebastian might have been able to read her thoughts.
“We should go up to the chateau and call the mayor. Check on the village.” He spoke slowly, ignoring Jeremy completely.
“Of course,” Annie breathed, suddenly remembering the date. “The festival... we need to know if it can go ahead.”
30
Sebastian
They walked up to the chateau in silence.
Sebastian hadn’t slept for more than a few fitful moments all night. He just lay there, staring at the ceiling, feeling the closeness of Annie just feet away from him, and replaying the evening over, and over, and over in his mind.
He had stopped her. She had wanted to kiss him and he had pushed her away.
And now, after the way she looked at him when she brought him coffee on the balcony, he was certain he’d never get the chance again. He had blown it.
He’d been so close to a second chance with her. But he’d gotten scared. And now she was slipping away from him, and he couldn’t see a way of getting her back.
31
Annie
In her room at the top of the chateau, Annie changed out of Sebastian’s clothes and back into her own. Looking out of the window, she could see the trees Jeremy had mentioned – two of them, blocking the driveway. Sebastian had tried to call the mayor, but hadn’t got through. So, they’d decided there was nothing for it but to walk to the village and check what was happening.
Downstairs, Jeremy, who spoke impeccable French, was wasting no time at all in progressing with the sale of the chateau and was already on the phone to a Solicitor.
Annie paused outside the door to the study and listened for a moment. She understood only snippets of what he was saying but could see that he was enjoying himself – the scent of the commission he’d been promised spurring him on.
When Jeremy spotted her, he stepped forward and pushed the door closed. Annie sighed, then heard footsteps behind her.
“Dear girl, don’t be sad.”
“GiGi?”
“It’s for the best.” Her grandmother kissed her on both cheeks, then clasped her hands tightly. “I am getting a good price. It’s a fair deal.”
“But you don’t have to take it. I was trying to figure out a way...”
GiGi smiled, her eyes twinkling just a little bit less than normal. “My darling, you have looked at the accounts. If there was a way, you’d have found it by now.”
Annie felt tears springing to her eyes. “But what will you do?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I expect I’ll move back to Normandy, to be near my sister.”
“But you don’t like Elizabeth. She drives you mad.”
GiGi laughed and tilted her head. “This is true. But she is family. And a change of scenery would be nice.”
Annie shook her head and wiped a smudge of tears from her cheek.
“But, Annie, the real question is – what will you do?”
“Me?”
Her grandmother glanced towards the front terrace, where Sebastian was waiting.
Annie sighed. “Nothing. There’s nothing for me to do. I’ll stay and help you pack up, and then I’ll go back to England.”
“And what about Sebastian?”
Annie lowered her voice to a whisper. “He doesn’t want me.” As she said the words, her stomach twisted viciously and her throat tightened.
But her grandmother simply tutted, loudly. “Of course he wants you.”
“GiGi, he doesn’t. He—”
“My darling. You broke his heart when you were teenagers.”
“I didn’t mean to, you know that.”
Annie’s grandmother raised her hand to stop her talking. “Of course I do. But you can see why he would be nervous to allow it to happen again.”
Annie shook her head and bit her lip.
“How can he take a chance on you again, if you haven’t told him the entire truth about how you feel?”
“I...”
“Annie, think long and hard about what you want. If it’s Sebastian, then tell him. It’s as simple as that.”
“You make it sound so easy, but how do I know if what I want is the best thing? How do I know it will work out? How do I know it won’t all end in disaster?”
GiGi smiled, so wide it was almost a laugh. “You can’t know – you can never know – but life is no fun if you always take the safe option. To find true happiness, you have to take a few risks.”
On the way to the village, Sebastian behaved as if nothing had happened between them. He chattered away, the same as he always did. He was relaxed and smiling, like he always was. And yet, Annie could feel the whispers of unsaid feelings between them.
As they reached the outskirts of the village, however, she was finally distracted.
“Sebsatian – the river. It’s...”
“Flooded.”
From the top of the hill that descended into the village, they could see that the river had burst its banks. It hadn’t reached the houses on the other side, but it had entirely swallowed the bridge.
“We’ll have to walk around, the roads to the South might still be okay.” Sebastian was about to march off along the footpath, when Annie grabbed his arm.
“Seb, look, it’s the mayor.”
On the opposite side of the river, Mayor Debois was standing close to the water’s edge, waving at them. She was holding her cell phone and, almost instantly, Sebastian’s pocket started ringing. Putting the phone on loud-speaker, he held it between himself and Annie.
“Good morning Sebastian, Annie. Are you both alright?”
“We’re fine. The chateau has some trees down but nothing bad. How is the village?” Annie’s muscles tensed as she waited for an answer.
“Many buildings have been damaged. Our beloved statue and part of the old church too. It will cost a fortune to repair it all, but I suppose mostly we are aright. Just a little... trapped. The river is flooded on all sides. A couple of footpaths are okay, but not enough to get vehicles in and out.”
“How long will it take for the water to subside?”
“Days, maybe a week.”
“A week?” Annie glanced at Sebastian. “If it was just a day or two we could postpone the festival but if it runs into next week...”
“It will clash with the big festival in Arles and we’ll have no vendors.” Sebastian finished her sentence for her.
“I’m sorry Annie.” The mayor really did sound sorry. “I know how hard both of you worked. But I don’t see—”
“Wait...” Annie spoke quietly at first, then louder. “Wait!”
Sebastian frowned at her. “Annie?”
“I have an idea. I have a brilliant idea.”
Back at the chateau, Annie was pacing up and down the terrace at the back of the house with a spring in her step that she hadn’t felt since her and Jeremy had first started thinking about starting the agency.
When her grandmother finally emerged from the house, Annie guided her to one
of the wicker chairs and said, “GiGi, the chateau is going to have one last night of glory.”
GiGi looked from Sebastian to her granddaughter. “Annie?”
“The village has been terribly damaged in the storm. The statue was knocked into by a falling tree. The church is in bad repair too. And the villagers can get in and out on foot but the bridges are flooded. ”
“This is terrible...”
“Which is why we’re moving the festival to the chateau.”
Her grandmother frowned. Then looked at Sebastian, as if she’d somehow misunderstood Annie’s English.
Sebastian raised his shoulders slowly, a hesitant smile on his lips. “It actually makes a little bit of sense when you think about it,” he said.
Trying not to speak too quickly, Annie continued. “It will take a week for the water to clear, and if we delay the festival until then it will clash with Arles. But if we hold it tomorrow night, here at the chateau, we can turn it into a fundraiser for the village. Use the money to help do the repairs that are needed. I’m sure we won’t raise a lot, but every little will help and it means that everyone who’s worked so hard preparing won’t be disappointed.”
“Annie, that sounds wonderful but... tomorrow?” Her grandmother looked out at the lawn. “We aren’t ready.”
Annie sat down and took her grandmother’s hands in hers. “GiGi, no one is expecting the chateau to look perfect. But in the evening, with some lights and some music... it will be beautiful.”
GiGi smiled slowly and nodded. “I agree it would be a lovely way to wish our old friend farewell but, Annie, twenty-four hours to organise such an event? Can it be done?”
Annie looked at Sebastian, then back at her grandmother. “You bet it can.”
The True Love Travels Series Box Set Page 40