Page 24 of Falling for Provence

‘You’ve been busy.’

‘Aye…’ Ellie was in the kitchen, pulling a cork from a bottle. ‘The plaster was starting to fall off anyway. I was going to plaster it again and give it a fresh coat of whitewash, but I think I’dprefer to see the stone. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ She came back and offered him a glass. ‘I hope you like rosé. It’s the only sort of wine I have at the moment.’

‘Merci…’ Julien raised his glass. ‘Santé…’ He shifted his gaze back to the wall. ‘I think you’re right,’ he said. ‘The stone will look much better in its natural state.’

‘It’s going to take me a few days to finish the job.’ Ellie shook her head. ‘Come outside. You don’t want to get this dust all over you. Pascal and I need a bath. I was just wondering how to do that when he’s got that bandage on his leg.’

Again, Julien followed the pair. ‘He’s not limping nearly so much today. We could take the bandage off and see how he goes.’

There were wrought-iron chairs and a small table on the terrace, and the glow of the sunset was caught by ornate Moroccan metal candle holders. Rusty holders, Julien noted. And the weeds amongst the stone paving were brushing his ankles.

Ellie had noticed what he was looking at. ‘One of my next jobs,’ she told him as she sat down. ‘Can you imagine how gorgeous it will be out here when it’s done? With dozens of candles glowing and maybe some fairy lights in the tree?’

It was Ellie’s eyes that were glowing right now, and it was impossible to look away.

‘Champagne on the table,’ she added. ‘With two glasses. And… a wooden board with a wedge of some lovely cheese and bread and olives…’

She was painting a picture with her words. A romantic fantasy kind of picture. Suddenly, it was easy to look away, and the noncommittal sound that he’d intended to make came out sounding more like disparaging.

Not that Ellie seemed to have noticed. ‘How rude of me,’ she exclaimed. ‘I’ve got some cheese. And bread… I don’t knowabout you, but I’m starving. We didn’t get round to stopping for lunch.’ She was on her feet again. ‘I’ll be right back.’

It would have been rude to refuse, but Julien felt less than comfortable at this turn of events. He took a long swallow of his wine. He’d only intended to speak to Ellie for a minute or two and then get on with his evening. There was a stack of medical journals on his desk that he wanted to read, and he always looked forward to sinking into his favourite leather chair in his library on the quiet Saturday nights when he had the house to himself. Sitting outside amongst weeds and rusty garden ornaments, having anapérowith his foreign neighbour had certainly not been on his agenda.

Curiously, however, as he drained his glass Julien realised he didn’t want to leave just yet.

What was it about this woman that was so intriguing?

She must have splashed some water on her face while she’d been in the kitchen, because he could see her skin between fainter streaks of dust – and some of those charming freckles that were an echo of the colour of her eyes. The smile on her face was satisfied as she placed a wooden board on the table.

‘There we go. I’ll just get the wine.’

Ellie vanished again, the dog still her shadow. Julien looked at the board. How could someone make such ordinary things, like thin slices of baguette, a round of cheese, a handful of olives and what looked like ham rolled into small cigar shapes, look like the most appetising array ever?

She held the wine bottle up as she returned, a silent invitation to have his glass refilled. Julien didn’t say anything, either, as he held his glass out. It was definitely too rude to refuse this hospitality now that Ellie had gone to so much trouble. Besides, he still hadn’t apologised properly for the way he’d treated her the night they’d met. He waited until she was sitting and had taken a sip of her wine. And then he waited a bitlonger, to let her use a slice of bread to scoop up some of the soft Époisses that was starting to ooze into a puddle on the board and then eat it. When she tilted her head back a little and closed her eyes with the pleasure of the taste, he found himself smiling. Finally, he waited until she opened her eyes again.

‘I didn’t explain properly,’ he said quietly. ‘About why I was so impolite when we first met. My mother had gone to have dinner and see a movie in Vence with a friend, so I was at home by myself with Theo. It’s not often that she can do something for herself like that, because I work at a hospital as well as in my clinic, and I am often on call. That can be difficult without someone else to help care for a child.’

Ellie was nodding. ‘My mother’s a nurse. She used to work in a hospital, and sometimes her shifts meant that my oldest sister had to look after us. She didn’t get to go out with her friends nearly as much as most teenagers.’

‘I wasn’t on call that night,’ Julien continued. ‘But there was an emergency at the hospital. One of my patients had a serious allergic reaction to a medication, and there was only a junior doctor available to manage the situation. It was very tense, and I needed to concentrate, so I took the call away from where Theo was watching a favourite cartoon. He was wrapped in his special blanket and almost asleep, so I didn’t want to frighten him with my tone of voice as I gave rapid instructions.’

Again, Ellie nodded. Her gaze was fastened on his face as she listened. Her focus made it seem as if what he was telling her was the only important thing in the world in this moment. As ifhewas also that important?

‘I can’t say how long I was on the phone,’ he admitted. ‘For a time, it looked as though the child might stop breathing. Might die, even. It took too long, anyway, and when I went back to get Theo, all I found was his blanket that had been dropped on the floor. I looked for him in the other rooms and I called out forhim but…’ He touched his chest, ‘I could feel, in my heart, that he wasn’t in the house, and that was when I began to panic.’

Ellie’s eyes had widened. It was almost as if she could feel that panic herself. Again, despite no evidence, he had the feeling that Ellie had an intimate understanding of what it was like to be a parent.

‘And then I saw that the back door to the garden was open. It is almost always locked, that door. I didn’t know if Theo had opened it himself and gone outside, or perhaps someone had come inside and taken him, so I was even more afraid. And then…’ Julien paused and took a deep breath before saying any more. ‘Then I saw him in your arms, and you looked as though… as though something was terribly wrong… and… and I heard what Theo said to you…’

‘He thought I was his mother.’ Ellie’s voice was no more than a whisper, and Julien thought he could see a shimmer of tears in those huge eyes.

‘His mother died,’ he told her. ‘When Theo was not even a year old.’

‘Oh…’ The intake of breath was a shocked gasp. ‘I’m so sorry, Julien…’

He liked the way his name sounded on her lips, with that Scottish lilt that made it sound very different to the way it did on the lips of someone who’d attended a prestigious school in London, as Sarah had. He liked the way she was still so focused on him, and it was easy to see that her instant distress on his behalf had darkened that golden brown of her eyes.

‘She must have been so young. What happened?’ Ellie pressed her fingers to her mouth as her expression morphed into chagrin. ‘But that’s none of my business. I do apologise.’

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