Page 24 of Love In Provence
She shakes her head. ‘I had the ingredients in the van. Thought I might at some point, but never did until now.’ She takes a handful. ‘It was tonight, Maria making that dish with the spices her grandmother used, the happy memories it brought her. It reminded me of this. Those early days when we were newly married, then taking the brave step to move to Spain. They were good years in Spain, running the bar. Busy. We were rushed off our feet. Barely had time for each other. And then I ripped a hole in our lives and left him for someone else. A moment of madness, some called it.’
Suddenly her eyes are full of tears.
‘He must have been special if you gave everything up for him.’
‘I thought so, at the time,’ she says quietly. ‘We hurt a lot of people and I regret that so much. My firsthusband, his wife and daughters. The guilt doesn’t go away.’
She reaches for a smaller bowl, scoops some of the popcorn into it, takes a moment to smell it, closing her eyes, then puts it on the table in front of me. ‘Help yourself. Would you like something to drink?’
‘Isn’t it me who should be asking you?’ I smile.
‘You weren’t the one who got up with a craving for salted-caramel popcorn,’ she says, producing a can of Coke, opening it and pouring it into two tumblers from the dresser. ‘This is beautiful. Did you buy it here?’
‘Fabien, my … partner.’ The word isn’t enough to explain what Fabien means to me. ‘He owns thebrocantein town. He took it over from his grandfather, saw the dresser and brought it here, rubbed it down and painted it. He has an eye for what works where.’ It’s so typical of Fabien’s style when it comes to repurposing old pieces that come into thebrocante.
‘And he’s … not here?’ She pushes a handful of popcorn into her mouth, some falling onto the floor that Ralph happily hoovers up.
I sip the Coke and shake my head. ‘He’s playing with what used to be his band. He hasn’t been with them for years, but the bass guitarist broke his collar bone and they needed him.’
‘Ah,’ she says, understanding. ‘That’s hard, himbeing away. It’s a busy time for you, and what with your friend Henri …’
‘Yes. I wish Fabien was here. But I’m also glad he’s doing something he used to love.’
‘At least you know it’s not for ever. He’ll be back.’ She smiles.
And that’s when I feel my insides start to churn, like a washing-machine. What if … what if he decides he wants to stay away? That he wants to go back to life on the road?
‘Here,’ she says. She tilts the bowl towards me.
I take a handful and put it into my mouth. Delicious. ‘Tell me about your husband – if you want to, I mean,’ I say to Jen, feeling some kind of comfort in the low light of the barn.
‘The first or the second?’
‘Either or both!’
She takes a deep breath. ‘Well …’
‘Wow!’ says a voice, making us jump. ‘That smells amazing!’ It’s Keith.
‘Sorry, did we wake you?’ We look guiltily at the popcorn pan.
‘No, no.’ He ruffles his hair. He’s wearing SpongeBob boxers and a matching T-shirt. ‘Graham was snoring.’
We fall silent and then we hear it. It’s like a warthog’s snorting.
‘You see?’ he says. ‘No one believes that a man with a beautiful face like his can snore so loudly!’
We laugh again. I cover my nose and mouth with my hands, as does Jen.
‘Join us,’ I say quietly. ‘We’ve got Coke.’
‘I can do better than that,’ he says. ‘I have vodka in our room!’
He slips back in. For a moment we hear Graham snoring, then the door shuts and Keith returns waving a bottle. Jen grabs him a glass from the dresser and he offers the vodka over our glasses. We nod.
‘Oh, God! This popcorn is amazing!’ he says, munching a handful, then washing it down with vodka and Coke. ‘This is like a sleepover party!’ He beams.
‘How’s your gap year going?’ Jen asks.
