Her Mediterranean Makeover

Her hair was okay, though. Well, her hairdresser had offered to touch up a few grey roots, but she hadn’t seen the point at the time, saying that they weren’t noticeable amongst her blond hair and her natural curls hid them anyway.

She chewed her lip, wishing she’d let the hairdresser work her magic on those roots.

But why? Did she see the point now? Was Jacques the reason for her out-of-character critical scrutiny?

No!

She hoped to see Jacques again, true enough, but only because he was someone to talk to. Someone friendly. So what if she looked her age? He did too.

Hmm, like there was any comparison. Men aged differently from women, and he looked great.

She sighed. If he was superficial enough to object to the way she looked, he wasn’t someone she wanted as a friend. She couldn’t help being over forty, and there was nothing wrong with that anyway.

Leonie pushed open the café door and was rewarded by the sight of Jacques, in another pristine white shirt, his dark suit jacket draped over the back of his chair. He rose to his feet and waved her over.

She sighed with relief. At least there would be no awkwardness such as deciding whether to go up to him or not.

‘Good afternoon, Leonie.’

He pronounced her name ‘Lay-o-nie’, with the emphasis on the first syllable. She was about to correct him, when she changed her mind. It sounded different, and she liked it. Different was good.

‘Hello, Jacques.’

Goodness, he was even more gorgeous than she’d remembered. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea?

But then he grinned, a grin so genuine and boyish it made her heart stand still. And she knew she couldn’t walk away.

He placed a chair next to his and held it for her. She gave him a questioning look. Why would she sit next to him like that?

He shrugged. As if he’d read her mind again, he said, ‘I thought we could read the newspaper at the same time. You can point out anything you have difficulty with and I can help you.’

‘Oh, but you don’t have to—’ She stopped, because it was thoughtful of him. She smiled. ‘Thank you. That’s a nice idea. I appreciate it.’

After she’d settled at the table and Jacques had fetched her a coffee, Leonie took her reading glasses from her bag and slipped them on. Then she watched Jacques reach into his jacket pocket and do the same thing.

Grinning, she said, ‘It’s a drag, isn’t it? A sign of old age creeping up on us.’

‘We have a lot of life in us yet.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe you do, but my best years are well and truly gone.’

He frowned. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘It’s a fact. I’ve been married, had my children, now I’ve turned forty and I’m heading towards…’ With a pang, she realised she didn’t know what she was heading towards. ‘Well, grandchildren, I guess.’

He made a scoffing sound. ‘You are not old enough to be a grandmother.’

‘Well, technically I am, but, more to the point, I wouldn’t like either of my kids to have children yet. I hope they’ll get an education and live a little before they settle down to raising a family.’

She sighed, looking away.

‘You miss them?’

‘I do. I miss them so much. Yesterday, I was seriously considering going home. This…’ she waved a hand meant to encompass the café, the city, the course…everything ‘…this is so not me. I’m a mother first and foremost, and I can hardly believe I’ve left my children to fend for themselves while I’m here, pleasing myself.’

She shrugged, then took her phone from her bag, flipped it open and brought a photo of Sam to the screen. ‘This is my daughter, Samantha. She’s the elder of the two.’

He smiled. ‘She is very pretty. She takes after her mother.’

Leonie’s eyes widened, just for an instant, but then she reminded herself that it was the sort of thing people said to be polite. He was right about one thing, though. Sam was very pretty. But she was sweet too.

With a proud smile, she nodded. ‘She’s a lovely girl. She’s studying social work at university. It’s always been her ambition to help people.’

‘You must have raised her well.’

‘Oh, no. It’s all her own doing. Even as a toddler she was like that. At kindergarten she used to get terribly upset if one of the other children fell and scraped a knee. Empathy. That’s her strongest trait.’

It felt so good to talk about her kids. Her fellow students were barely older than Sam and Kyle and had no interest whatsoever in her maternal ramblings. But Jacques didn’t seem bored.

He gave her an encouraging nod as she brought up a picture of Kyle. She turned the phone to face him.

‘He does not look so much like you.’

‘He looks just like his father did at the same age.’

Shane had been just the opposite of Jacques. Taller, and lanky. His limbs had seemed too long for him at school and he’d never really grown into them. Blond, with a serious face. It was the seriousness that had attracted her to him in the first place. He was different from the other boys at school.

Jacques gave her a curious look. ‘You said you had been married? You are no longer…?’

‘I was married to Shane for twenty years. Till he died. Three years ago.’

‘I’m sorry.’

She nodded. ‘He’d been ill for a long time.’ She took a sip of coffee.

After a pause, he said, ‘Three years is not such a long time. You must miss him still.’

‘Oh, I do.’ Yes, she missed Shane, and she always would, but she no longer woke during the night shocked to find he wasn’t there. She hadn’t done that for months now. She’d even taken her wedding ring off, and tucked it away safely in her jewellery box at home. She was getting used to being alone. ‘I do miss having him there to talk to about the kids, and to make plans with. Though, to be honest, we hadn’t really made any plans for a long time.’

She stopped for another sip of coffee.

‘Tell me about your son,’ Jacques said.

This brought a smile to her face again as she looked up, and she guessed that had been his intention.

‘He’s great too, but in a very different way from Samantha. He’s such a boy.’ Then, not sure that Jacques would understand what she meant, she went on. ‘He loves action movies and football and off-road driving with his mates. He drives Sam to distraction. When they were kids he used to torment her with creepy crawlies and the like, but he thinks the world of his sister and wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.’

Physically, at least, she thought. There was nothing Kyle or she could do to stop Sam being hurt by people who took advantage of her soft heart, as they’d discovered already.

Sighing, she lifted her head to look into Jacques’ brown eyes. ‘And what about you? Married? Children?’

He hesitated, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. After opening it, he gazed at it for a moment before turning it so that Leonie could see two photos. ‘My son. Antoine.’

She leaned forward to get a better look, and saw a boy who obviously had Jacques’ genes. ‘Oh, gosh, he looks just like you.’

And being in his father’s arms made it that much more obvious. But as she had the thought she also registered that he was kind of big to be carried by his father.

Shifting her eyes to the second picture, she saw the reason. In this one, Antoine was on his own, and in a wheelchair.

She looked up. ‘He’s cute. How old is he?’

‘Ten. These photos were taken a year ago.’

She nodded. ‘And the wheelchair?’ She could have ignored it, but that wasn’t in her nature. Her question was straightforward because she wanted to know the answer.

‘Spina bifida. He has no feeling in his legs.’

‘I see.’

‘And to answer your other question…’ Jacques paused, and put his wallet away before continuing ‘…I was married. Antoine’s mother left while he was still very young. We were divorced twelve months later.’

Leonie’s jaw dropped and for a moment she stared at him. ‘She left?’

He nodded. ‘She couldn’t cope.’

‘Couldn’t cope? But surely you could have got help?’

‘Yes, yes.’ He waved a hand. ‘It wasn’t the work involved, it was…’ He paused and cleared his throat. ‘She was a perfectionist. Everything in her life had to be one-hundred-per-cent perfect. In her eyes, Antoine was…defective.’

‘Defective?’ She spluttered the word, then pursed her lips for a moment. ‘Oh, my, I think it was better that she did leave if that was her attitude.’

‘Exactly.’

Leonie blew out a breath. ‘So, is it just you and him now?’

‘We live with my mother and my brother. It wouldn’t be practical for the two of us to live alone. Some aspects of Antoine’s care require more than one pair of hands, especially now that he is growing older and heavier. I couldn’t manage him on my own, and, besides, I have to work.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘At the risk of sounding…what is the word? Soppy. He is the most important thing in my life.’

‘It’s not soppy. I mean, yes, that’s the right word, but I understand completely. Like I said, I came very close to going home because I miss my two so much.’

‘What stopped you?’

Would he be shocked to hear that he had? Probably, but it was true. Not because she had any silly ideas about him, just because it had done her heaps of good to make a connection, however small, with another human being. It was such a relief to know that she didn’t have to spend her entire stay feeling lonely.

‘I didn’t want to give up on the course.’ That was true too. ‘I might not be very good at it, but I do want to improve. It’s supposed to be a really good course. It uses all the latest audio-visual methods, and language labs and so on, but I just feel left behind.’

He made a sympathetic sound.

‘Maybe it’s an age-related thing. If I was younger, I might be more receptive to it. I studied French at high school and I did quite well there, so I thought I’d be able to pick it up quickly. But that was a long time ago, and I was wrong.’

She sighed. ‘I wish I could speak it as well as you speak English.’

‘I’m sure you will, but it takes real-life practice.’ He drank some coffee and watched her over the rim of his cup. ‘Anything worth doing takes practice. Lots of it.’

Now, what had made her read a double meaning into his perfectly innocent words?

The fact that he’d maintained eye contact a little longer than necessary?

She dismissed the nonsensical thought, quite sure he hadn’t meant anything beyond what he’d said. And he was right. ‘I shouldn’t be speaking English now, should I? I should make an effort to talk to you in your own language. That’s the only way to get practice, isn’t it?

‘The thing is, whenever I try to speak to anyone here in French, they smile indulgently and proceed to speak in English. It’s…humbling. I’m obviously very bad at it.’

‘Don’t think of it as humbling, think of it as a compliment.’

She gave him a sceptical look.

‘No, really. They are pleased that you have made the attempt, so they are returning the compliment by saving you the trouble.’

‘Oh.’ She laughed. ‘I’ll never get any practice, then, will I?’

‘You can practise on me.’

She tilted her head. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’

‘Are you sure I’m not keeping you from anything?’

‘Not at all. I would have been here anyway.’

‘But you would have been reading your newspaper and I’m stopping you from doing that.’ She flapped a hand at it. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise. I have enjoyed hearing about your family.’

‘Really?’

His lips twitched. ‘Really.’ He waved a hand to bring her attention to the newspaper in front of them. ‘Eh bien, let’s begin. Look, there is an interesting story here on page two.’ He pointed it out. ‘What do you think of that? Tell me in French, if you will.’

She smiled before bending her head. ‘Sure, but it will take me a while to read it.’

‘I can wait.’

They read in silence for some time, then discussed the story. With Jacques’ encouragement and lots of laughter, Leonie stopped feeling embarrassed about her mistakes—and there were plenty of them—and started to enjoy herself, certainly a lot more than she’d enjoyed the lessons at the school.

They went on to discuss more stories, partly in one language, partly the other. An hour had gone by when Jacques announced that he had to leave.

Disappointed but determined not to show it, Leonie asked brightly, ‘Back to work?’

He nodded as he rose to his feet.

‘Do you mind if I ask where you work?’

Smiling, he said, ‘Do you know the restaurant La Bergamote?’

‘No, I’m afraid not. Are you the chef?’

He shook his head. ‘The owner.’

‘Oh. But if you own a restaurant, why do you come here for coffee? That’s a coals-to-Newcastle thing, isn’t it?’

‘A what?’

She shook her head. ‘Figure of speech. It just seems a strange thing to do.’

‘It’s a tradition. I enjoy the walk and I like to see my friend.’ He glanced towards Jean-Claude. ‘Also, it’s good to get away from tourists, just for an hour or so between lunch and dinner.’

‘And today you’ve had to put up with me,’ she said with a rueful grimace. ‘I won’t bother you again. I’ll let you enjoy your coffee in peace in future.’ She meant what she said, but she was already imagining how lonely she’d be without their conversation to look forward to.

‘No.’ He frowned. ‘Please don’t. I will look forward to seeing you here again.’

Was he just saying that to humour her? She gave him a direct look and he returned her gaze steadily. Either he was telling the truth or he had a very good poker face.

‘Tomorrow afternoon, yes?’

‘I guess so.’

‘I will be devastated if you are not here.’

‘Devastated.’ She laughed. ‘Yeah, right.’ But she appreciated his kindness. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’

He smiled. ‘Good.’ With a nod at her and a wave for his friend behind the counter, he swung his jacket over his shoulder. She couldn’t help noticing that he was quite solid, masculine. Not big, but even through his white shirt she could tell that he was well defined, strong-looking.

By the time he’d left, Leonie was feeling happier and more relaxed than she had since she’d arrived in France.

Jacques walked away, wondering whether he’d gone mad. He usually had to know people quite well before he told them about Antoine. He certainly never discussed his ex-wife. So, why had he opened up to Leonie that way?

Leonie had been surprisingly easy to talk to. His intention at the start of the conversation had been to make her feel comfortable so that she would relax and talk to him, but she had been the one who’d made him talk.

Well, in fact, they had both talked, and he now knew about her husband. He wasn’t sure whether she was over him yet. And he’d learned about her children. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told her he enjoyed hearing about them, but it was what her words told him about her that he’d enjoyed most. Her pride in them had been tangible, and pleasing.

He was going to take pleasure in helping Leonie to learn his language.

On Saturday, Jacques strode towards the café. He’d met Leonie each afternoon for the past three days, but today he was late. He lengthened his stride a little more. He did not want to miss her.

Just as he’d had the thought the café came into view and he saw Leonie walking away from it, in the opposite direction.

He called out to her, breaking into a jog. When she looked back and saw him, she didn’t appear angry or irritated as he’d worried she might. Instead, she gave him a broad smile.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said when he reached her, more pleased to see her than he had any right to be. ‘I couldn’t get here sooner.’

He stopped to draw breath and Leonie touched his forearm in concern. ‘What happened? Is everything all right now?’

Her sincere expression touched him too, but inside, throwing him off balance.

‘Yes. Yes, it is,’ he said, recovering his equilibrium. ‘Did you get my message?’

She nodded. ‘Jean-Claude told me you’d been held up. That was thoughtful of you, to call the café. When it got so late, I decided you weren’t coming at all today.’

‘I wasn’t sure I’d get here in time. Where are you going? Back to your apartment?’

‘No. I’m staying over there.’ She gestured vaguely. ‘Not far from Place Garibaldi, in Rue Saint Augustin.’

It struck him that they’d come a long way in a few days. At the beginning, she wouldn’t have told him where she lived, which was good—he didn’t like to think of her being vulnerable to unscrupulous people who might take advantage of her kindness. She didn’t deserve to be ripped off. But today, she hadn’t hesitated to reveal her address…as if she trusted him.

The thought gave him a jolt.

‘I was just going for a walk,’ she said. ‘Nowhere in particular.’

‘May I join you?’

‘Yes, of course, but are you certain you wouldn’t rather go back?’ She pointed to the café. ‘Don’t you want a coffee?’

He shook his head and turned in the direction she’d been walking, adjusting his steps to match her shorter ones as they set off.

‘It was one of my kitchen staff,’ he said. ‘She has been having problems with her husband and she made the decision to leave him.’

‘Oh?’

For the first time, a look of disapproval crossed her face. Perhaps she found it hard to accept that not all marriages were as long and happy as hers had been. But it was a sad fact of life that some marriages were not made in heaven. His own included.

He shook off the bad memory before it could spoil this pleasant moment with Leonie.

‘He was violent,’ he said. ‘She made the right choice.’

‘Oh, I see. Of course she did. That’s awful.’ Her forehead creased. ‘But how were you involved?’

He shrugged. ‘She needed someone to help move her belongings out of the house while her husband was at work. She needed to find a safe place for her children and herself to stay where he is unlikely to find them.’

‘She has children?’ Biting her lip, she frowned. ‘Did she find somewhere to stay?’

‘Yes. She’s safe now.’

‘Oh, good.’ She blew out a breath. ‘You helped her do all this?’

He nodded. ‘Someone had to. It took a little longer than I expected.’

‘For what it’s worth, I think you did absolutely the right thing.’ After a hesitation, she said, ‘Is she your girlfriend?’

‘No! Of course not. I told you, she is married.’

‘I don’t think that would stop everyone.’

‘It would stop me.’

She gave him a doubtful glance.

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘Of course I do. But I don’t understand why you felt obliged to help.’

He shrugged. ‘She has no one else.’

Smiling, she shook her head. ‘You’re a nice man, Jacques.’

‘Let’s go this way.’ He touched her elbow with one hand as he pointed with the other. Embarrassed, he drew her attention to the baroque architecture of the church in front of them.

He watched her as she looked up at the building. She might be over forty, but she was quite beautiful, and not at all aware of the fact.

He’d noticed her as soon as she’d entered Jean-Claude’s café that first day with the light from the door shining through her blond curls and making a striking picture. Then she’d turned her gaze on him and it was so direct, so frank, that he’d been taken aback for a second or two.

Hers wasn’t the classical beauty he’d always preferred, but she had a charming, expressive face, a genuine smile and eyes as blue as the Mediterranean, eyes that warmed at the slightest mention of her children.

She seemed surprised to find herself here playing truant from her role as a mother. Leonie, it seemed, had never taken time for herself and was long overdue for a break. As they moved on she stared up at the pastel-coloured façades of the buildings they were passing.

‘Why did you choose to stay in Vieux Nice?’

‘The old town? Well, I thought it would be full of character. And it is. These buildings…they’re so tall and thin and so close together. It’s as if they’re reaching up for the sun.’

Jacques chuckled. ‘You have a point.’

‘But they’re so pretty too. I love all the shutters on the windows. They’re like eyelids.’

‘Eyelids?’ He frowned, wondering whether he’d misunderstood the meaning of the English word, but then he realised what she meant. ‘Eyelids. That’s different.’

‘It’s colourful and cheerful.’

He nodded. ‘It’s a popular area now. At one time it was crime-infested and poverty-stricken, but it’s changed. There has been a lot of restoration work to preserve its architecture, and urban regeneration has encouraged the young, trendy people to move in. In fact, the further east you go in Nice, the younger the population becomes.’

‘Oh.’ Leonie laughed. ‘I didn’t know that. Perhaps I should have chosen the other end of town.’

‘I didn’t say it for that reason. You are not old, Leonie. You have to stop talking of yourself that way.’

‘Why? It doesn’t bother me.’

It bothered him. She was a vibrant, beautiful woman, and her age was an irrelevant number. ‘Besides, it’s not all young people. There are some lifelong residents here too.’

‘Yes, I’ve seen some older people. There’s a lady who always sits at the window opposite mine.’

They continued walking through the labyrinth of streets packed with shops, galleries and bistros. Leonie stopped to look into a store selling handmade toys and puppets, then they made their way to the Quai des États-Unis where they stopped to gaze at the glimmering sea.

‘That ferry is going to Corsica,’ he said, pointing at a yellow ship.

She nodded, shading her eyes from the high afternoon sun as she followed its progress. ‘Do you have to get back to the restaurant now?’

He frowned at his watch, wishing it would slow down. ‘Soon. I have time to walk back with you, though.’

‘Don’t let me delay you.’ She turned to him with a smile. ‘I can find my own way back. Sort of. Well, I might take a detour or two, but I’ll get there eventually.’

He watched her for a moment, the wind blowing her curls into a chaotic mess, then shook his head. ‘I’d like to walk back with you, if you’re ready to go.’

‘Sure.’ She gave him one of her beaming smiles.

‘Have you visited the flower market?’ he asked as they turned.

‘No. I’ve heard about it, but apparently you have to be there early and I’m at the school every morning.’

‘Sunday too?’

She shook her head. ‘There are no classes on Sunday.’

‘Then you should see it. The best time is around six o’clock while the tourists are still in their hotel rooms.’

‘Six! All right, I’ll set my alarm and make sure I do.’

‘I could collect you, if you like.’

‘Really? Would you?’

‘Of course.’ The idea of spending the morning with her appealed, and her happy smile warmed him.

‘What a lovely idea. I’d really like that.’

He nodded. ‘I would too.’

And he meant it. It had been a long time since he’d found a woman’s company so enjoyable. It had been a long time since he’d known a woman like Leonie. If he ever had.

Chapter Three

LEONIE was watching from her little balcony when Jacques turned into the Rue Saint Augustin just before six o’clock. With a smile at her earlyrising neighbour across the street, who surprised her by smiling back, she closed the doors and hurried downstairs to meet him.

‘Bonjour, Leonie.’

A little thrill ran through her at the way he said her name and she grinned at him. ‘Bonjour, Jacques.’

She slipped on her sunglasses, and felt a lot younger than her years as they made their way to the market, chatting about all sorts of things. There was an ease between them that was reassuring, but at the same time amazing. On the one hand, it felt as if she’d known him for ages, but, on the other, everything she learned about him was new and intriguing.