‘Oh,’ she said, feeling suddenly embarrassed at her sodden hair and half-nakedness. ‘Oui, j’aime, I like the water. It’s my first swim here though.’
‘Ah, but I like to come often in the summer after my work is done,’ he says. ‘But not so much the winter, eh. Mais il y a une association – a club you can join, if you wish. They like the water all the year.’
‘Er, thank you,’ she said, trying to keep her gaze on his eyes. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen a male torso before – the beach was littered with them. But having involuntarily imagined what Frédérique might look like under his shirt in the past (in her defence, notary appointments are long) she felt as if somehow he might be able to read that in her eyes. As it was, her imagination hadn’t been far off – he was just as tanned and toned as she’d imagined, albeit with the hairiest chest she’d ever had the pleasure to peruse up close.
‘Anyway, I will let you get back to making your sport,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’
‘And your casse it is looking good, eh?’
‘My what?’
‘Your casse?’
Had he seriously just told her she had a nice ass? ‘I’m not sure you should…’ she began… then thought better of it. ‘Sorry, I don’t understand,’ she said.
‘Your casse. The breakage – you damage the wall, yes? And it is now good?’
‘Oh, yes, thank you,’ she replied, feeling herself blush. ‘It’s perfect.’
Then in a move that was almost too French to be believable, he took her hand and kissed it. ‘Then I am ’appy,’ he said, seemingly oblivious to the swimmers that had joined them in the little enclosure and were trying to wend their way around them.
‘Thank you,’ she said, desperate now to plunge back into the water and hide her blushes.
‘And,’ he said, finally, ‘I fink we ’ave to celebrate that it iz fix, yes? Do you want to join me for a drink tomorrow to ’ow you say, faire une célébration?’
‘I’m…’ There were thousands of reasons why she should say no. Not least that she was still married and – against all odds – still held a tiny thread of hope that Ben might yet get himself on a flight. Then there was Claude’s warning – that Frédérique wasn’t such a good friend to women. And the fact he was selling her a house. And that he was the local mayor, so someone who would probably be in her life going forward whatever dating disasters might happen.
But before she could let her rational mind step in, she found the words ‘I’d love to,’ coming out of her mouth.
23
‘You agreed to go on a date?’ Emily’s voice on the phone was incredulous.
‘Well, I’m not sure if it’s a date, exactly,’ Lily replied. ‘But I suppose I’m open to it being one. I mean, why not?’
She was sitting on the front steps of the house, looking across the front garden and, beyond it, the road that led to the beach, coffee in hand. The air was cool, but the shards of sunlight that broke from behind the puffs of cloud held the promise of warmth. She took a sip of her hot coffee and felt it shiver through her.
Emily was silent for a minute. ‘But I thought you said you weren’t going to do anything until you were sure…?’
‘I am sure! Emily, Ben told me he didn’t think we should contact each other – surely that’s enough evidence that it’s over between us?’
‘I know,’ Emily sighed. ‘But I suppose… I mean, haven’t you ever sent a text message in haste? And regretted it? Or,’ she added pointedly, ‘clicked a button you didn’t mean to click after a few drinks?’
Touché.
‘Well, you know the answer to that.’
‘What if Ben’s desperately sorry? Has he tried to contact you since?’
‘Well, no. But I blocked him, obviously. I didn’t want to be tempted to call him if he isn’t interested in hearing from me.’
‘So for all you know, he’s been trying to get hold of you.’
‘Seriously, Emily. If he has, he hasn’t been trying that hard. I’m still on email…’
‘Lily, he’s a man. You have to be realistic about what he’s capable of…’
‘Ha. Well, yes. But seriously, Em, I thought you were all for my embracing a new life over here and anyone else who might come along?’