‘And ’oo knows? Per’aps when I marry your mother, I will be your father one day!’ he added, delighted with himself. ‘You will be my son, huh?’
‘Yes, well, that’s not happening at the moment,’ said Lily quickly, trying to minimise the damage without hurting either of them.
‘Ah, but I can dream, uh?’ Frédérique continued, unperturbed. ‘And I think it is easier for ’im to understand when he know that I am in love, oui?’
‘Well…’
‘Mais oui, mon coeur. It is difficult for a boy when ’e think I am just one of ’is mother’s lovers. That I am ’ere just to make love to you, to satisfy the desire. Children do not like to think of their mothers making love, huh? But if he think I may be your ’usband one day per’aps it is different.’
‘Bye then.’ Ty said and sloped off to the entrance, his shoulders hunched.
‘Bye, darling! Come again soon!’ Lily called after him.
Ty lifted his hand in acknowledgement, but didn’t turn around. Lily turned to Frédérique, exasperated.
But his face was so wide-eyed and hopeful and expectant and innocent that she didn’t have the heart to crush him. And there wouldn’t be much point in any case – the damage to Tyler’s imagination was no doubt already done. She would have to explain, gently to Frédérique that ‘lovers’ wasn’t a term they used quite so much in English normally. That it was too… graphic somehow. Especially when speaking about someone’s mother.
‘And now, I ’ave you to myself,’ he said, with a smile. ‘I am a lucky man, eh?’
‘Right,’ she said.
She followed him back to his car and plonked herself in the passenger seat, grateful, now the exhaustion of the last few days was catching up on her, that she didn’t have to seek out the train station.
But despite appreciating the lift, she knew she’d have to find a way to slow things down with Frédérique. She needed time to think, to process the news about Ben; to concentrate, too, on the house; on the business to complete seemingly endless paperwork. She didn’t want to end things – if they could really be described as having begun – but keep him at arm’s length, just for a while. Just until she knew what she wanted.
‘Per’aps we stop pour d?ner?’ he suggested as they drove back towards the city centre. ‘I know a restaurant – you will love it.’
She nodded. ‘Yes, I think it would be good. To be honest, Frédérique. I think we need to talk.’
In any of her past relationships, uttering those words would be a heads-up to the other person that what came next might not be exactly what they wanted to hear.
But Frédérique, unused to the subtle undertone, smiled at her.
‘It will be a pleasure,’ he said.
30
‘Thanks for popping over,’ Lily said, adding a drop of milk to the mug of tea she was making and squeezing the bag a little too enthusiastically. ‘Sorry, hope you like it strong.’
‘Thanks for inviting me.’ Sam grinned, taking the mug from Lily’s hands and gulping down at least half. ‘God, I needed that.’
‘It’s just nice to actually drink tea with someone again,’ joked Lily. ‘I mean, I like coffee, but…’
‘I know. My first month here, I didn’t sleep a wink.’ Sam grinned. ‘It took me that long to work out not to just order coffee, but to be more specific.’
‘Too much espresso?’
‘Yep. Plays havoc with my bowels too.’
‘Thanks for sharing.’
They watched through the window as Derek and Claudine rushed around the garden, jumping on the hundreds of molehills that seemed to have popped up overnight. As they watched, Claudine picked up a couple of handfuls of earth and began to pursue Derek with it.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Lily. ‘Shall we go out there?’
‘Oh, in a minute,’ her friend replied. ‘It won’t hurt him to get a taste of his own medicine for once.’
‘You’re the boss,’ Lily replied, watching Derek brushing earth out of his hair and turning to chase his sister for revenge. He raced off, laughing, towards the bushes.
‘Can I ask,’ Lily said, ‘why Derek and Claudine? They seem such…’
‘Different names?’
‘Well, yes.’
Sam laughed. ‘Very British and very French – we basically took turns to name the kids and it turned out this way. Still, even “Derek” sounds very continental when Gabriel says it. Sort of “Derique”.’
Lily laughed.
‘So, you think Frédérique took it OK?’ Sam asked, seemingly unaware or unperturbed by the escalating fight happening between her offspring.
Lily shrugged. ‘He seemed to,’ she said. ‘I mean, actually he seemed to take it really, really well.’
‘Well, that’s good, I guess?’
‘Maybe.’ Lily shrugged.
‘Oh?’
‘Well, he was so OK about it that I began to wonder whether he’d misunderstood me – my French is still terrible, so we rely on his English most of the time and it’s hard to know whether I’ve been clear enough sometimes.’
‘Ah, bit awkward then?’
‘Yes, and then I began to wonder whether, if he did understand what I’d said, I should feel insulted that he didn’t seem a little more bothered.’
‘Careful what you wish for?’
‘Exactly.’
Yesterday at the restaurant she’d told Frédérique that she needed to take things slow. That she wanted to keep seeing him, but that she wasn’t sure how she felt about anything right now.
‘So I will see you tomorrow after work, oui?’ he’d asked when he’d dropped her off.
At first she’d wondered if he was joking, but looking at his face had realised he was deadly serious.
‘Oh, no,’ she’d said. Then ‘I’m busy,’ she’d added, to spare his feelings.
‘Oh yes? What is it you are doing?’ he’d asked, interested rather than interrogative.
‘I’m… well, I thought I’d…’ She’d racked her brain desperately. ‘I think there’s some sort of music concert on the beach,’ she’d said, remembering a poster she’d seen. ‘A band of some sort.’
‘Ah, but that sounds lovely. So per’aps the next night?’
‘Yes, perhaps.’
This morning, she’d made herself feel better about the lie by ringing Sam and seeing if she wanted to come along. ‘It’s just a folk band of some sort,’ she’d said, ‘but I think it might be fun.’
‘I’ll have to bring the kids – Gabriel’s got some sort of cards evening at the local bar.’
‘That’s fine. The more the merrier!’ she’d said.
‘So, tell me about this party,’ Sam said now. ‘Assuming I’m invited.’
‘Of course!’
‘Glad to hear it. Obviously, I’d have crashed it otherwise.’
Lily laughed. ‘I just thought that it might be a nice way to, well, celebrate signing for the house and mark the fact that I’ve sort of made it habitable… just,’ she said.
‘Don’t forget surviving the loirs infestation?’
‘Oh yes. And surviving the loirs.’ She grinned. ‘But you know, more importantly to thank everyone who’s helped. You know, Dawn and Clive, Chloé, you, Claude. And my friend, Emily, might come from England.’
‘Sounds cool.’
‘Yeah, I think you and Em will really get on,’ Lily said. ‘You’re very similar.’
‘Which is a compliment?’
‘Which is definitely a compliment.’ She smiled. ‘Anyway, I just thought I could get a few people round – nothing fancy. Children too. Bit of a buffet. Some wine, of course.’
‘Well, that’ll guarantee the flat-earthers’ society turn up at least.’
‘Ha. Well, good. Like you say, it’s nice to have connections over here.’
‘Even if they are borderline insane?’
‘Even then.’
Two hours later, they set off to the beach, packing themselves into Sam’s car, which was full of buckets and spades and sweet wrappers, and smelled of ancient chip fat. ‘Sorry about the state,’ Sam said, as she brushed a couple of magazines off the passenger seat. ‘Keep meaning to clean it, but you know how it is.’
‘Don’t worry, you should have seen mine back in the day. Kids know exactly where to put their sticky fingers, don’t they?’
A few minutes later, they were parked and made their way to the lakeside, settling on plastic chairs in front of the ramshackle kiosk and watching the band set up on a stage that seemed to be made from old, nailed together pallets, painted black for the occasion.