BooksBarbecue
Back Escape to the French Farmhouse Save as PDF
Chapters (79)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Jo Thomas
  4. DEDICATION
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. FORTY-SEVEN
  52. FORTY-EIGHT
  53. FORTY-NINE
  54. FIFTY
  55. FIFTY-ONE
  56. FIFTY-TWO
  57. FIFTY-THREE
  58. FIFTY-FOUR
  59. FIFTY-FIVE
  60. FIFTY-SIX
  61. FIFTY-SEVEN
  62. FIFTY-EIGHT
  63. FIFTY-NINE
  64. SIXTY
  65. SIXTY-ONE
  66. SIXTY-TWO
  67. Epilogue
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. RECIPES
  70. Lavender shortbread
  71. Apricot jam sponge cake
  72. Lavender lamb
  73. READ MORE
  74. Prologue
  75. ONE
  76. TWO
  77. THREE
  78. FOUR
  79. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

I stand in the little kitchen and look at the empty fridge. I’m on my own here now, doing this totally by myself. Soon people will be arriving, wanting to know the plat du jour, and this evening there will be hungry mouths to feed at the riverside clearing. I hold on to the fridge door and rest my head against it. I’m not sure I can do this. Then I think of Henri lying in hospital, fighting for his life. If he can get through that, I can get through this, I tell myself, and pull myself up straight. I collect the shopping baskets hanging on the cupboard door and head into the market, with no idea what I’m going to cook, but knowing that the place and its people won’t let me down. I still have no idea if Henri is going to be okay. Fabien has been in touch with Henri’s daughters in Australia and America. He says he’ll stay in touch and they’ll come over if things don’t improve. My memories of Mum and her stroke haunt me. There’s only one way I can get through this and that’s to throw myself into cooking for the bistro and the clearing. And I just hope that while I’m cooking Henri is getting better, not worse.

By eleven, everything is in hand. I go to the chalkboard and wipe off yesterday’s special, replacing it with today’s. Stephanie has been working hard all morning, JB at her side, Tomas handing out samples and eating them too. People are buying. Stephanie has done a lovely job of putting the biscuits in little paper parcels, tied with some ribbon and a sprig of lavender from the field. The tourists are loving them. I write on the board ‘Poisson de Provence’, soft white cod, sautéed with tomatoes, olives, onions, garlic and peppers, flavoured with herbes de Provence, including a sprinkling of lavender, of course. Simple but amazingly delicious. I dust off my hands, then put the board out for customers to see, feeling proud of myself.

I glance up and down the cobbled street towards the busy market square, then the other way, across the road at the top towards the brocante. Fabien appears, and my heart lurches. It’s almost as if I’ve conjured him up. I don’t know whether to turn and walk inside, as if I wasn’t hoping he’d appear, or stand and stare. Instead, I stand and look the other way, at Stephanie, my heart thumping, Fabien walking towards me in his battered leather jacket and bandanna around his neck, despite the sunshine. I can smell him before I see him. I turn, the sun catching in my eyes so I can’t see his expression. What if it’s Henri? What if it’s bad news? My heart is thundering now.