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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

‘Doing well. On the mend,’ Rhi says. ‘Fabien will be here to tell you more. But I think Henri should be home soon.’

I walk back to the hut with Rhi and Lou.

‘What have you got there?’ I ask, indicating their bags.

‘Well …’ Rhi seems to lose her bottle, then recovers herself ‘… I thought that, what with me being a hairdresser, and always carrying my scissors …’ she tails off.

I gaze at her.

‘I thought,’ she says, suddenly shy, ‘that Alain might like a bit of a trim and a tidy-up.’

‘That’s a lovely idea!’ I say. ‘I’ll ask him.’

‘And she has me on nails!’ says Lou, looking terrified and appalled at the same time, clutching her bag of implements.

‘Thank you!’ I say to them both.

I go over and speak to Alain quietly, just in case he’d like to decline the offer, but instead, he is very pleased and I beckon Rhi over, followed by a hesitant Lou. She shakes Alain’s hand and I leave them together. Then I go back to the kitchen to help Stephanie. JB turns up to take over Tomas from Stephanie, and is shortly followed by a smiling Fabien, who joins Rhi and Lou, Rhi cutting Alain’s hair and Lou soaking his hands in a bowl of warm water, then placing them in her lap and rubbing them with a towel.

It’s almost a party atmosphere. I’m so pleased that everyone has been fed, and the tin is heavy with coins and notes. Fabien finds us and gives us a can of beer each.

‘To Henri,’ he says, as we touch glasses.

‘To Henri!’ we echo, as do many others.

‘Well, really! This is too much!’

Cora is standing there, furious. ‘I shall speak to the mayor! This has to be stopped!’

Alain stands up, his hair cut short, his long beard gone, his hands and nails clean. ‘Why, Madame? Because you say so? Because we don’t fit into your vision of France? We belong here as much as you do. And if you want a fight on your hands, you will get one!’

Cora stares at me as if I should be standing up for her, not encouraging the riverside-clearing population. Then she stalks away.

Lou looks as if she might pass out with pride at the transformation of a man whose hands she baulked at cleaning but has now tended carefully, helping him find the man he clearly is.

FORTY-THREE