BooksBarbecue
Back Escape to the French Farmhouse
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

Hastily, I tell him I’m done. I have everything I need. I slip the leather-bound recipe book on to the pile. I stare at the bed, the chair – and the small round table, with folding chairs, that Fabien insisted I’d need. I’ll leave them in the house when I go so it’s dressed for any buyers wanting to view it. It may help to get a sale. He adds up the prices of the items, then deducts some because I’m such a good customer. All of it costs less than the settee Ollie ordered when we moved in.

Quickly, I pull out my purse and my bank card in case he changes his mind about the discount. For someone who feels we’re here to invade, he’s been very generous.

‘Oh.’ He looks at the card. ‘I’m sorry. My machine … en panne. Broken. Can you pay cash? I can knock a bit more off if that helps.’

‘No, it’s fine!’ I say. At this rate he’ll be paying me to take it away. ‘I’ll just go to the cashpoint.’ I point to the bank. ‘I’ll be back.’ I hurry out into the brilliant sunlight.

I think about Ollie and me as I go, realizing how we stood out in the town. We didn’t try to integrate, just arrived and hoped life would be as it was in the UK. I think about Fabien holding the dress against me and wonder if it’s obvious that I’m single now. Am I going to be wary of every man I meet, now I’m no longer somebody’s other half? I feel as if I have a sign over my head: ‘Newly Single Female’. The last thing I want is another partner. I just want to be me. Not a wife, a woman who couldn’t have children or who’s just lost her mother. I’m just not sure who me is.

I cross the road to the cashpoint and stand in the bank’s shade, enjoying the cool and letting the reality of my situation sink in once more. I have somewhere to sleep tonight, and eat. As horrid as it was splitting from Ollie, it’s over. We can both get on with our lives now. We need to find new paths away from each other. I have everything I need for the time being. Enough to be content.

I put my card into the machine and type in my PIN. The machine whirs and whirs and then the card slowly disappears inside it. I fumble for it but it’s gone. I try to read the screen but the message vanishes before I can. The bank has shut for lunch, and I hear Ollie’s voice in my head: ‘What kind of country stops for lunch?’ But my card is gone.

FIVE