She and the bodyguard drove past Deauville after lunch, and she noticed a large Norman farm on the other side of the road, with tall old trees around it. There was a small sign that said it was for sale. She asked the bodyguard to drive up the long driveway, there was a high wall surrounding the property and an iron gate standing open. There was a beautiful old farmhouse inside the walls, and a stone cottage near the gate. She looked around, and an old caretaker came out to ask what they wanted. Theo asked him about it, and he said that the property was for sale. The elderly couple who had lived there had died, and their children didn’t want it. They all had left France and lived abroad now and weren’t planning to return to France, so they were selling it.

“May I look around?” Theo asked. She had a strange feeling being there, as though she had been led there by some inexplicable force. He asked if she wanted to look inside the house, and she said yes.

It was beautiful and charming with heavy wood beams and a wood-paneled dining room. There were fireplaces everywhere and an old-fashioned kitchen. It needed to be modernized, but it was big and rambling and comfortable, the kind of place you’d want to come to on a weekend. Theo could see the ocean from the master bedroom.

She thanked the caretaker and wrote down the number of the realtor, to call him on Monday. She thought about the house all the way back to Paris. The rooms had been sunny and just needed a fresh coat of paint in light colors. It was a house to fill with friends or children or to spend time in alone. It was the perfect counterpoint to a city existence, where you could get away from all the pressures of a fast-moving urban life. The house she had seen was a place to slow down, look at the ocean, and smell the sea air.

She was still thinking about it on Monday when she got to her office, and called the realtor. The price was absurdly low, given the area and how popular Normandy was. It needed work but she had the feeling it could be turned into a magical place, and the stone cottage at the gate could house all the bodyguards she needed.

—

Mike called her that night. He had just seen the doctor and he was cleared to travel in two weeks. He couldn’t wait to see her, and he had another month off from work to recuperate if he needed it, which he said he didn’t. He felt fine.

“You sound dangerous,” she said and laughed. She knew what he had in mind the minute he got there. They hadn’t made love in almost two months, since his last trip to Paris. Spring was in the air, and she couldn’t wait to see him.