Before Nanette could reply, his mobile rang and, with an apologetic smile, Mathieu turned from her and answered it.
Nanette closed the balcony doors, mouthed ‘goodnight’ to a distracted Mathieu and went to her room. As she undressed and hung her dress in the wardrobe, she heard the door of the apartment open and close, followed ten seconds later by the subdued noise of the private lift descending. Nanette finished getting ready for bed, wondering where Mathieu was off to so late in the day.
11
A dishevelled Mathieu appeared the next morning as Nanette was getting the twins ready to leave for school.
‘Morning,’ he said, helping himself to a cup of coffee and joining the twins as they ate their pain au chocolat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. ‘I’ve got to go away again this morning for a couple of days,’ he said to the twins.
‘What about our day out to Entrevaux?’ Pierre asked sulkily. ‘You promised you’d take us. We’re not going to have to cancel again, are we?’
‘Definitely not,’ Mathieu said. ‘I’ll be back for that, and the good news is that Netty is coming with us.’
‘Mathieu, I’ve been thinking about that and I need to talk to you about it,’ Nanette said.
Mathieu glanced at her. ‘Talk later. Right now, there are one or two papers I need to find for my trip and you two had better get a move on or you’ll be late for school.’ With that, Mathieu disappeared into the sitting room. Seconds later, he could be heard talking on his phone.
Nanette stifled a sigh. ‘Come on, you two. Dad’s right. Let’s go.’
Once she’d walked the twins to school and seen them into the grounds, Nanette took her time returning home. Walking through the small park behind the apartment block, she sat down on a bench overlooking a tiny fountain where the sparrows were enjoying the water and rang Patsy.
‘How are you?’ she asked when her sister answered.
Patsy gave a deep sigh. ‘Promise me you’ll stand up for me and give evidence in court when I’m charged with Helen’s murder?’
‘What’s she done now?’
‘You know how some women become “Bridezillas” when they’re getting married? Well, Helen has turned into the “Grannyzilla” from hell. She’s buying every mothering, parenting, healthy-eating magazine she can lay her hands on. Keeps telling me she’s worried because I’m old to be having a first baby – practically geriatric according to her. She’s joined a Granny forum on Facebook and now knows the name of every designer brand of anything baby-related. She’s continually giving me advice – and then contradicts it by adding she can’t believe how so much has changed from her day when, of course, it was so much harder.’ Patsy gave another deeper sigh. ‘She wants to be involved in everything. And I mean everything!’
‘She’s excited for you both,’ Nanette said. ‘You’ll be glad she’s around in a few months when you’re desperate for some uninterrupted sleep and she looks after junior for you.’ For all her interfering ways, basically Helen meant well and Nanette hoped that Patsy would eventually come to realise and accept that.
‘Well, I’ve told her she’s not being my birthing partner as I’ve already lined you up for that job.’
‘I bet that went down well.’
‘She still insisted I name her in my notes in case you’re unavoidably delayed, as she put it. Enough. How’s life over there in the sun? It’s raining here by the way.’
‘Life here in the sun is, um, let’s say interesting,’ Nanette said. ‘Mathieu’s business seems to be going through a decidedly “dodgy” phase, Zac is in town and knows that I’m here but hasn’t made contact, thank goodness. And JC took me to a do at the Hôtel de Paris, which ended in a bit of a disaster.’ Nanette quickly told Patsy about the photographer recognising her. ‘I’ve been psyching myself up to bumping into people who knew me years ago during Grand Prix time, but there’s still a couple of weeks to go before then. I simply wasn’t expecting it that evening.’
‘Did you hurt yourself?’ Patsy asked anxiously.
‘Just my pride really.’
‘The next week or two is going to throw up all sorts of memories and people,’ Patsy said gently. ‘Are you sure you can cope?’
‘There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?’ It was Nanette who gave a deep sigh this time. ‘It was my decision to come and I’m determined not to let Vanessa down. If it all gets too much, I can always take JC up on his offer of hiding away in his villa.’
‘Maybe that’s the answer,’ Patsy said thoughtfully.
‘In the meantime, Mathieu wants me to spend a day with him, the twins and friends up in the back country. If the friends are who I suspect they are, he’s not going to be happy when I refuse to go.’
‘Talking of the twins, how are they? Have they heard from their mum?’ Patsy asked.
‘Vanessa sent them an email and FaceTimed them the day they left Brazil for the jungle. There’s been just one satellite phone call since, which the twins were excited about. Vanessa promised she’d try and phone once a week, but it would depend on where exactly they are in the jungle.’
‘I’ve got to go,’ Patsy said suddenly. ‘She who must be obeyed has arrived. Sorry about my rant earlier. Talk soon,’ and Patsy ended the call.
Nanette smiled to herself. Helen might currently be driving Patsy mad, but she only wanted what was the best for her close family.
Slipping her phone into her bag, Nanette made her way back to the apartment, hoping that Mathieu would still be there.
Florence was busy vacuuming as Nanette let herself into the apartment. Because Nanette now had the bedroom Mathieu would normally have used as his office, he’d moved his computer, desk and a two-drawer filing cabinet into a tiny windowless area at the back of the sitting room that housed a small fridge and a drinks cabinet for when he was entertaining friends on the balcony.
She walked straight through the sitting room, and found Mathieu in his office watching the printer, waiting for the last piece of paper to join a freshly printed batch, whilst mumbling into his phone. He jumped visibly at the sound of Nanette’s voice as she said, ‘Hi’ and he hurriedly switched the phone off before turning to face her.
‘Please don’t sneak up on me like that in future.’
Nanette stepped back from Mathieu. Now was clearly not the best moment to bring the subject up, but she’d say it anyway.
‘I’m sorry if I interrupted your phone call, but I wanted to talk to you about this day trip to Entrevaux you’re planning for the twins. Is it the de Oliviers’ farm you’re visiting?’
‘Yes.’
‘In that case, I’d rather not go with you.’
‘Why on earth not?’
Nanette looked at him quizzically. ‘Why do you think? They were Zac’s friends and we used to visit them regularly when they lived up at Eze. I’m sure they—’
‘Would be very pleased to see you again,’ Mathieu interrupted.
Nanette shook her head. ‘I’d still rather not go.’