Two Days in Biarritz (32 page)

“That would be great, thanks.”

The blonde girl led him up a flight of stairs but assured him that the lifts would all be working within the next week. The minute he walked through the doors of the apartment he knew that he was home – a refuge in the middle of all the chaos in his life. He walked over to the huge window that looked out onto Burrow Beach. He could clearly see the spot that he and Kate had sat only a couple of months earlier. He could wake to that view every morning.

He turned to the blonde-girl who had started to look at her watch.

“I’ll take it,” he said.

“Don’t you want to see the bedroom?” she said with surprise. The apartment certainly didn’t have the best view in the complex and the bedroom was tiny.

“Okay, but I’ve made my mind up,” he assured her.

“Fine,” the pretty blonde said. “I’ll pop downstairs and get the paperwork.”

Shane knew that this was where he was meant to be. There was something about this place that drew him like a magnet. Was he hankering after the past? He couldn’t pretend that he was over Kate. How could he possibly be when he thought about her now more than ever? Then he walked over to the window and tried to picture Kate sitting in the sunshine on the sand.

* * *

Kate felt strange as the plane descended into Toulouse airport. She didn’t get the usual tingle of excitement on touching French soil. She had come to enjoy the lifestyle in Ireland that was once so familiar to her. She liked Clontarf and she would miss her father sorely.

Fabian was waiting in the arrivals hall. Pristine and pampered like a turkey-cock. He waved wildly once he spotted Kate and the boys.

“
Cherie
,” he called. “Come to me Kate, I have missed you too much. How are you boys?”

He tapped them both on the heads and they grunted at him. He was something of an oddity to them and they couldn’t quite make out what was so different about him. He threw his arms dramatically around Kate and she kissed him affectionately on both cheeks.

“Thanks Fabian,” she said as he took the trolley from her. “How are you?”

“We have been, how you say…? Plodding along, doing our French thing. Joy and Simon are opening a B&B and my cousin is going to jail for dealing in narcotics but apart from that you have missed nothing.”

“Oh dear!”

“It’s okay, I don’t like him much. Now tell me, how was your mother’s funeral?”

“It went very well I suppose.” She sighed. “For a funeral!”

“And how is your father?”

“I have so much to tell you Fabian but maybe we can wait until we are at home,” she said nodding at the boys.

Fabian understood but wondered just what more shocking news Kate could possibly have.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours later with her sons absorbed in front of a computer game that Kate got a chance to talk to Fabian privately.

He poured himself a generous glass of red wine and placed a fresh glass of Perrier in front of Kate.

“So, tell me about Dublin!” He leaned forward across the kitchen table – all ears with interest.

“Fabian I don’t know where to start.”

“What about Shane – how is your great love?”

“Fabian I finished with him. I had to. I had to do what is best for him and Natasha.”

Fabian frowned. “What about what is best for you?”

“I just don’t know anymore! Caring for someone you love and watching them die is the hardest thing I ever had to do.”

Fabian nodded. “I can only imagine.”

“But the thing that really gets me is how little I knew about her life and the feelings that she had. Now that she’s gone I don’t have a chance to talk to her about them.” Kate thumped the table with her fist. “I can’t believe some of the things she didn’t tell me.”

“
Par example
?”

“This has been very hard for me to deal with but after cleaning out her personal belongings I found a box of letters from an old lover.”

Fabian raised his brows but said nothing.

“It turns out she had a long-distance love affair for over twenty years.”

Fabian’s expression gave nothing away.

“There’s more,” said Kate heavily. “That man Liam is my biological father.”

Fabian took a sharp intake of breath.

Kate nodded. “So that was something else that I had to deal with – of course I couldn’t let Damien see how upset I was with the news. I still feel he is absolutely my father but I am curious about Liam.”

“Why don’t you try to meet him?” Fabian said eagerly.

“Because, I’m scared. But believe me I’ve been thinking about it!”

Chapter 18

Annabel was all fingers and thumbs. She fixed her hair into a ponytail and then took it out again. She hadn’t been out to dinner on her own with another man since before she met Colin. Her little black dress was perfect for this evening and the Audrey Hepburn styling was very ‘this season’.

“Tell me again, why are you meeting Damien Carlton?” Lily asked.

“I told you Mum, he has a business proposition. I’m going to open a coffee shop.”

Annabel could see her mother shaking her head in the reflection of the mirror in front of her.

“I wish you’d have more faith in me,” she said turning around to face Lily.

“I don’t know what has got into you Annabel. Colin rang me earlier today and is keen to patch things up. Sam is in an awful state and Rebecca is wetting the bed.”

“Please don’t make it any more difficult than it already is for me Mum.”

“I just don’t understand.”

Annabel felt sorry for her mother. She was from a different time when it was alright for a woman to stay in a loveless marriage, under her husband’s shadow – for many women today it was still enough. If she patched things up with Colin she would be back to square one. It was only now that she was away from him that she realised how much he undermined her confidence. He treated her like hired help when he wanted a particular shirt ironed or something else done and he was never around to give the children any time. That was why she was so frustrated with Sam. She was the one who had stood at the sidelines on the cold winter mornings when he played his rugby matches. She was the one who had brought him and his friends to the movies and she felt she was getting no support back in return. But he was just a child, she had to remember, and this was part of the grieving process that kids go through when their parents split up.  Annabel wanted more from life and she was determined to do something about it.

“I’ll be back about twelve I’d imagine,” she said as she sprayed some Prada on her neck and picked up her little black handbag.

“I’ll stay the night,” Lily said.

“Thanks, Mum,” Annabel said, as she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

She dashed down the stairs, slamming the door behind her and jumped into her jeep. Two minutes later she was parking outside Aqua.

The waiter took her embroidered jacket as she arrived in the foyer of the impressive restaurant. “This way, Madam,” he said bringing her over the window where Damien was already sitting at a round table covered with a crisp linen tablecloth.

Damien jumped up as she approached and tried to stop his eyes from scanning the body of this beautiful woman. He was dressed in a pale blue shirt and chino jeans with a brown leather belt. He seemed more tanned than usual. When Annabel reached him he planted a polite kiss on her cheek.

“Hi Damien,” she said with a smile. The evening had a feeling of pleasure and ease about it before it even started.

“Hi Annabel, you look lovely.”

“Thank you.” She replied graciously. A tingle of excitement shot through her as she realised that she really was out for the evening with Damien. The man she had dreamed about for most of her young life and much of her adult life. She had to pinch herself to remember that he was only recently widowed and she must not read into this as anything more than a business meeting.

She sat and the waiter handed her a large brown leather menu.

“The view is spectacular, isn’t it?” she said, looking out at the twinkling lights from the village and fishing boats reflecting on the water.

“I love it here.” He nodded.

The setting was beautiful, the scene perfect for a couple who were once attracted to each other to rekindle their feelings but Annabel felt awkward and painfully aware of Betty’s presence hanging over them.

“How have you been?”

Damien swallowed and put the closed menu down on the table. “Honestly?”

Annabel nodded.

“I’m lost and lonely. Kate cleaned out Betty’s things and gave them to the St Vincent de Paul. I wish she hadn’t but it was under Betty’s instructions.

“Has Kate gone back to France?” Annabel desperately wanted to hear news of her friend.

“She went yesterday.”

“How is she?” Annabel leaned forward on her elbows hanging on his reply.

“She’s well, considering,” he paused for a moment. “Actually she has a bit of news. It came as a shock – she’s pregnant.”

Annabel was taken aback. “When? How?”

“Apparently it was some chap she met when she was in
Biarritz.”

“Brett?” Annabel’s mouth dropped open.

“Was that his name?”

Annabel nodded. “What’s she going to do? Has she tried to contact him?” She wondered how she would find him as it seemed he trekked around the world.

“She said there’s no point in contacting this fellow. She is all over the place, Annabel. I don’t think she has thought any of this through. I mean she already has the boys to look after and she’s on her own now.”

Annabel nodded. She found it difficult coming to terms with life on her own since Colin had moved out. Strange that for the first time in their lives she and Kate were in difficult situations. It was such a pity that they didn’t have each other for help and support anymore.

“So what about herself and Shane?” she asked.

“She finished with him.”

Annabel shook her head in disbelief.

“Oh my goodness! Poor Kate! So much to cope with.” Then she placed her hand gently on top of Damien’s. “And that can’t have been easy for you.”

“I’m worried about her to be honest with you. It’s been hard for her nursing Betty these past few months and she carried the knowledge that she was pregnant silently in the midst of all the mayhem.”

Annabel couldn’t imagine having to cope with so many ordeals at the same time.

“Maybe I could try ringing her again.”

“That would be good of you,” he said with concern. “I feel she needs a woman to talk to. I also told her about her biological father so she has a lot on her plate.”

“That can’t have been easy, Damien,” she said placing her hand gently on top of his.

Damien leaned forward on his elbows.

“So, how are you doing?”

“I am keen to go ahead with the separation even though I am getting negative vibes from all around me.”

The waiter came over and placed the wine list down on the table in front of Damien.

“Would you like red or white?” he asked Annabel as he glanced quickly at the list.

“White if that’s okay with you,” she nodded.

“The Pouilly Fumé, please,” Damien nodded to the waiter. “What’s happening with Colin?”

“The kids are very upset naturally that he has left. It’s a difficult time for everyone.”

“Is there any chance of reconciliation?”

“Not the way I am feeling at the moment,” Annabel replied firmly. “So tell me more about Kate.”

“I’m seriously worried about her. She’s going to have this baby and she wants to take the boys out of boarding school so she will be on her own with three children. I wish I could help her.”

They were interrupted by Annabel’s mobile-phone ringing. She excused herself and answered it, hoping the children were alright.

“Annabel?” A man’s voice asked.

“Yes.”

“This is
Gary from the market. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

This was a surprise. Annabel shifted around awkwardly in her seat and turned her head away from her companion. “Hi, I’m having dinner actually, it’s okay, what can I do for you?” Her tone lifted until she sounded almost like a little girl.

“I was wondering where you got the plastic cartons for the humus. I was thinking of selling dried fruit snacks with my smoothies.” His voice sounded nervous at the other end of the line.

Annabel was pleased to be getting the call but his timing was terrible. “I haven’t got the phone number to hand – it’s a place in Balglass Industrial Estate.”

“Would you mind if I called you tomorrow? I was really hoping to ask you out for a drink.”

Annabel blushed. She couldn’t believe she was sitting in a restaurant with Damien at her side and another man chatting her up from her mobile-phone. Things had definitely improved in her life since she had turned forty.