He left her to her speculations. Wondering if her father had climbed the old chestnut tree in the village square. Whether he’d gone to the café, which looked as if it had been there for ever, with his parents. Her grandparents, the ones who looked like strangers in the photographs.
‘Did your father have brothers and sisters?’
‘No, he was an only child. His mother died just before my parents married.’
‘And his father?’
‘Apparently he left her. I don’t know why, Dad never used to talk about him. He wasn’t from around here.’
‘And your parents met here?’
‘Yes. My mother was doing a gap year before going to art college. She ended up here for a couple of nights on the way somewhere else, and met my father. She decided to stay a week and then...that was it, really. When she came back to England my dad came with her, and after that they always lived there, although they both loved France and came back here as often as they could. Not here, though. I wish I knew why.’
‘There might not be any particular reason. I don’t go back to my home town all that much.’
‘There’s a reason for that, isn’t there?’ The bitterness of his divorce. The way his family had chosen to support his ex-wife and not him.
‘I suppose there is.’ His brow creased, and it seemed that Jon didn’t want to talk about it. ‘Where did Hannah say to go?’
‘Through the village.’ Hannah had told them that she would be away from the village for a day or so but back on Saturday, and that she’d book two rooms for them at the boarding house where she was staying.
They found the place, a neat, whitewashed house at the older and prettier end of the village. Chloe followed Jon inside, watching as he used a mixture of signs and broken French to indicate that he wanted one double room, not two singles. Chloe didn’t step in. It was nice that he’d just done it, without having to refer to her at all. That there was no longer any question about whether they were together.
Their room was quiet and unremarkable. Pale walls and pale fabrics, with dark wooden furniture that didn’t quite match but went well enough together. Jon put their bags down on the bed and Chloe stared at them, sitting together. It was almost as if she’d brought someone home to introduce him to her parents, and she half expected them to burst through the door, her mother taking her to one side to put her father’s glowering disapproval over booking just one room into a gentler, more persuasive form.
But she was a grown up now. She’d managed for ten years alone, and her parents would surely have respected whatever decision she made about sleeping arrangements.
‘Would you like to go and look around the village?’ He planted his hands on the deep window sill, looking out of the window. ‘There’s a church over there, we could take a stroll in that direction.’
‘Could we...? Would you mind if we waited for Hannah? Knowing her, she’s likely to have a full itinerary of my father’s every move, right from when he was born to when he left here. When she gets a bee in her bonnet she gets very single-minded.’
‘And you don’t want to take a little look yourself first?’ His easygoing smile said that it really didn’t matter one way or the other.
‘I think I’d like Hannah to show me. You know, I’ve realised that most of the things she knows about Mum and Dad are from when she was young, or what James and I have told her. She’s never had anything that she can tell us.’
He nodded. ‘That sounds like a nice idea. And, of course, if Hannah’s telling the story, then it might give you more of a clue about what she’s really doing here.’
‘Yes. I thought that too.’ She walked over to the window, laying one hand on his shoulder, and he turned and kissed her. Strong and yet so gentle. There for her, giving her his thoughts on things, without telling her what to do.
‘Thank you, Jon.’
‘What for?’ He chuckled suddenly, hugging her tight. ‘On second thoughts, I’ll be expecting very full recompense. For all these things you seem to think I’ve done.’
‘And what would that be?’ She traced her finger across his lips. She had a good idea, and it would be her pleasure.
‘I think... Maybe we take a walk in the garden. Have a cup of tea. Then we can come back here and you can take your dress off. As slowly as you like.’
‘And then?’ Chloe could dispense with the cup of tea.
‘We take a shower. Go out and find some dinner.’
‘Aren’t you missing something?’ She flipped the top button of his shirt open and he kissed her again. This time harder, a first step on the road that would take them into each other’s arms.
‘Probably.’ His smile turned wolfish. No one smiled like that at the thought of a walk in the garden and a cup of tea. ‘Want to take me through it? In detail?’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JON WASN’T SURE that his body could take much more of this. In the months after his marriage had ende