Maybe she’d had weirder days, but she couldn’t recall one. Ashley sat on the swing seat on the veranda of Villa Marguerite, lost in thought. The tabby who so often lay across the cushions when nobody was using it was now curled on her lap. Somehow, quietly and without ceremony, they’d become friends. One minute it was eyeing Ashley with the greatest suspicion, the next leaping onto her knee as she settled. It didn’t have a name because Violette hadn’t expected it to stick around when it had wandered into her garden and started to pilfer scraps of food. And if it did she hadn’t expected to survive long enough to find out. That was ten years ago, but Violette had got so used to calling it Le Chat that it had become its official title. This was one amongst many stories Ashley had heard since her arrival – one of many lovely stories. If only the one she had to tell right now was quite as lovely.

After all these years, he wandered back into her life with a great to see you? Like nothing ever happened? They’d shared the most incredible night and, even though it was foolish and naïve, she’d thought he might have even cared for her. But he’d left her with broken promises, a dodgy phone number and a swelling belly, and today he showed up in her life with another kid? A bloody kid! It hadn’t taken him long to move on and start getting other women knocked up. But she supposed she had to hand it to him that at least he’d stuck by this one, so lucky Ella. Or maybe it was lucky Molly, she told herself, because at least Molly knew where she stood and didn’t have a letch and a liar for a dad. How many other kids bore his features? How many other women had he loved and left? He’d seemed so sweet and genuine all those years ago and even again today. If she hadn’t known better, she’d almost fancy that those old feelings for him had rushed back to taunt her. He was a bloody good actor, she told herself. Nothing more than a conman. So you can forget any sort of reconciliation because he will only break your heart again.

Sue’s voice came from the doorway. ‘Mind if I join you?’

Ashley nodded and moved her feet to make room, dislodging Le Chat, who stalked off with a reproachful mew.

‘So it sounds like Molly and Bastien had a good time at the beach with the girl from across the way. Molly says she wants to call for her again tomorrow. And Maurice tells me you bumped into an old friend…’

‘Someone I knew a bit. A long time ago.’

‘Maurice said he thought you both looked a bit shocked. That you both seemed embarrassed to see each other.’

‘Did he now? And how would he come to that conclusion?’

‘He has eyes, you know. He may be a man, but he’s not completely ignorant of the little signs and signals of human emotion.’

‘We were just shocked to see each other in such a random place, that’s all. You know, the coincidence of the kids making friends first and then them being our kids all along.’

‘Right. So how do you know him?’

Ashley hesitated. Her mum was on to her – at least she thought she was on to something. It would explain all the questions. Right now Ashley was glad she’d never revealed anything about Haydon to her mum. When she’d first got home and found she couldn’t contact him, she’d simply felt foolish that she’d been used for sex by a guy who’d never intended to keep in touch, and so she hadn’t said a word to her mum about the affair. And later, when she’d discovered she was pregnant, she hadn’t wanted the manhunt that her mum, armed with any nugget of information, however small and insignificant, would inevitably begin. He hadn’t wanted Ashley, and she didn’t need the double humiliation of telling him she was pregnant with his child and being rejected again. Sue had asked, of course, and Ashley had pretended she didn’t even know that much about him. It seemed easier. The dust would settle and Sue would get on with the business of supporting Ashley through those difficult first months, and then she would grow to love her granddaughter and it wouldn’t matter where she had come from. Ashley had been proved right; all of that came to pass, and if this stupid coincidence hadn’t cocked everything up today, that’s how things would have stayed.

‘He was one of Abigail’s friends…’ Ashley screwed up her nose. ‘An ex, I think.’

‘Abigail!’ Sue huffed. ‘I might have known – the friend who always managed to get you into trouble. Whatever happened to her anyway?’

Ashley shrugged, glad to have put her mum off the scent for now. ‘I think she was running her own beauty consultancy last time I saw her.’

‘Ditched you quick enough when you were expecting Molly. In your hour of need! I’d give her a piece of my mind if I ever saw her in town.’

‘Then it’s probably a good thing you don’t often go to town. Anyway, it wasn’t like that. We just drifted apart. She was never the maternal type so what would we have done together when I was always going to have a baby in tow? We could hardly go clubbing.’

‘That’s not what friendships are built on – clubbing!’

‘I know, but I really don’t blame her and you shouldn’t either.’

‘So they split up?’ Sue said.

‘Who?’

‘The bloke you met today and Abigail?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t remember. Does it matter?’

‘Well, yes. We don’t want Molly spending time with him and his daughter if he’s a bad ’un.’

And then it struck Ashley like an icy slap in the face. Why hadn’t she seen it before? She caught her breath and Sue threw her a sharp look.

Molly had been messing around on the beach that day with her sister!

‘What’s the matter now?’ Sue asked.

‘I… you’re right,’ Ashley replied. ‘Maybe Molly shouldn’t spend time with that girl.’

‘Ella?’

‘Yes, her.’

‘So he’s not nice?’

‘No… I don’t remember exactly. But we don’t know anything about them, and we’re being very friendly very quickly.’

‘You don’t like the girl? Molly’s quite smitten – Bastien too. They had a great time together today.’

‘I know, but…’

Oh, this was hopeless! What a hopeless, tangled mess! It was getting worse by the minute. If only she hadn’t felt guilty letting Molly go to the beach without her. If only she hadn’t offered to accompany Maurice down to join them instead of catching a sneaky hour in bed she’d have been oblivious to Haydon’s presence in Saint-Raphaël and she wouldn’t have had to worry about the girl who was currently Molly’s holiday buddy. She wouldn’t have to suffer this searing guilt that Molly was casually chatting to her father and had no idea, and that she was swimming with her half-sister and had no idea about that either.

If she put a stop to things now, Molly would want to know why she couldn’t spend time with Ella, and everyone else would want to as well. How would Ashley be able to explain her decision? Unless she painted a very bad picture of Haydon – and as much as Molly and Ella being together without a clue of their real relationship was a dreadful situation, Ella didn’t deserve that, even if he did. Today she’d seen that Ella enjoyed Molly’s company as much as Molly enjoyed hers. Molly even seemed to have taken an instant shine to Haydon, especially when he announced that he was a cello teacher. A bloody cello teacher! At least it explained Molly’s odd pull to play a string instrument herself. Talk about a cliché!

They’d done nothing but rattle on about orchestras and music schools for an hour as lunch was shared on the sand, and all the time Ashley sat wondering how he’d react if only he knew what she knew. Because, despite his shock at seeing Ashley – and it was obvious shock – he didn’t seem to show any suspicion about Molly at all. Maths clearly wasn’t his strong point, because he didn’t even flinch when Molly told him her age. Typical bloke – it might have saved Ashley a lot of indecision if he’d worked it out. Molly had told him about the music school that she’d applied to and he’d gushed about how good it was, and how much she’d love it there, unaware of how much pain that dream had caused them, and how out of reach it was. Ashley had watched, her heart sinking further and further, as Molly’s eyes shone with renewed hope for a dream they couldn’t possibly afford. Would he have been quite so keen to sing its praises if Ashley had asked him to pay the fees? For a crazy second she’d thought about it, just to see his reaction.

She could tell Haydon the truth, of course, and she probably should. But then what? She wasn’t sure she was strong enough for what the truth might begin. Would he demand to be a part of their lives? Would he want access, regular visits? Would he want to be a part of the decisions she made about Molly’s upbringing? Worse still, would he want nothing to do with them at all?

No, Ashley decided, right now silence was the best policy. The status quo was far from ideal but it was the best option she had. So they would carry on as before, and Haydon didn’t need to know about Molly. It was only a week, after all, and then Molly would be home and beginning the new term of her music course at college, and she’d soon forget about the kid she’d hung around with on holiday. Things would continue as they always had.

‘Well, if Molly likes her then I don’t suppose we can stand in the way of that,’ she said lamely.

‘Make up your mind,’ Sue said. She stood up. ‘I can’t work you out today. Do you think you’re coming down with something, because you’re behaving very oddly.’

‘I don’t think so. I’m just tired – didn’t sleep that well last night. I never do in strange places, do I?’

‘Well, that’s true,’ Sue said, casting a critical eye over her. ‘So there’s nothing you need to share with me? Nothing I should know apart from you being tired?’

Ashley shook her head. ‘Ignore me – I’ll be OK tomorrow.’

‘I’m going inside. Blanche and Nanette are going to teach me how to play some French board game. Want to join in?’

‘Not just yet. Maybe later. Where’s Moll?’

‘Upstairs with Bastien.’

Ashley shot up in her seat. Sue chortled.

‘Maurice is with them – Molly has found an old violin and she’s showing off so you don’t need to worry that there’s hanky-panky.’

Sue’s chuckle turned into a vague frown as she surveyed Ashley, and Ashley half expected her to remind her that Molly was nowhere near as stupid as Ashley had been as a teenager. But it never came.

‘Right,’ Ashley said. ‘I’ll be in soon.’

‘And perhaps you’d like to leave your funny mood out here if there’s nothing wrong as you keep saying.’

‘I will.’

Ashley took a deep breath as Sue disappeared into the house. Leave her funny mood outside? How about leaving her funny life outside? If only.

A glorious morning streamed into the room through a gap in the curtains of one of Madame Dupont’s many guestrooms. Outside a sweet symphony of birdsong harmonised with the drowsy buzz of a bee somewhere close to the window and the coarse yap of a dog in a distant garden. Ashley turned over to see that Molly was still fast asleep in the bed at the other side of the room. A little silver alarm clock – bells on the top and a tick loud enough to wake her workmates back in York – sat on the bedside cabinet and showed it had just gone six a.m. So much for getting some extra rest – this was earlier than she’d get up at home unless she was on morning shift at the care home. She’d blame her early waking on the noise outside, but it would be unfair, because if the room hadn’t been so dark overnight she’d have seen the clock displaying every other hour of the night; she was pretty certain she’d been awake for all of them. But she’d come to a decision, and now there was just the agonising wait to act on it.

She had to tell Haydon about Molly. It was only fair and right. Before, when she’d had no idea where to find him, she owed him nothing. But now she couldn’t let him leave here at the end of the week not knowing that he’d spent it with his daughter, not knowing that he even had another daughter at all. Already he’d missed sixteen years of her life and she owed it to him, regardless of how she felt personally about it, to give him the chance to be a part of it now if he wanted to. She had to tell Molly too at some point, but it was too difficult to think about that right now. One problem at a time was as much as she could deal with. She’d tell Haydon, and she’d see his reaction, and then she’d decide if Molly really needed to know or whether she’d be better off in blissful ignorance.

It was still so hard to believe that he was here, in the same town at the same time as her, after all these years. A figure from her past who had been absent from her life so long she’d almost fooled herself into thinking he’d never really existed. Why now? Why here? Was there some significance, some higher plan? Or was it really just the dumbest of luck? Bad luck, she’d argue. Certainly yesterday when the shock had been fresh and raw. But now? How did she feel about it now? Was it bad luck? Was there just a chance – the slimmest of all hopes – that seeing him again like this could become the start of something good? That maybe what went wrong all those years ago could be put right? Would him knowing about Molly change everything? Or anything at all?

After seeing him yesterday, the way he was with Ella, she couldn’t believe that he was the villain she’d convinced herself he was. He’d been patient and understanding and full of such obvious pride. Ashley wanted him to look at Molly the way he looked at Ella; she wanted it for Molly with all her heart. And she wanted Molly to have a man who could guide her and protect her in the way he guided and protected Ella. Ashley had always been father and mother and she’d never resented it, certainly never felt the need for anything else, but that was before she’d had a choice. How about now? Now perhaps there was a choice. Perhaps. It all came down to Ashley’s courage. She could do the right thing, however hard, and tell him. Or she could let him slip away again, and this time she was certain it would be for good.

Slipping a satin robe around her shoulders to stave off the early-morning chill, Ashley crept from the bedroom and downstairs. Violette had a heavy old kettle that had to be boiled on a gas hob, but Ashley reckoned she could cope with it. If she could only find a teabag lurking somewhere that would be perfect. Only three days without it and already she was missing her morning cup of tea. The kitchen was strangely silent and vast emptied of the crowds of relatives that Ashley had grown used to seeing in there since she’d arrived. Once this must have been a lovely family home, before they’d all moved away, and Violette must have felt she’d been transported back in time to see it full of relatives again. Ashley liked her very much. In fact, she liked them all. Her own family was very sparse in comparison. What sort of family did Haydon have? Were there lots of aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters?

Ashley filled the kettle, set it to boil after struggling with a strange flint contraption that lit the stove and found a caddy with a few odd-looking teabags in it. She wasn’t sure what sort of tea it was, but it would have to do for now. Later she’d go to the market in the old town and get some proper tea if she could. Was that before or after she went to see Haydon and blew his world apart? Was that before or after they told Molly and Ella? She supposed he would want to tell Ella if they were telling Molly, but who knew how it would go? And how would the girls react? Talk about a bombshell.

‘Is there enough water in that kettle for me?’

Ashley whipped around to see her mum at the kitchen door. ‘Mum? What are you doing out of bed at this hour?’

‘I could ask you the same thing.’

‘I couldn’t get back to sleep once I woke up.’

‘Me neither. Maurice may have the voice of an angel but he has the snore of a haulage truck and wine only makes it worse.’ She peered over at the caddy Ashley was holding. ‘What’s in there?’

Ashley opened it up and showed her the contents. Sue grimaced. ‘You weren’t going to drink those, were you?’

‘I couldn’t find anything else.’

Sue went to a large wooden larder set in the wall and stepped inside. After a moment or two of rifling she appeared with a box.

‘This is more like it. God only knows what’s in those you have there but I’d rather drink something I know.’

‘They’re proper teabags?’

‘Of course. Usually they have this awful tinny stuff here but I fetched these over with me from England when we came to visit last year and they’ll still be good to drink.’

‘Mum, you’re a lifesaver!’

‘I know. So what woke you?’

‘Don’t know. Just woke up.’

‘Because you were in a strange mood yesterday. After you came back from the beach. And Maurice said it too. He said… Never mind.’

Ashley took the box of teabags from her mum and dropped two into a little teapot. Violette didn’t seem to be a mug fan so it was all delicate china cups and saucers. You couldn’t get a decent vat of tea in a cup and saucer so the pot would have to do for a few refills. There was a brief lull while they listened to the kettle bubble on the stove, and then Sue spoke again.

‘I’m worried about you.’

‘There’s no need,’ Ashley replied, her gaze trained on the kettle. If she looked her mum in the eye she’d crumble.

‘I’m your mother. I’m going to worry if I think something is wrong. And I’d like to think that you could tell me anything. If you can’t then I’ve failed in my one most important task as a parent.’

‘Of course I can tell you anything. Haven’t I always?’ Ashley almost looked for the lightning bolt to come through the ceiling and strike her down as she uttered the lie.

‘So what’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Ashley…’

Ashley looked up now to see her mother’s brow contracted into a frown. She let out a long sigh.

‘Am I going to regret this?’

‘Depends what it is.’

‘See, Mum… how can I tell you?’

‘Tell me what?’

‘Maurice was right when he said I’d overreacted to Haydon’s appearance yesterday. That’s because…’

‘He’s Molly’s dad,’ Sue finished for her. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’

Her mouth was a hard line as she stared at Ashley, willing the truth from her. Ashley hadn’t even meant to let this out – not this soon and not in this way. But it had been so hard to keep a lid on things, and the truth had just sort of forced its way out, like it needed daylight and air before it became something gnarled and sinister that would choke Ashley if she kept it in. And when she thought about it, perhaps the best person she could tell first was her mum. She needed support now, someone on her side while she figured out what to do next, someone to share the burden. Who better than her mum?

She gave a weak nod and collapsed into a nearby chair. For the past twelve hours or more she’d been running on adrenaline, trying to keep it together, and now that her secret was out the adrenaline ebbed away, taking her strength with it.

‘Does Molly know?’

‘Of course not! Don’t you think she’d be freaking out if she did? They spent the day together at the beach, for God’s sake!’

‘I know. Don’t you think she’s going to feel terribly duped when she finds out exactly that?’

‘No more than everyone else,’ Ashley said miserably.

‘I take it he doesn’t know.’

Ashley didn’t need to ask who he was, especially when the word had been uttered with such venom.

‘How could he? I never saw him again after that one night and he couldn’t have known I was pregnant.’

‘Bastard.’

‘Mum… you’re not going to do anything rash, are you?’

‘It’s not my place, but I would hope you are. You’re going to tell him?’

‘I think so.’

‘You think so? What’s wrong with you?’

‘Keep your voice down!’ Ashley pleaded. ‘You’ll wake the whole bloody house!’

‘You’re going to tell him! You can’t let him get away from his responsibilities a second time. If you don’t I’m going to march over there this morning and put things right.’

‘I will… I just need to work out how to do it.’

‘There’s nothing to work out. You just come out with it – it’s really quite simple.’

‘It’s delicate. There’s more than just me and him to think about. How will Molly react? And his daughter?’

‘I couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss about his daughter.’

‘You don’t mean that. All I’m saying is that there are more lives affected by this than just his. I don’t want to cock this up, Mum. I’ve got one shot to get it right and I have to get it right. Please don’t say anything to anyone else yet – not even Maurice. I will tell him, but I have to find the right moment.’

Sue let out a sigh. ‘Well, it’s a mess.’

‘You could say that,’ Ashley replied with a thin smile. ‘I wish I’d never come to this bloody party. I might have known it would go to pot – story of my life. From now on there’s no clubbing and no parties and no enjoyment of any kind.’

Sue turned the stove off and filled the teapot. ‘When are you going to see him?’

‘Later. When I’ve psyched myself up.’

‘I can come with you if it helps.’

‘No. Better if I go alone.’ But then she was struck by an idea. ‘Maybe if you could take Ella out of the way it would help.’

‘Me? Take his daughter out?’

‘There’s no need to take a dislike to her just because she’s his. It’s hardly her fault her dad is a rat.’

‘I suppose she does seem sweet.’

‘And Molly really likes her. How much help that’s going to be when they discover they’re sisters is another matter entirely.’

‘Half-sisters,’ Sue reminded her stiffly.

‘Still – it changes everything.’

‘Where am I supposed to take her? What makes you think she’ll be happy to wander off with me and that he’d be happy to let her?’

‘Maybe get Maurice and Bastien to go with you.’

‘What about Molly?’

‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea to throw them together again knowing what we know and what they don’t know. It might make things worse when the truth comes out.’

‘Won’t Molly think it’s odd that we’re taking them and not her? They were like the Three Musketeers yesterday. If anything she’ll be downright annoyed at being left out and she’ll smell a rat anyway.’

‘Probably,’ Ashley said, staring into the depths of her teacup. ‘I suppose you’ll have to take them all out then.’

‘I still don’t think he’s going to let us just turn up and take his daughter out.’

‘OK. But that’s where I come in. Somehow I’m going to have to explain to him, discreetly, that I need to talk to him in private.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘Good luck with that.’

‘Thanks.’

‘But you are going to tell him? Because if you don’t—’

‘Yes. Please don’t get involved. Not yet anyway. Let me see how the land lies. If I need someone to punch his lights out after the big reveal then you’ll be my first port of call.’

‘And you can get an explanation from him. How he thought it was OK to take advantage of a vulnerable young girl and then disappear into the night.’

‘I was eighteen and I think the taking advantage might have been mutual.’

‘You were left holding the baby.’

‘True, but he didn’t know there was a baby. We have to assume that he would have done the moral thing and stuck around if he had.’

Sue let out a strange growling tut that said she didn’t agree with Ashley on that point. She’d probably read too many issues of Prima to think anything other than all men under the age of forty were absolute cads. Part of Ashley wondered whether she was right. She wasn’t at all sure that Haydon would be putting out the bunting when he heard the news. He might well just hop into his car and head back to Britain quicker than you could say child-support payment. He might even be angry. He might accuse her of lying about Molly’s paternity, and when she thought about it he’d only have her word for it. There was a lot to talk about, if he wanted to talk, and if he didn’t… Well, Ashley didn’t know what she’d do then. If she hadn’t told her mum she could have skulked away and tried to forget about it, gone back to how their life was before, only this time there’d be no wondering about Haydon’s absence from their lives, because she’d know for certain that he wanted the absence. But now Sue knew the truth it wouldn’t be that simple.

She chewed the inside of her cheek as she watched her mum stir milk into her tea. Perhaps her haste to offload had been seriously misjudged after all. Sue wouldn’t let this drop – not a chance. The way Ashley protected Molly like a mother tiger with her cub – that was just how Sue was with Ashley, even now at thirty-four. That would never change, and no amount of begging her to leave things alone would persuade Sue to keep her mouth shut on this.

‘I’ll have to tell Maurice,’ Sue said.

‘You can’t. Not yet.’

‘We can’t tell the rest of the family, of course. I don’t know that Violette could take the scandal – she might not see a hundred and one with the shock of it.’

‘It’s not her scandal – it’s mine. And it’s not even a scandal. It’s not 1930, you know. There are single mothers everywhere – even in France.’

‘But nobody in her family is in your… situation.’

‘My situation is just bad luck. You make it sound like I’m some sort of brothel worker or something. I slipped up. Once.’

‘You know I didn’t mean that.’ Sue reached across and squeezed Ashley’s hand. ‘I don’t think that at all. I just wish…’

‘That I’d shown a little self-control that night? That I’d stayed sober? That I’d never gone to Ibiza in the first place? I used to think that but now… I have Molly. How could you wish I’d done all those things when it would mean a world without Molly in it? Without making all those mistakes I wouldn’t have her. If I could go back and do it again I wouldn’t change a thing because she’s amazing and my life would have been so much emptier, so much greyer and sadder without her. It’s never been easy, but she’s my daughter and, whatever Haydon says or does now, I’ll always have her to make it OK.’

‘I know all that too. Of course I don’t wish her gone but it causes me such pain to see how you’ve struggled and missed out on all the things your friends had.’

‘I was never in any pain, and I’m sorry if you are. I struggled, but it was a good struggle. I chose to miss out because I had a baby that I loved and wanted more than any stupid career opportunity. I don’t care about any of that now because my daughter is amazing and worth more to me than all of those things my friends had. I was happy with my life and I still am, no matter how hard it sometimes gets.’

‘You’re right, of course. But I wonder if Molly will be quite so philosophical about it all when she finds out…’

‘Can I see Molly and Bastien again today?’

‘But you spent all day yesterday with them.’ Haydon poured milk over a bowl of cornflakes and handed it to her before turning to his croissant. ‘And don’t forget that we’re meeting Audrey for dinner later.’

Haydon winced inwardly as he recalled how he’d chased Audrey and how excited he’d been to meet up with her, his dreams of some kind of romance developing, because now he didn’t know if having dinner with her was the right thing to do. There had been no explicit mention of romance but the hints had been there. She was beautiful and sweet but seeing Ashley yesterday… well, it had muddied the waters, and that was only the beginning of it.

Seeing Ashley had been like a punch to the gut. He didn’t know how to feel about it, he only knew that where Audrey had filled his thoughts with soft-focus dreams of elegant romantic dinners, now his thoughts were filled with Ashley, but these were intense, messy, filled with the kind of longing that sucked the breath clean from your lungs. He’d always imagined he’d got over Ashley years before, but one afternoon in her company had shown that he’d never really gotten over her at all. Then again, despite this longing, perhaps getting involved with her wasn’t the best idea. If she’d disappeared once from his life, who was to say she wouldn’t do it again?

What to do about Audrey, however, he didn’t know. He liked her, and he still wanted to meet up with her later, and perhaps that was the best plan after all – stick with his date and try to forget any kind of romantic involvement with Ashley.

‘But that’s later,’ Ella said, breaking into his thoughts. ‘She’s got the market stall to look after all day.’

‘I thought we might do something today while we wait for her. Something exciting.’

‘What like?’

‘Like windsurfing. Or kayaking. I’ve seen them both advertised on the beach.’

‘Molly and Bastien could come with us. I bet they’d love it. I bet Bastien is brilliant at windsurfing and kayaking. I bet he can do everything. He looks like he’d be good at that sort of thing.’

Haydon tried not to think about how he wouldn’t love humiliating himself in front of two teenagers who didn’t belong to him as they watched him flail about in the sea and pretend it was water sports. The idea that one of those teenagers was the daughter of a woman who’d already confirmed once that she thought he was a big useless loser didn’t make him any happier either. But there was no getting around the fact that Ella had had a brilliant time and she was quite besotted with both her teenage companions from the day before. She’d talked about little else when they’d got back to the villa that evening. But what if they brought Ashley along? Chances were they would.

‘What if they’re busy? Aren’t they supposed to be in Saint-Raphaël for a big birthday party?’

Ella nodded. ‘Oh yes. But Bastien says Madame Dupont’s asleep half the day and cooking for the other half and wouldn’t even notice if he was there or not. And Molly hardly knows her. She’s only there because Violette is Maurice’s aunt and Maurice wanted her and her mum to go to the party too.’

‘And Maurice is Molly’s granddad if I remember correctly,’ Haydon said, vaguely surprised at the amount of information Ella had gleaned from her new friends. He had imagined that they might be swapping opinions on the latest social-media craze or comparing schools or something, not giving each other in-depth information on their family ties. He had to wonder just what Ella had told them about her own circumstances, but he didn’t think he dared to ask. The last thing he needed was for Ashley to have it confirmed that he really was a major loser who couldn’t keep a relationship going, even when he’d once persuaded the woman in question to actually marry him.

‘Not really. He’s just married to her grandma.’

‘Right.’

‘He’s really nice. Molly doesn’t mind that he’s not really her granddad because he acts just like he is. Molly has two granddads and they both buy her presents.’

‘You’ve got two granddads.’

‘Oh well, then Molly must have three. But she doesn’t know who her dad is so she can’t count that granddad.’

Haydon spluttered, sending a spray of coffee across the table. ‘She doesn’t?’

‘No.’

‘So her mum isn’t with her dad?’

‘No. Molly doesn’t care. She says he’s probably a douche anyway.’

‘Ella!’

‘What? It’s not a swear word – Kevin says it all the time. Anyway, Molly’s mum isn’t with anyone and Molly says she always says she likes it that way. Molly doesn’t believe her, though. She says she went on a date with a man once but he smelt of onions so she never bothered again.’

Haydon fell silent for a moment as the new information sank in. Ella continued to chat between crunching on large mouthfuls of cornflakes, white noise in the background as he processed what he’d learned. But somehow it wouldn’t compute, apart from one fact that kept swirling round and round in his consciousness. Ashley was single. It didn’t mean that she would even look twice at him, of course, and perhaps going there again would only get his fingers burnt once more. And if it did it was probably no less than he deserved. Besides, these weren’t thoughts he ought to be having when he’d got dinner with Audrey lined up. But he couldn’t get the idea out of his head.

Something else nagged at him too, something half-formed and vague and potentially troubling but there all the same. How old was Molly again? Sixteen? And how many years was it since he’d last seen Ashley? A little more than that, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly how that fitted. Could Molly be…?

He shook his head. How stupid. Surely Ashley would have phoned him to tell him something that massive even if she hadn’t phoned him to see him again. She’d have contacted him to discuss the formalities. He’d left his number for her before leaving Ibiza…

But what if she’d lost it? What if she’d thrown it away, not realising she might need it somewhere down the line?

But surely she’d have said something now – wouldn’t she? They’d spent the day together and there had been opportunities for a quiet word.

‘Dad!’ Ella pouted. ‘Are you even listening?’

‘Sorry… what was that?’

‘I said I’m going to get Molly’s number today and am I allowed to text her because Mum said it costs more abroad and not to come back with a huge bill because Kevin won’t be happy.’

‘Well, if Kevin kicks up a stink then I’ll pay your bill so you text who you want.’

Good old Kevin. Guaranteed to bring Haydon back to earth with a bump at the mere mention of his name.

‘Thanks, Dad,’ Ella grinned.

‘You should probably phone your mum this morning anyway – she won’t be happy if she doesn’t get a phone call.’

‘I’ve been busy.’

‘Too busy for your mum? Shame on you!’ Haydon threw her a conspiratorial smile. ‘I don’t want to get into trouble for not reminding you either.’

‘That’s the real reason you want me to phone her.’

‘Got it in one. So when you’ve finished here you can call, nice and early so you wake her up.’

Ella shoved another spoonful of cornflakes into her mouth and chewed with a grin. ‘After that I’m going to see if Molly and Bastien are up. Molly says I can go and stay with them in York when we go home, you know.’

‘York? That’s where they live?’

‘Yeah. Have you been?’

‘No. I’ve heard it’s nice.’

‘So we can ask them to go out with us today?’

Haydon paused. This really wasn’t what he wanted. Things had been awkward on the beach with Ashley and her family and the thoughts he’d been having about her weren’t exactly helping. There was a distinct danger he might do or say something mortifying.

‘Please, Dad. I promise we’ll spend the next day together but just today can we ask them to come?’

‘You really want to?’

Ella nodded.

‘Well, we can ask, but if they’re busy we’re not pushing it. Remember they’re supposed to be having a family get-together and we’re not family, so we can’t keep butting in.’

‘We won’t. Anyway Molly says she can’t understand half of what’s going on when they’re all there because most of them are speaking French.’

‘I suppose you can’t blame them for that, seeing as they are French.’

‘Yes, but it’s no fun listening to a conversation if you can’t understand it.’

‘Some of my most enjoyable conversations have been ones I couldn’t understand, and there have been a great many that I wished I couldn’t understand when I could.’

‘I’m going to get ready.’ Ella let her spoon drop with a clatter into her bowl and pushed her chair away from the table.

‘Phone your mother first – or she’ll string me up!’

‘But what if Molly and Bastien go out before I’ve had a chance to go there?’

‘They won’t – don’t panic. And even if they do I’m sure we’ll run into them somewhere in town.’

‘But what if they go out of town?’

‘Then you’ll just have to catch them another time.’ He pretended to give her a stern frown. ‘Phone. Your. Mother.’

Ella rolled her eyes. ‘Alright.’

Haydon watched her leave the kitchen and turned back to squidging a blob of jam into the middle of his croissant. Bloody pink house across the fields – he was beginning to wish he’d steered well clear of it.

---

Haydon and Ella followed the path that skirted the fields between their villa and Villa Marguerite. He’d argued, vainly, to cut across them, but Ella wasn’t taking any chances on the fact that if they did they might run into Frank the lizard or some of his less cuddly friends. The sun was high already, even though it had just gone ten. A small plane droned overhead and Haydon squinted up to see the vapour trail it left across the cornflower sky.

‘What if they’re not in?’ Ella asked.

‘Then there’s not a lot we can do about it.’

‘I should have asked Molly for her number yesterday.’

‘I don’t suppose you thought about it yesterday – too busy splashing each other.’

‘That was Bastien. Molly lost it with him; he soaked everyone.’

‘You were in the sea – wasn’t that kind of the point?’

‘But he kicked a load in her hair. She went mad.’

‘I think maybe that’s called flirting.’

‘She said she was going to push him in if he did it again but Bastien just laughed at her.’

‘Molly sounds a bit feisty.’

‘She plays the violin.’

‘She mentioned that.’

‘She wants to be in an orchestra someday.’

‘She mentioned that too.’ Haydon looked across at Ella with a wry smile. ‘Have we developed a bit of a girl-crush?’

‘Shut up, Dad!’ Ella squeaked, her cheeks flaming.

‘I’m only teasing. She’s cool and I’m glad you’ve found a friend.’

‘Really? You don’t mind calling for them? I thought…’

‘I was tired this morning – of course I don’t mind. Just as long as you don’t forget to give your old dad a bit of attention from time to time. Half an hour here or there ought to do it, just so I don’t forget who you are.’

‘I could never do that.’

‘Good. You might wish you could forget me when I embarrass you in the sea later.’

‘You could never embarrass me.’

‘I’ll remind you of that when I fall off the surfboard for the fiftieth time.’

‘I can’t wait to go windsurfing. Do you think I’ll be able to do it?’

‘I think you can do anything you put your mind to.’

‘Kevin says I’ve got no coordination.’

‘Has he watched you play piano? When he can play better than you then he’s allowed to say you’ve got no coordination.’

They arrived at the gates of Villa Marguerite to find an elderly lady in the garden trimming a shrub.

‘Bonjour!’ Haydon greeted. Was this the centenarian aunt? He could have hazarded a guess, but if he was wrong and whoever it was turned out to be much younger than a hundred they might have been very offended indeed. ‘Ca va, Madame?’

The old lady straightened up and regarded him carefully. ‘Bien, Monsieur.’

‘Um… Moi et ma fille…’ He paused, scratching his head for the connecting words. ‘Amis – Molly and Ashley…’

‘Ah!’ The old lady offered a scant-toothed smile. ‘S’il vous plaît attendez.’

With that she tottered into the house.

‘I think she wants us to wait,’ Haydon said in answer to Ella’s questioning glance up at him.

‘Here or at the door?’

‘Maybe better to wait here. She didn’t say anything about going with her.’

A minute later Ashley and Molly were walking down the path towards them. Ashley looked tired and tense, her hair pulled back into a simple ponytail and she was wearing barely any make-up, denim cut-offs and a plain white vest, but she still looked incredible. As they walked together Haydon could see now that Molly was actually a good couple of inches taller than her mum already and her colouring was darker – deep brown eyes and hair that was more caramel than golden.

‘Wow, you’re really tanned already!’ Ella called to Molly, who returned the compliment with a grin. ‘Was that just from yesterday at the beach?’

‘I always tan easily. You and your dad haven’t done too bad either.’

‘Violette said you wanted us,’ Ashley said, her gaze fixed on Haydon. It was so frank, so fierce and uncompromising that for a moment Haydon felt his courage shrivel in the face of it. She really bloody despised him and yet… what was this tight feeling in his chest every time he saw her? Why did he feel like a lovesick idiot when she showed no encouragement of this feeling whatsoever?

‘We’re going windsurfing,’ Ella broke in. ‘And we wondered if you wanted to come too? You and Bastien. If you wanted to.’

‘Bastien’s got to go to pick up some meat with his uncle.’

‘Wow, how much meat is there?’ Haydon asked. But his attempt at humour was met with nothing but a stony stare from Ashley and it seemed to go completely over Molly’s head. Not that it had been all that funny, he supposed.

‘It’s for the party. Nanette is going to cure it or something,’ Ashley said.

‘Oh, the birthday party,’ Ella said. ‘Of course. But poor Bastien.’

‘We could ask if you can come to the party,’ Molly replied, but then clamped her mouth shut again as Ashley gave her a tiny, warning shake of her head.

‘It’s for family only, I expect,’ Haydon said with forced brightness. He was beginning to think that coming here today had been a huge mistake. It was one thing Ella having fun with Molly, but it left him and Ashley together and she seemed far from chatty right now. What was he supposed to do with her all day in this mood?

‘If you’re busy,’ he began slowly as the idea formed in his mind, ‘I guess we could take Molly with us and it would leave the day free for you to do whatever you needed. I mean, if you wanted to stay home and relax or help with the party or whatever. I don’t mind at all and Ella would be happy, wouldn’t you?’

Ella nodded eagerly but Ashley dismissed the idea with a flick of her head.

‘We’d love to come,’ she said, though Haydon didn’t think he’d ever seen the statement uttered with less sincerity. If this was something she’d love to do then he couldn’t imagine her face when she was forced to do something she hated.

‘Are you going now?’ she added.

Haydon nodded. ‘Might as well if we want to make the most of the day. Is that OK with you both?’

‘We’ll need to get some things together. Can you give us ten minutes?’

He nodded again, and Ashley ushered Molly back to the house. As he watched them go, his gaze was drawn to a window where a woman stared down at him. He sent an awkward smile her way but she didn’t flinch – she just continued to weigh him up. But then he saw Ashley appear at the window and pull her away.

Weird. Everything about this was weird. Was there still time to run? Because he had a feeling today was going to be a huge mistake.

Ashley had been vaguely irritated that Haydon hadn’t done a little more research into his whole windsurfing idea because they’d arrived at the little hut where the lessons went from only to be told they’d have to book in advance. Molly and Ella had been desperately disappointed until the owner of the school suggested that they might be able to buy bodyboards from the town and take themselves out into the shallows instead. Haydon had insisted on buying one for both of the girls as well as himself, which was lucky because Ashley didn’t have spare cash to fritter on something they wouldn’t be taking home with them and would probably never come back to Saint-Raphaël to use again anyway. He’d offered to buy one for her too, but the last thing she needed was to be flailing around on the sea like a tit.

So she was left sitting on the sand alone as the others paddled about on their new boards. The sun burned through the straw hat she’d borrowed from Nanette, despite Molly telling her she looked like an old lady in it. Old lady or not, at least she wouldn’t get sunstroke. With nothing else to do she applied another layer of lotion to her shoulders and wished that she’d packed a book. But she hadn’t expected to be left alone for hours on end to read. Shrieks of laughter travelled up the beach, so at least someone was having fun. This wasn’t how the day was supposed to go.

She and Sue had gone to great pains to get everyone discreetly out of the way so Ashley could get a moment during the day to talk to Haydon properly. In their original plan Sue had suggested that Bastien and his uncle go to the butcher’s in a neighbouring town – something Bastien had sulked about but, being a dutiful nephew, had eventually had to agree to. Maurice was to take Nanette to the vineyard to stock up and Molly was meant to go with them, which then left Ashley free to see Haydon alone at his villa (assuming she could catch him in). What to do about Ella being there was something she’d decided she’d just have to deal with when she got there. But then Haydon had thrown them a lifeline by coming to call. It meant the four of them could be together, which was half the battle. She’d assumed that the girls would be out on windsurfing lessons and she’d be looking on with him, and that would be her chance to get things out in the open. She’d rushed indoors to find her mum giving Haydon a fair death stare out of the window, and when she’d told her about the new plan Sue had been in agreement that it was the best way. Simple enough? So you’d think, but so far she hadn’t been able to get Haydon alone for a single second.

Shielding her eyes from the sun, she watched as Haydon emerged from the waves with his board under his arm and made his way up the beach. The girls were still splashing away in the surf, so perhaps this was her chance. Her stomach jolted, and she put it down to nerves, trying not to think about the multitude of reactions she might encounter from him. But perhaps it had more to do with the fact that he’d stayed in remarkably good shape since she’d spent that fateful night with him, as his dripping torso and sandy hair now curled from the sea attested. Surely she didn’t still fancy him? After all that had happened? Where had this come from – now of all moments?

‘Come and have a go!’ he called.

She shook her head. ‘Come over here!’

‘Huh?’

‘Come over here!’ she shouted, gaining a reproachful stare from an elderly couple camped within the shelter of a beach umbrella a few feet away.

He shook the water from his hair, kicking sand up as he strode towards her with a broad smile, and suddenly she was filled with one overwhelming hope. That, somehow, hearing about Molly would bring them together. As in romantically. Which was ridiculous and probably the last place this was going.

Stop it, Ashley!

But he’d only got halfway up the beach when Ella began to chase after him, and then Molly followed.

Shit! Ten minutes – it wasn’t much to ask, was it?

‘Come in and have a go!’ Molly called, racing towards her. ‘It’s brilliant!’

Ashley shook her head. ‘What about all our belongings?’

‘They’re not going to go anywhere – there’s hardly anyone here. We could ask that couple to keep an eye on things and we can see easily from the sea anyway so we could run back if someone tries to take them.’

‘We wouldn’t run back fast enough.’

‘I would,’ Molly insisted.

‘I’m not a very good swimmer.’

‘You don’t need to be,’ Haydon put in, joining them now with Ella. ‘We’ll keep you safe.’

‘And who’s keeping you safe?’ Ashley asked.

His smile faded, but then he seemed to rally again. ‘The sea’s calm today. I think the guy at the windsurfing place would have said if he thought it wasn’t safe.’

Ashley had no argument for that.

‘Please…’ Molly cajoled. ‘Just give it a try.’

‘I don’t know…’

‘We feel guilty that you’ve been left on the beach all on your own while we have fun,’ Haydon said, and the girls both nodded. ‘It’d be much better if you joined us.’

‘And we’d have a better time if we felt less guilty,’ Molly said.

Ashley sighed. ‘I swear with arguments like that you’ll be a solicitor one day, Moll.’

‘Ugh, no chance. How boring.’

‘Never say never.’ Haydon laughed. ‘I bet you’d earn a lot more as a solicitor than you would in an orchestra.’

‘But I’d hate it, and you have to do what you love, don’t you? Otherwise life is no fun at all.’

Ashley was tempted to ask who’d ever told her daughter life was meant to be fun but, as she had so many other times before, she stopped herself. It wasn’t the type of wisdom she wanted to pass on. Why shouldn’t Molly have bright expectations? Why couldn’t she hold on to her dreams – just for a little while? Life would soon temper them without anyone’s help, so why should Ashley speed that process up just because she might be feeling a little peevish?

‘Come on, Mum. Just try it.’

Ashley looked from Haydon to Ella to Molly. ‘You’re not planning to sit this out at any point?’ she asked Haydon.

He shook his head. ‘I don’t think I’d be allowed to! Maybe we’ll stop for lunch a little later… if that would be OK with you?’

There didn’t seem a lot of point waiting around for a moment alone with him then if he wasn’t going to be able to lose the girls for a while, and it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to join them for an hour or two in the sea. It was hot, and the water did look very tempting… And then Ashley could work out a way to get him alone at lunchtime. She had no idea how yet, but she’d figure it out.

She stood up and stripped off her shorts and top to reveal a swimsuit beneath.

‘Come on then. Last one in the sea has to buy dinner!’

Restaurants with a more relaxed dress code were hard to find, but they managed to get an outside table at one which overlooked the sea where their beachwear didn’t cause too much of a stir. The menu was simple but both girls were happy to see chicken nuggets (as close as the French could manage to such basic fare) and chips on there while Ashley settled for a salad. Haydon, regardless of what kind of maturity he might want to show, joined the girls in their junk-food fix and, against her instincts, Ashley couldn’t suppress a smile to see him dipping his chips into a huge pot of gloopy mayonnaise.

‘I could eat this three times over,’ he said.

‘Me too,’ Molly returned with a grin.

‘I’m not surprised,’ Ashley said. ‘Imagine how many calories we’ve burned off in the last couple of hours.’

‘So we can have pudding?’

‘I would imagine so,’ Ashley said, taking a quick glance at the menu to check the prices again.

‘Absolutely,’ Haydon said. ‘We need to bulk up if we’re going back into the sea later, so it’s on me.’

‘You’re not supposed to eat too much just before you go swimming,’ Ashley said.

‘In that case, we’ll have to make it a long and lazy lunch, won’t we? There’s nothing to race back for, is there?’

‘Well, no, but—’

‘So let’s make the most of the day. I don’t know about you lot, but I’m having a great time on these boards. I think it turned out better than windsurfing in the end.’

Ashley had to admit that she’d ended up having a great time too. Her balance had been terrible, of course, and a rogue wave had tipped her off more times than she could count. But Haydon had pressed a gentle hand to her back and helped her keep her weight steady, and eventually she was riding the waves like a natural. Well, perhaps not riding exactly, more like floating. And it was true that they weren’t exactly going to be troubling any surfing competitions any time soon – they’d stayed in the shallows and really were messing around on the shore rather than proper impressive wave-riding – and they weren’t professionally equipped. None of them really knew what they were doing either. They’d shared the three boards between the four of them and took it in turns to paddle around while the one left standing in the shallows offered words of encouragement and laughed out loud at every little disaster that sent the others flying off their ride. By the time they’d all decided they were starving Ashley’s stomach muscles were aching. Mostly from trying to stay afloat but a little bit from laughing too.

As they’d emerged from the sea to get ready for lunch Haydon had thrown a towel around her shoulders and smiled down at her, and for a moment their eyes had locked. She’d been lurched into a confusing whirl of emotions that had been unexpected and not very helpful considering her main objective for the day.

She was surprisingly relaxed and content at that moment as they sat sipping drinks and gazing out to an azure sea, almost as if him being there with her was the most natural thing in the world – as if they’d never been parted since that first night together. But lurking in the background was the pressing need to tell him about Molly. It threatened to overwhelm everything else, and when Ashley really thought about it perhaps that was a good thing – her sensible self firing a well-needed warning shot. She’d become too relaxed that morning, too easy in his company, but as she’d spent more and more time with him it had become hard to do anything else. He was so sweet and considerate and funny and interesting. If only he hadn’t given her that duff phone number in Ibiza, who knew what might have been?

‘What do you want, Mum?’ Molly said, interrupting Ashley’s thoughts. Just as well because they were going to a place they had no right being in. He had given her a duff phone number all those years ago and that was that. Molly handed her the menu. ‘I’m getting ice cream, but they have cheesecake and everything.’

‘Oh, I don’t know…’

‘These are on me.’

She looked up to see Haydon smiling at her. The sea had tousled his sandy hair and the sun had bronzed his skin, and those eyes… those eyes of chocolate that seemed to smile even when he wasn’t…

She gave herself a mental shake. If she could have slapped herself right now without looking like a nutter she probably would have done.

‘What?’

‘I’m buying dessert. And don’t argue because I want to and I won’t take no for an answer.’

‘But—’

‘Please…’ he said gently. He reached across the table and settled a light touch on her hand. She looked down at it, and then back up at him, and suddenly he seemed to realise what he’d done as he drew it quickly away again, colour rushing to his cheeks.

Ashley glanced across at Molly to see her share a small conspiratorial grin with Ella. Could they see what was going on here? Or rather, what they thought was going on? Were they actually matchmaking? The idea snapped Ashley back to Planet Earth. They probably thought it was fun – a harmless game. This was getting out of hand, and Ashley needed to act before it all went too far; the last thing she needed was for Haydon or Molly to work things out before she’d had a chance to break it to them sensibly. She had to tell Haydon.

‘Moll,’ she said, glancing around and noting there was a queue at the bar. It would be a good ten minutes’ wait for anyone wanting to get served. ‘Go and get me another Coke?’ She grabbed her purse from the table and handed her a twenty-euro note. ‘Get Ella one too and Haydon…?’

He shook his head. ‘I thought we were sorting out desserts.’

‘I’m parched – I could do with a drink first. And you said we didn’t need to rush.’ She forced a bright smile and turned to Ella. ‘Would you mind going with Molly to help carry them?’

Ella leapt up and followed Molly inside.

‘They’re getting on really well,’ Haydon remarked as he watched them go.

‘Yes,’ Ashley said. She drew a deep breath. Time was short and there was no point in pussyfooting around with this. She could only hope that they could both hold it together when the girls got back, though she suspected that her next words might signal the end of their day together. Perhaps the end of their newly blossoming friendship too. But they needed to be said, and she had to trust that what she’d seen so far of him was the real Haydon and that he’d treat her news with the sensitivity it deserved.

‘Haydon—’

‘Look who we found, Mum!’

Ashley spun around to see Molly with Maurice and Sue. Her gut clenched at the realisation that the moment she’d built herself up to all day was going to have to wait – again.

‘Ashley!’ Maurice stepped forward and kissed her lightly while Sue tried to make what Ashley assumed was a covertly apologetic face. She’d probably guessed as soon as she’d seen Ashley and Haydon sitting at the table what was going on, though she couldn’t have guessed at what stage the discussion was. Essentially nowhere now.

‘Maurice saw you all from the beach road and insisted on coming to say hello,’ Sue said.

‘I thought you were getting wine at the vineyard,’ Ashley replied.

‘We did,’ Maurice said. ‘We got back an hour ago and Aunt Violette was sleeping. I wanted lunch, so I thought we would eat by the sea. How lucky for us now you are here. May we join you?’

‘Of course,’ Ashley said; she could hardly say anything else. She glanced at Haydon. ‘That’s OK, isn’t it?’

‘I’d love it,’ he said. Ashley couldn’t help but notice that he looked far from comfortable, however, and had to wonder whether it was something to do with the obvious scrutiny her mother now had him under. Ashley would have to have a word with her about that later too. It was understandable that she wanted to protect Ashley, but there was a line she was in severe danger of crossing.

‘I will help Molly to get the extra drinks,’ Maurice said, taking the twenty-euro note from Molly’s hand and giving it back to Ashley. ‘You keep this money for another day.’

Ashley would normally have argued, but she was so shell-shocked by the way events seemed to be slipping from her control that she simply nodded and put it back in her purse as Maurice took Molly back to the bar.

‘So… you’ve had a good morning?’ Sue asked, looking very pointedly at Ashley. At least Ashley thought so, but perhaps that was because she knew why. Haydon didn’t seem to notice it, or if he did he certainly didn’t react. She pulled a spare seat from a nearby table and sat down with them. ‘You’ve had fun?’

‘We’ve had a great time,’ Haydon said. ‘The girls get on so well… We were just saying that, weren’t we, Ashley?’

‘Yes.’

‘So everyone’s happy,’ Sue said. ‘Well, isn’t that lovely? And what are your plans for later?’

‘I don’t know,’ Ashley said. ‘What are yours, Mum? Are you and Maurice planning to stay with us all afternoon?’

‘I would have been happy sitting in the garden,’ Sue said, continuing the subtext of their conversation. ‘But Maurice insisted that we come to town and how were we to know we’d see you here when I expected you to be at the beach?’

‘It is a coincidence,’ Haydon said. ‘There seem to be a lot of those this week.’

‘Don’t there?’ Sue said, looking at him now as if she might want to cut some delicate bits of his anatomy off.

Ashley held in a groan. This was going from bad to worse. At this rate her mum would let the cat out of the bag before Ashley had a chance to do it properly. It was obvious Sue was dying to launch into a tirade and tell Haydon exactly what she thought of men like him and Ashley was beginning to regret telling her about it.

‘Here we are…’ Maurice returned with four glasses of wine. He placed one in front of each adult, despite the beginnings of an argument on Haydon’s lips. ‘You are in France – you must drink wine with your lunch!’

Molly and Ella settled back at the table with their Cokes while Maurice grabbed another chair and joined them.

‘So… you are going to the beach again after you have finished eating?’ he asked.

‘I think so,’ Ashley said.

‘Yes!’ Molly said. ‘We’re just getting the hang of bodyboarding now so we need more practice.’

‘Bodyboarding?’ Maurice said with a grin. ‘That sounds wonderful! I will come with you!’

Ashley put the wine glass to her lips and gulped a mouthful back.

Great – that’s all I need.

‘Dad…’ Ella sat on his bed, watching as Haydon combed through his hair and spritzed himself in a woody cologne.

‘Yes?’

‘Do you like Ashley?’

Haydon paused, a hand to a shirt button he was doing up, and turned to her.

‘She seems nice,’ he said carefully. ‘You like her and Molly, don’t you?’

‘Yes, but I mean like.’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘No reason.’

Haydon gave a tight smile. ‘Is it because we’re meeting Audrey tonight?’

‘Maybe.’

‘It’s not a date – I told you that. We’re just having dinner with her.’

‘I know, but she’s pretty.’

‘She is.’

‘And Ashley’s pretty too. And nice and funny.’

‘Yes…’

‘So what if you liked them both? Who would you choose?’

‘Ella… What is this? There’s no reason for me to choose either. Audrey is just a new friend we’ve made, and Ashley is someone we’ve spent today with because you and Molly and Bastien have made friends. And to be honest,’ he added, ‘I must have been crazy to suggest that day on the beach because I’m knackered and the last thing I want to do is venture down to the town to meet anyone for dinner. My face will be in the soup as soon as I sit down.’

Ella giggled, her questions seemingly forgotten now. ‘I’ll keep kicking you awake.’

‘You’ll have to kick hard.’

‘I can do that.’

‘I know. I’ve still got the bruises from when we played football in the garden last year.’

‘Dad!’

He smoothed a hand over her hair and kissed the top of her head. ‘Go and get ready or we’ll be late.’

‘I am ready.’

Haydon stared at her. ‘But… I thought you’d got your swimming costume on.’

‘This is a bodysuit, Dad!’

‘Oh. But you’re going to put a skirt on?’

‘I have got a skirt on.’

‘Oh. I thought that was one of those little skirt things you wrap around your swimming costume when you’re away from the pool.’

‘Nope. I’m completely ready.’

‘Oh…’ Haydon wavered between the dad who insisted that his daughter dress appropriately for her age and the dad who didn’t even know any more what age-appropriate was. Ella was growing up so fast he couldn’t keep pace with her impending womanhood. But the fact was tonight she looked like a girl on the brink of womanhood as she sat in what he considered a skimpy outfit and he didn’t know how he felt about it. Then he realised she was also wearing make-up and it made her look older still.

‘Maybe you should take a jacket then,’ he added lamely. ‘You might get cold.’

‘It’s boiling, Dad.’

‘Not at night on the seafront, it isn’t.’

‘I bet it will be.’

‘Well… it’s your problem if you get cold,’ he said, not knowing what else to say. He heard Ella sigh as he hunted for his shoes. ‘What?’ he asked, looking up.

‘Are you nervous?’ she asked with a shrewd look.

‘Nervous? About what?’

‘Meeting Audrey?’

‘Why on earth would I be nervous?’

Ella shrugged and hopped off the bed. ‘I’m going to get my jacket,’ she said. And Haydon smiled thinly as he watched her go. He wasn’t so much nervous as torn. He wanted to meet Audrey and he still liked her very much, but after his day with Ashley he wasn’t sure whether meeting Audrey was entirely fair to her.

He shook off the thought. Nobody had said it was a date, had they? And Ashley wasn’t exactly returning his signals – as clumsy as they were – so it wasn’t like anything was going to happen there anyway. Audrey was beautiful and she was sweet, and he could do a lot worse than getting to know her a bit better.

Pulling his shoes from underneath the bed he slipped them on and tied the laces. They were going to meet Audrey for dinner and they were going to have a great time and that was that.

The tiny restaurant Audrey had suggested was tucked away in a side street just away from the harbour and it had taken them a while to find. It wasn’t glamorous and airy like the tourist traps along the front; it was intimate and rustic, with scrubbed wooden tables and terracotta tiles, the main floor of the restaurant sharing a space with the open kitchen, and the air was fragranced with fresh herbs and roasted garlic.

Audrey was waiting at a table, chatting easily to a man in a white apron and chef’s hat, her lithe arms waving expressively and her eyes alive with humour. She was wearing a simple white linen dress that showed off her tanned skin and her nutmeg hair was loose around her shoulders, and Haydon had to stop and collect himself as he stood in the doorway, still unable to believe that such a woman had said yes to him. It’s not a date, he kept reminding himself, just like he’d kept telling Ella, but they all knew that really it was. Audrey turned now and spotted them, and she rose gracefully from the table and strode across the restaurant to greet them.

‘I am so glad to see you,’ she said, kissing both Haydon and Ella on the cheeks. ‘I thought perhaps you might come to the market today.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry about that…’ Haydon began, but Ella jumped in.

‘We went bodyboarding,’ she announced. ‘With our new friends.’

‘More new friends?’ Audrey raised her eyebrows and smiled at Ella. ‘Everywhere you go you make so many friends! It is because you are so charming.’

‘No.’ Ella laughed. ‘They’re our neighbours. They’re English.’

‘Not all of them,’ Haydon said. ‘They’re staying with some French relatives at the villa near to ours. They have kids around Ella’s age so naturally…’

‘No need to explain,’ Audrey said. ‘Of course Ella would want to spend time with them. Come and sit. The fish has been caught this morning but it will not get any fresher if we do not hurry and tell our chef how we would like it cooked.’

‘Do they have other things?’ Ella asked as they followed her back to the table.

‘You do not want to try the fish?’ Audrey asked. ‘But the restaurant we sit in is famous for the fish.’

‘I don’t really like fish all that much. Does it have heads on here?’

‘I am sure they can take the head off,’ Audrey said with a musical laugh. ‘I think if you try it you will be surprised how much you like it.’

Haydon looked doubtful. ‘Unless it’s covered in breadcrumbs and shaped like a finger I don’t think she will.’

‘No,’ Ella said, smiling brightly at Audrey and clearly in the mood to please her, ‘I will try it. Maybe I’ll find a new thing I like.’

‘I don’t think it’s going to replace our McDonald’s at a weekend even if you do like it,’ he said. ‘A bit far to come.’

‘But perhaps you will have a reason to visit Saint-Raphaël again soon,’ Audrey said, offering Haydon a coquettish smile that he couldn’t fail to interpret as romantic interest. Suddenly, he wasn’t quite as hungry as he had been when they’d arrived. Don’t blow it, he thought. Don’t mess this up. He didn’t know quite how this – whatever it was – could turn into anything long-term, but he didn’t want to think that far ahead, not tonight. He was in the company of a charming, beautiful woman who was actually interested in him, and why couldn’t that be enough, just for now?

‘Mum…’ Ashley whispered. ‘I don’t suppose you have time for a chat?’

They were out on the veranda of Violette’s house. Maurice was sitting on the steps sharing a home-rolled cigarette with Antoine that Sue had forbidden him to smoke, and it looked as if he’d imagined she hadn’t noticed the sneaky puffs he was taking when he thought she wasn’t looking. They conversed in rapid French, bursting into laughter every so often at some shared memory. Sue and Ashley were sharing the swinging seat, as had quickly become their habit. Violette was pruning her herbs – also a daily habit, it seemed – while Molly and Bastien splashed about in the swimming pool around the back that had only been cleaned that morning of years of grime, ready for the party later in the week. The sun was on its way down to the horizon and, although the evening was fragrant with flowers whose perfume grew in intensity with the dusk, it was still hot enough to have Ashley sitting out barefoot in shorts and a tiny vest.

‘Chat away,’ Sue said. ‘Nobody’s listening… I expect if I made a couple of very easy guesses I might know what you want to talk about?’

‘I expect you could. Maybe we should go for a walk?’

‘I wasn’t planning to venture out tonight if I’m honest. Is what you want to talk about that complicated? Surely you’re just waiting for another chance to give him the news. Unless you’re going to go over now and do that, in which case you don’t need me with you.’

‘I wasn’t…’ Ashley sighed and tipped her head to the sky. ‘It’s just getting more complicated than that.’

‘I don’t see how.’

Ashley turned back to her. ‘I really liked him, Mum. All those years ago I thought… He hurt me, that’s all. He broke my heart and seeing him now… I thought I wouldn’t care but I do.’

‘You want to try again? After all he’s done?’ Sue’s voice rose with her incredulity and Ashley shushed her, flicking a glance around to see if anyone had noticed.

‘Of course not, that would be ridiculous! But today… he was so lovely. Can you blame me for feeling mixed up about it?’

‘He’s a good actor. He might seem lovely but believing that’s the real man – isn’t that what got you in trouble in the first place? I bet he seems lovely to every woman whose heart he breaks. Mark my words, the good-looking ones are always trouble.’

‘So Maurice isn’t good-looking?’ Ashley raised her eyebrows.

‘He’s got what you’d call an interesting face. Anyway, I’m talking about the young good-looking ones. The older ones have already sown their oats and settled down.’

‘Haydon’s not that young, Mum.’

‘Do you even know how old he is?’

Ashley coloured. The shameful fact was that despite him being the father of her child she knew very little about him.

‘I know he’s around my age.’

‘A wild guess on your part?’

‘An educated guess.’

‘Still a guess. Hardly the basis for a serious relationship.’

‘People on first dates don’t know this stuff about each other.’

‘People on first dates don’t generally already have children together.’ Ashley widened her eyes as Sue’s voice rose again, and Sue grunted in acknowledgement. ‘First things first,’ she said, her voice lower now. ‘Before you have any dreams of a happy ever after you should go and see him and tell him the thing he needs to know.’

‘What if he doesn’t believe me?’

‘Then you’ll have all the answers you need and we can happily ignore him and his daughter for the rest of the holiday.’

‘Easier said than done,’ Ashley replied, gnawing her lip as her pensive gaze went to Violette, who was now bent over a vast rosemary shrub, snipping away as she cut it into shape.

‘But if I were you,’ Sue added, her voice harder now, ‘I’d steer well clear. It’ll only end in tears, I guarantee it.’

‘I appreciate your concern but I think you’ve got him wrong.’

Sue folded her hands in her lap, her gaze following Ashley’s to Violette, who had now stepped back to appraise her work with a small, satisfied smile.

‘We’ll see.’

They fell to silence for a moment, and then Ashley stood up.

‘I’m going to see him now.’

Sue merely gave a short nod.

‘I’ll know one way or another then,’ Ashley added.

Sue only nodded again.

But then Ashley sat down next to her once more, elbows on her knees, chin resting on her hands.

‘I thought you were going,’ Sue said mildly, and Ashley turned to her helplessly.

‘So did I. Saying it is easier than doing it. How do I have that conversation?’

‘There’s no easy way to have it but to come straight out with it. If he’s as nice as you think he is then you’d expect him to be happy about it eventually.’

‘Eventually. What about the beginning and in-between bits that come before eventually? Those are the bits that worry me.’

‘I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid. I’d offer to go across and tell him but I expect you’ll want to do that yourself.’

‘I don’t think it’s really appropriate for anyone else to do it.’

‘Neither do I. But he’s never going to know if you sit here staring at the lawn.’

Ashley nodded slowly. And then she got up and went to the house for her shoes.

---

Ashley closed the gate to Haydon’s holiday villa behind her and set out on the path back to Villa Marguerite. Once again her plans to come clean had been thwarted and now, instead of nerves and apprehension, frustration was the emotion that seemed to be overwhelming everything else. How hard did this have to be? All she wanted was ten quiet minutes to say what she needed to say, for the load to be lifted from her shoulders, and she couldn’t even get that. When they’d spent the day at the beach together Haydon hadn’t mentioned any plans to be out that evening, but then, she supposed, just because they were spending time together it didn’t mean he was obliged to. Still, she had expected him to be in and finding an empty house was beyond annoying.

There was no car outside, so did that mean he’d gone for a drive out? Perhaps to one of the more glamorous neighbouring towns like St Tropez? Or perhaps he’d simply gone to the supermarket? Ashley toyed with the idea of waiting around to see if he’d return any time soon but, after less than five minutes of watching the horizon for any signs of a car, she let out a long sigh and turned back to the path that would lead her to Violette’s home. A lizard streaked across her path, so fast she could barely make out the eggshell markings on its back. The part of her that was still a big kid had longed to catch one of the many that hid amongst the rocks and shrubs of Violette’s garden, just to know she could be fast enough, but as yet they’d all been too quick for her. Now, however, the event barely stirred any interest at all.

She’d left the occupants of Villa Marguerite preparing to stage some huge elaborate card game involving the entire family, and she supposed she’d be expected to join in with that when she got back, though she was hardly in the mood. It was going to be difficult to keep her current feelings hidden too, and if Sue didn’t notice she was quite sure Molly would pick up on it. Maybe it would be a good idea to stay out a little longer, walk the fields until she’d managed to shake them off. With the decision made, she swung round and retraced her steps, taking the path to the coast.

Outside the restaurant the night air was still balmy but a brisk breeze that whipped in from the sea sent an intermittent chill across the harbour. The sun hadn’t quite set and the sky was washed in pinks and lilacs over the horizon, giving way to deepest indigo as the first stars winked into life. Haydon and Ella followed Audrey out onto the patio area. His cheeks ached from laughing and it had been a long time since he’d felt so relaxed and content and so utterly charmed by a woman. He could see that Ella had fallen under her spell too, and she gazed up at Audrey now, smiling broadly, hanging on to every word that fell from her perfect lips. If Audrey had announced that the world was flat, at that moment, Haydon had no doubt that Ella would believe her completely.

‘I have had a wonderful evening,’ Audrey said. She smiled at Ella, but then threw a smouldering look Haydon’s way and there was no mistaking the subtext. His response to this was caught somewhere between outright lust and mortification that Ella was present to witness their outrageous flirting. Well, at least Audrey had been flirting outrageously, while Haydon had tried but undoubtedly failed to keep his carnal desires under wraps. He glanced at Ella, but if she’d thought anything inappropriate had been going on under her nose then she didn’t seem too distressed by it.

‘Us too,’ Haydon replied. He looked at Ella, who nodded in fervent agreement.

‘You should come to our villa next time,’ Ella said. ‘We could cook for you.’

‘I’m not sure Audrey would be impressed by my sausages and chips,’ Haydon said.

‘I would love to.’ Audrey took Ella by the shoulders and kissed her lightly on both cheeks. ‘I hope you will call me before you return home.’

‘I will…’ Haydon said, taken by a sudden dreamy stare. He shook himself. ‘I mean, we will. Absolutely.’

‘Don’t make me wait,’ Audrey said, that musical laugh of hers filling the night air. ‘I don’t like to wait – if I want something, I want to have it straight away.’

And then she gave Haydon another look filled with meaning and he almost gulped, cartoon-like. In the back of his mind there was a tiny voice telling him that he might just be the luckiest man on earth right now. Later, he would sit and wonder, still bemused by the idea that someone as impossibly glamorous as Audrey, who could have her pick of men, had deigned to even spend an hour with him, let alone show unmistakable signs of romantic interest. Everything about her was perfect, from the way she laughed to the way she smelt.

Audrey stepped forward, pressing her lips to his cheeks. ‘Au revoir, Haydon,’ she whispered into his ear, her breath on his neck setting him ablaze. ‘Do not forget about me.’

‘No…’ Haydon mumbled as she pulled away, feeling like an unready schoolboy being offered his first kiss. ‘I won’t forget.’ He looked at Ella. ‘Tomorrow?’ he asked her. ‘We could do tomorrow night, right?’

Ella nodded.

Audrey pouted. ‘Tomorrow I cannot do. Perhaps the day after?’

‘The day after… yes, we could do that,’ Haydon said. ‘The day after would be great.’

Audrey smiled, and then she reached to kiss him again, but this time she placed her lips firmly on his. She tasted sweet, like the figs they’d just eaten, and Haydon ached for more, but his mind kept warning him that Ella was right there and he had to be content with a goofy grin as she pulled away.

‘Let me know the time,’ Audrey said. ‘I will be there.’

‘We should walk you to your car…’ Haydon began, but Audrey waved an airy hand.

‘It is not necessary – I am quite safe.’

‘But—’

‘You must take Ella home,’ Audrey said, nodding at Ella, whose mouth was wide in a huge yawn. ‘I think she will be asleep walking if you do not.’

Ella grinned, and without any further reply, Audrey gave one last impossibly dazzling smile and turned to leave. Haydon watched her walk into the night, her skirts swishing around her, her steps light and elegant, and he still couldn’t quite believe his luck.

Walking beneath the twinkling lights, it was hard not to be utterly enchanted by the easy atmosphere of Saint-Raphaël. Ashley strolled past the colourful awnings of shops still open, their bright displays beckoning her in, and the lively chatter underneath the umbrellas of restaurant patios as they fluttered in the breeze whipping in from the sea, and her overwhelming sense of frustration lifted from her, minute by minute. By the time she reached the harbour where the shadows of boats jostled for space on the glittering night-time swells, where distant bells clanged out at sea and gentle waves kissed the harbour wall and people greeted her with open, friendly faces and warm words, she was relaxed and optimistic.

She hadn’t managed to catch Haydon tonight, but she had days yet and surely she could find a moment. It was such a small sentence to utter that she only needed a second to say it. And yet, such a small sentence had such huge implications, but she didn’t want to think that far ahead just yet. For now, telling him was the important bit, and there was a secret hope too that she dare not acknowledge, but one that nested in her heart just the same: that perhaps the knowledge that they shared more than a brief past together might be enough to start something new between them, something real and solid this time, something that he wouldn’t want to run away from as he had done once before. They’d both been young in Ibiza, and perhaps he’d simply felt too young to get tied down to one girl. Blokes liked to sow their oats, didn’t they? But now, with a daughter and a divorce, perhaps the sowing-oats years were well behind him, and perhaps he was ready to commit again. And perhaps that could be with Ashley.

She turned away from the sea now, taking a winding alleyway lit by the golden glow of lamps hanging from stone-walled houses and candles on tables from various eateries. One particularly quaint place drew her attention, a large chalkboard standing outside and announcing fish dishes and house specialities in colourful looped handwriting. Inside she could see that the kitchen was entirely open so that patrons sitting at scrubbed wooden tables could see their food being cooked and the smell on the air was of fragrant herbs and sweet roasted garlic. If Molly had been a more adventurous eater she might have suggested they come down one evening, but she was quite sure no amount of cajoling would persuade her. Perhaps her mum and Maurice would come with her. In fact, she’d probably find Maurice was related to the owners – he seemed to be connected to just about everyone in Saint-Raphaël in one way or another.

With the decision made to walk back and ask them – Ashley had decided right there and then that she would be missing out on something very special if she didn’t try this place out – she turned to continue down the lane, but a voice stopped her. She turned again to see Haydon emerge from the restaurant with Ella and a woman.

Without really knowing why, she slunk back into the shadows of a nearby house and watched. They were all laughing, relaxed, and the woman sounded like a local. Ashley vaguely recognised her and frowned as she tried to place her. Wasn’t she the vendor from the patisserie stall at the market? And then the weight of all Ashley’s newly built hopes and dreams crashed down onto her as the woman pulled Haydon into a kiss, one that he seemed to be enjoying immensely. This was no friendly Gallic greeting – this was a kiss with unmistakable lust in it.

Ashley’s stomach clenched, her throat tightening. She’d been so stupid to fall for his charm and lies once again. All that day on the beach she’d thought him interested, imagined that she’d sensed genuine regret for the way he’d left her that morning in Ibiza. In her foolish daydreams she’d even thought there might be a chance for them to pick up where they’d left off.

Her expression hardened, along with her resolve. There was no way she was letting a man like this be part of her life and even less chance that he could be anything but bad for Molly. Her secret was going to stay secret, and once they were home she’d never have to think about Haydon whatever-his-name-was ever again.