Jennifer Bohnet - Rosie’s Little Café on the Riviera

A summer of taking chances!

Rosie Hewitt’s dream of opening a little French café on the Riviera is finally coming true. She’s giving up on love and instead chasing her own perfect recipe for happiness…

Only, she never expected the oh-so-sexy, award-winning chef Sebastian Groc to set up his restaurant next door – or for his freshly baked croissants to smell quite so delicious.

But with just a few days until she opens her doors and all her sugar-coated dreams crumbling around her, Rosie isn’t prepared to give up without a fight!

Escape the winter blues with Jennifer Bohnet’s deliciously heartwarming read.

Rosie’s Little Café on the Riviera

Jennifer Bohnet

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Also by Jennifer Bohnet

I’m Virtually Yours

You Had Me at Bonjour

A French Pirouette

The Little Kiosk by the Sea

JENNIFER BOHNET

is originally from the West Country but now lives in the wilds of rural Brittany, France. She's still not sure how she ended up there! The saying ‘life is what happens while you're deciding what to do…’ is certainly true in her case. She's always written alongside having various jobs: playgroup leader, bookseller, landlady, restauranteur, farmer's wife, secretary – the list is endless but does provide a rich vein of inspiration for her stories.

For three years she wrote a newspaper column in the South Hams Group of Newspapers (Devon) where she took a wry look at family life. Since living in France it is her fiction that has taken off with hundreds of short stories and several serials published internationally.

Allergic to housework and gardening she rarely does either, but she does like cooking and entertaining and wandering around vide greniers (the French equivalent of flea markets) looking for a bargain or two. Her children currently live in fear of her turning into an ageing hippy and moving to Totnes, Devon.

To find out more about Jennifer visit her website at jenniferbohnet.comor chat to her on Twitter at @jenniewriter.

First, thanks must go to the team at HQ Digital – in particular Charlotte Mursell who clearly has the patience of a saint when dealing with needy authors!

Thanks must also go to my on line author friends who are always ready to offer sympathy and send virtual gin and chocolate when the editing gets tough (you know who you are).

Finally, but by no means least, a huge thank you to everybody who buys and reads my books.

To my husband Richard with love and thanks for being there.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Book List

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Extract

Endpages

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘ Bonne chance ,’ the notaire said, counting the large wad of euros Rosie had given him before pushing a bunch of keys across the desk towards her. ‘The Café Fleur is now yours.’

Five minutes later and, juggling the keys happily, Rosie walked along the ancient ramparts edging the Mediterranean towards the beach and the Café Fleur. Day one of the rest of her life was here at last and it felt oh so good. It had seemed to take forever, but one of her lifelong dreams was about to became a reality.

Owning and running her own successful café had been her number-one dream for several years now. Her other dream of being married and having a family by the time she was thirty had been foiled by her own seeming inability to build a long-lasting relationship with any man.

It was after a wine-fuelled thirtieth birthday hangover that she’d decided enough was enough. Life was passing her by. Okay, she’d failed to meet and marry Mr Right, but owning her own café was still within her grasp. So, Dream Target No 1 became saving enough money to open her own beach café in the South of France. Now, a couple of months before her thirty-fifth birthday, she was about to realise her dream.

Glancing across the bay to where several boats were making their way to the marina entrance, her smile faded. She recognised the hull of the boat leading the way, flying the English ensign. A Sure Thing , the yacht she’d been chef on for the past few years, while she squirrelled away enough money to gain her independence, was returning to port.

Briefly she wondered if Antoine, the skipper, had forgiven her yet for deserting him. He’d been less than happy when she’d told him her plans.

‘ Sacre bleu , Rosie, Charlie’s going to be furious when he finds out you’ve left. He’ll probably make William fire me for letting you go. Rosie, please, for me – one more summer?’

‘No. Definitely not.’ Rosie shrugged. ‘He already knows I’ve left, but Antoine, DO NOT, under any circumstances, tell Charlie the whereabouts of my restaurant. Understood?’

Antoine had given her a resigned nod and wished her well, knowing when he was beaten.

Rosie sighed. She could only cross her fingers and pray that the message had got through to Charlie that she wasn’t interested in a relationship, however much he wanted to rekindle their long-ago college affair. She had enough to do getting the Café Fleur ready to open without having to deal with him as well.

Hopefully the yacht was coming into port to take on fuel and stock up with food supplies and wouldn’t be staying long. Maybe they had plans to motor across to Corsica, one of Charlie’s favourite places. Corsica would be good. Go to Corsica, Rosie silently willed.

The longer she could keep the location of her new business from Charlie, the better. The scene he was sure to make when he realised what she was doing was not one she looked forward to. Not that she cared these days what he thought, but no way did she want him turning up at her opening party next week. He definitely wasn’t on the guest list.

Tansy, ex-stewardess on A Sure Thing , her best friend and, as of today, her sous-chef, waitress and chief washer-upper, was waiting for her in the car park at the back of the restaurant. ‘Signed your life away?’

‘Yep – and I’ve got the keys to prove it,’ Rosie said, stretching to raise the security grill before putting the first key in a lock near the top of the door and turning it. Another large, old-fashioned key went into a lock in the middle of the door and finally she bent down to insert a small, gold-coloured key into the lock six inches from the bottom, before turning the handle and opening the door.