T Williams - To Provence, with Love

‘That’s easy. Just go out of the gate and down the lane, towards the town. There shouldn’t be any cars about at ten o’clock on a Sunday night, but take a torch just in case. When you get to the lavender farm, there’s a footpath off to the right that’ll bring you back up here. Marlon knows the way.’

She gave Eddie a smile. ‘Right, then, that’s what I’ll do.’ She looked across to the fireplace. ‘So, Marlon, fancy a walk?’ As the dog leapt to his feet and charged across the room towards her, she shot a quick grin towards Eddie. ‘That is what’s known as a rhetorical question. See you later, Eddie.’

Faye helped herself to a torch from the kitchen, retrieved her missing sandal, and hurried across the courtyard to change her shoes, making sure she put on trainers with laces this time. She had no intention of walking about in the dark with one shoe again. The dog came trotting up the stairs with her and had a good sniff round the flat while she changed.

As she was about to turn the lights off, she was just in time to retrieve her newly washed sandal from Marlon’s mouth before he stole off with it again. Taking Claudette’s advice, this was remarkably simple with the aid of a piece of biscuit. She slipped the rest of the biscuit into her pocket and made a mental note to look for some less important item for him to have tomorrow.

Back outside again, she clipped his lead on and they headed down the drive towards the road. The sky was clear and the temperature had dropped a little, but it was still very warm. When they emerged onto the lane she found that the moon, well over half size, cast enough light for her to be able to find her way without the torch. As Eddie had predicted, she encountered no traffic as she walked down to the farm, although sinister noises from the other side of a row of trees rather unsettled her until she came to a gate and saw the field full of sheep, still grazing by moonlight.

As she walked down the hill, she pulled out her phone and called her father. He sounded pleased for her and she resolved to ask him to come over for a few days once she had settled in. He was always working, and a bit of time off would do him good. As she said goodnight, above her the moon looked almost close enough to touch. It was so clear she could see actual craters just with the naked eye. It was a delightful sight and she felt a sudden surge of happiness to be here and to have left the cares of her previous life behind. So far, so very good indeed.

As she reached the lavender farm she saw lights on in the farmhouse but no other signs of life. Undeterred, she let Marlon off the lead and followed him to the right along a narrow track and away from the road. Within a few minutes she found herself in dense woodland, her feet rustling in the dry leaves, a warm smell of resin in the air. By now her night vision had improved to the extent that she could just about pick out the path as it weaved to and fro among the trees. She could hear Marlon crashing about in the undergrowth, having a wonderful time. Along with the resin, there was a strong scent of lavender in the air and she realized the purple fields must be close by.

Suddenly she was almost tripped by a black shadow that came shooting along the path straight towards her, scaring her half to death, closely followed by another identical one. Four bright eyes reflected in the moonlight as Marlon joined the other Labrador and both looked up at her. Faye stared into the shadows, looking for the other dog’s master but, try as she might, she couldn’t see anybody.

‘Hello?’ But there was no reply. She stood there for a few minutes, feeling slightly apprehensive, wondering if he would suddenly appear. She felt sure it had to be him, the farmer, but what if it was a stranger? Here she was all alone in a dark wood. Her sense of elation began to dwindle. Then, finally, a not so distant double whistle sounded and one pair of bright eyes disappeared like a shot. As the noise of his paws in the leaves receded, Faye looked down at the remaining dark shape on the ground before her, reassured that the whistle had belonged to the man she had met earlier, but she was puzzled.

‘That was a bit strange, Marlon. I wonder what that was all about.’ Pretty clearly the man wasn’t interested in talking to her and, although it was a bit weird, that suited her just fine. He was a man, a handsome one as well, and, as such, she knew she was not interested in the slightest. She addressed the dog once more. ‘So, why should I care?’

For a moment, she had the distinct impression that one of the eyes winked at her again, but she could have been mistaken.

Chapter Three

When Faye woke up next morning, it was to the drumming of rain on the roof and ominous trickling noises as water swept along the gutters and rushed down the drainpipes outside. She got up reluctantly, not really wanting to leave the wonderful comfortable bed where she had enjoyed a terrific night’s sleep, uninterrupted by dreams of the bed’s previous occupant or, indeed, any other man. After sitting up for an hour the previous night, scribbling down as many of Eddie’s stories as she could remember, she had dropped off almost immediately. She now felt rested and unexpectedly happy, in spite of the weather.

She went over to the window and peered out through the curtains. The day before she had had a view clear across the valley to the distant hills and even the mountains beyond. Today she could barely make out the village, although it was only a few hundred yards down the hillside. A thick grey blanket of rain had settled over everything, cutting the chateau off from the rest of civilization. Even so, even though she was now hundreds and hundreds of miles away from England, her father, and her friends, she knew she really didn’t mind. And the knowledge that she wasn’t going to have to face her irascible head teacher and a pile of paperwork brought a further smile to her lips. In spite of the rain, she was humming to herself as she went through to the shower.

When she got over to the main house just before nine, she found Claudette and Marlon on the kitchen floor, engaged in what looked like a wrestling match. What in fact was happening, Faye soon discovered, was that Marlon had returned from his early morning walk absolutely soaked and Claudette was doing her best to rub him dry with a towel, before letting him loose in the rest of the house. The kitchen smelt of a mixture of wet dog, toast, and coffee – an interesting, if unappetising, combination - but Marlon looked unapologetic.

He hurried across to greet Faye as she came in, wiping the rain from her hair and rubbing her laptop and notebook against her shorts to dry them as she did so. Although it was less than twenty yards from the stables to the kitchen, she was rather regretting not having thought to grab an umbrella before venturing out. Clearly, when it rained round here, it really rained. As she gently dissuaded the dog from jumping all over her and brushed the raindrops off her shoulders, she looked across to where Claudette was just getting to her feet again, wiping her hands on what was now a decidedly muddy-looking towel.

‘Good morning, Claudette, been for a walk?’

‘A swim, more like. I got drenched just walking up from the village so I thought I might as well take Marlon out for a quick walk. I’ve been trying to dry him off before he shakes himself in here.’ Claudette went across to the sink, dumped the towel in a bucket, and set about washing her hands. ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘I slept like a log,’ Faye answered honestly. ‘I went out like a light.’ She grinned. ‘I can see why George Clooney liked it.’

‘Mr Clooney! What a nice man he was. It’s such a shame he hasn’t been back. We haven’t had guests here at the chateau for a good while now. We used to have all manner of celebrities, but that’s pretty much finished nowadays.’