Peter Mayle - A Good Year

The hair dryer stopped. “Come in. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Max went through a tiny hall and into an L-shaped room, the sitting area divided from the kitchen by an old zinc-topped bar. A leather chesterfield, with a silk shawl thrown over the back, and two club chairs were arranged around a coffee table piled with books, and a handsome oriental carpet, its colors muted with age to a soft glow, covered the tiled floor. A large nineteenth-century Provençal mirror, in a massive frame of gilded gesso, hung above the fireplace, reflecting a vase of lilies on the mantelpiece. A group of Lartigue photographs-all of them signed, Max noticed-decorated one wall. Everything spoke of quiet good taste and no shortage of money.

Perched on the edge of the chesterfield, Max inspected the books on the coffee table. They were mostly on art or photography, from Caillebotte and Botero to Atget and Erwitt, although one pile seemed to be devoted to wine-volumes on Yquem, on Burgundy, on the legendary champagnes. And on top of the pile, there was an old copy of The Great Wine Chateaux of Bordeaux.

Max picked up the book, a little foxed but still handsome, and started to leaf through the pages. If it were still in print, he thought, he’d get a copy for Charlie, a man who would appreciate the mixture of fine wines and what he would call highly desirable real estate. Remembering the glorious bottle they had shared in London, Max turned to the index to look up Chateau Léoville Barton.

As the pages fluttered open, a bookmark fell to the floor. Max picked it up and saw that it was a wine label; a wine among hundreds of others that he’d never heard of, but he liked the simplicity of the label’s design and the thick cream stock on which it was printed. It was discreet and clean without being too modern, exactly the kind of label he would choose for his own wine, if he could ever get anything drinkable out of the vineyard. He put it back as he heard Nathalie coming down the stairs, replaced the book, and stood up to greet her.

She had left her notaire ’s uniform in the closet, and was wearing close-fitting white trousers with a black top that left her arms bare, and the sunlight slanting through the window picked out the sheen of her copper hair. Max started to shake hands, but to his surprise she leaned forward and kissed him on both cheeks, her scent warm and spicy. The morning was starting well.

“Well,” she said, “are you ready to chiner ?”

“Sounds like fun. Is it legal?”

Nathalie laughed. “It means to go looking for antiques, for bargains.” She picked up a big leather shoulder bag. “Although you won’t find any bargains today. We’ll take my car. I like to drive.”

And Max had always liked the idea of having a pretty chauffeur; it had been one of his executive fantasies. Even so, he soon found himself jamming one foot hard on the floor, searching for a nonexistent brake. Nathalie drove in the classic French manner-fast, with impatience, and testing the outer limits of safety-and she had a cavalier disregard for the advantages of keeping both hands on the wheel. That is not to say the nonsteering hand was idle. When it wasn’t shifting gears, it was kept busy brushing back the shining hair, adjusting the sunglasses, or adding touches of visual punctuation to the conversation.

As the kilometers flew by, she told Max a little about the development of Ile-sur-Sorgue from a sleepy little town with a Sunday-morning bric-a-brac market to an internationally known antiques center. “Now they all come here,” she said. “Dealers from New York and California, London, Munich, Paris, decorators and their smart clients with houses in the Alpilles…” She paused while she executed a particularly ill-advised burst of speed, passing the car in front on a blind bend and narrowly missing an oncoming cyclist. She glanced over at Max, and grinned. “You can open your eyes now. We’re nearly there.”

Max offered up a silent prayer of thanks to the patron saint of terrified passengers and began to relax as traffic slowed to a crawl, cars nudging along in a search for parking spots by the side of the river. Nathalie saw a couple loading a large and very gloomy religious painting into a Volvo; sign language established that they were about to leave. She stopped, forcing the rest of the traffic to back up. Almost immediately, a blare of horns began, building up to a crescendo of irate honks from the car immediately behind her. Nathalie ignored the noise, taking her time to ease into the spot left vacant by the Volvo before waving on the car behind with a gesture of her hand, ending with a flip of the fingers that was just this side of an insult. The driver accelerated away, returning the gesture with interest.

Max got out of the car and stretched. “Is it always like this on a Sunday?”

Nathalie nodded. “The winter’s a little quieter, but not much. There’s no off-season for shopping.”

They started walking toward the line of stalls where the brocanteurs had set out this week’s priceless relics-old linen, crockery, ragged posters, café ashtrays, chairs on their last legs, amateur Cézannes, the contents of a hundred bygone households. “This side is mainly for tourists,” Nathalie said, “people looking for a souvenir to take home. Over there, on the other side of the street, are some of the serious dealers. The rest are farther on, in the old station. We’ll start with them.” She took Max’s arm, and steered him onto a narrow footbridge that led across the river. “But first, coffee. If I don’t have coffee, I shall become a foul-tempered salope. ”

More stalls sprawled along the other bank of the river, these laden with cheese and flowers, olive oil and herbs, the cheap clothes and sturdy pink brassieres and corsets that only seem to be sold in provincial French markets. Max was silent, taking in the colors, the smells, the good-humored jostling of the crowd, enjoying the light pressure of Nathalie’s guiding hand.

They found a table at a café overlooking the river and ordered two grands crèmes. Nathalie seized her cup with both hands, took a long, greedy swallow, and sat back with a sigh of satisfaction. “Alors,” she said, “before I forget.” She started to search through her bag. “Lunch.”

Max watched her, a frown on his face. She didn’t seem the kind of girl who would bring sandwiches. But, as Uncle Henry used to say, you never can tell with the frogs, slaves as they are to their bellies.

Nathalie looked up and saw his quizzical expression as she took her cell phone from her bag. “What is it?”

Max shook his head. “Nothing. Actually, I just remembered something my uncle used to say about the French and food. I thought for a moment you were going to pull out a picnic. You know, lunch.”

Nathalie’s eyebrows went up at the absurdity of such an idea, and she clicked her tongue. “Do I look like a bonne maman ?”

He gave her a long, appraising look. It was difficult to imagine her sweating over a hot stove. “No, I suppose not. You haven’t got the build for it. And an apron wouldn’t go with the handbag. Tell me, did you know him? My uncle?”

“I met him once. A very English man.”

“Is that good or bad?”

Nathalie cocked one shoulder and smiled. “That depends on the man.” She left Max to consider that as she scrolled through some numbers, picked one, and put the phone to her ear. “Jacques? C’est Nathalie. Bien, et toi?” She laughed at the reply. “Oui, deux. Dans le jardin. A tout à l’heure.”

They finished their coffee, and Nathalie looked at her watch. “We have plenty of time before lunch. Who do you want to see first? The expensive dealers, or the ridiculously expensive dealers?” She slung her bag over her shoulder and led the way through the crowd, hair and hips swinging in a way that put all thoughts of antique furniture out of Max’s mind.