A ROMANCE IN PROVENCE

April - Part 2

The spring school holidays arrived. For the hotel, it was the announcement of the beginning of the high season, at the farm, it was a completely different event: the return of Rose.

The whole family was buzzing, a welcome meal, to which I had been invited, was organized. For the occasion, we were having lunch in the garden. Nicole and Mireille had set up a large table topped with colourful Provencal cloth. Auguste was responsible for setting up the parasols and preparing the barbecue. Mamée had made panisses. Papet was responsible for bringing the pastis, which he was already sipping at 11 am, watching this busy little world.

Vincent left early to get Rose, there was still a 5 hour round trip to Cannes, and I assumed he was looking forward to seeing his daughter.

When his 4x4 passed the gate of the property, everyone stopped what they were doing—except Papet—to rush into the parking area. I watched the merry-go-round a few steps away. Vincent hadn’t yet stopped the engine, as Mireille was already busy detaching his little daughter from her car seat. After kissing her grandmother, and the rest of the Allard clan, Rose caught sight of me and rushed towards me. She collided hard and wrapped her little arms around my legs.

“Cali!”

I crouched down to put my face up to hers.

“Hello, Sweetheart, did you have a good trip?”

She nodded her head up and down shaking her blond curls. Then she approached my ear, and whispered:

“So you found a lover for my dad?”

I certainly had not forgotten my promise, but I had counted on the fact that this would be the case with her. Those who thought that 5-year-olds have short memories were mistaken. I was going to have to admit to her that my skills as a matchmaker were limited.

“Uh... I haven’t seen anyone that’s worth it,” I apologized.

“Oh, too bad," she replied disappointed. "You’ll keep looking, right?”

“Yes, of course,” I muttered, wondering what I might make up next time.

“What are you two plotting?” asked Danielle as she approached.

“Nothing special,” I hastened to answer, while Rose said:

“Cali will help me find a lover for dad!”

Danielle raised an eyebrow and gave me an astonished smile. I gave her a look of ‘not to raise the subject again, if possible’.

“Are you thirsty, Rose? I think Mamée bought pomegranate syrup just for you,” she informed her.

The call of the pomegranate syrup being irresistible, the little girl soon forgot her father’s love life, and I rushed to help Nicole to escape Danielle’s questions.

A little later, Vincent was giving Rose the program for the week when the little girl exclaimed:

“Oh no! I don’t want to go to the doctor with you!”

“I’m sorry sweetie, but I promised Grandma Mireille I’d go with her, Nicole and Auguste won’t be here, and Danielle is working. I know it’s not very fun for you, but we’ll try to do it as quickly as possible so that you don’t get bored. Maybe we can go have an ice cream afterwards?” Vincent tried.

“No, no. I don’t want to come with you. I’ll stay on the farm by myself! Or I’ll go to work with Danielle and Cali!”

“I’d love to take you with me my dear, but it’s not possible. I don’t think my boss would agree,” Danielle replied, showing a sorry look.

“And you Cali? Can you take me with you?”

Caught off guard, I didn’t know what to say. Above all, I didn’t want to contradict Vincent’s authority, but I was quite able to take care of Rose that day. I also had a little idea.

“No Rose! Cali has work too.”

Vincent was sitting on my right, so I put my hand on his arm to make him understand that I had something to offer him. He turned his eyes to my hand, which I hastened to withdraw, then raised his questioning eyes to my face.

“Rose might be useful to me in my work that day. I mean, if you don’t mind sharing her with me,” I added, speaking softly so that the little girl wouldn’t hear us.

His eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair in astonishment.

“We’ve just installed a children’s playground at the hotel, and it’s not yet open, because we are hesitant about the equipment to be added. I think Rose would be a much better “test customer” than a bunch of grouches in suits. And I’m sure she could give us her opinion on the ice cream flavours available in the restaurant as well.”

Vincent looked at me cautiously.

“Are you sure this won’t bother you? I’ll be away all afternoon, and Rose isn’t one to play in her corner and leave you alone. She’s going to be behind you all the time, it’s not very compatible with a working day, believe me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be entirely at her disposal. I really need a child to test the area for us to know if we have to move certain elements.”

Vincent turned his head to his daughter who hadn’t lost a shred of the conversation, with her eyes full of hope.

“Would you like to go with Cali on Thursday?”

“Oh, yes dad! Say yes!”

“Okay, well, that’s settled.”

He then put his hand briefly on mine and said to me:

“Thank you.”

Then he got up to help his mother clear up.

“Miss Caddell, there’s a little girl named Rose at the reception, who claims to have an appointment with you.”

I was smiling, because I could tell from Christelle’s pinched tone on the phone that she had to be looking at the kid like a curious beast, praying she wouldn’t start drooling on her check-in.

“Tell her I’ll be right there.”

I turned off my computer and hurried to the hotel lobby. As usual, Rose gave me one of her collisions / hugs. Vincent was a few steps behind, and displayed a 7 look on the boredom scale, except that it wasn’t intended for me for once. Christelle tried her charm number on him, and it didn’t seem to work.

I watched this merry-go-round for a moment, then decided it was high time to free my friend from Christelle’s sharp claws.

“Hello, Vincent,” I said, approaching him.

We exchanged a kiss, a French custom that had taken a little time to adjust.

As I backed away, I realized that he was begging me with his eyes. I almost burst out laughing. The great Vincent Bonifaci, who didn’t seem frightened by anyone, was afraid of being eaten alive by the receptionist of the Bastide Western!

I grabbed him by the arm, asking him to follow me to my office. Rose frolicked happily by our side.

“Miss Caddell!” Christelle’s strident voice stopped me. Mr Ricard has specified that from 1st April, all visitors who come to the office wing must wear a badge, and complete an identity card at the reception.

I rolled my eyes and turned to answer her:

“It will not be necessary, it’s a private visit.”

“Yes, but Mr Ricard…”

“I’ll take care of Mr Ricard,” I interrupted her a little irritated.

I left a reproachful Christelle and concentrated on my two guests.

Vincent left us after a few minutes, not without making several recommendations. I promised to watch over Rose as if she were the “pupil of my eyes” and he looked at me completely lost, before correcting me. The real expression being “the apple of my eye”. This helped to calm the atmosphere, and he left, I had the impression, my heart was lighter.

So Rose and I went to test this famous playground. The little girl was tireless. I would have been unable to say how many times she slid on the big slide, but I was sure it was in the hundreds, rather than the tens. I had no nephews, nieces, or close friends who had children. Aside from a few babysitting experiences during my teens, children were strangers to me. But I felt comfortable with Rose, and the little girl seemed to enjoy my company.

At tea time, I reminded her of my promise of some ice cream. Not that she had forgotten it. I prepared for her, with the help of a room service waiter, a huge vanilla-strawberry bowl, topped with whipped cream and a small pink glitter umbrella. We sat by the pool to eat it. Rose devoured her ice cream in a few minutes and already wanted to go back to play. I had to insist that she accept that I wash her first.

As we walked along side the pool, Rose stopped and pointed to something in the water.

“Cali! Look! A frog!”

I approached the edge and indeed, there was an amphibian doing lengths in the hotel swimming pool.

“I think it’s a toad,” I commented.

“You have to save him, Cali! We can’t leave him in the pool! He may be a prince!”

We had to get it out of the pool, she was totally right. The poor beast was trapped, the only escape being the two ladders, which it would have been unable to climb. Doing nothing ensured certain death: either starvation or exhaustion. Not to mention the fact that even if the swimming pool still wasn’t busy at this time of the year, I dared not think of the cries of horror from a tourist finding himself face to face with the creature.

I looked around to see if there was a maintenance worker around. I was unfortunately all alone, apart from a paunchy gentleman who had fallen asleep on a deckchair a little further in the garden.

“Cali! Cali! We must save the prince!”

“I don’t think it’s a prince, Sweetheart. But let’s try to get it out of there.”

The little girl looked at me with hopeful eyes. It was unthinkable for me to disappoint her. I was going to have to take care of the toad myself, and that idea terrified me. Remember the slug in the salad…

I took Rose with me, looking for a landing net. Once the tool was found, I hoped the animal would make it easier for me and cooperate. The most annoying thing in the story was that the little girl seemed to have immense faith in my ability to save the beast.

I approached the pool, Rose on my heels.

“Sweetheart, don’t stay behind me, and move away from the swimming pool, this isn’t the time to fall into the water.”

The toad had stopped exploring its new environment and had approached one of the edges as if it had felt that it was a good idea. I was sure he was staring at me with his little chubby eyes, his big legs were moving to keep him afloat and his goitre was shaking. I had read somewhere that he put the insects he swallowed there and chew them for hours. The thought lifted my heart. I calculated now what were the chances that once in the landing net, he decides to rest on the net to jump on me.

Was contact with the toad dangerous? I remembered a vague story of venom that could be hallucinogenic. Was the Provencal toad a species to fear?

“Hurry up Cali! He must be tired!”

Listening only to my courage, I took another step closer and plunged the landing net into the water. Fortunately, the handle was quite long, which kept me away from the amphibian. He didn’t resist when he felt the object lifting him. For my part, once certain that the creature was in the net, I strode towards the lawn. As soon as I reached the drop-off point that I had set for myself, I left the net completely onto the grass, telling myself that the toad could jump to get out of it on its own.

My heartbeat was erratic, but I was proud of myself, I saved the animal without coming into contact with it! Rose rushed to its side.

“Don’t touch him, sweetie,” I advised her.

“Yes, Yes.”

“But what are you doing?” asked a male voice.

I jumped, even if I had recognized its owner.

“I just saved a toad from drowning,” I replied proudly to Hugo, turning to him.

Hugo looked at me, frowning. I felt like he was upset, but it wasn’t just because of the toad.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“Christelle informed me that you were receiving a visit from your “boyfriend”. Let’s say that I was rather surprised by the news... Who’s the little girl?”

I understood his scowl better, and I found once again that the receptionist had interfered with what didn’t concern her.

“It was Vincent, and Rose is his daughter.”

“Vincent?”

“Danielle’s cousin, remember we met him the time you took me home after our first date. He was in the dark, and I was scared.”

Part of the tension in his face seemed to disappear.

I saw that Rose was following the toad which was jumping briskly towards the swimming pool.

“Rose, stay away from the pool,” I ordered.

“And why did Christelle think he was your boyfriend?”

I looked at Hugo, was he having a jealous fit?

“Rose I already told you, don’t go near the pool!” I repeated more firmly.

“Answer me, Cali, why did she think he was your boyfriend?” he said annoyed.

“I don’t know why she thought that,” I replied angrily. “Maybe because she’s the hotel’s number one gossip peddler? Maybe because she feels there’s something between us, and she wants to test you? Maybe also because she has a crush on you, and she hates me? I don’t know!”

“Please stop shouting, now is not the time to stir up the whole hotel. If she thought Vincent was your boyfriend, it was because your attitude towards him must be confusing.”

“Sorry? What exactly are you hinting at?” I exploded.

He didn’t have time to answer my question, because we heard a big “splash”.

It took me less than a second to understand what had happened.

“Rose!”

My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately jumped into the water to rescue the little girl. Even though it was heated, I was seized by the cold. I easily found Rose underwater, wrapped my arms around her, and swam to the surface. Once there, I took us to the edge. The manoeuvre wasn’t easy, because my outfit slowed me down considerably, fortunately, I was a good swimmer. I hoisted Rose onto the ledge, helped by Hugo, then got out myself by the ladder.

“Go get us some towels! Quick!”

He didn’t have time to enter the pool house, as Danielle was already running towards us running from the hotel, a packet of towels and bathrobes in her arms.

The next few minutes went by without me being fully aware of it. There were a lot of people and excitement around us. I only remembered one thing: Rose’s smile, not realizing at all that it had given me the fear of my life, she was just happy to have “dived with the prince”!

Back home, Danielle and I installed Rose in front of a cartoon, wrapped in oversized borrowed clothes with the Western logo.

I was submerging my cell phone into a bowl of rice in a desperate attempt to bring it back to life when the door opened. From where I was, I couldn’t see the entrance, but since the door knocked violently against the wall, I had no doubts about the identity of the newcomer. I knew that Danielle had warned him of our mishap.

“Rose my darling! Are you okay?”

Vincent was kneeling in front of his daughter, feeling her as if he were checking that she was in one piece.

“Dad, it was great! We went on a slide, we played hide-and-seek, and I ate a huge ice cream for a snack! Then I fell into the water, and Cali jumped in to save me. But I told her she didn’t have to, I can swim without a ring and armbands!”

I stood at the back of the living room without moving. When Vincent’s caring look left his daughter and landed on me, it changed completely, and the boredom scale was no longer large enough to rate it.

He left Rose in front of the cartoon and motioned to speak to me in private. As the kitchen was open to the living room, I had no choice but to invite him to my room, which seemed to be more suitable than the bathroom.

Vincent ran his hand through his hair, he looked exhausted and had aged 10 years in a few hours.

“You promised to pay attention to her.”

His words were as sharp as razor blades, even if they were spoken with all the calm in the world.

“I’m sorry Vincent, I asked her to stay away from the side, I had a second of inattention and—”

“A second of inattention? This isn’t acceptable when looking after a child, Cali! What would have happened if it had been in the middle of winter? Or if her head had hit the edge?”

His green eyes flashed, and his nostrils quivered. Yet he hadn’t raised his voice. His anger was dull, and it was all the more impressive.

He returned to the living room to pick up his daughter and left without another word. When the door closed on them, I felt the first tear fall on my cheek. I swept it with the back of my hand, but it was followed by a second, then a third. After a few seconds, I sobbed like I hadn’t done for a long time.

There was certainly the aftermath of the emotions of the day, but more than anything, I mourned the loss of Vincent’s trust. And at that moment, I realized that it was more important to me than I would have thought.