A ROMANCE IN CANNES

Chapter 3

A month later

“Danielle, can I talk to you in my office?” asked Hugo Ricard – the manager of Bastide Western – at the end of the daily department heads meeting.

It was worded as a question, but did I have the right to say no to my boss about this kind of request? I don’t believe so. Even though our relations were quite cordial, I couldn’t help wondering why I was called in alone. I mentally made a list of what he might have to blame me for. Not that it was very long but, let’s be honest, I wasn’t the perfect employee. I had thought of a thing or two about which I wasn’t beyond reproach. Now, it remained to be seen which one had caught the hotel manager’s attention.

“Please sit down.”

He pointed to the chair facing his desk, and I was tempted not to sit too comfortably. Rather like, one buttock on the cushion and the other in the void, to be able to react quickly in case of… In case of what? That was the question.

I’m sure Hugo noticed that I was on my guard, but he said absolutely nothing to help me relax. I was right, he had something to reproach me for.

“I’d like to talk about your future here, or should I say in the company.”

My future? Whoa! It looked much more serious than I had imagined!

I felt my hands get sweaty and then I held myself straight as an I.

“I’ll be honest, I currently consider you one of our best employees. I know that you’re doing a phenomenal job and that you’re one of the essential links in the smooth running of this hotel. This is why what I have to announce to you doesn’t please me personally.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I realised that it was much more serious than I thought.

“Your transfer request has been accepted,” he indicated.

The words echoed in my head for a moment, the time it took to understand the meaning. Was my transfer request accepted?

The hotel being part of a group deployed throughout the world, the employees had the possibility of applying easily to work in another establishment. Either by presenting themselves for a specific position or by indicating that they are open to a possible transfer. A few weeks ago, I filled out this form.

“Has my request been accepted?” I repeated, incredulous.

Very sincerely, I had decided to register on a whim. I had, at that time, thought that a little change would do me no harm. The truth is that I felt like everyone around me was moving forward: Alexandre had moved in with his girlfriend a few days before, Cali had been living with Vincent for a year now and was renovating the farmhouse in ruins on our land to open a guesthouse. And me, I was still here, working in the same place for years and that was perhaps what had challenged me. The others produced projects, left, arrived, changed direction. Me, I was almost part of the walls. At the hotel, when there was a question that required an answer from someone who had known the establishment for years, they were suggested to “ask Danielle”. It was certainly pleasant to feel useful and possess a certain knowledge… but it also reminded me that I hadn’t moved. I was still living where I grew up. Technically, you could even say that I was still living under the same roof as my parents! Luckily, not in the same apartment, but I wasn’t far either.

So, one evening, I said to myself that maybe I should aspire to something else, that I could broaden my horizons. I filled out the transfer form on the Western group’s intranet, without drawing too many plans either. Frankly, I’d even almost forgotten that I had done it. The general housekeeper positions available were not overflowing, and there were certainly much better candidates than mine. So Hugo’s announcement took me a bit by surprise.

“Yes, your transfer has been accepted,” he confirmed, this time with a small smile. “I’m not happy to lose such a good team member, as I just told you, but I guess it had to happen one day. Either way, I’m sure you deserve it. Congratulations, Danielle.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

This time, I sank back into my chair, trying to figure out what this meant.

“You haven’t even asked me where the group wants to transfer you?”

At these words, I realised that, under the influence of surprise, I hadn’t even thought of that. I had indicated that I was ready to accept a position anywhere in Europe. But it’s big, Europe, after all! The group had just acquired a hotel in Sweden, in the north, more precisely. With my luck, I was good to move to a town that would have the same name as an Ikea chair, and where the temperature of my freezer would seem almost tropical.

“Where am I going?” I stammered.

“If you dreamed of a change of scenery, you’ll be disappointed, I suppose, but you don’t have to accept, by the way…”

“Yes, so where is it?” I grew impatient.

“At Cannes.”

“At Cannes?”

“Yes, Cannes in the Alpes-Maritimes. The film festival city,” he added, in case I was really bad at geography.

“At Western Palace? On the Croisette?”

“The very same.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I never would have thought that my application could be accepted by this kind of establishment. The Bastide was certainly a beautiful place, but with a reasonable number of rooms and a fairly family clientele. The Palace, as its name indicated, rivalled the biggest hotels on the Côte d’Azur, such as the Carlton, the Martinez or the Eden Roc. It regularly welcomed prestigious clients and reserved the pinnacle of French luxury within the group.

When, a few minutes ago, I was dubious about the idea of leaving, my interest had just been piqued. The Western Palace was a godsend to think about. Not to mention the fact that such a name on my CV could only be beneficial. It was sort of a place that felt like the Holy Grail in my profession. The kind of hotel in which I didn’t even imagine myself working because this dream seemed to be inaccessible.

“But then, it’s not for the position of general housekeeper, I suppose? Assistant housekeeper perhaps?”

Elsewhere, the idea of having a position subordinate to the one I held would have put me off. But not at Western Palace.

“This is indeed the post of general housekeeper. I guess you appreciate the opportunity this represents?”

“Yes, yes. I understand,” I said, overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation.

No no. I didn’t understand at all.

Me, Danielle Allard, General Housekeeper of the Western Palace Cannes. Pinch me, I’m dreaming!

Suddenly, something came to mind.

“But, how can my application be accepted? I didn’t even have an interview!”

From what I had been told, even if it was a transfer within the same company, it was customary to have at least one telephone meeting to present one’s motivation.

“Someone endorsed your candidacy and convinced them that you were the right person for them.”

“Who’s that? I don’t know anyone over there.”

Hugo looks surprised.

“Well, I haven’t been told who, but it sounds like that person likes you so much that you get the job without even an interview.”

I was speechless, racking my brains to figure out who could be my mysterious guardian angel.

I saw only one person and, as she didn’t live very far, I went, at the end of my day, to pay her a little visit.

I passed the door of the small house located on the family property, without really taking the time to knock. I rarely did that; Cali loved that her home was always alive and open to our family members. Vincent was a little less of a fan of this idea, but he still hadn’t come home from work at this hour anyway.

I found my former roommate sitting at the table with Rose, a stack of pancakes and a jar of chocolate spread between them.

“You eat pancakes and you don’t even warn me!” I exclaimed, slightly exaggerating the sense of betrayal in my voice, and putting a hand to my heart.

Rose burst out laughing. With her blond curls and her big clear eyes, she looked like a doll. She seemed really fulfilled since she was living here with her father and Cali.

“We don’t need to warn you. Every time we make them, you just magically show up,” Cali says.

“Don’t tell me I have a sixth sense for pancakes. I’m sure you make them all the time.”

“It’s one of the only things she can cook without setting the house on fire,” Rose confirmed.

Cali glared at her, causing the child to laugh.

“Don’t you have homework to do?”

Rose’s face darkened, and she got up from the table with a groan. She retrieved her satchel from the hallway and disappeared into her bedroom.

“And you, don’t you have something to tell me?” I said without taking the time to beat around the bush.

“Now that you’ve grilled me about the pancakes, I don’t think so.”

“You haven’t, by any chance, called on old acquaintances lately?”

My best friend frowned and replied:

“Old acquaintances of what?”

“At Western.”

I wanted her to tell me all of this herself. I was a little annoyed that she interceded on my behalf without even telling me, so I wasn’t going to make it easy for her.

“You know I haven’t worked there for a while. Apart from a few former colleagues with whom I exchange a greeting card or an email from time to time, I no longer have any contact with them. I remind you that the fact that I left them overnight to come and settle here made me lose the management’s good graces.”

She sounded totally sincere in her explanation.

“Do you know anyone at the Western Palace in Cannes?”

“Not really. I think I have a former colleague who works as a revenue manager there, but we weren’t very close. I’m not sure. Why are you asking me this question?”

She stared at me, waiting for an answer, and it was then that I realised that I had said too much…or not enough. I was going to have to break the news to her. But, so focused on wanting to know who had supported my candidacy, I had forgotten to think about how to present the news of my departure to my loved ones. And something told me that it might not be as easy as a letter in the mail.

We were a very close-knit family. Already by the fact that we have all lived in the same place, on the farm, for I don’t know how many generations. In this family, despite arguments from time to time – more frequently between Papet and Mamée – we liked to get together. So I suspected that the announcement of my departure wasn’t going to leave them insensitive. Everyone would have something to say, advice or even a warning. And that was what worried me. How were my loved ones going to experience all of this? Because I wasn’t just changing jobs, I was leaving. And above all, I was leaving them.

Of all of them, Cali would certainly be the one with the most reasonable opinion. She could easily understand that I wanted to take this professional opportunity. Before falling under the spell of my reserved cousin, she hadn’t hesitated to move more than once, and leave her loved ones behind to pursue her career. She was still waiting for my answer to her question, and the more the seconds passed, the more suspicious it seemed that I wasn’t saying anything.

“Danielle?”

“I have…”

I took a deep breath and said quickly, suddenly, like a band-aid being ripped off:

“I got the job of general housekeeper at the Western Palace in Cannes,” I announced.

For a moment, Cali just stared blankly at me. Then she blinked, showing that she was still alive – Okay, my news was pretty big, but not enough to kill her. Sensing that she wasn’t going to say anything right away, I hastened to add:

“Hugo just told me this morning, and the group accepted my transfer without me even having to go for an interview. It’s crazy, right? Someone has endorsed my candidacy, but I don’t know who. So, at first, I thought it was you who had…”

“You’re leaving?” she cut me off.

She looked shocked and… disappointed.

She may not be able to support me after all.

“I think so…”

“You think?”

I sighed.

“I don’t know. It’s a great opportunity, and it will surely give me a change of scenery. But, on the other hand, I applied for a transfer on a whim, without giving it much thought. I’m not sure this is what I need. I’m good here too. That’s what I’ve always known. Yes, sometimes I’m fed up, but am I ready to start all over again somewhere else?”

“If you applied for this transfer, it’s because you wanted something else, right?”

I took a second before answering her.

“I think what frightens me is to see that everyone wants something else, to move forward in their life. Sometimes I feel like I’m treading water. I have a feeling that the Danielle of five years ago is the same as the one of today and that in ten years she’ll still be here.”

It was weird talking to someone about this feeling that had been growing inside me for several months already.

“And this position interests you?”

“You’re joking? How could it not interest me? General housekeeper of a palace? In Cannes, too? Do you sincerely believe that I can do better?”

“So why do you have cold feet?”

Her literal translation of the American idiom made me laugh.

“It’s funny, two minutes ago, I could have sworn you were going to tell me not to accept it.”

“Don’t tempt me!”

She continues, in a softer voice:

“A big selfish part of me wants to do anything to dissuade you from going. But another knows it’s a huge opportunity.”

“It’s not easy, there are arguments for and others against…”

“That’s for sure, but don’t you think that, if you refuse it, you risk spending the rest of your life saying to yourself: what if...? There’s nothing worse than living with regrets. If I take my case, when I was offered to return to the United States, I had a hard time accepting, knowing what I was leaving behind. Eventually, I told myself that if I didn’t, there would always be this little part of me that would have regrets.”

“And, in the end, you didn’t even stay. You tell me to choose the professional path when you have chosen the one of the heart.”

“I’m not telling you that one or the other is better. What I’m trying to explain to you is that you have to make your own choice, whether it’s a mistake or not. You can always say: I tried and it didn’t work, but at least I did it. And then, Cannes, it’s not that far away, you can come back from time to time. If you don’t like it, you can always come back. There’s no shortage of hotels in the area. But if you don’t go, you’ll be the one to say, Once, I was offered a job in one of the most prestigious palaces in the world, but I didn’t go. We ask you why. What are you going to answer? I was afraid to leave? To leave my parents, my grandparents and my friends to fly on my own?”

“Presented like that, it seems so obvious.”

“Isn’t it…”

“I also sound like an old maid who can’t cut the cord,” I grumbled.

“It’s a bit like that, isn’t it?” she laughs.

“Hey! You’re supposed to be my friend!”

She laughs.

“I still have a more exciting s*x life than that of an old maid!” I declared.

“Hm, hm,” she replied, picking up the plates emptied of their pancakes.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t think your s*x life is that exciting.”

“First of all, what do you know about it?”

“I see far fewer young men escaping your apartment in the early morning than before.”

“Are you spying on me?” I was offended. “I tell myself that it’s your s*x life that might not be so passionate if you have time to sit at the bedroom window.”

“My s*x life is quite exciting, thank you. Why do you think I woke up early? With Vincent…”

“Tatatatata,” I replied, covering my ears. “I remind you that Vincent is my cousin; this conversation is too much information, as they say back home.”

“At least, in Cannes, you won’t have anyone to spy on you!”

“That’s an argument to put in the pros column.”

“It’s Papet who’s going to be sad, I think he’s taken a liking to it lately…”

“Yeah, and you talked to him about my private life.”

She had the decency of looking embarrassed.

“Sorry… I may have dropped a tidbit or two without really realising it.”

“I’d say there were more than a couple, but I know the old bugger too, I know he’s very good at extorting things you don’t want to say.”

She gets back to the point and asks:

“And if you decide to leave, when do you intend to tell them?”

I swallow hard.

“I’m supposed to start there in a month, so I guess the sooner the better…”