“How did you find the picture?”
Valerie looked at me like I was a child. “Maxime, the internet is hardly private. It came up when I was looking for the number for your club. Obviously, I didn’t know who the woman was. I thought it was some dreadful tourist after one too many margaritas. But now I know better. I have toask, why is our nanny posing in Méduse like it’s some kind of strip club?”Valerie glanced over the picture again. “Is ‘tacky’ the look you’re going for?”
Her words, and the insinuation she was making, ignited something in my chest. “Stop.”
Valerie’s mouth twisted. “Stop what? I’m not supposed to care that the woman looking after our daughter thinks this sort of public spectacle is appropriate. Am I to stop worrying that while this woman has been here, she’s likely been in your bed and who knows where else?”
Valerie’s words were like a knife to my chest. “Enough!”
She widened her eyes at the steely edge of my voice.
“You’ve made your point, but now it’s time to stop. Chloe has been good for Sophie. Good for me. I’ve done nothing I’m ashamed of. You don’t have to like her. But youwillshow her respect in my home.”
Valerie glared at me.
The slightest peak in one of her eyebrows drove me on. “And speaking of behaviour, you have no right showing up unannounced like this, making accusations. You can’t even trust me to look after Sophie for one month?”
One corner of Valerie’s mouth curled. “Oh, I didn’t come here to see you, Maxime. I’m visiting a friend in Nice. I thought it might be an opportunity to pay my daughter a visit.” She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. “And I tried to tell you I was coming. You didn’t answer your phone.”
I ground my jaw. I had some missed calls from Valerie yesterday, but I’d pushed everything that didn’t involve Méduse and Luc’s visit out of my head.
“Why didn’t you leave a message?”
With a flick of her dark hair, Valerie took a seat at the table. “I did. I left a message with your club.”
I drew my brows. Fifi had said nothing about a call from Valerie. After the way she’d treated me over the years there was no love lost between the two of them, but Fifi wouldn’t hide that information from me.
A sultry breeze filtered through the open window. “Who did you speak to?”
“I don’t know. But they didn’t want to speak French. They asked me to speak English.”
My gut churned. I turned to Chloe, and she bowed her head. She was the only person who didn’t speak fluent French at the club.“Was that you?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Chloe shifted at the table, running her index finger against a knot in the wood. She turned to Valerie. “I tried to write themessage down, but you were speaking so fast, and there was a lot of noise. I probably didn’t get all the information.”
At the downturn of her lips, my chest tugged.
“Where did you write it?”
Chloe pointed to a crumpled Post-it note stuck under a fridge magnet. I released it, ironing out the paper against my thigh.
Three words:Nees, BeechandSelfi.
I looked at Chloe, but she didn’t meet my eyes. Instead, she ran her thumb over the same knot in the table. She looked so defeated. I didn’t know what was going on in her head, but I didn’t want to add to whatever bothered her. Instead, I folded the note and put it in my pocket.
“My fault entirely. I didn’t see it, sorry.” I crossed to the coffee machine, adding more grounds to the filter. “More coffee?”
“Why not?” said Valerie, crossing her legs and settling in.
Chloe shifted in her chair, ready to stand. “I can do it…”
I shook my head at her. I hoped she wouldn’t think me cold, but I didn’t want her to appear subservient to either myself or Valerie. She was technically working for me, but she wasn’t domestic staff. Not in the way Valerie was used to.
Taking my cue, Chloe sat quietly. As I made the coffee, Valerie stood and moved to the window. With a sigh, she looked out over the pool and the cove far below.
“I’d forgotten how beautiful the beach is here.”
She’d visited once, when we were still together. I’d driven us down in her father’s fancy car. Furze had always been my favourite place in the world. My sanctuary.
