Page 35 of The Little Provence Book Shop
Kevin’s brow furrowed. ‘Who?’
‘That’s Monique, sweetheart,’ Adeline said.
‘But she’s mymamie?’ Lili said, a question in her voice.
‘She means grandmother,’ Adeline whispered to Kevin. ‘No,Lili,’ she said more loudly. ‘Monique is kind of like amamie,isn’t she. But she’s notyour mamie.’
‘Oh,’ Lili said, her voice flat. ‘OK.’
‘But listen, that doesn’t matter,’ Adeline said. ‘She thinks you’re amazing! And I know she’ll take lots of pictures for you.’
Another curt nod.
Adeline looked at Kevin who raised his eyebrows. ‘Anyway!’ she said loudly, clapping her hands. ‘Who’s up for pizza at the cafe?’
Lili nodded and slipped off Kevin’s lap. Her uncle stood up and took her hand. ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘you’re going to have to show me the way. I don’t want to get lost again!’
‘Silly Uncle Kevin,’ Lili said, in the manner of one whose endless patience was being tested by an adult’s incompetence. ‘Come on then.’
‘Might want to give your face a quick wash first?’ Adeline suggested to Kevin, nodding towards the mirror.
He looked, baulked and nodded. ‘Yep. Good call.’
The walk to the cafe was quiet. Adeline thinking about the Easter show and the fact that Lili clearly longed to have family there to watch her. One or two locals whom Adeline had seen in the shop but couldn’t yet name walked past and gave cheerybonjours, and it was adorable to see Lili greet them back with abonjourof her own.
‘Very friendly here,’ Kevin remarked once they’d passed a third person who’d nodded and smiled at them.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It really is. Maybe it’s a French thing. Or a small town thing? It didn’t happen at first, not when I was new. But over time I think people have seen me in the shop or the street – they know I’m local. It’s nice.’
At that moment, they entered the cafe and almost collidedwith André, who was standing just inside the entrance. He looked at them all and gave a curt nod.
Of all the people, why did she keep nearly barging into André? He probably thought she was constantly rude. ‘Sorry,’ she said quietly.
‘It’s OK,’ he said, opening his mouth to say something else. ‘I?—’
‘Bonjour!’ Lili said with a smile.
He looked at her and grinned. ‘Hello,petiteLili,’ he said, his voice soft. Lili giggled delightedly. ‘Well, I must go,’ he said after a further moment’s silence, moving off and taking a seat at one of the tables in the far corner.
‘One of yourfriends?’ Kevin raised an eyebrow.
‘Kevin! It’s not like that. He’s just a nice guy. Runs the bakery.’
Kevin nodded knowingly.
‘For god’s sake, why does everyone seem to want to set me up with someone?’ she said, half exasperated, half laughing.
Kevin smiled. ‘Sorry, I should probably sort out my own pathetic love life before trying to set you up.’
She elbowed him discreetly. ‘Heispretty gorgeous,’ she admitted. ‘But I very much doubt I’m his type. And besides, I was a bit rude to him one time. Not intentionally. But he probably thinks I’m a bit of a cow.’
‘Still,’ Kevin said, looking over again. ‘He seems to be looking at you a lot.’
‘Really?’ she glanced over again, but this time André had lifted the menu and seemed to be studying it. She wanted to ask Kevin what he meant. Was André looking at her orlookingat her? But she shook herself. It didn’t matter.
By the time their pizzas had arrived, she’d put André out of her mind. The cafe had filled up and the mixture of noise, thesmell of freshly baked pizza, mingled with coffee and wine and various perfumes, created a buffer between his table and theirs. Lili ate with gusto, determined to finish her pizza first and buoyed by the promise of ice cream from her uncle.
‘So,’ said Kevin carefully. ‘Have you thought any more about what I said? About coming back?’ His cheeks flushed a little. There was a bit of cheese, Adeline noticed, in his beard.
