“Oh, ah, of course.” I turned to Dauphine. “You have fun, little mermaid. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“When will that be?” Madame Pascale shaded her eyes as she asked her son.
“We’ll probably spend tomorrow night there and head back the day after, and then I have business in Cannes.” I knew Cannes, where the famous film festival happened every year, was between where we were now and St Tropez. I was dying to see it.
Madame proceeded to give me a list of places to see both in Calvi and in Cannes, including the infamous Carlton Hotel. “You know it is rumored that was where Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier of Monaco? Such a romantic and tragic tale.” She placed a hand on her chest.
“Okay, Mother,” said Pascale after a bit. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
I bit my lip. “Um. Madame, would you mind terribly if we swapped contact information in case I have questions and need more advice about where to go and what to see?”
Madame Pascale beamed. “Bien sûr! Of course.”
A few minutes later after saying our goodbyes to Xavier’s mother and daughter, Evan and Xavier helped carry my bags down the cliff stairs to the tender. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being on that tiny boat with my suitcases. It seemed a bit precarious.
“Your mother is absolutely charming, I love her,” I told my ex-boss in an attempt to make conversation and keep my mind off the idea of potentially capsizing. My anxiety had spiked, and it probably wasn’t a hundred percent due to worrying about falling overboard, and instead to do with this strange turn of events.
“You sound surprised,” he said as he handed my bags down into the boat.
“Have you met you?” It was out before I could check myself.
Evan barked a laugh at his boss’ expense that echoed across the rocky cliff and bounced back at us off the water. “Sorry,” he apologized quickly.
Xavier gave Evan a glare and said something rapidly in French, to which Evan smirked and shrugged, then stepped carefully into the tender. Evan handed me down, and Xavier held out his hand for my other. I grasped it—warm and firm—then stepped gingerly into the shallow vessel.
“I’ll see you in a couple of days.” Evan gave a salute, then set off up the stairs, grinning.
“Wait. You’re not coming?” I called after him.
“He has business to attend for me,” Xavier said, his mouth straightened with concentration as he pulled the choke on the tender.
“Oh. Okay. So, you don’t need a bodyguard in Corsica?” I asked skeptically.
He raised an eyebrow and gunned the engine. “It’s an unplanned visit.”
“But didn’t you say you had a lunch meeting? How is that unplanned?” I raised my voice to be heard.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
I texted Andrea. Don’t be surprised. I’m headed back to the boat.
The afternoon sun was warm on my bare arms and simple white t-shirt. Though the water was slightly rough. A wind had picked up. I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes and focused on our traverse across the water, holding tight to the plastic handles on the tender sides.
Another yacht was in the small bay. A hulking gray monolith that could be military looking if not for the spacecraft-style design elements of curves and reflective glass and the two bikini-clad girls dancing to unheard music on the sun deck. A Russian flag flew from the aft deck. I glanced toward Xavier to see if he’d noticed, but he looked directly ahead to our destination.
“I’m confused,” I blurted, trying to be heard over the wind.
“What about?” He steered toward the stern of our anchored boat.
“Your change of heart. I’d have thought you’d have been glad to be rid of me. You almost were. What changed?”
He slowed the engine and pointed at the rope coiled by my feet. I’d seen him and Evan do this enough times that I knew he needed me to grab the cleat of the swim deck and tie us on when we neared.
I grabbed the rope and focused on getting us secured. “I mean, I know Evan thought it would be nice for me to see Corsica, but you didn’t need to go along with it.”
“It was my idea. Not his.”
My head snapped up to his, but I could read nothing behind his sunglasses.
“Josie! You’re back.” Paco came down the steps, effectively ending the chance of getting any kind of elaboration to that