pulled out a silver flask, taking a whiff of the alcohol inside after he unscrewed the cap. ‘Want a real drink? Not everyone can say they’ve had their life pass before their eyes.’
‘I used the last glass for the wine.’
Luc took a swig and then offered me the flask. ‘We can share.’
I smiled without meaning to, taking the flask from his hands. The wrought smell of the whisky hovered between us, and I looked at him curiously, wondering where he developed a taste for a drink as stout as most Englishmen. ‘Who are you really, Luc?’ I took a swig from the flask and let the warm whisky linger on my tongue before swallowing. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘I came from the barrel cellar,’ he said with a little smile. ‘Below the oak-bending machine. You saw it just this morning.’
I handed him back his flask. ‘You know that’s not what I’m talking about.’
He shrugged, and I stared at him, examining the bristly beard budding on his chin and resisting the urge to run a smooth hand over it to feel his face and rugged skin.
‘Are you making issue about my voice again, Adèle? Because if you’re implying I’m British for a second time, I shall have to ask you to take it up with my mother.’
‘Oh, you shall?’ I said, chuckling.
‘Yes!’ He took a gulping drink from the flask and then put it back into my hand, wrapping my fingers around it. ‘I shall.’
‘I should like to meet your mother.’ I took a quick sip, wetting my lips. ‘It’s only fair since you know mine.’
‘Someday I will tell you where I’m from.’ He leaned in close, and I backed into the counter, knocking over wine bottles Mama had placed there earlier. He reached way behind me, stopping them from rolling. A heavy pause. He smiled, looking deep into my eyes. ‘But today isn’t the day.’
‘It isn’t?’ I asked.
His hand touched the soft part of my arm just under the ruffle of my sleeve, his lips nearing, my eyes closing. All was quiet except the drumming buzz of hawk moths in the arbours as our lips touched, and I felt myself melting, fading, fading, in his long kiss, and then Mama screamed from outside and we jerked away with fright.
She waved her hands at us, and then pointed behind her to a motorcycle driving up our road, dust and rock curling into the air. ‘Someone’s coming!’
‘Oh no,’ I said, hands flying to my mouth, looking to Luc and then to the speeding motorcycle.
Gérard!
15
I clutched my chest, reaching for Luc. ‘You have to hide!’ Mama threw open the screen door, tossing her linen basket down. Gérard had just parked his motorcycle and was taking off his helmet.
‘In the cellar!’ Mama said, shooing Luc toward the door, but he hesitated.
‘He can’t do that!’ I said. ‘He’ll be stuck! Nowhere to go.’
I watched in horror as Gérard walked up the gravel walkway, and into Mama’s linen lines, throwing sheets out of the way as they flapped around him.
‘We don’t have time for anything else!’ Mama said.
Luc rushed into the corridor, our hands slipping from each other’s, and ran downstairs into the root cellar.
I shut the door behind him. All was quiet. ‘Mama?’
‘Stay calm,’ she said, and I closed my eyes, counting backward from ten, breathing deeply, thinking about the grass and the sun and then to Luc in the root cellar. I whimpered, shaking my hands in the air, breathing through my teeth when it wasn’t working. Mama grabbed me by the shoulders. ‘Hold it together,’ she said, ‘if anyone can do this you can.’
My eyes popped open, and I nodded. ‘All right,’ I said, still breathing hard. ‘All right. All right…’
Gérard knocked on the door. ‘Adèle?’ he said, and then peeked through the screen.
‘Just a moment!’ I said from afar.
‘You can do this,’ Mama said before letting go of me and moving out of the way. I faced Gérard through the screen door.
‘Adèle?’ he said.
I smiled. ‘Gérard!’ I said, and then realized I sounded too excited to see him, more than he’d expect. I slumped forward. ‘What are you doing here? This is a surprise.’
He walked in, helmet under his arm, looking at Mama’s stern face, as she stood defiantly near the stove, and then around our sitting parlour. ‘Is it?’ He chuckled.
‘What?’ I said, and he turned to me.
‘Is it a surprise?’ he said.
‘I didn’t expect you,’ I said, and I tossed my hair back, that’s when he grimaced.