the city with me, Mama,’ I said, and she shook her head. ‘And risk seeing your father? No. She can come here. She knows I want her to visit. Will you remind her? That I want to see her.’
I nodded. I’d remind her.
I turned the tap back on after noticing I’d left a streak of paint on my skin. I scrubbed a little harder this time. Luc’s smell lingered on me and in my hair. I closed my eyes, getting lost in his scent, while Mama smoked her cigarette.
‘I think you’ve got it all, Adèle,’ Mama said, and I looked her. ‘Wouldn’t want to wash off anything other than the paint.’
I turned the tap off. ‘You’re right, Mama.’ I smiled, but then remembered I still had Monsieur Morisset’s car. ‘Damn!’ I looked out the window. ‘I forgot to bring back the car.’
‘You’ll need to take care of him. Monsieur Morisset is as salty as they come, and greedy, which is to our benefit. Pay him off with some of the money I have bundled in the drawer under the woodblock. Tell him it’s so you don’t have to return it every night. I’m sure he won’t object.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because they eat more eggs than a family of two should. Both their boys were sent to the munitions factory, but you tell me why they still eat enough to feed them all? Food on the black market is expensive. He’ll need the money.’
‘Do you think he’s one of us? A résistant?’
‘I don’t know. My guess is someone in that house is—someone other than the two of them.’
‘I’ll go there now.’ I slipped my wool coat over my shoulders, tucking the money into my pocket. ‘I’ll see you tonight, Mama.’ I kissed both her cheeks while she exhaled, the heart pendant dangling from my neck.
‘You are very excited about it,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you?’
‘Well why wouldn’t I be?’ I said.
‘Don’t look too excited,’ she said. ‘People will think it’s suspicious.’
I kissed her again. ‘Bye, Mama.’
21
I arrived at the boutique earlier than normal, heart thumping the more I thought about the mural. Two old men stood on the corner gazing at the wall, but I wouldn’t dare look just yet for fear they’d know it was me. I unlocked the bolt on Charlotte’s door, and slipped inside.
I did busywork until Charlotte came in through the back door. She threw her coat over a chair and sat down immediately. By this time, people had gathered in front of the wall and in the street. I folded pantaloons, pretending not to notice, mixing the cotton knits with the lacy garments. Normally, this would have bothered Charlotte a great deal, but she made no mention of it or of me from her chair in the back.
‘How’s Mama, Adèle?’ Charlotte said unexpectedly.
‘Mama?’
Charlotte rubbed her belly in a swirly pattern, nodding from her chair. ‘I never thought I’d have to go through a pregnancy without my mother. She never leaves the estate. She never visits me here. What you said last night about her needling hats brought it all back up.’
‘Why don’t you visit her?’ I said.
‘And leave Papa in the city?’ she said. ‘He’ll think I’ve chosen a side.’
‘But he doesn’t think that of me,’ I said.
Her hands stopped mid swirl on her stomach. ‘I know how she feels about my husband, Adèle. And this pregnancy so soon after the—’
I looked at her.
‘You think I don’t know?’ she said, trying to get out of her chair. ‘She’s never supported my marriage.’
‘She supports you, Charlotte,’ I said.
I moved to help her up, and once standing she finally noticed the commotion outside, looking around her boutique as if she heard music; something she couldn’t put her finger on. When I saw her take a deliberate glance out the window, I brought it up.
‘What’s going on over there?’ I said, and my heart jumped just mentioning it.
Charlotte walked to the front. ‘What’s the fuss about this time? Another arrest? God—people need to stop caring about such things. Arrests happen all the time.’ She tried catching glimpses out the window of what they were looking at, but the crowd was too thick. ‘More RAF leaflets telling us lies about Pétain and our alliances?’ She turned to me. ‘We should burn them in the streets.’
‘It must be something important,’ I said. ‘Some fresh air would be good anyway. Let’s take a peek.’
She hesitated, and I held my breath.
‘All right,’ she said, and I exhaled heavily, trying to hide all traces of anticipation.