The Secret of Provence House by Aubrey Rhodes

Author:Aubrey Rhodes [Rhodes, Aubrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-11-19T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

She took a taxi back down to the hotel and texted James en route:

Could you bear another Italian meal this evening and might I make the reservation? I have my reasons. Laura

He answered within the minute:

Of course.

Unable to think of a single uptown restaurant that was appealing or cosy, and knowing Nathan's preferred downtown haunts, she got them a table at the insanely expensive Cipriani's on West Broadway – inside – knowing it would be the last sort of place he would go. She met James once more in the hotel bar at seven.

‘Ahoy there,’ he said as she came in. He got off the bar stool and gave her two kisses.

‘Bonsoir,’ she said. ‘What’s that you’re drinking?’

‘I believe it’s referred to as white wine.’

‘I mean, what kind?’

‘Something dry – a Macon Villages I think.’

‘I’ll have what he’s having,’ she said to the bartender. ‘And can we get some of those almonds?’

‘You look ravishing,’ said James, ‘Very French,’ referring no doubt to her blue and white Breton stripes. ‘How was your day?’

‘Very French,’ she said. ‘Yours?’

‘Un grand pain in the ass.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It was entirely expected. No one here gives a shit about Spain really. It’s amazing to me how far off everyone’s radar it continues to be, the misconceptions, the hackneyed clichés – you know, bull fighting and flamenco and perhaps a mention of Almodóvar or Zara, but that’s it.’

‘Maybe that’s not a bad thing.’

‘It’s bad when you’re trying to sell yourself to boring investors like these gents have been. But now they’re gone and you’re here. It sounds like your day was far more interesting.’

‘It was. I fell in love.’

‘That was fast.’

‘But he’s ninety.’

They went by taxi at her request.

‘I’ve never heard of this Cipriani,’ he said.

‘The good one is uptown, at the old Sherry Netherland, where my stepfather used to take me.’

‘That’s the one I know.’

‘Then there’s a cheesy one on 42nd Street, across from Grand Central Station that’s like a mausoleum. And there’s one way downtown that’s also unappealing.’

‘You’re an expert.’

‘But the SoHo one is fine, and I know we won’t run into Nathan there.’

‘Have you been to Harry’s Bar in Venice?’

‘I’ve never been to Venice.’

‘That’s got to change.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘But you know what? Clichés and all, I think it’s a place you should only go to when those scary cruise ships aren’t there and when you’re in love with someone.’

‘Have you heard from him – this Nathan chap?’

‘No.’

‘Isn’t that a bit odd?’

‘Yes and no. I expect he’s too furious to apologize or to say anything nice or remorseful.’

‘Has this sort of thing happened with him before?’

The taxi had one of those screens jammed onto the back of the front seat intruding into the narrow passenger space with local news and weather reports. She kept on trying to shut it off, but it didn’t respond.

‘You mean has he cheated on me before? Probably. He, and his mother who is still very much alive, think he’s God’s gift to mankind, and he entertains droit du seigneur fantasies, I think, that I was supposed to good-naturedly ignore and find alluring.

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