‘I’d highly recommend it.’
‘Maybe one day I’ll take an extra-long holiday, go somewhere exotic. How long were you and your sister travelling for?’
‘We went for a year.’
He whistled through his teeth. ‘I don’t remember Etna telling me the bakery was closed for any length of time. It’s the sort of thing that would create a local outcry.’
She laughed. ‘You’re right. We got the previous owner on board so as not to upset the locals and she ran the place in our absence. I think it was like a final goodbye for her before she moved on.’
‘And did you plan your travels or wing it?’
‘It was mostly planned, but not always. We worked some of the time so that dictated part of the route as well as giving us some cash to fund our wanderlust. We started in Parisand fully embraced the well-trodden tourist routes – the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysées, Louvre, Place Dauphine and Arc de Triomphe. From there we ventured further around France to some of the smaller yet no-less-beautiful places.’
‘Now, France I have been to,’ he said. ‘I once did a cycle ride in the Champagne region. It was stunning.’
‘It really is.’ She grinned. ‘Can’t say I’d want to do the bike ride though.’
When she smiled at him, he felt the connection between them both and hoped she did too. As much as he’d resisted getting close to her, or to anyone for that matter, he couldn’t help his feelings. ‘It wasn’t so bad. We got glasses of champagne at every stop.’
‘No way, that doesn’t sound very sensible, you’d dehydrate!’
‘What can I tell you? I haven’t always been so practical and responsible as I am now.’ His dad’s words rang in his ears again. He’d forgotten what it was like to have fun – his dad had said that to him once, out of concern that his son had gone from carefree to someone who had been so on hand to help and save them all that he’d forgotten how to act his true age. Now, watching Jade’s face come alive with the memories, he wondered if perhaps his dad had a point. He was only in his early thirties, way too young to be avoiding moving on with his life as though he was scared at what came next, that it might hurt him even more than what had gone before.
Jade had taken off her sandals and dug her toes into the sand. ‘Give me cheese, wine and grapes rather than a bike, although Celeste and I did hire those bicycles with a big basket on front while we were over there – we’d cycle country lanes and pick up baguettes and cheese, as well as the odd bottle of wine. It was a freedom I can’t explain. We found some idyllic villages that way and locals were so welcoming, many of them keen to show us that France was about more than the tourist hotspots. We found the most exquisite patisseries and bakeries, ate the finest pillowy chocolate pastries.’ She closed her eyes in memory and he was hooked listening to her, addicted to the fascination of it all. ‘We moved from France on to Spain, we worked with a family who needed home help and childcare. We ate tapas, learned to cook traditional paella with our native hosts in Valencia, and we hiked through some of the most spectacular terrain in Switzerland and Austria.’ She locked eyes with him. ‘I’m rambling, aren’t I?’
‘I’m happy listening.’
She shifted uncomfortably but looking out at the water had her calm again. ‘All this talking about travelling is making me yearn to see some of those places again.’
He nudged her with his elbow when she quietened, perhaps hesitant to go on. ‘Tell me more.’
She filled him in on the café culture in Vienna, explained how they’d fulfilled their curiosities in Krakow learning the history neither of them had had much interest in at school. ‘And then we really let loose hopping between the Greek islands, which was an unplanned detour we squeezed in last minute when a job we had lined up fell through. Or at least it did on our part, less than twenty-four hours after it started, when we realised the family didn’t need a home help.’ A smile crept across her face. ‘The couple were looking for some kind of arrangement.’
‘You mean…sex?’
‘Yep.’ She began to giggle. ‘It soon became obvious they wanted us to indulge in a whole lot more than washing bed sheets or cleaning their home while they worked.’
‘Did you report them?’
‘No, we’d found the job responding to a noticeboard advert locally and to be honest I think they would’ve had us work there without the added extras if we’d just told them no. But by then Celeste wasn’t having any of it, she said she wouldn’t sleep at night thinking Rupert would creep into her bed.’ She was laughing uncontrollably now. ‘I was more scared of Ursula than him – I’m pretty sure she was a man beneath the kaftan – but whatever, it wasn’t something we were interested in so we got out of there.’
‘And were the Greek islands as amazing as we’re led to believe?’
‘Better. You know all those whitewashed buildings you see in the brochures? It’s exactly like that, with trails of deep-purple bougainvillea and so much sunshine.’
‘Where did you go after that?’
‘Germany was next. We saw castles, swathes of land so vast it was like being in a fairy tale. And then, finally, it was Italy.’ She cleared her throat.
‘And the discovery of coffee.’
‘Something like that.’ She scooped up sand into one hand and let it fall between her fingers. ‘But it worked out for the best when Etna wanted to be the one to install the coffee machine at the tea rooms rather than us at the bakery. She loves her machine these days. I don’t think she realised what a disservice she was doing by serving up instant coffee to her regulars.’
Linc laughed. ‘She does like to keep everyone happy. She’s got to know people’s orders too. Some guy came in earlier and all she said was “Good afternoon, Kenneth, flat white?”.’
‘It’s nice she remembers, it’s a real personal touch that makes people come back time and time again. And talking of Kenneth,’ she smiled, ‘I think Etna may well have a soft spot for him.’
He looked across at her. By now he’d relaxed onto one forearm, legs outstretched. ‘Is that right?’
