‘Thank you. She is very talented.’
‘So I hear. Edie went to her studio yesterday. She loved her paintings.’
‘It’s true,’ Edie agreed. ‘I just wish I could afford to buy one.’
Jean-Luc held out his hands, palms up, and shrugged. ‘Euh, I can’t afford them either. Unfortunately there are no discounts for little brothers.’
He stuck out his bottom lip like a sulky kid, making Edie laugh.
‘We must get a move on,’ she said, taking Ralph’s arm. ‘We’ve got to buy supper and go home and cook it.’
She was starting to move when Hannah piped up.
‘Est-ce que tu vas nager?’she asked Jean-Luc, before flashing a coquettish little smile.
Edie, who spoke some French, understood perfectly well what she’d said: ‘Are you going for a swim?’
The bottom seemed to drop out of Edie’s chest. Jean-Luc turned to give Hannah his full attention and Mac’s face went white and pinched.
‘Mais oui,’the Frenchman replied, with a playful little smile. ‘And when are we going to have that French lesson? You must give me a call.’
‘Um, sometime tomorrow, maybe?’ Hannah suggested.
Normally, a blatant come-on like Jean-Luc’s would have made Edie snort. But not when Mac was involved.
Hannah knew how jealous her husband was. After witnessing his rage last night, Edie couldn’t understand why on earth she’d do anything to provoke him further, especially since the couple seemed to have made up and got back on a more even keel.
Ralph hopped from one foot to another and back again, as if the ground was burning his feet.
‘Come on.’ He grabbed Edie’s hand and told her in a low voice to get Mac, too.
It wasn’t clear if Mac heard or not, but he started walking with them, without needing to be hustled, leaving his wife behind.
Edie glanced back, hoping to catch Hannah’s eye and make her hurry up, but Hannah was deep in conversation with Jean-Luc and didn’t notice.
April was on her own in the shop for once, tidying a row of cans on one of the shelves.
‘Where’s Nikos?’ Edie asked, looking round.
‘With Anthea. I think you met her?’
Edie nodded.
‘She offered to take him for a walk,’ April went on. ‘She loves little ones and they seem to adore her. When she comes here to do my hair, Nikos won’t leave her alone. She has to sit him beside me in front of the mirror and pretend to cut his hair, too.’
Edie smiled. ‘Did you know Alexandros, the father of her daughter?’
April raised her eyebrows, which were a slightly uneven shade of brown. She must have been in a hurry when she put on her make-up.
‘That bastard?’ She shook her head. ‘He was before my time. He was a wrong’un, by all accounts.’
She seemed to glare at Mac and Ralph, as if they were somehow implicated, and they shuffled uncomfortably.
‘He got sacked from his job for putting his hands in the till,’ she went on. ‘He treated Anthea really badly. Never gave her a penny or showed any interest in his child. Anthea’s a toughie, though. She’s a great mum; Alexa’s turned out fabulous. The only thing is, I don’t know why Anthea does all that stuff to her face. She’s beautiful inside and out. She doesn’t need to.’
‘Does she have a partner?’ Edie wanted to know, allowing curiosity to get the better of her. She knew she was holding the others up.
‘No,’ said April. ‘More’s the pity. I wish she could find a really decent, honourable man. We all do. She deserves it. I’m sure she’s had offers, but as far as I’m aware there’s been no one for years. I guess there’s not many eligible types round here who aren’t married. She’ll have to look further afield.’
