‘I’ll be with them.’ I rolled my eyes. Like obviously, I wasn’t going to send them off alone with some asshole, even if it did look like he was amazing with kids.
‘You don’t want lessons too?’ Dad asked. I could tell by the softness of his tone that he was treading carefully.
‘Nope,’ I said simply.
Dad gave me his credit card, and I went via the camp reception on the way home. He’d offered to do it himself, but the swim had lightened my mood. When I got there, two blonde girls were laughing with each other in Eurocamp uniforms.
‘Hello.’ One of the girls gave me a huge grin when she saw me.
‘Hi. Can I book surf lessons, please? With Antoine.’
‘Of course,’ she said, smiling, and the other one flicked something up on the computer. ‘What is your name?’
‘Well, actually, it’s for my sisters. Rue and Wren Ryan. They’re eight and nine.’
‘Ah, OK. Antoine has space in his ten o’clock class – would you like this? One hour, Monday to Friday? You need to be there thirty minutes before each lesson.’
‘Perfect.’ I grinned, still buzzing from the water.
The second blonde girl typed something in the computer, took Dad’s credit card details and I walked towards the door.
I headed back to the mobile home, found the key that Dad had badly hidden under a cup on the table and went inside. Dad had said they’d be right behind me, but I guess they were still at the beach.
A flash of disappointment consumed me, like I missed them or something. So I grabbed some Euros from the counter and went for a walk, and the feeling disappeared. Soon, I found myself at the miniature supermarket.
I hadn’t been in a French supermarket for nine years, but as soon as I walked through the doors, it all came flooding back. The smells. The fish, the cheese, the sweet fruit that tasted so much better than it did back home. I picked up a paper bag and filled it with some peaches.
‘You should smell them first,’ said a voice behind me.
I spun round, and there he was. Felix from the Brasserie.
‘Smell them?’ I asked with a smile.
‘Les pêches.’ He reached into my paper bag and took out one of my peaches, bringing it to his nose and inhaling deeply.
‘The ones that are ready have the best smell.’ He put it back in my bag.
‘Thanks, that’s good to know.’
We ambled around the shop as I picked up pieces of fruit, smelling them just like he’d shown me. And now that he had, I noticed loads of people doing the same thing.
‘You were at the beach? It was busy?’ Felix asked, as he eyed my wet hair.
‘Very busy. I signed my sisters up to do surf lessons tomorrow.’ I picked up an orange and held it to my nose, breathing in the sweetest citrussy smell. I got another bag and put the orange in. ‘Do you surf?’ I asked when he hadn’t said anything.
He just shook his head as he picked up another orange, examining it as if it was taking all of his concentration and he couldn’t spare any for our conversation. The way he looked, lost in thought about an orange, made me smile.
And then he was back. ‘How old are your sisters?’ he asked, putting his orange into my bag. ‘It is a good one,’ he added, nodding at the fruit.
‘Eight and nine.’ I shook my head with a smile.
‘It is nice to have sisters, no?’ We’d found ourselves standing beside the bakery section. I walked over to the glass counter and looked in at all the perfect little desserts.
‘Sometimes. Do you have any?’ I hoped he’d look up at me with those brown eyes.
‘No,’ he said simply. ‘My favourite isle mille-feuille.’ He pointed at a rectangular iced pastry through the glass.
‘It looks really good.’ I salivated.
