“I’m very sorry about that. I was called away for my film—”
“Don’t tell me that. Tell her.”
“I’ve tried. I will. You know I’m not dependable.”
“Oh, I know all right. Letting me down is one thing—I’d expect nothing else. But letting her down—your eighteen-year-old daughter—is another. It’s not forgivable.”
“I’m trying to fix it by being here. By supporting you both.”
“Fine,” said Marlow, glaring at him. “But if you disappoint her tonight, I will crush you. I will find a way.”
“I can only imagine.”
“Oh no, you can’t. It’ll be far worse than anything you could possibly dream up.”
Sabine watched her father leave Marlow and head to Delphine. She had a brick on her chest.
“Don’t worry,” said Aubin. “Your parents can manage. They’re adults.”
“But it’s my fault. I just asked if he’d donate two tickets to a film opening. I never thought he’d show up. My mum must be furious.”
“I don’t know. He brought people. They’ll spend their money.”
“But she hates him. She didn’t need this.”
“She looks fine,” said Aubin, as Marlow moved around the party, smiling and introducing herself to people she didn’t know. “He’s here now. Maybe this was meant to happen.” Aubin put his hands on her arms and his touch stopped the world spinning. “Fedir is putting up the disco ball, and we will dance. You are my prom date, remember?”
The silent auction was a hit. Sabine allowed herself to bid on a tiny thing, and was outbid, then a second time, and was outbid again.
“If we bid on things we know we won’t get,” whispered Aubin, “we drive up the price.”
“But what if we actually win them? I don’t have any money, and I have no room in my luggage, and we go home tomorrow.”
“If we get it, I’ll buy it. I have money.”
Sabine’s grandparents were perusing the silent auction. They liked to appear rich (which they were), and they covetedthings. Expensive things. Sabine smiled. This was a perfect way to get them to support their daughter and granddaughter without even realizing it.
So Sabine and Aubin wandered around, up-bidding silent auction items by twenty or fifty euros. Others outbid them, which made Bill and Iris competitive. They got suckered every time, much to Sabine’s delight.
Marlow was two glasses of Fortin red in to deal with a shopping list of anxieties: hoping the event wouldn’t be a flop, Luc wanting to know about his romantic fate, Guillaume wanting the same, her parents judging her every move, and, oh yes, her ex showing up out of the blue. Could she call him an ex when they’d slept together a dozen times over one festival eighteen years ago? OK, Sabine’s father. No, she refused to call him that.Yves. Call him Yves.And get a refill.
The square was full of an eclectic mix of guests: Aubin’s friends, Château Beaupréartists, vintners, locals … Sylvain, King of the Chanterelles, appeared in a dapper suit with pants that were too short and a cravat, carrying a teacloth full of mushrooms for Madame Klein. Noah was overjoyed to meet another foodie in France. He and Sylvain disappeared into the restaurant to cook up the chanterelles. Rémy chatted with Marlow’s parents, Sabine was having a great time with Aubin’s friends, and Lali and Fedir were hosting his coworkers from the vineyard.
“Ça va?”asked Luc. “You have the air of stress.”
“The live auction. What if no one bids? It’s always embarrassing when no one bids.”
“They will bid. And look.” A new crop of people was arriving up the Mirabelle stairs led by the woman who ran thehôtel disséminéin Montsouris-le-Petit.
“You called Camille!”
“Of course. She has the same goal—to save these villages. She brought all her guests. Do you see the one in the blue shirt—there? The one making conversation with Rémy?”
Marlow looked at a handsome, gentle-looking guy in his twenties, introducing himself to Rémy, who did not seem broken up at all to have to make light conversation with such a looker.
“That is Angus, Camille’s friend,” said Luc. “He has just graduated from theological school in Scotland and is visiting. He is looking for a church—perhaps Mirabelle would suit him.”
She exchanged a look with Luc. “You are not who I thought you were when I first met you.”
