An Unexpected Affair by Jan Ellis Read Free Book Online

missed a beat.
    She slammed the laptop closed, got up and walked around the room, went into the kitchen picking things up and putting them down again. Oh my goodness. Damn and blast it. She was amazed by the visceral effect that seeing the image of the restaurant had had on her. It was like opening Pandora’s box: she was pretty sure that if she searched further she would find a photograph of Christophe. Her Christophe, her first true love. “Yup, and the one I dumped for no reason at all,” she said to no one in particular, attacking the dish-washer. Did she really want to find out about him, after all this time? What good would that do? She knew that if she searched further she would probably find photographs of an unbearably chic wife and some adoring children, too. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
    She had scrubbed every surface and was huddled in the kitchen door having an emergency cigarette (her seventeenth that year) when the phone rang. It was her sister. After chatting for a while Jenna asked if everything was okay.
    “Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”
    “Well, for one thing it sounds as though you’re smoking,” her sister had extraordinary powers of deduction. “Secondly, I know you very well and you sound agitated. So, tell all – what’s up?”
    Putting out the cigarette in a handy pot of geraniums, Eleanor breathed deeply and said, “I think I’ve found Christophe.”
    There was silence for a moment as Jenna dredged her memory for the name. “Christophe? That scrawny layabout you were shacked up with in France?”
    “He wasn’t a layabout, Jen. He worked at his parents’ restaurant.” With that Eleanor explained what she had found. “I think that Christophe is still living in Chevandier and that he may have taken over the business.”
    “So, what are you going to do about it?”
    “Do?” Eleanor, pulled a face. “Well, nothing. I don’t intend to do anything, Jen.”
    “Hey, why not? You’re a free woman with some holiday coming up and no plans. El, get yourself on a plane and go get him!”
    Eleanor laughed out loud. “Is that really the sort of advice you should be handing out to your younger sister?”
    “No, you’re quite right,” said Jenna thoughtfully. “Eurostar would be more fun and probably cheaper. Now, shall I book or will you?”

 
     
    Chapter 6: We’re off!
     
    On Monday morning Eleanor’s head was still buzzing with the discoveries of the day before. Jenna had been quite serious about the trip to France and she was right that Eleanor was due some holiday. She hadn’t taken more than a day or two off since taking over the shop, so determined had she been to make a success of the business for herself and the local community.
    Thanks to events like the Lavinia Threlfall launch party, she felt much more confident and relaxed about the shop’s prospects and had decided to take a whole fortnight off before summer. However, until the previous night’s conversation she hadn’t known where to spend the time. Now she was allowing herself to be carried along by the whirlwind that was her sister on a mission. Jenna found and booked the hotel and placed Eleanor in charge of the travel arrangements.
    A week later the train tickets were booked, Euros organised, undies chosen and legs shaved – she was off. Erika was left in charge of the shop with help from Connie who had promised to tear herself away from Harold to house-sit and look after the dog.
    As they drove to the station, Eleanor wondered what adventures the next couple of weeks held in store for them all. She was entrusting her beloved van to her son for a whole weekend. Joe shared her passion for the Combi and Eleanor just hoped that that passion would translate itself into driving carefully and not getting it stuck in a hedge. Since his mother had moved to the coast, Joe had turned into a surfer dude, and came to Devon at every opportunity.
    “Look after the van, Joe.”
    “Of course I will. We’re going to have