Sunset in St. Tropez by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

looked mournfully at their plates and scarcely touched the Chinese takeout they'd ordered. No one was hungry, and at Jeff's house, Robert was literally starving. He hadn't touched food since the night before and didn't want to. “But I was just thinking about what we should do with the house in St Tropez.”
    “As long as you"re being tactless,” John looked as grim as the others, “I will be too. The house is too expensive divided by two and not three couples. We'll have to let it go,” he said firmly, as Pascale glanced uncomfortably at her husband.
    “I don't think we can do that now,” she said in a whisper.
    “Why not? We haven't even told them yet we'd take it.” They had agreed to send a fax from Anne's office on Monday.
    “Yes, we did,” Pascale said, looking sheepish. “What does that mean?” John looked at her blankly.
    “It's such a great house, and I was afraid someone else would take it, so I asked my mother to put a deposit on it as soon as the agent called me. I was sure we'd all love it.”
    “Terrific,” John said through clenched teeth. “Your mother hasn't paid for a tube of toothpaste in years, without having you either send it or pay for it, and suddenly she's putting deposits on houses? Before we even agree to it?” He looked at Pascale sternly, unable to believe what she was saying.
    “I told her we'd pay her back,” Pascale said softly, looking apologetically at her husband. But the house had turned out to be every bit as good as the agent promised, and they had loved the pictures of it, so she hadn't been mistaken.
    “Just tell her to get her money back,” John said firmly.
    “I can't. It's not refundable, they explained that before I had her pay it.”
     
    “Oh for chrissake, Pascale, why the hell did you do that?” He was furious with her, but, he was obviously far more upset over Anne's death, and didn't know how to express it. “Well, you can just damn well pay for it yourself, out of your own money. No one is going to want to go there now, and Robert certainly won't without Anne. It's over. Forget the house.”
    “Maybe not,” Diana said quietly. “It's six and a half months from now. Robert may be feeling a lot better by then, and it might do him good to get away, to someplace he's never been before, with all of us to keep him company and comfort him. I think we should do it.” Eric looked pensively at her, and nodded.
    “I think you"re right,” he seconded her opinion, but John didn't. “And if he doesn't want to go? Then we get stuck with two very expensive shares. I"m not going. And I"m not paying.” John glowered.
    “Then I will,” Pascale glared at him as she said it. “You"re just so cheap, John Donnally, you are using this as an excuse not to spend money. I'll pay our share, and you can stay home, or visit your mother in Boston.”
    “Since when did you get so grand?” he said in a tone that upset her profoundly. But like the others, she was upset about Anne, and not her husband.
    “I think we need to be together, and Robert will need us more than ever,” Pascale insisted, and both Morrisons agreed with her, and tried to get John to go along with it, but he was too stubborn.
    “I"m not going,” he insisted.
    “Then don't. The four of us will,” Pascale said calmly, smiling sadly at Eric and Diana. “We'll send you postcards from the Riviera.”
    “Take your mother.”
    “Maybe I will,” Pascale said, and then turned to the others. “It's agreed then. We'll go to St Tropez in August.” It was the least of their problems for the moment, but it was comforting somehow to think of something more pleasant.
    All they could think about other than that was the loss of their beloved friend, and Robert. There wasn't much they could do for him, but they could offer him their support. And although it felt like something of a betrayal to go to St Tropez without Anne, Pascale said she had the feeling that Anne would have wanted them to do it, and take