Page 106 of The Missing Sister

‘I’m not sure about that, but there’s not much that scares me these days, apart from losing someone else I care about.’

‘Yeah, death puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it? The thing that scares me is that I might find myself still working on my vineyard in thirty years’ time, old and alone. As I’ve mentioned, there’s not a lot of chances to meet with my own age group – there are any number of ageing single farmers and vintners living around me.’

‘Does anyone ever really want to be alone?’ sighed Ally.

‘Well, better that than settling for someone simply for the sake of not being alone, eh?’

‘Absolutely,’ Ally agreed.

‘Were you and your fiancé together for a long time? Sorry, I don’t mean to pry or anything.’

‘No, it’s fine. Actually, we weren’t. It was a whirlwind romance. I just knew that he was The One, and he felt the same, so we got engaged pretty quickly.’

‘I get the feeling that’s how it was for my mum and dad, although of course, you can never tell what goes on behind closed doors. But when I compare their marriage to a lot of my mates’ parents, they always seemed very happy. Never argued, y’know? Or at least, not within earshot of us. I worry about my mum now that dad’s gone. She’s almost sixty, so it’s unlikely she’ll meet anyone else.’

‘What about all those bachelor farmers you just mentioned?’

‘I doubt it. Mum and Dad were together for over thirty-five years. Talking of which, I got a strange call from Mum just before dinner tonight.’

‘Really?’ Ally’s heart began to thump as they reached the entrance to thegîte. ‘What about?’

‘Oh, she wanted to tell me she’d flown over to Dublin earlier today, which is odd as I thought she was staying in New York for a bit to see old friends and then heading to London. I was, like, you must be excited to be back in the home country after all this time, and she was, like, yeah, well, I had to come back here, but you never know who you might meet from your past. It could have just been a joke, but to be honest, Ally, I thought she sounded, well,’ Jack shrugged, ‘frightened.’

‘I... maybe everyone’s nervous when they go back to the place they came from after so long?’

‘Maybe, yeah, but then she said how much she loved me and how proud of me she was and all that kind of stuff. She sounded close to tears. I was wondering whether I should take a flight across to Ireland to make sure she’s okay. It’s only a couple of hours from Marseille to Dublin, and she just sounded... odd. What d’you think?’

Jack looked straight at her and Ally wanted to fall through the ground or disappear in a puff of smoke.

‘Well, I – I... think that if you’re worried about her, then maybe you should go. If it’s not that far,’ she stuttered.

‘I’m still getting my head around the fact that nothing in Europe is that far,’ he smiled. ‘I’m used to it all being on the other side of the world.’

‘Do you know where she’s staying? I mean, with friends or...?’

‘Yeah, apparently the hotel she’s at is called the Merrion, so she joked it was named after her – her nickname’s “Merry”. Anyway, I’ll give her a bell tomorrow morning, see how she sounds and then decide.’

‘Good idea. Right, time for my bed,’ Ally said, once again feeling a blush running through her cheeks and just wanting to get inside.

‘Listen, if I don’t get to see you tomorrow, I just wanted to say it’s been a pleasure to spend time with you. Could we keep in touch?’

‘Of course we can, yes.’

‘Great. I’ll give you my NZ and my French mobile numbers.’

‘And I’ll give you my Swiss and Norwegian ones.’

They tapped their numbers into each other’s phones.

‘Well then, goodnight,’ she said, reaching for thegîtekey from her jean pocket and sticking it into the lock. As she turned it, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and jumped.

‘Hey, sorry, Ally, I...’ Jack was standing back with his hands up as though she was about to shoot him. ‘I didn’t mean to... I wasn’t gonna... shit!’

‘Seriously, don’t worry. It’s just, I’m not...’

‘Ready?’

‘Yes, not just now anyway, but I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you, Jack, and...’ She looked up at him. ‘Would a hug do?’