I listened to Madame Lepage prattle on about Jake for a while, sipping my wine and letting my mind wander. I hadn’t talked to him in years… Ever since my parents had found out we’d gotten married and had forced us to annul our marriage, Jake had been a bit distant. I knew it was because he was angry, very angry. I’d spent our entire gap year telling him how I’d wanted to break free of my parents’ control, only to allow them to take control of the one thing that meant the most to the pair of us
As Madame Lepage spoke I was able to deduce a few things about Jake:
First, he clearly owned and had done the renovations on the villa. Based on how Madame Lepage spoke I could tell he’d had it for a few years now, but rarely came down. I could have guessed all this myself just based of how willing she’d been to give me the keys to the place, calling me Madame Swift in the process.
Second, Jake clearly was still in touch with Madame Lepage in some sense or another. She’d been hanging onto the spare key of the villa, checking up on it from time to time. I wasn’t sure how often they spoke but it was certainly often enough.
Third, and perhaps most curiously, Madame Lepage still thought Jake and I were married. I’d had to pull a bit of a lie about my wedding ring; luckily my engagement ring was enough of a cover to get me through it.
What I didn’t understand was, why was Jake leading Madame Lepage to believe we were still married? It had been ten years… TEN YEARS since we’d annulled our marriage. Hell I hadn’t talked to the guy in nine years, ever since I’d tried to call him on his birthday and he’d asked that I don’t contact him anymore. Why would this guy who didn’t want to have anything further to do with me hold on to a marriage that no longer existed? That for all legal senses, had never exsited?
None of it made sense. At all.
--
“So, you’re here for how long?” Madame Lepage asked.
“No idea,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. She thought I was an artist, and really I didn’t feel like admitting that I’d just been fired from another finance job. “I need new inspiration,” I added. This wasn’t totally a lie. I didn’t need inspiration to figure my life out. Just not the kind Madame Lepage assumed I needed, for my art.
“And Jake will be down soon?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, “He’s very busy.”
“Yes, the big resort deal is certainly creating a lot of work for him.”
“Yeah…” I trailed off. I had no idea what the hell we were even talking about, but now I was starting to get curious. I couldn’t help it!
“We were all very shocked to hear about the resort proposal,” she said, “And to hear Jake was involved was also a surprise.”
“Right.”
“It would be such a shame if they sold the perfumerie.”
I felt my heart drop. I had no idea that this proposal that she was going on about had anything to do with the beloved perfumerie. That place brought half the tourists to the tiny village… How would these people survive if a resort was put in its place?
“The owners just can’t afford to keep this factory going with the demand for real estate so high. Of course, we’ll still have the factory in Grasse, but it’s just so far,” she added, “I’ll probably retire. Finally.”
“You wouldn’t work in Grasse? Or at the shop in Nice?”
“I’m old, its so much trouble commuting like that every day,” she said.
