all this inspiration, I can go to town.’
Carrie smiled, her heart lighter just listening to her sister.
‘Are you sure? I know you love it but don’t overdo it.’ Her eyes rested on the knobbly joint at the base of her sister’s index and middle fingers.
Angela flexed her fingers, the fine lines around her mouth tightening. ‘I’m fine.’
Carrie smiled at her sister’s stubbornness, but then she’d had to be to fight against the regular pain that her condition brought with it. ‘I know you’re fine. But I don’t want you to end up in here all the time. Jade and I need to help out otherwise it isn’t fair. Now come sit down.’
‘I bet the view out of this window is fabulous in daylight,’ said Angela, perching on the window seat and twisting around to peer through the glass. ‘Can’t see much now. No wonder Marguerite kept going on about the views.’
‘My room’s the same. I can hardly wait for the morning.’
‘Glad you came?’
‘Of course I am.’
‘I’m very relieved this place is okay—’
Carrie let out a laugh. ‘You are the master of understatement. This place is a-ma-zing with capital everything.’
‘Thank goodness. I wasn’t sure you wanted to come with us. Not so soon after you and Al got engaged.’ She leaned over and laid her hand on Carrie’s. ‘Thank you.’
‘For what?’
‘For driving. We couldn’t have come without you.’
‘You don’t need to thank me, you daft bugger.’ Carrie shook her head as her sister’s eyes shone suspiciously brightly. ‘Honestly, what are you like? I’m getting a holiday. I’ve got my play to work on. And … I might be able to track down my errant husband.’
‘What … Richard?’
‘How many husbands do you think I’ve got? Although I need to get rid of him pretty quickly.’ Carrie let out a peal of laughter. ‘Oh, Lord, that sounds like I’m planning to bump him off.’
Angela snorted into her wine glass. ‘It does a bit. Murder aside, why the hurry?’
‘Al wants to get married in October.’
‘Yikes! Can you get a divorce that quickly?’ Angela shot a quick look towards the door. ‘Although if you can’t, he’ll wait.’
Carrie studied the way the light refracted and danced from the solitaire diamond of her ring.
‘You haven’t told him.’ Angela suddenly accused. She put her wine down with a firm chink, liquid slopping everywhere. ‘I don’t believe you. Why didn’t you tell him?’
Carrie winced, still looking at her ring. ‘Because it sounds weird. Hey Al, guess what? I’m married to an international A-list superstar actor. Have been for the last ten years.’
‘See what you mean. He’s bound to wonder why you never mentioned it before.’
‘It’s not that, it’s confessing the whole impetuous-marriage thing. How do I explain that?’
‘You were young and in love?’
‘I know but he thinks I’m sensible and responsible.’
‘You are … now.’
Carrie loved her sister, even though they couldn’t be more different. Trust Angela to pass over her wild, impetuous youth with one brief word.
‘He’s so decent, I don’t want him to think badly of me and I don’t know how to explain that I’m not that person any more.’
‘I think you’re worrying unnecessarily. That’s my department, remember? He asked you to marry him. He loves you. Alan’s a lovely guy. Of course he’s going to forgive you a youthful indiscretion. I think you ought to tell him.’
Carrie sighed. ‘I think I’ll wait until I’ve at least got the divorce under way. It sounds pathetic not being able to divorce your own husband because you have no idea of how to get hold of him. I’ve checked – you can’t do anything without an address.’
‘How are you going to get that?’
‘He’s here.’
With an almost involuntary movement, Angela checked the corners of the room.
‘Not here, here, you noodle. In France.’ Carrie took a swig of wine. ‘Filming on the Riviera.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, for the next two months.’
‘The Riviera’s quite big you know, it stretches all the way up to Monaco, about a hundred miles.’ Angela had been reading guidebooks from the library for the last two weeks with the intensity of a student cramming for finals.
‘I know but, stroke of luck, the man in the car-hire place told me some of the places they’ll be filming. And one is down the road from here.’
‘What are you going to do? Camp out there, until they show up? How will you know where to find the film people? And will he even be there? How will you find him?’
‘He’ll be in the biggest trailer,’ said Carrie flippantly.
‘But what if you don’t find him?’
‘Then I’ve lost nothing. It’s not as if I’ve got a better place to start. Besides the car-hire man said they were filming in a market near here, Ramatuelle. All I have to do is go and hang out on market day.’
And when is market day?
Carrie grinned. ‘Thursday and Ramatuelle is the next village.’
‘What this Thursday, as in two days’ time, Thursday?’
‘Well, I don’t know if they’ll be filming this week, but I figure it can’t hurt to keep visiting each week until they do turn up. Besides, I thought the tourist office would know if there’s a film crew on the loose, especially with a star as big as Richard.’
‘Smart thinking. Very smart.’
Dust motes danced in the brilliant beams of sunshine that streamed in around the edges of the drapes. Carrie couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face. With delicious anticipation she lay in bed for a few minutes, wondering what lay beyond the curtains, before padding across the floor and flinging them open, her eyes blinking into the high sun.
Squinting until they grew accustomed to the intensity of the light, she drank in the view. What a clever, clever design. Her corner balcony hung over
