Read The French Retreat (Falling for France Book 1) for Free Online Page B

the window. ‘He’s gone.’
    Will followed her gaze. ‘Who?’
    ‘The boy. There was a little lad at the window,’ said Marcie. She rushed over to the glass and peered out into the garden. ‘Didn’t you see him when you came out?’
    Will shook his head. ‘Are you sure he was there?’
    ‘Of course,’ said Marcie. Brushing by Will with her flute still in her hand, she hurried out into the garden.
    Will followed. ‘There’s no-one there,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you saw the ghost the locals keep talking about.’ His grin was met with a frown.
    ‘I didn’t imagine it.’
    ‘I wasn’t saying that.’ He followed her round the wood store to the window.
    ‘What are you doing out here anyway?’ said Marcie.
    ‘Actually, Ben asked me to come and find you,’ said Will. He had got totally distracted by the sound of the music, he’d forgotten the reason for finding her.
    ‘Why does Ben want me?’
    ‘Lisa’s had a call from England. Her mum’s taken a fall. She’s okay but in hospital. Broken hip.’
    ‘Oh, no. Poor Lisa,’ said Marcie.
    ‘Ben and Lisa are getting the ten o’clock ferry from St Malo. I’m going to drive them up there. Lisa’s dad is meeting them in Portsmouth,’ explained Will. ‘We’re leaving in about half an hour.’
    ‘I’ll come too’ said Marcie. ‘Moral support and to keep you company. It’s a bit of a long drive there and back on your own.’
    ‘Okay, that’ll be good,’ said Will, finding himself more pleased at this thought than he anticipated.
     
    A few hours later the MPV pulled up at the ferry port in St Malo.
    Will helped unload the two suitcases, passing them to Ben. ‘Don’t worry about anything. I’ll look after things.’
    ‘Cheers, mate,’ said Ben, shaking hands with Will. ‘I appreciate that.’ He turned to Marcie. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?’
    ‘No. I’ll be fine,’ said Marcie. She gave her brother and sister-in-law a hug each. ‘Besides, someone needs to look after Will.’
    Will raised his eyebrows. ‘Is that so?’ he said. ‘I’m pretty sure I can look after myself. I think it’s more a case of me looking after you. Saving you from all those ghosts.’
    This remark earned him a playful whack on the arm from Marcie.
    They watched Ben and Lisa head off to the departures lounge and then climbed back in to the car and drove out towards the motorway.
    ‘Homeward bound,’ said Will, accelerating as they joined the motorway traffic.
    The sun was making a valiant effort to warm the cold November morning and as they headed further south into Brittany, it broke free from the clouds.
    ‘Do you fancy stopping somewhere on the way home for some lunch?’ said Marcie. ‘We could do a bit of sightseeing.’
    Will went to decline but stopped himself. For some reason he didn’t want to disappoint Marcie. He glanced over at her, an expectant look on her face. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Did you have anywhere in mind.’
    ‘What about Rochefort-en-Terre? It’s a really quaint, traditional village and they have a wonderful chocolatier there. Or they did the last time I visited.’
    ‘Woe betide a man getting in a girl’s way of chocolate,’ said Will.
    ‘Exactly,’ said Marcie.
    ‘Programme the Satnav, then,’ said Will. He pushed a CD into the player and turned up the volume as drum and bass music pounded out of the speakers.
    Marcie clasped her hands to her ears. ‘Oh, no!’ she said raising her voice to be heard over the heavy bass. She reached across and turned the volume down.
    ‘Not this again,’ said Will. ‘I do believe it’s my turn to choose the soundtrack. I have a distinct memory of the Hallelujah Chorus last time we did this journey.’
    ‘I know but can’t we come to a compromise?’
    ‘Nope. Anyway, you might actually like it. Being the lover of music that you are, you should tune your ear in and appreciate just what goes into putting a track like this together.’
    ‘I’m not convinced,’ said