CHAPTER TWO
"I see the door still squeaks".
Squeak.
The man moved the door from side to side as Anouk watched him with suspicious eyes. He looked at her before raising a hand to his mouth and picking something from his teeth. Disgusted, Anouk watched on as he inspected the left over food before flicking it off his finger and out the door.
'Well, whoever fixed this last didn't do a very good job.' The man said nonchalantly, once again swinging the door open and shut.
Anouk crossed her arms over her chest. 'Is that so?' she pondered an eyebrow raised, studying the man. 'How much will it cost to fix?'
'One-hundred francs.'
'No less?'
'No.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes.'
'Well,' Anouk said, uncrossing her arms. 'Unfortunately my mother and I don't have that kind of money. I'm sure there's many people around here who will do us a charitable favour.' With that, the young woman left him at the door and went behind the counter, leaving the man to his own devices – devices that he used to leave the store as quickly as possible.
Anouk tapped her fingers on the counter matching them with the beat of the music that floated through the open door. She smiled as the sound rose to an awesome crescendo and slowly came back down again. The sound of accordions, flutes, violins and wayward percussion provided a kaleidoscope of sound, each note and lilt completely different to the one before it. But where was the music coming from? Anouk realised that she had been so engrossed in the sound that she had not bothered to question the origins of the music. It could not be too far away because it seemed rather loud. She could hear voices matching the music now. They were forming words – words in a foreign tongue she could not understand. Still, she tried to imagine their meanings by the emotion in the voices.
Quiet.
The music ended, but was suddenly started up again by the sound of a blues guitar. Closing her eyes, Anouk listened to the music. It was familiar tune – something she had heard before, but was not sure where. Closing her eyes, Anouk tried as hard as she could to project herself back to the place where she had heard the music, but all she saw was chocolate. Chocolate. That could have been anywhere and anytime. She had been surrounded by chocolate her whole life.
Squeak.
The door opened wide and in stepped someone. Looking up, Anouk saw her mother. Smiling at her, the young woman pushed the thoughts of music from her mind.
'Hello Maman.' Anouk greeted her mother with a smile. Had her mother heard the music as well?
'Anouk,' Vianne began, placing a bag of apples on the counter in front of her daughter. 'You will not believe what I came across on my way back here.'
'What?'
'Gipsies.'
The boat hit the shore with a soft jolt. The sand sunk underneath it and the water hit the wooden sides gently. A man stepped off it, his jaw traced with about two weeks worth of light facial hair. With him the man carried a rope. He tied it quickly to the boat and then to a nearby tree on the shore. Looking up the riverbank, he noted that there were many other boats like his own. Near the boats he saw people mingling by small fires. Some were tuning instruments, others were setting up small stalls selling all manner of different things. He recognised these types of people at once.
Gipsies.
Walking away from his boat, the man stopped in front of another. There sat another man, a small blade in one hand and a mirror in the other. He shaved the last of the hair from his jawline and looked up at the fellow.
'Yes?' the man asked, placing his razor into his pocket.
'Might I borrow that?' the stranger asked, a tinge of Ireland in his voice.
'Certainly, friend, but I shall need to know your name.'
'It's Roux.' He replied, as the man handed him his razor. 'And what is yours?'
'Xavier.'
'Pleased to meet you, friend.' Roux said as he sat down and, taking the mirror, he traced his jaw with the blade.
Roux looked at himself in the mirror. He did not look too different. His face had not aged overmuch and his hair was still the same length. His skin had grown more tanned over the missing years and now had a healthy olive glow. Around his neck a few trinkets had been added ranging from a crocodile tooth to a small silver coin – each of them having their own special and unique story.
Roux watched as his companion stood up and walked away. He was not phased by it and continued to trace the line of his jaw carefully. Once finished, he washed off the blade and placed it, and the mirror, where it had been sitting with its owner.
Jumping aboard his boat, Roux reached for his guitar and brought it with him as he disembarked. Sitting where he had before, he looked out onto the water and began to tune it. The poor instrument had become somewhat neglected. So he sat, strumming chords just to check they still sounded as they should. Most of them did with the exception of a few. Promptly adjusting the strings, Roux began to play a basic and well-known melody as he heard it float over the sky, following the path of the wind.
Anouk felt her heart beating fast. She had pretty much flown out of the shop as soon as her mother had said the word gipsies. In fact, she was already half way out the door when he mother had mentioned her name. She had not grasped her red overcoat, which she was cursing herself for as the cold air whipped her rosy cheeks, she had not said goodbye to her mother and she had not even thought of where she was running. Her mother had not said where the gipsies were, but Anouk had an idea of where they probably had parked themselves.
She could hear the sound of the guitar closer now. It changed keys to a faster, happier tune as if the person playing it could not contain their emotions and let them flow from their fingers out onto the strings of the guitar. They played with such freedom and grace. The passion was unmistakable and Anouk felt her heart take flight with the music whilst she ran. She found her feet hitting the ground in time with beat of the unknown song. Suddenly, a violin was added to the mix. It complemented the guitar perfectly as if they were one in the same. She felt like dancing – letting go of whatever held her down. Instead, she ran down to the river.
Halting to a stop, she almost ran into a man. She had not recognised him before, but she did not have time to think about it. The river was in sight.
Anouk watched as a group of children danced in a circle, their dirty faces smiling as they sang to the music in the high-pitched voices that they accustomed for children. Anouk found herself smiling uncontrollably. She looked for the source of the music and found a man playing the violin as he moved to his tune. His long brown hair was tied in a ponytail and he seemed to be speaking cheerily to another man as he played.
Anouk turned her gaze to the other man. He sat with a guitar straddled across his lap. His hair was too tied back from his face, with a few loose honey-colour strands hanging in front of his eyes. His head was down and Anouk could not make out his face. He wore a tie loosely around his neck. Suddenly the man looked up to speak to his partner in music.
Anouk saw his face a gasped.
Roux finished playing and smiled, clapping his new friend as he placed away his violin. Roux placed his guitar next to him and looked around the group. His eyes wandered towards the town when he suddenly saw someone. Someone he recognised.
She was a young woman. Her dark brown hair cascaded around her shoulders. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt. She had the right kind of beauty a sixteen-year-old girl ought to have. She locked eyes with him and a look of recognition sparked on her face. Roux smiled at her and stood up.
It seemed as if time had stopped just for them. Roux walked toward her. For some reason he felt his heart beating hard against his chest. He tried to steady it by exhaling, but it did not work. He felt as if he may fall over. What if this wasn't Anouk? What if it was just a stranger? Roux refused to think of the consequence and finally, coming within two feet of her, he stopped.
'Hello.' Roux said, and his throat seemed to double-clutch on him, but before he could clear it to speak he found himself on the ground.
Anouk had jumped onto him, hugging him tightly around the neck. With the force of the attack, Roux had been bowled over onto the ground. He opened his eyes to see Anouk astride him, her eyes filled with tears.
'You came back!' Anouk exclaimed through tears of joy. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed.
Roux took her in his arms and sat up, holding her as tight as he could without breaking her thin frame. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. He felt tears forming in his own eyes followed by a feeling of guilt. How could he leave this girl? He did not know how he had done it. He must have been heartless back then. Smiling, Roux pushed the tears back and looked at her.
'Yes, I did.' He smiled. 'Sorry for the delay.'
Anouk once again pulled herself to him as if it would make up for the lost years. Of course, in reality, nothing would ever make up for them, but all of this was forgotten as the two sat in eachother's arms. Raising her head, Anouk looked Roux in the eyes.
'Apologies don't make it better.' Anouk said, a sudden change in her tone and face as she sat back on her heels.
Silence spanned between them like a bridge that neither of them was willing to cross. The weight in Anouk's words was unimaginable. Anouk wished she could gather the words back up and place them in her mouth again. She should not have said what she just had and knew it. The light faded from her eyes as an oil lamp would if it were running out of fuel. Slow and gradual.
'I know.' Roux said, crossing the bridge of silence. His voice cracked the air like a whip in a silent, desolate landscape. It was a sudden, almost harsh, sound against the quietness between them.
Anouk brushed her hair from her face. It had stuck to her cheek as her salty tears had fallen down her pale skin. She noticed a small stain on Roux's shoulder from her tears. Forcing back a small smile she did not speak. Instead, she stood up and began to walk back into the town centre.
Why she was walking she did not know. Perhaps she would wake up in her room and realise that this was a dream. Just like every other time. She had dreamt of Roux returning many, many times. It was one of those dreams she never wanted to be woken from. Sometimes Anouk awoke and cursed herself for not staying asleep. She had tried to go back to sleep and resume the dream from where she had left off, but it never worked. She always found herself lying in her bed crying from frustration that she could never see Roux again.
She was now running. Anouk had not realised she had quickened her pace. Quickly she collapsed on the steps outside the church. She had never sat there before – in fact she had only been inside the building once or twice. Her head in her hands she closed her eyes to stop the tears. She would wake up soon. She knew she would. In a few moments her mother would call her down from her room and the day would go by as usual. Everything would be as it usually was and the wind would not change.
Tears stung the back of her eyes and she forced them not to come. She silently commanded them to stay behind her eyelids and not surface. She could feel someone's arms around her. She felt safe and secure. Taking her hands away from her eyes, she turned to look up. There he was. The man from her dreams. He was back again.
'I'm dreaming this, aren't I?' she asked Roux as she looked up at him, the tears now freshly pouring down her cheeks.
'No.' Roux replied.
'Prove it.' Anouk said almost desperately. She needed some confirmation that she was not sleeping.
'I can't.' Roux gave a small laugh and wiped the tears from Anouk's cheeks. 'Just believe me. The worst that could happen is you'll wake up and life will be as normal as it was before.'
Standing up, Anouk stepped back from Roux once more. 'Life was never normal after you left us!' the desperation and sadness in her voice made Roux's heart sink.
Anouk's face was a mixture of accusation, sadness and love. It was impossible to distinguish where one emotion ended and the other began.
'When you left us you broke my mother's heart.' Anouk began her voice thick with sadness and frustration. 'She loved you, Roux - she told me almost every night for months. Every night I could hear Maman crying herself to sleep. She would wake up saying your name. Some nights she was convinced you had returned and when she woke up and saw you were not beside her, her heart and soul cracked in two.
'Whenever I got a whiff of the hot-chocolate Maman makes I thought of you. Whenever I opened the door I saw your face and thought of what could have been only if you'd kept your promise. I wondered what would have happened if you'd stayed. What kind of life we would have. I wondered if you and Maman would stay together forever and if we would be a family. I wondered so much, Roux. I never stopped wondering.'
'I know.' Roux said quietly, his eyes cast downwards.
'Is that all you can say?' Anouk demanded. 'I'm not a child anymore. You can't satisfy me with two words! Did you ever think of us? Or were you too caught up in your own world?'
Standing up, Roux walked close to Anouk and looked down at her. He walked around her and back again to where he started.
'I thought of you every day.' Roux replied calmly. 'It never stopped. Every woman I met, I thought of your mother. Every young girl had your face – your innocent smile and bright eyes. I wished I could get back to you, but knew that you would hate me for not returning. I imagined your greeting and I knew that you would be like you are now.
'I knew that you would accuse me of leaving and you're right. I did leave you and for that I'm more than sorry. Just tell me now. Tell me if you want me and we'll save the heartbreak for both of us. If you want to never see me again, I understand. I can leave.'
Silence.
Anouk could hear her own heart beating. It was an overwhelming sound. If Roux were speaking at this moment, she would not have heard it. The pounding of her heart was the only sound she could hear. Anouk looked up at Roux and met his eyes. She could see tears in them and she smiled slightly. She knew he was sorry, but for some reason Anouk did not find that satisfying. Why was he back? And why had she over-reacted so much? Was it because he had broken her heart or just because she felt he deserved it.
'I don't want you to leave.' Anouk replied softly, her voice cracking. 'I want you to stay – forever. I never wanted you to leave.'
Taking Anouk's hand, Roux began to walk. He did not speak but instead just kept on walking. The church slowly faded into the background and the blue door of the Chocolaterie came into view. As soon as Anouk knew what Roux was planning, she halted, pulling the Irishman back with her.
'Don't do this.' Anouk said. 'Not if you plan on leaving us again. It will break Maman's heart more to see you back if you just intend of leaving.'
'I don't intend on leaving.' Roux said simply and resumed his steps towards the Chocolaterie and ultimately Vianne.
As they walked Anouk's thoughts spiralled. He was not leaving? He was back forever? But he was a gypsy, how was that possible? It was in his nature to move as much as he could. If he was lying Anouk knew he mother would never be the same again. Love was a great thing, but sometimes it was dangerous when in the wrong hands. Love was one thing that could not be played with. It was like giving a young boy and china doll and trusting him not to break it. It was something you could not count on and could prove to be something beautiful or something grotesque.
Love was something Anouk had no experience with. At least, not the type of love that her mother felt for Roux. She had never felt that for someone else, but she knew that when she did it would be something special. Her first kiss had been with Luc Clairmont when she was twelve. The two of them, as well as a group of other children from the school, had been playing truth or dare down by the river. It had been an innocent kiss that had meant nothing save for naive exploration and a little embarrassment. The two of them had been jokingly teased for the next week, but it was quickly forgotten as the two of them grew up into young adults. They joked about it now as best friends would.
Anouk watched as Roux's hand reached for the brass door-handle. He slowly opened the door and a small squeak was heard. Roux met Anouk's eyes and smiled. The bell above the door sounded with a slight jingle and a shadow appeared on the wall adjacent to the entryway to the kitchen. Out emerged a woman, her hair up in a red headscarf and slight traces of cocoa on her white apron. Her cheeks were slightly pink from her work.
It happened as if in slow motion. A look of recognition crossed Vianne's face as she looked from the man in front of her to her daughter. Roux was the first to speak.
'I see the door still squeaks.' He said with a smile.
Author's Note: Sorry about the constant switching of P.O.V's in the first part of the chapter, but I wanted to get as much emotion into that as possible. I'm not too sure about the whole interaction between Roux and Anouk, though. I think Anouk' s sudden change of mood/attitude might have been a bit sudden, but it seemed to fit. Please, let me know what you think. I promise that the next chapter will be up quicker than this one. Thanks to all who reviewed and please keep doing so!
Em.
xxx
