‘Is this everything?’ Jacob asked scratching his head thoughtfully as he surveyed our stock.
I nodded, feeling a surge of alarm. ‘Yes, why?’ I babbled.
Jacob paused for a moment before he spoke, his lovely blue eyes temporarily filled with concern. ‘No, it’s fine, really, I just thought you would have more than this. There’s not really enough here to fill a trestle table.’
Drinking in the scene before me with fresh eyes I saw he was right – we didn’t really have enough stuff. Although I had done plenty of research into this fair, ensuring we kept our most bespoke pieces back for Paris that would appeal to collectors and dealers I hadn’t quite appreciated just how big this fair was going to be. The courier had taken everything we had left, and I reasoned it was about the amount we had for one of our usual Saturday fairs. Only here, in this vast space alongside other dealers it looked as though we had brought just a handful of items. I wanted to wail in despair. How could I have got it so wrong?
‘Look, I’m sure it’s not that bad.’ Jacob said reassuringly. Walking towards the stall he looked at the pile with his arms folded as if assessing the situation. ‘What about if you spread the items out a bit? Really go for a high-end presentation?’
‘I guess that could work,’ I said gloomily. ‘Perhaps if I make it more of a bespoke area people will be more interested.’
‘Exactly.’ Jacob smiled, his eyes dancing with delight. ‘And think about it – you can just act as though you sold a lot of your items really early on because all your stuff is so good. You know Parisians, it’s all about image.
I roared with laughter and was delighted to see he joined in. ‘I can see why you’re in advertising, you know just how to turn a terrible situation into a good one.’
A flash of embarrassment passed across Jacob’s features. ‘I might know the odd thing about spinning a line, but it’s true Erin, look at this stuff.’ He picked up one of Lydia’s blue and white vases with a rare red swirl in the centre. ‘This is gorgeous. It truly does look as though you’ve only got really good quality pieces, unlike a lot of the sellers here who will be trying to farm out any of the old crap they’ve been hanging onto for the tourists.’
‘You can’t say that,’ I giggled.
Jacob winked. ‘You know as well I do it’s true, Erin.’
I said nothing, privately agreeing with him. I had been around enough antiques dealers in recent months to know that was exactly what many of them did. I had lost track of the number of Care Bears and My Little Pony Dream Houses that some had been trying to sell for ludicrous amounts of money, marketing them as vintage English toys, rather than cheap eighties fads, no doubt made in China.
‘Are you sure you don’t mind helping me?’ I asked, changing the subject as I began rooting through the first box to set up.
Jacob smiled. ‘Of course not. Besides I’m in no rush to get back to Granddad’s, it seems as though he and Lydia have a lot of catching up to do. I still can’t get over it. Did her husband really keep my granddad’s letter from her for all those years?’
‘Yes,’ I sighed, pulling out a display case I had earlier filled with rings. ‘Honestly, it was as though Lydia had seen a ghost when she read it. She had truly believed Jack had died during his National Service.’
‘That’s terrible,’ Jacob said, as he started helping me sift through. ‘It’s amazing to think what might have happened if she had actually got the letter when she was supposed to. She might never have married Harry; she might have married my granddad instead. History could have been changed.’
‘But the fact is, Harry did keep the letter from her, they did get married and your grandfather and grandmother were very happy together,’ I said firmly. I had played the ‘what if’ game far too many times when Bad and I had split up and knew it was far from healthy.
‘True, they were made for each other. Everyone always said so,’ Jacob agreed, running a hand through his thick black hair. ‘So where do you fit into all of this then?’
‘I’m Lydia’s housemate and she’s my best friend too.’
Jacob blinked in surprise before his mouth broke out into a wide smile. ‘Really? How did you two meet?’
Pausing for a moment, I wondered how best to sell the circumstances behind my move into Lydia’s home. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I didn’t really want to tell Jacob all about Brad cheating on me with Cara behind my back which then made me jobless and homeless in turn. I wanted to look forward not back, and I didn’t want to do or say anything that might make Jacob think less of me, or worse, feel sorry for me.
‘We were introduced through a mutual friend, and I moved in after I split up from my fiancé,’ I said truthfully.
Jacob nodded as if reading between the lines that there was more to the story but he wasn’t going to push it.
‘And was it through Lydia you got into antiques?’ he asked.
I picked up one of the jade rings we had brought with us to sell and gazed down at it to give myself a bit of time to think. I had become quite a ring enthusiast thanks to Lydia, enjoying sorting through our stock to catalogue and price each item. ‘Yes, I knew nothing about it before, but thanks to her I’ve really fallen in love with it. I’ll be sorry to let it all go after tomorrow.’
‘Why don’t you just carry on with it if it’s doing so well?’ Jacob frowned.
I put the ring back in the case. ‘It was only ever supposed to be temporary. Harry left Lydia in a lot of financial trouble and so her son Luke said that if she wanted to make ends meet she would need to take in a lodger—’
‘Which is where you come in?’ Jacob interrupted.
‘Correct.’ I grinned. ‘And we would need to sell all the antiques that had been accumulating in Lydia’s attic too. Effectively this meant she had to come out of retirement for a little bit.’
‘Like Barbra Streisand,’ Jacob teased, his blue eyes sparkling with joy.
‘Just like Barbra Streisand,’ I laughed. ‘Anyway, enough about me, what about you? What’s the story?’
Jacob looked confused ‘What story?’
‘Well, you know, doesn’t your wife or girlfriend mind you coming to France so regularly?’ I asked bluntly.
Mentally I kicked myself. How could I have got straight onto whether or not Jacob had a wife or girlfriend? Couldn’t I have started by asking about his work? I looked at him from under my eyelashes trying to work out if he was amused by my question as he ripped through another box, but if he seemed surprised, he didn’t let on.
‘I don’t have a wife or girlfriend,’ he said eventually. ‘I’m single, I split up with someone recently.’
A flash of guilt passed through me – me and my big mouth. ‘I’m sorry.’
Jacob made a face. ‘Don’t be. We’d run our course. Natasha and I were together six years.’
‘What happened?’ I asked softly.
‘She left me for someone else,’ he said, a look of anger and hurt passing across his eyes. ‘I came home one day to find she’d moved out. She left me a forwarding address for her mail and I soon discovered that the forwarding address belonged to her new boyfriend.’
As the words hung in the air, I felt a pang of sorrow for Jacob. I knew better than anyone the pain he must have felt.
‘If it helps, my ex left me for my best friend,’ I admitted quietly. ‘And if that wasn’t enough, I was stupid enough to fall out with my parents over it – we haven’t spoken in years.’
‘You’re joking,’ Jacob gasped, his eyebrows raised.
‘Sadly not.’
He scratched his head thoughtfully. ‘Wow, Erin, what a bloody fool he must have been.’
‘Sorry?’ I blanched in surprise.
Jacob’s cheeks flushed with colour. ‘Erm, I just meant you know, you’re lovely, you’re talented and you’re kind. How many people have you met that become best friends with their elderly housemate and then helped them track down their first love in Europe? You’re amazing.’
I put the box down then and gazed at him properly. I knew Lydia would think he was the spitting image of his grandfather but I could see more to him than that. Jacob was strong, kind, funny and charming, and although we had only just met there was something about him that made me feel as if I had known him all my life.
‘Thanks,’ I said eventually. ‘I know I should probably say something more appropriate than that, but truly, thank you. It’s a long time since anyone called me that.’
Jacob took a step towards me and reached a hand up to my face. As he pulled a piece of Sellotape from my hair I winced slightly as he held it out in front of me.
‘Maybe we could see each other again over the weekend,’ he said as I took the tape from him. ‘Perhaps we could find out more amazing things about each other.’
‘I’d like that,’ I replied, feeling my insides start to melt.
Just then the sound of footsteps behind caused us to spring apart like two teenagers caught in the act. Turning around I saw a short woman with petite, angular features, bobbed black hair and bright red lipstick stop behind us.
‘Jacob,’ she called. ‘You’re here. I need your opinion on the marketing plan we’ve got for the fair. Are you free now?’
Jacob paused for a moment before his eyes left mine. ‘Yes, of course. Sandrine, allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine who is also exhibiting at the fair tomorrow. This is Erin.’
‘Erin Matthews,’ I replied, holding out my hand for her to shake. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
‘Likewise,’ Sandrine replied with a genuine smile. ‘If there is anything we can do to help you while you are here please let us know. We are in the far left-hand corner.’
I glanced over to the stall she gestured towards and hid a smile. Sandrine’s stall was huge and on a completely different level to ours.
‘That’s very kind,’ I said politely. ‘What’s your speciality?’
‘Modern art,’ Sandrine explained. ‘Oh, and our founder loves pottery.’
‘So does my partner. Asian vases are her favourite.’
Sandrine raised an immaculately groomed eyebrow. ‘We could be sisters! My partner also has a weakness for Asian vases.’
‘Well, perhaps with so much in common we could all get together for dinner later?’ Jacob suggested with a smile. ‘Erin doesn’t know many people here and I think her business partner is otherwise engaged tonight.’
‘Of course,’ Sandrine exclaimed, her lipsticked mouth breaking into a wide smile. ‘We will go to a little place around the corner I know, Erin, and you can tell me all about English antiques.’
‘I look forward to it,’ I beamed.
‘Me too,’ Jacob said as he turned to walk away. ‘It’s a date.’