All That the Heart Desires by June Moonbridge Page A

stopped in front of the kitchen table.
    “I was right.”
    I was silent. I didn’t want to explain.
    “So what are your plans for the afternoon?”
    “I thought I’d go to see the qualifying—” I began but she interrupted me.
    “It’s almost the end of the qualifying. Two or three minutes…”
    I ran to the living room. Finding the remote, I turned on the television and sat on the arm of a chair. The qualifying was over and at the finishing line the chequered flag was waving as the cars drove by. On the top left corner of the screen were the results and I was shocked.
    Lorcan Shore hadn’t got pole position. He was placed third.
    I was anxious for the press conference. I needed to know what had happened. Only a year ago he had had such a fantastic result in the race that he had been the envy of everyone. Now, he was third and everybody knew that overtaking in Monte Carlo was nearly impossible.
    “I see you don’t listen to me,” I heard Anne-Marie say. “I’m going home to change and then we’re going shopping.”
    I heard only half of what she said, as my eyes were still locked onto the screen. The three top drivers were giving a press conference.
    I heard the front door closing but I remained engrossed in the television, not listening to what the first and second placed drivers had to say, just waiting for Lorcan’s turn. But surprisingly, the reporters didn’t ask him why he’d come third. The questions they were asking were about something that happened the day before.
    My curiosity grew from minute to minute. As he didn’t want to answer their questions about the incident, the television released the video of what the reporters were talking about. I caught my breath when I saw what had almost happened to him. He’d been only inches away from crashing in the turn near the hotel. I remembered the sound of squealing breaks from the previous day. Had that just been my imagination?
    Seeing that he would not escape until their questions were answered, he said shortly,
    “I thought I saw someone I’ve been looking for the last few days. I was just distracted and that’s the reason for today’s result too. I could blame the car or the team, but it would be unfair. They did everything right. I need to get my concentration back. Thank you.”
    The conference room went deadly silent when he stood up and walked out of the room.
    “Are you ready?” I heard suddenly and I jumped from the armchair with surprise. Anne-Marie was back.
    “Not really,” I answered. “I’ll change quickly. Where are we going?”
    I ran upstairs. Leaving my bedroom door open as I changed, we continued our conversation.
    “I know you don’t want to go back to Monaco, so we’re going to Cannes.”
    Brushing my hair, I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror. Torn jeans (long gone out of fashion) white top and white espadrilles were far away from what one would wear in Cannes but I didn’t care.
    Coming back down, I waited for her comment about my outfit and I wasn’t disappointed. She looked at me from head to toe and sighed.
    “I see I came just in time. You need salvation.”
    I laughed out loud.
    “And just what do you mean by that?” I teased her.
    She passed me my handbag.
    “You’ll see,” was all she said.
    Although Anne-Marie knew how to drive, she asked me to take us where she decided we needed to go. I loved to drive so it was not a burden for me. The towns were only twenty miles apart, yet because of the traffic it took us an hour to get there. As always I took the coast road.
    “You love the sea, don’t you?
    “Yes I do,” I answered quietly. “It helps me forget…” I bit my tongue. However, she didn’t seem to have heard me. Anne-Marie started talking about her own family and problems. I had never realised that she was so unhappy with her marriage. It seemed that all that kept her with her husband were their three children.
    I wondered if I would have stayed with someone for the sake of the