Chapter Five #2
Their conversation was lazy and good-humoured, but underneath that, she was still weirdly conscious of her body behaving differently, responding differently, as if every part of it was being lightly caressed by something soft and invisible.
His elbow, resting on the arm of his chair, was almost touching hers.
She was used to his proximity.
She’d known him for most of her life! And yet suddenly this was a man she didn’t know, a man she felt she was discovering for the first time, who roused things in her she knew shouldn’t be roused.
The only way to combat those peculiar feelings was to keep it light.
‘The cottage,’ he continued thoughtfully. ‘Us sharing it. Slight hiccup because it’s something I hadn’t predicted, but I think it’s going to work to our advantage.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. Think about it.’ He sipped his wine and looked straight ahead, his body mirroring hers. ‘The minute we’re in here, there will be no need to pretend that we’re a couple. We can revert to being the comfortable friends we’ve always been without my mother’s eagle eye on us.’
‘Trrrruuuueeeee…’ She dragged the word out dubiously.
‘I can sense a but there somewhere…’
‘But it feels as though the more people are involved in this charade, somehow the more complicated it gets.’ She turned to him just as he turned to look at her. In the moonlit semi-darkness with just the light from the cottage casting a glow from behind them, their eyes met and held.
Her mouth went dry. For a second, her thoughts became a little jumbled.
‘And the more complicated it gets,’ she continued in a hitched voice, ‘the harder it’s going to be to extricate ourselves from…from our so-called relationship.’
‘You’re over-thinking it, Jen. First of all, there aren’t queues of people lining up to get involved and find out what’s going on between us.
Friends and family don’t know a thing, and it’ll stay that way.
You’re also projecting. What makes you think it’s going to be difficult to extricate ourselves from this? ’
‘What makes you think it isn’t?’
‘Tut-tut, that’s a very defeatist approach.’
‘For someone so clever, Gabriel, sometimes you can be so…so…obtuse.’
‘Sometimes seeing too much grey in the mix confuses things,’ he returned comfortably.
‘Right now, I’m taking it one day at a time.
On this particular day, I see my mother with a smile on her face and an upbeat attitude that wasn’t there a week ago.
’ He gently placed his glass on the ground next to his chair and relaxed back, arms folded behind his head.
‘Stunning view, wouldn’t you agree? Especially at night. Atmospheric.’
‘Will you buy it?’ she asked curiously.
‘It’ll happen.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I happen to be fond of red wine. So why not own a vineyard? It’s not as though I can’t afford it. As an added bonus, with the right management and the right amount of money thrown at it, it has all the hallmarks of making a substantial profit.’
‘Don’t you sometimes want to take a step back and start relaxing a bit more?’
She manoeuvred her chair slightly so that she could look at him without twisting around. The silence that greeted her question was pensive and serious.
He eventually countered her question with a question. ‘Why would I do that?’
‘Well, for a start, you could spend some more time with your mum and also…you know, when this phoney situation ends and you actually do decide to settle down, you’re going to have to become accustomed to a life of less work and more…wearing an apron and doing the dishes.’
She shuffled back into her original position so that they were both now staring up at a starlit, moonlit sky and the never-ending dark, swaying shapes of the vines and the trees stretching out towards distant horizons.
The silence between them was comfortable, relaxed, and yet she was still conscious of the closeness of their bodies, the soft sound of his breathing, the length of muscular legs stretched out in front of him.
‘Well, not necessarily,’ he finally murmured.
‘Like I told you, marriage for me would never look like marriage for you. I’m not on the lookout for my soulmate, and yes, life would change somewhat if and when I settle down…
’ He paused briefly. ‘When. When I settle down. I’m not getting any younger, and my mother has opened my eyes to a future I thought was waiting round a few more corners up ahead.
So when I settle down, it won’t be with someone who expects me to give up work so that I can start doing DIY and pottering in the garden. ’
Jennifer laughed drowsily. ‘There’s such a thing as the middle road.’
‘Tell me about that.’
‘I know you’re not really interested, so why should I?’
‘Because you can’t resist when I ask you a question.’ He chuckled. ‘Too much temptation to disagree with me and engineer an argument.’
‘Either I’m sunshine and light or else I’m someone who engineers arguments. I can’t be both.’
‘You’re both with me. What are you like with those men you’ve dated in the past? Which persona do you adopt?’
Jennifer felt him shift position, and then she felt the laser burn of his dark eyes on her averted profile, but she wasn’t going to let that lazy inspection get to her.
She wasn’t going to let her body disobey her head.
She was going to be the friend he was accustomed to.
She was going to ignore the shift she felt had mysteriously happened between them, which was probably only in her imagination anyway.
‘I don’t adopt personas,’ she said dryly. ‘I’m not a psychopath, Gabriel. Anyway, what personas do you adopt when you’re with those girls of yours?’
‘I think it’s fair to say that neither of us are psychopaths, so I don’t adopt personas either. Have you noticed that your voice always changes when you talk about the women I date? Why is that? I can always sense just a little bit of contempt in your tone.’
In the darkness, Jennifer flushed. Was he right? Surely not.
‘Really?’ she said airily. ‘I can’t say I’ve noticed.’ She paused. ‘If anything, maybe sometimes I can’t help but be mystified as to why a guy as clever as you chooses to go out with women who don’t seem to challenge you.’
‘Depends on your definition of challenge,’ Gabriel drawled. ‘Anyway, I’m the same with everyone. Honest, straightforward and charming.’
‘If you say so. Will you be going to do whatever you have to do with Roberto tomorrow? Have a look at vineyards? Get filled in on what might need doing?’
‘I already have a pretty good idea of what’s been happening here for the past few years and why it’s ended up where it has,’ he said.
‘I’ve done a lot of due diligence already.
Knowledge, as they say, is power. But yes, I think the days can play out like that.
You’ll be left with my mother and Luisa, if she wants to join, during the day.
I’ll arrange a driver. You can do a little exploring. ’
‘Right. So our make-believe game will only begin once you’re back from your day’s adventures.’
‘That’s the plan.’
‘And first thing in the morning?’ It occurred to her that she had actually never woken up in the same place as Gabriel, however many lunches and dinners with friends and family they had shared over the years, how many conversations and debates and arguments they’d had.
‘I mean…just so we know the routine, what time do you wake up? Go to bed?’ She laughed a little awkwardly.
‘We’ve known each other for such a long time, yet it’s surprising I don’t know those details about you. ’
‘Why would you?’
‘I…ah…’
‘You’d only know those details if you were my lover and knew my intimate habits.
’ He fell silent for a couple of seconds.
Then he added on a lighter note, ‘But come to think of it, you’re not alone in that.
Very few people know my waking and sleeping habits.
At a push, my executive assistant, but only because I’m always awake when she communicates with me, whatever the time of day or night.
So she knows I go to bed late and wake at the crack of dawn. ’
‘And all your…er…lovers?’
‘I don’t usually do sleepovers,’ he said kindly. ‘I prefer an uncluttered bed.’
‘Even when you go on holiday with someone? How does that work for you?’
‘I can’t tell you the last time I had a holiday with a woman.’
‘But you’ve stayed over at your mum’s with women in the past.’
‘Interesting you know my comings and goings.’
‘I don’t! I… Francesca always tells me when you’ve been. It just crops up in conversation…now and again.’
She felt suddenly hot and bothered as his casual observation struck home. Oddly, she did seem to know a lot about what he was up to when she wasn’t around.
‘I always respect my mother’s unspoken rules and establish whoever I’m with in a separate suite.’
‘Very pious of you. I had no idea you were so old-fashioned.’
Gabriel grinned. ‘At any rate, beyond that, separate sleeping quarters work because my hours can be unnerving if anyone has to put up with them. I hit the sack very, very late when I’m finished working, and I get up very, very early to continue where I left off.
Often I have early morning transatlantic calls on speaker phone when I’m in the bedroom and moving around.
Disconcerting if you’re a partner trying to carry on sleeping at five in the morning.
And when I do share a bed overnight with a woman?
Up early and on the move before she’s opened her eyes. ’
Jennifer laughed and began standing up. She shot him a knowing look from under her lashes and held his gaze for a few seconds. ‘You mean you don’t want them getting any ideas. Too many cosy cups of morning coffee in bed and they might start looking for more than you want to offer.’
‘Like I said, how well you know me.’
He remained where he was, watching her as she began moving away.
When the door clicked shut behind her, he left it a while…sat thinking, sipping his red wine until he was certain she’d showered and was asleep.