Chapter Three #3
He looked at Georgie, young, fresh faced and curious, and he suddenly felt a thousand years old.
He seldom delved back into the past but now he thought about the poverty in which he’d been brought up, abandoned by his father before he could walk and raised single-handedly by his mother, who had broken her back making sure that he got out of the impoverished Italian quarter near the Bronx where he had been brought up.
She’d drummed into him the importance of education because without it he would be stuck where he was for good, going down the same road as many of his friends would.
It had been a life of struggle with eyes to the bigger prize.
Brains, drive and ruthless determination had given him the wings to fly and to get what he wanted, but along the way he’d lost the very thing he was looking at now.
Curiosity, openness, a fundamental faith that life would be kind.
He was thirty-two but every second of the hard road he had travelled was embedded inside his soul like a prong of steel.
‘I have a child,’ he said bluntly and watched as she stared at him with wide-eyed shock. ‘You look surprised. People do. It’s not that uncommon.’
‘Yes… I kind of thought…from what you said just then and no, of course people have kids, I realise it’s not some big surprise…but…’
‘But what?’
‘But you don’t look like a dad.’
‘Should I take that as a compliment?’
‘Maybe not,’ Georgie blurted with unflattering honesty.
She thought of her own dad. Bespectacled, clever, genial.
Always ready to listen to whichever of his daughters had something to moan about.
He mowed the lawn, took the bins out on a Monday, allowed her mum to chivvy him into wearing clothes he didn’t want to wear because they weren’t comfy enough.
On no level did this sexy guy staring at her now fit into that category.
The way he was looking at her, with humour in his dark gaze, a smile tugging the corners of his mouth…
Her heart picked up speed and she found herself leaning forward, hanging onto the conversation.
‘So,’ she said breathlessly, ‘you were telling me that you have a child. A boy? Girl? How old?’
‘Six and a girl. Flora is her name.’
The harsh lines of his face softened when he said that.
‘So what does this…? I mean, I’m still confused, if I’m honest. Why am I involved in this at all?’ She tilted her head to one side and nodded. ‘Is it to do with custody?’
‘Very good. How did you guess?’
Georgie thought back to the scenario into which she had inadvertently found herself.
The awkwardness…an ex-wife who had looked at her with open hatred…the lawyers, there to do a job whatever the atmosphere. Alessandro, hard as nails and cold as ice, a man on a mission.
‘She still fancies you, I guess.’
‘You’re jumping to all sorts of conclusions.’
Georgie noted his dark flush and shrugged.
‘None of my business, I know. I’m just saying what I felt and saw when it came to body language.
Maybe she still thinks she has a chance with you and using your daughter as a pawn is something she does to keep you dangling on the end of a hook.
Maybe she hasn’t really wanted to let go.
’ She paused. ‘Actually, I had a friend whose mum was a bit like that. Gail. She was always caught in a tug of war. Her mother was always fighting for more money, always cancelling visits with her dad without warning. Twice, she showed up at school when she wasn’t meant to be there and caused an almighty scene, saying that Gail couldn’t spend the weekend with her dad because of plans her mum said she’d forgotten about. It happens.’
‘Duly noted.’
‘But I still don’t get what the whole charade was all about when you found me here. You didn’t want to make your ex jealous, so…’
‘You’re right. Sophia has been playing fast and loose with my visiting rights, which, until now, have been informally agreed at her request. You’re also right, there have been attempts to—how shall I put it?
—engineer a reconciliation of sorts. Attempts that I have ignored.
With each woman I’ve dated, Sophia has become more and more vocal that I’m not the sort of guy who is responsible enough to see my own daughter.
I work too much; I play too hard. Several times, she’s contrived to inform the paparazzi of her thoughts on the matter, which, naturally, has resulted in them snapping me on a more and more consistent basis.
I brought her out here, far from all reporters, so that I could pin her down into signing everything I should have made her sign years ago but didn’t. ’
‘I see…’
‘The minute she saw you, I knew what she would have been thinking. She would have jumped to the conclusion that you were yet another one of my women, that I was again proving myself to be the sort of philanderer who could never be seen as a role model for a young child. Having her lawyer there would have led to a major headache for me.’
‘Yes.’ Georgie winced. ‘I’m sorry. Again.’
‘Hence the charade. I thought it was going to be something temporary, just until she returned to New York on the helicopter, but unfortunately…’
There was a long silence during which Georgie tried and failed to work out where that enigmatic statement was going.
Judging from the angry thinning of his lips, she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like the direction of travel.
‘Unfortunately?’ she prompted uneasily.
‘Sophia has been making noises for some time about a holiday with Flora. Various very expensive places have been suggested, most of which would have held little or no interest for a six-year-old child. The only reason she’s run any of the options past me is because she wants an extraordinary injection of extra cash to cover all sorts of ridiculous costs and because she wants to rub home that she’s willing to put the time in taking Flora on holiday while I either work too much or play too hard. ’
‘Ridiculous costs?’
‘Private island, fully crewed yacht, sufficient bedrooms to accommodate at least a dozen adults and perhaps a child or two—chefs on tap. I wouldn’t give a damn about any of that if I knew that it wasn’t motivated by spite.’
‘You don’t need all of that to have a wonderful holiday. I remember my family holidays—little rentals on the coast and board games. I always lost, now I think back to it.’
‘Your family holidays couldn’t have been further from mine.’ He frowned, impatient with himself for going off-piste.
‘I guess, with money to burn, board games and rentals by the coast weren’t your thing.’
‘I wasn’t born a billionaire, Georgie. I had to fight tooth and nail to make it to the top.’
He remembered his childhood holidays, the cheap annual one-week breaks during summer when he and his mother would visit the seaside, explore the boardwalks, enjoy the ocean—only able to afford the places that were a bus ride away. Money set aside every week for that small break.
Now he could afford to buy all the boardwalks, but the quality of the holidays hadn’t improved because of it.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had any genuine downtime.
‘How did you do it? How did you make so much money?’ She laughed. ‘I obviously need some lessons from you and then I might not have to rely on cleaning houses and teaching kids to save for a deposit on a flat that’ll be the size of a shoebox.’
Alessandro was startled to find himself laughing along with her.
For a second, he really got it why his mother told him on a loop that he worked too hard, to which he would wryly respond that he was simply obeying what she’d taught him.
Flavia Barbieri spent most of her time in Italy now and he didn’t see her nearly as often as he knew he should.
He brought her over twice a year so that she could see her granddaughter and, more often than not, he only occasionally participated in all the stuff they did together.
Time was scarce and work commitments had no respect for leisure activities.
He felt a pile-up of guilt wash over him.
‘That’s beside the point,’ he said flatly. ‘The fact is that Sophia has thrown a curveball. She’s informed me that the only place Flora is interested in going is Disney World.’
‘Nice.’
‘Next week. Ten days in Disney World. Staying at a dedicated hotel in the park.’
‘Sounds terrific for a six-year-old.’
‘She expects you to accompany me on the trip.’
‘Any little girl’s dream holiday.’
‘Did you hear what I just said, Georgie? You’re expected to come with me.’
‘What? Why on earth would she expect something like that?’
‘Believe me, I don’t want this any more than you do.’
‘You’ll just have to tell her that it’s not possible for me to take time off for any kind of holiday, anywhere!’
‘Easier said than done.’
‘I have work! I have commitments here. I also don’t know you and I’ve never met your daughter!’
‘Like I said, Sophia has found the best place to put the spoke in the wheel and she’s grabbed the chance.
She’s enraged that I’ve finally pinned her down to a timetable of visiting rights, that she won’t like the consequences if she fails to comply.
She also loathes the possibility that this so-called relationship of ours might be more serious than anything I’ve had in the past, as evidenced by the fact that you were here, in the chalet, when we arrived, key in hand and clearly knowing the lay of the land. ’
‘Women you date never have keys to your house? Flat? Penthouse apartment? Wherever it is you live?’
‘Never.’
‘Okay…and they also don’t have a clue where to locate a fridge?’
‘I don’t believe in encouraging any woman to get too comfortable in my territory.’
‘What a catch you are,’ Georgie said with thick sarcasm.
‘Women so love a guy who doesn’t want them to feel they can get comfortable in their territory.
Do you think that if you let them through the front door and they manage to locate a bottle of water from your fridge they’re going to start putting down roots? ’
‘I tried the permanent situation once. It didn’t work.
I’ll never go there again. But, moving on from that, here we are and I wouldn’t ask what I’m asking now but, if you don’t come, it’ll be a door opened to my ex snooping around my private life, pushing paparazzi in my direction.
Squeezing information out of Flora, who doesn’t deserve to be caught up in an ugly tug of war. ’
‘But it’s not as though this is a relationship. I’m not going to be sticking around.’
‘No, but if Florida happens, then there’s a chance Sophia will accept that this relationship really might be serious and, when we break up, she’ll also accept that I’m never going back to her, that I’m in the right place for serious involvement with a woman I want permanently in my life.
On top of all the legal requirements that are now in place, she will finally concede defeat sooner rather than later and life will return to where it should be.
If the happiness and stability of my daughter weren’t an issue here, then there’s no way I would ever consider asking this from you.
Trust me, I don’t take any of this lightly. ’
‘And if I refuse? Because, actually, I do have a job here and I do have commitments. For all you know, I might have a partner who would go nuts if I decided to take you up on your offer.’
‘Have you?’
‘Er…’
‘Because I’m thinking that if you do, you might have taken refuge in his place instead of letting yourself in here and risking prosecution were you to be discovered.’
‘Is that your way of reminding me that you can blackmail me into doing what you want?’
‘Blackmail is a strong word and it’s not in my nature to go down that road, whatever impression I chose to give you. I’ll pay you.’
‘You’ll pay me? Not everyone can be bought!’
‘I beg to differ. You’re holding down two jobs to afford a deposit on a shoebox.’ He tapped into his phone and pushed it over to her and Georgie’s eyes widened as she read the sum he had typed in.
‘Enough for you to visit your family whenever you choose or else put in the piggy bank. I’ll also guarantee this job and make sure your pay is doubled while you remain here. And naturally I’ll clear the ten days with the resort.’
‘I couldn’t possibly.’
‘What are your objections? You won’t risk losing your job at the resort, you’ll have ample time to make sure your housemate is over her illness before you return and you’ll get a nice injection of cash.’
‘It’s not all about the money.’
‘No, it’s not,’ he said quietly. ‘My daughter comes before everything. Continuing this charade for a little bit longer would mean a lot to me. I’m asking a lot but in exchange you can view it as an all-expenses-paid holiday.
I’ll make sure that whatever hotel suite I get will be more than big enough for you and my daughter and, because this is just a matter of…
necessity, you can spend your time as you wish.
There’ll be no need for you to play a part when we’re over there.
There’ll be the occasional photo that Flora can send back to Sophia but all Sophia will need is to know that you were present, confirming all her worst suspicions. ’
‘I can do my own thing?’
‘The less contact with my daughter, the better. Flora isn’t old enough to register that you’re not around very much.’
‘I don’t feel comfortable with this sort of deceit…’
‘You felt very comfortable letting yourself into my house and squatting indefinitely, so spare me the sudden conscience.’
‘That’s not fair!’ But ten days in Disney World…
Alton Towers was the only theme park she had ever been to.
Plus, she would be able to do her own thing.
And most of all, she would be helping out in a situation where there was a kid at the centre and she worked with children and loved them and understood how awful it would be for his daughter to be bounced back and forth between two parents at war with one another.
He’d been patient for years and now he’d been trapped and she might be the way out.
‘I’m going to work for two hours and then I’ll be leaving for New York so that I can get things in order for this unexpected interruption to my schedule.
’ He paused. ‘Before I leave, I’ll want your answer.
Whatever you decide,’ he added heavily, ‘it’s fair to say that you can stay here until your housemate is over the worst. Obviously no money will change hands.
That, I’m afraid, will be a perk of the job. ’
‘I’ve already decided,’ Georgie told him. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll come.’