The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin Page 0,59
Burnett and his mercurial moods.
***
A zen-like calm carried her up to the top floor in the lift and down the corridor to the suite. It even survived the first few seconds of Gabe pacing like a tiger around the enormous room, which was something else. It was vast – her whole house could have fit in here. The three enormous sofas didn’t even make a dent in the bright airy space.
Gabe was surveying the room with hooded eyes in a business-like manner, swivelling around to assess each corner of the room. He squinted at the light pouring in through the window and without acknowledging her arrival, suddenly stalked forward to toy with the blinds, his brow crinkling in thoughtful contemplation. He paced a few steps back and then turned and began to tug one of the three huge sofas to a different angle. Fiona stood like a spare part, her arms limply by her sides, and then, spurred on by instinct alone, she strode over to him, grabbed his shoulders and frog marched him over to the glass doors leading out onto the balcony.
‘Go and stand out there and take a couple of deep breaths,’ she commanded, sliding the balcony doors open and shoving him through. She’d clearly caught him on the hop because he stood there totally bemused for a second. ‘Breathe.’
With a puzzled frown, he walked over to the balcony railing and looked out over the garden.
‘Give yourself a few minutes.’ Behind his back she pulled a face, pleased with her uncharacteristic assertiveness.
They stood in silence and she watched him as he leaned on the top rail, both elbows resting on the black metal.
Presently he straightened and uttered a brief, ‘Thanks,’ then walked back into the hotel room.
‘Is there anything I can do?’ she asked.
It took a moment for him to respond, almost as if he hadn’t heard. ‘Sorry?’
‘Can I do anything?’
He frowned as if she’d asked a tricky question before saying with sudden animation, ‘Yes, come and sit here.’
As she approached the sofa, he grasped her shoulders and firmly guided her into position, so that she sat at a slight right-angle.
‘Turn your face towards the window. No, not so far.’ He stood back and then stepped forward again, his hands taking her chin and moving it a touch back. She lifted her eyes, careful to stay still and not flinch from the tingle his touch left.
‘No, don’t look up at me.’ His hand took her chin again turning it just so. ‘There. Now lean back against the seat and drape your arm along the back, bend your knees and turn your legs to your left. That’s it. Now don’t move.’
At first she’d been too bemused to realise what he was doing but as soon as he picked up his camera, every tendon went into defence mode, tensing up and tugging at her muscles. Despite the desperate urge to escape, paralysis had set in and she couldn’t move.
Gabe began rummaging through his camera bag as she sat in the plume of light coming in through the window, consumed by how much she hated this. She watched as he muttered to himself, pulling faces as he set up his camera, dreading the moment he’d start taking pictures.
When he finally swung round, he scowled. ‘Relax,’ he snapped certainly not practising what he preached. ‘I’m not interested in taking pictures of you. It’s for the light and you’re probably about the same build as Ken. It will save some time when he gets here. I want to try out a few positions.’
Fiona flinched and swallowed hard. Bastard. It was one thing knowing you were statuesque – that was the kind way of saying it, although her mother tended to use the phrase ‘big and broad of beam’ – but she didn’t need Gabe pointing it out. She had enough of that at home. It was crap when your mother was half the size of one of your thighs and delighted in clinking her gold bracelets on her teeny tiny wrists and comparing them to Fiona’s tree trunk arms. And she was fed up with feeling crap. She was doing Gabe a favour here.
‘How the hell am I supposed to relax with you glaring at me like that? I don’t have to do this, you know.’ Angrily, she rearranged her limbs, glaring back at him, and eased her body back into the sofa.
Gabe didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to her hissy fit, instead he ran his eyes over her body