“From where Istand, there is only one reason all of these celebrities areattending this gallery tonight. It’s the champagne. It’s bloodygood.” Todd took another sip and held the glass up to admire thecolour.
She raised theglass to her scarlet painted lips and took a sip. “It’s French!”She sampled a second sip, savouring the taste and the sizzle ofbubbles on her tongue. She had attended gallery openings in thepast, and these affairs were notorious for supplying a lessexpensive brand.
She snaggedminiature blini with smoked salmon, creamy mascarpone and dill.“And the canapés are actually delicious.Prawns. My favourite.”
She popped anotherdelicious morsel into her mouth and licked the seafood sauce fromher lips.
“I wonder whois footing the bill for this extravaganza. French champagne andprawns on the menu. Obviously someone with money to spare.” Helooked around the room, searching for the likely host orhostess.
“I don’t carewho is paying for it, I’d like another glass. Let’s look around. Iwant to see what’s selling tonight.”
Folding up herwalking stick, she slid it into her large handbag, and hooked herarm companionably through his. Her leg hadn’t given her muchtrouble today, which was a blessing. They joined a small group ofspectators gathered in front of a large canvas. An amazing abstractimage, painted in shades of soft green and ice blue, took up primeposition.
“Oh, Todd.This is by local artist John Harding. The colours are so restful.Like the ocean. I love it. It would look beautiful on my wall.Let’s see how much it is.” She beamed up at him, clutching his arm,excited at the prospect of purchasing an originalartwork.
“It has a reddot. It’s been sold, Chloe.”
Herdisappointment was hard to hide, but she brushed it off quickly.“Not to worry. Maybe next time I’ll get lucky.”
They moved tothe next exhibit, blending into the crowd, enjoying the food andthe ambience. Waiters constantly topped up their glasses. Voicesrose and laughter filled the air as the champagne flowed. A smalljazz band played in the courtyard, entertaining the overflow fromthe crowded rooms. Music drifted into the gallery, lifting themood, causing more than one toe to tap in rhythm. She took Todd’sarm and smiled at him, grateful he had indulged her. She couldn’tremember the last time she’d had such a fun evening in a crowd ofstrangers. Todd had been attentive and witty and had gone out ofhis way to make the night enjoyable. Missing out on a paintingseemed irrelevant now.
CHAPTERFOUR
The dinnerhour was a distant memory, but he hadn’t eaten. The growl emanatingfrom his stomach was testimony to the lack of both dinner andlunch. Try as he might, he couldn't concentrate on the wording ofthe Simmons’ contract on the laptop screen before him. He had typedand retyped the last paragraph several times, and still it did notmake sense to him. Chloe’s face floated across his mind’s eye, andshe was definitely a distraction. Determined to clear his head, heclosed down the laptop and pushed away the paperwork. Still wearinghis dark grey suit, he tugged at the pale green silk tie andflicked open the top button of his shirt. Pushing back from thedesk, he removed his jacket and draped it over the back of thechair.
He forced hismind to conjure up a picture of something other than the image ofChloe sitting on the front step when he had dropped in for coffeethat morning. He had been in a bad mood after missing out on thesale of a property. She had jollied him out of his mood and madehim laugh, which was not always an easy task. She encouraged him tothink outside the box. To consider other possibilities, other waysof tackling the problem. Why can’t I getthis confounded woman out of my head? It’s not as if she’s given meany encouragement. She’s made it clear she just wantsfriendship. He tried to eradicate theimage of her soft supple lips, the curve of her neck, her flashingsea-green eyes. He massaged his temples with his fingertips, andcrossed the living area to the unadorned window and watched thehustle and bustle of the city below.
The 180-degree viewthrough the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling windows was magnificent atnight. Melbourne CBD became alive and vibrant, coloured lightstwinkled, traffic pulsed through the streets. Multistorey buildingswere illuminated on nearly every floor. In front of the casino, onthe hour, giant flumes of fire belched several metres into the airfrom a row of fire pits adjacent to the banks of the Yarra River.Small boats and watercraft meandered up and down the river, withnecklaces of coloured lanterns strung around the cabins. Thespotlit billboards and advertising signs flashed on and off againstthe ink-black sky.
He nevertired of this view. At night the city spread out before him likejewels in Aladdin’s cave, and he could visualise a future where heowned some of that treasure. In the daylight, if he looked outtowards the bay and the ocean beyond, the view soothed him, and hadhim dreaming of owning a yacht one day and sailing off into thesunset, leaving his troubles behind. Butyou know that can’t happen, buddy. There are bills to pay andpeople to feed.
The impulse tocall Chloe began to weaken his resolve. He had hoped she would bethe one to call him. Sharing this view and this evening could bethe start of something more than friendship with the woman who wasslowly but surely creeping into his daily thoughts, often at themost inappropriate times. More so since she gave him her mobilephone number that morning and told him to call if he wanted to dropby later in the week for lunch. He understood the reason. Sheneeded to reorganise her workload and reschedule the tradesmen whohad begun to drop by to quote on renovations. He would call hertomorrow and ask her if she wanted to go with him down thePeninsula to the quaint seaside village of Portsea.
A house had caught hisattention in the area and had recently been listed for sale. Onesuitable for buying and renovating as a “weekender”. He wanted afemale opinion. Specifically Chloe’s opinion. More to the point, hewanted an opportunity to spend time alone with her and away fromfamiliar surroundings.
His apartmentintercom
