But they didn’t. Heat must have been coming from somewhere because he was sweating.
‘And so that’s what I’ve come up with.’ Sofia beamed. ‘What do you think?’
I’m a dead man. Bruce scrubbed his face with his hands.
‘I love it!’ Lexi squealed and the sound shattered in Bruce’s ear. ‘These are wonderful, Sofia. They’re exactly what I was hoping for. I think we might have to make a slight tweak on the Hollywood scene here to widen the interiors of the agent’s office but otherwise I’m thrilled. Bruce, what do you think?’
Three pairs of eyes turned on him. Two glowed, one glowered.
He swallowed, his throat bulging with the effort. ‘Well, they’re very … creative. I think you’ve done a great job, Sofia.’
‘But?’ The word shot from Gabriel’s lips and lodged in Bruce’s chest. Gabriel’s antagonism wounded but he wasn’t the one facing eviction.
‘But I was wondering if maybe simpler wouldn’t be better.’ He braced for a second assault.
The enthusiasm crumbled from Sofia’s face and crashed into Bruce’s heart. He’d been prepared for Gabriel’s rancour, not for Sofia’s dismay. She opened her mouth to speak, but Gabriel cut across her.
‘These are simple.’ Gabriel’s hand waved over the page as if the whole thing could be done by magic. ‘They’re a couple of sheets of wood and a few screws and hinges.’
Of course Mr Architect had an opinion on what was hard and what was easy. Hard was sticking around. Easy was running away.
‘All I’m saying is we could take out the moving parts and keep them static, do the rest with lighting,’ he said through clenched teeth. Gabriel didn’t look away and his defiant gaze sent the heat rushing up the back of Bruce’s neck. He broke the staring contest and took his case to Lexi. If he could convince her, then he might be saved. ‘Lexi, you don’t want to detract from what’s happening on stage with the actors. These sets are going to do that.’
Lexi’s head tilted from side to side, trying to see things from both sides. Or trying to find a way to let Sofia down easily. ‘Well, I understand that perspective, Bruce, but I think Sofia’s designs will add rather than subtract from what I’m trying to do.’
If his jaw closed any tighter, his teeth would crack.
‘They’re going to layer in a whole other level of magic to the experience, showing in all aspects the transition of Ron de Vue from simple country boy to wartime larrikin to Hollywood star. And here.’ She pointed at the page and spoke to Sofia. ‘How you’ve got them rapidly changing back and forth … With the lighting that’s going to be spectacular to show the turmoil he’s going through.’
Screw Ron de Vue’s turmoil. What about mine?
‘You will be able to cope with this, won’t you, Bruce?’ Lexi asked. ‘If anyone can build it, you can.’
It wasn’t about building it. If anything, this was a challenge he would welcome—when he had the time and wasn’t about to be made homeless.
‘I think we could do with some simplification.’
‘Fine,’ Gabriel said. ‘You come up with a solution and we’ll be happy to hear it, but I’ve been through these designs and I don’t see how we can make them any simpler.’
Bruce narrowed his eyes at Gabriel. ‘We?’
So Gabriel was the reason behind this sudden burst of creativity. Bruce recognised the style but he would have thought Gabriel would have the decency to not interfere. Gabriel had left Brachen behind long ago. He had no right to come here and tell them what to do.
Gabriel showed no shame. If he felt any, it was bricked up behind that intractable glare. ‘I sketched them for Mum because she wasn’t able to. The ideas are hers but I couldn’t help it if she asked my professional opinion.’
What would some hotshot architect from Sydney know about designing sets for a theatre?
‘And my professional opinion is that they’re too complex.’
‘Too difficult is what you mean, right? Too difficult for you to handle?’
‘I can build anything.’
‘Great. Then build these.’ Gabriel shot to his feet, forcing Bruce back into his seat. ‘Come on, Mamá.’
‘Gabriel,’ Lexi said, ‘I’m sure we can all work out something. Right, Bruce?’
He was ready to launch out of his seat and argue Gabriel down. He’d flown back into Brachen without any remorse for the damage he’d done, for abandoning his mother, and expected them all to roll over. Well, Bruce wasn’t in the mood to have his belly scratched. But he glanced at Sofia as she put a shaky hand to her head, and the fight drained out of him.
This will be the last thing she does for the theatre.
He knew that with a certainty that he wasn’t sure either Gabriel or Sofia had accepted. He breathed out a long breath through his nostrils, his fists relaxing and opening. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at Gabriel Mora.
‘I’ll make it work.’
Gabriel nodded like he’d been dismissed and turned to help his mother up. Lexi had to lend a hand as well. Was it their arguing that drained her of her energy?
As Sofia shuffled past him, she took his hand. ‘Thank you, Bruce. I know you’ll do a wonderful job. You always do.’
Yeah. That was the problem.
Chapter Nine
For the better part of two hours, Gabriel watched Bruce paint the gazebo white. His gaze wasn’t so much on Bruce’s careful strokes but on the raising and lowering of his thick arm, on his back muscles bulging in that tight paint-splattered grey T-shirt, on the twist and turn of his rippled torso as he dipped the brush and drained it of the excess.
Watching paint dry never held such appeal.
With the gazebo finished any second now and
