She did as he asked. Hearing the camera click several times, she continued to hold her pose.
‘Perfect,’ he said. She turned to face him, smiling. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a business card. ‘If you want a copy, please call this number and I can send one to you.’
‘I might do that,’ she said, reading his name and dropping the card into her canvas bag.
‘Or if you like I could take your mobile number and let you know when the article is out?’ he said replacing the cap on his expensive-looking camera.
‘I don’t have a mobile,’ she said aware that this usually surprised people when they discovered it, but who did she have to call? It was pointless having something you didn’t need, something that could be traced by a determined person.
‘You don’t have a phone?’ He smiled. ‘You really are an artist,’ he laughed. ‘More interested in your craft than keeping up with what people are doing, I guess.’
She hadn’t ever thought about it like that before. ‘I suppose you’re right.’
He looked down at her partially completed painting and again at the view ahead. ‘You really are very good. Are you a professional artist?’
She shook her head. ‘No, but I hope to be someday.’
‘Well, if your talent is anything to go by, I’m sure you’ll end up achieving your ambition,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘It was good to meet you.’
‘You too,’ she said, shaking his hand, then taking up her brush again as soon as he was out of sight.
About an hour later, Daisy sensed that she was being watched. Her heart pounded and she tried not to panic. She looked around slowly, trying to act as if she was surveying the view, but couldn’t see anyone. She was being ridiculous. She was in Jersey now. She carried on painting until she was sure she’d heard someone say her name. The hairs stood up on her arms as she listened, but not hearing it again, decided that she’d been imagining things.
‘There you are,’ Gabriel said, as he came along the dusty footpath.
Daisy jumped, not expecting him to be here. So that’s who she’d felt watching her. She was so relieved she couldn’t help smiling widely at him. ‘Gabriel,’ she said, unused to seeing people she knew unexpectedly here in the island. It was a comforting feeling. ‘How did you know where to find me?’
‘Fi said you were coming here to paint for a few hours,’ he said. ‘I didn’t like to disturb you, but it’s lunchtime now, so I thought I’d bring you some food in case you were hungry.’
She looked down at the small hamper he was carrying and couldn’t help smiling. ‘You’ve bought me a picnic?’
She’d enjoyed so few picnics and the best one by far had been the one Gabriel had taken to the Sunset Concert, and that had been cut short. She was still angry with him, but at that moment her stomach growled reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since her supper the night before.
‘You’re obviously hungry,’ he said before she had a chance to refuse his kind offer.
She shrugged. ‘I’ve never had a picnic before,’ she admitted. ‘Well, not actually eaten one.’
‘We’re not going to discuss my previous attempt at bringing you a picnic.’
‘No, we’re not,’ she said, interested to see what goodies he’d packed for their al fresco lunch.
He looked happy to have pleased her. ‘Then I hope this one lives up to your estimation.’ He stepped closer to her easel, studied it, and then looked past it to the bay in the background.
Daisy hoped he liked what he saw. She knew art was subjective, but it gave her confidence when any of the few people she’d shown her paintings to had actually professed to like her work. ‘What do you think?’
He didn’t speak for a few moments, then, staring at the painting, said without looking at her, ‘It’s incredible. You’re very talented.’
She smiled as he turned to face her. ‘Thank you, I appreciate that.’
‘I’m only being honest,’ he said. He held up the hamper. ‘Shall I help you carry your easel, or do you want to eat somewhere close by so you don’t have to move it?’
She looked around at the gorse and grass to try and locate somewhere suitable for them to sit. ‘There should be fine,’ she said, pointing to a small area where the grass was shorter and the view was still clear of the bay. ‘I can see my canvas from here, so there’s no chance of anyone messing with it.’
Gabriel carried the hamper over to their designated area and put it down. He unrolled the plaid picnic rug he’d taken to the concert and motioned for her to take a seat.
Daisy couldn’t hide her happiness as she settled down, closing her eyes briefly in the warm sunshine. When she opened them he’d undone the two leather straps, lifted the lid, and was holding out a champagne glass for her to take.
‘Isn’t it a bit early?’ she giggled, feeling deliciously carefree.
‘Nope,’ he smiled. ‘My grandmother said it’s never too early in the day for either chocolate or champagne.’
‘Lydia’s a wise woman,’ Daisy said, taking the glass from him and holding it while he poured it half full. She watched as he took a small bottle of orange juice, unscrewed the lid, and topped off the drink with it. ‘You see, you’re not being totally indulgent: you’re also getting one of your five a day.’
She waited for him to make up the same drink for himself and when he held his up, he said. ‘To you, lovely Daisy. Here’s to a perfect summer in Jersey.’
‘Hear, hear,’ she agreed, taking a sip and relishing the taste of the Buck’s Fizz in her mouth.
He drank from his glass and then, putting it down on a flat stone, unpacked plates, a baguette, a plate of Jersey butter, tomatoes, cold cooked Jersey Royals, a slab of brie, and some grapes. ‘I hope you like all this,’ he said, handing her a plate.
Daisy nodded. She placed her glass down carefully and then started selecting food. As they ate, she thought how perfect this all was. ‘Thanks so much, Gabe.’
‘My pleasure,’ he said smiling. ‘I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be left alone to paint, but thought you could always tell me to get lost and I’d have left you in peace.’
She laughed. ‘I’d never do that,’ she said.
‘Really?’
‘Not when you’ve come so well prepared to feed me,’ she joked.
He hesitated and she wondered what he was refraining from saying to her. She didn’t want him to bring up the subject of Bella, or anything that might sour their moment, so she quickly picked up her glass to toast him once more. ‘To you. May your summer be as perfect as you hope it to be.’
He mirrored her actions and said, ‘Thank you, Daisy.’
Several people wandered past them and one nosy dog sniffed around their food before being called away by its owner. She tried to implant the image of Gabriel sitting next to her on the rug into her mind so that she’d never forget it.
‘Your painting really is very good,’ he said eventually. ‘You should try to sell them at one of the galleries, or maybe in a couple of the local shops. They’re certainly good enough to make you some money.’
She hadn’t dared hope that she could sell her work just yet, but liked the thought of earning extra cash to build up a nest egg to support whatever she decided to do at the end of the summer season when the hotel closed for the winter. ‘I’m not sure I’m ready to show them to too many people yet,’ she said, doubting his confidence in her abilities.
‘Why not, they’re excellent.’
He looked sincere and she believed that he was telling her the truth and for that she was grateful. She just didn’t have the confidence in herself to ask anyone to hang them in their gallery or shop just yet. Maybe soon, she thought. ‘There are so many beautiful locations here on the island; it’s hard to choose where to start.’
He nodded. ‘I’m the same with the bays. I loved exploring them as a kid but never seemed to have the time to try out every cove or beach here.’
She could imagine him as
a teenager, inquisitive and desperate to discover new things in the island’s waters. ‘What was your favourite pastime apart from diving?’
He shrugged. ‘Underwater photography, I suppose.’
She laughed. ‘So, still under the water then?’
‘Yes, I suppose it was,’ he smiled. ‘I’ve always been happier in the water, or so my mother always said. ‘I used to run away on the beach whenever she took me there as a child, so she always make sure I was wearing bright swimming trunks. She was grateful that a lot of the locals recognised me as her son and kept an eye out for me whenever I took off in search of sea shells, or driftwood, or other treasures I could take back home to the hotel to keep in the secret stash under my bed.’
‘And do you still have a secret stash?’
‘I do,’ he said, smiling at her, the skin around his dark eyes crinkling slightly.
Daisy sighed, soothed by Gabriel’s jovial company and the glasses of Buck’s Fizz, relaxed and lay back on her elbows on the rug. ‘This is bliss,’ she said. ‘I can’t imagine ever wanting to leave this place. Everything seems close and it makes me feel cosseted somehow.’
‘I suppose it helps that so many people know each other here,’ Gabriel said. ‘When I was a teenager I couldn’t wait to leave and see the world, but I always enjoy coming home to Jersey. My parents feel the same way, although it’s a pain having to take that extra flight to the mainland to connect with any other flight.’
‘Worth it, though,’ Daisy said, thinking that an extra flight to reach the outside world was even more of a reason to come and live here. She was beginning to feel safe for the first time since being so anonymous in Vietnam.
‘I’m going to have to leave again soon,’ Gabriel said quietly, staring out at the channel as if longing to be somewhere far away.
Daisy tried not to overreact. ‘Your project?’
He finished his drink and resting on one elbow smiled at her. He seemed sad. ‘They held their meeting and still won’t give us the sponsorship. So I’m going to have to travel back to try and find more backing.’
‘What will you do?’
He reached out his hand and picked a blade of grass, curling it between two fingers as he stared miserably at it. ‘I have to try to rescue what we’ve started. I’m going to need more sponsorship to carry on, but until I find it, I’m going to have to shut everything down. It’s devastating for the others involved. Everyone in the team has put months of their lives into the research. It would be frustrating to think of it going to waste if we can’t afford to finish our work.’
She hated to think of The Encore without Gabriel there greeting guests. She’d got used to seeing him in passing and didn’t like the thought of him being far away, somewhere where she wouldn’t have contact with him.
‘I’ll miss you,’ she said honestly. ‘It’s not going to be the same without you.’
His lips drew back in a slow smile and he looked up from the blade of grass into her eyes. ‘That’s good to know; I’ll miss you too.’
‘Will you be away long?’ She found she didn’t care what he read from her questions.
‘I’m not sure. It could be a few weeks or maybe months. We might be lucky enough to find more funding and if that happens then I could stay away for a bit longer. I need to do the best I can for my team.’
She knew it was selfish of her to want him to stay, especially as she’d been so insistent that there could be nothing between them while he was still married to Bella. ‘Your work is so important, Gabe: it must make you feel so satisfied at the end of each day to know you’re doing something that could make such a difference to other people’s lives.’
‘I get as much joy out of helping them as they do with me and my team being there and working on everything.’ He was quiet for a moment. ‘Daisy, I have to tell you that Bella will be coming out with me. She’s been a part of several of the projects I’ve been involved in and this is one of them. She didn’t really want to come along this time but there’s something I’m hoping she can help me with in South Africa. I’ll tell you about it when I know it’s worked, but however you feel about this you must know that it’s important.’
She stared at him, stunned. She wanted to trust him. Wished she could more than anything, but she’d trusted in the past and ended up having to deal with the consequences. Sitting bolt upright and not caring that she’d knocked over her glass, Daisy glared at him. ‘Is this the reason for the unexpected picnic, to soften me up before slamming me with that nugget of information?’
He reached out to take her arm. ‘Daisy listen to me, please, I need you to trust me on this.’
She shrugged him off. ‘Look, you go and do what you have to do. I understand that you have commitments.’ She made a pretence of checking her watch; she wasn’t sure why but needed to do something. ‘I need to get on with this painting.’ She strode away back to her paints and easel and picked up her brush and a tube of oil paint. She didn’t hear Gabriel come up behind her. ‘Daisy …’ he said, touching her shoulder lightly giving her a fright and causing her to spin round and squirt Azure Blue all over his grey T-shirt. Daisy gasped.
Gabriel’s mouth dropped open in surprise. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you a fright,’ he said. He stared down at the paint slashed across his top and then looked up at her and said, ‘If you give me the brush I’ll rescue some of that and put it on your palette: you don’t want to waste it.’
Damn Aaron for making her so distrustful and nervous. ‘It’s not your fault,’ she admitted, embarrassed by her reaction. He was right though; the paints were expensive and she didn’t have money to throw away by wasting half of her oils. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll do it,’ she said, not wishing to give in to anything he suggested too easily.
She put her hand inside his top, the back of her fingers connecting his stomach, which contracted on her touch. He gave a small intake of breath and without thinking she looked up at him to see him staring intently at her. Before she had time to think, his head had lowered and his lips connected with hers.
The taste of orange and champagne on his firm lips and the warm sun on her face took her back to them being together in Vietnam and, forgetting everything else she continued kissing him, one hand on the inside of his top, the other dropped to her side.
Someone cleared their throat behind her, causing Daisy to remember where she was and spin round, taking Gabe with her as she pulled his top. An old man walking two Labradors was smiling at them.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said realising she and Gabe had been blocking the pathway.
He grinned at them with amusement and patting the dogs, said. ‘Don’t you worry, lovely, it warms my heart to see two youngsters so in love. Now if I can just get past you both, I’ll leave you to carry on.’
Daisy’s face reddened, she opened her mouth to argue that he was mistaken, but Gabriel, taking her hand and extricating it from his top, pulled her gently back from the path. The stepped onto a slight mound to give the man and his dogs space to pass them.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Have a good walk.’
As soon as the man was out of earshot, Daisy faced Gabriel and glared at him. ‘I don’t know what came over me,’ she said, furious with herself. She daren’t let him think that she’d forgotten about his situation with Bella.
He took her by the shoulders. ‘Daisy, really, Bella coming with me is not what it seems,’ he said as if he’d heard her thoughts. ‘I wish you’d trust me.’
‘I do trust you, Gabriel. I hope the two of you have a lovely time.’ She stared at her painting intently, willing him to go away.
He sighed. ‘Daisy, as I explained earlier, Bella and I worked on the project before. She was there right at the beginning and she’s coming back to try and resolve a few issues. She’s part of this team.’
She wanted to believe him but knew from past experience that her instincts where men had been concerned were off kilter. ‘Look,’ she said, tired of thinking about it all. ‘I
wish your project all the luck in the world, but I need to get on with this painting before I lose the daylight.’
He frowned, then picking up the hamper and rug, said. ‘Fine, I’ll leave you to get on, but I wish you wouldn’t judge me by other people, Daisy.’
She watched him walk off, his T-shirt smeared with paint. Realising that she must also be covered in the bright blue, looked down to see her top now ruined and a constant reminder of that kiss. Daisy looked at the half-finished painting drying on her easel and couldn’t help wishing things could be different between them. She wanted more than anything to trust him and to let herself go and get closer to him, but she wasn’t going to end up like her mother had done, bitter and alone. She’d learnt the hard way that just because you want someone to be a certain way, it doesn’t mean that they will be.
She picked up her paint brush and pictured how happy her mother would be to see her standing here right now. Her last wish had been for Daisy to leave their home town and move away, start afresh somewhere new and build the life for herself that her mother hadn’t managed to achieve. She felt her throat constricting as the knowledge that whatever she did make of her life would not be something that she’d ever be able to share with her mother.
Tired of feeling sorry for herself, she pulled a tissue out of her back pocket and blew her nose ‘Right,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘Time to finish this painting.’ She focused her attention back onto the spectacular view behind her easel. The one thing she could rely on was her ambition to see her paintings sold, but she needed to finish some first. ‘Here goes.’
Chapter Twelve
Gabriel
‘You must explain to Daisy why you’re leaving,’ Lydia insisted as they walked along the beach early one morning a few days later. ‘She needs to understand what you’re trying to do to sort everything out.’
‘Not yet,’ he said bending down to pick up a lump of green glass made opaque from years of roughening by the sea and sand. ‘As far as she’s concerned what we had is behind her.’ He rubbed his thumb against the rough surface. ‘I thought we could make a go of it, but she’s adamant that she won’t be in a relationship with a married man, and I can understand her decision. That’s why I’ve persuaded Bella to come with me on this leg of the project so that we can try and get our marriage annulled while we’re in South Africa. She was reluctant to go and says she needs a break from being away, but I’ve managed to explain to her how this will benefit us both. She’s met someone new now, you know?’
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 105