by Diana Fraser
Amber sat down, flung her arms wide and slid them along the antimacassars which Flo had kept from her grandparents’ day. “I’m in love, Flo!”
“Oh no,” Flo groaned. “With David? I mean, I hear he’s a nice guy and all, but isn’t he meant to be some kind of cutthroat property dealer?”
Amber frowned. “Who have you been talking to?”
Flo shrugged, obviously trying to hide the person’s identity, but Amber knew it could have been any one of a number of people. David’s personality wasn’t the kind to make instant friends. She sighed. “I’m sure he’s not cut throat, but he does do something with property.”
“Oh well. I guess doing things with property doesn’t make people intrinsically evil!” She grinned. “So tell me about this David. I’ve heard he’s been seen in and around Akaroa a lot recently. Is he chasing you?”
Amber opened her mouth to reply but closed it again. She grimaced. “I don’t think so. I think it’s more the other way around.”
“What?”
Amber nibbled her fingernails and then stared at them. “Yes, I tried to kiss him yesterday, but he didn’t seem to have any interest in kissing me back. He walked away instead.”
Flo crossed her arms and leaned back against the kitchen bench. “I don’t like the sound of that! Why wouldn’t he kiss you?”
Amber grimaced. “I guess… I guess, I’m not really his type. He’s so different to me.”
“And yet you say you love him.”
“Oh, Flo, I really think I do. It doesn’t matter that things don’t make sense in my head. Whenever I’m near him, I just melt.” She sighed. “He’s totally gorgeous, and he’s all I can think about.”
“Wait, let me get this right. You love him, want him, and he’s all you think about, but he doesn’t seem that interested in you?”
Amber screwed up her face as she tried to put the contradiction she felt in him into words. “He kind of does seem interested on one hand, but on the other he runs a mile at the first sign of intimacy. I can’t fathom it out.”
Flo came over and sat on the coffee table opposite Amber. “Please, do me a favor, Amber. Don’t lose your heart to this guy unless he’s going to lose his to you. I can’t bear the thought of you falling for another guy who is Trouble. And that’s Trouble with a capital T.”
“This isn’t like last time.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s not a sleaze. Not like, you know.” She couldn’t bring herself to name the guy who’d brought her so much grief. “He was clear right from the beginning what he wanted.”
Flo glowered. “Shame it was you.”
“Yep,” said Amber, pressing her lips together in regret.
“So,” Flo sighed, sitting back. “He’s not a sleaze… that’s good. A definite improvement. And he seems to be interested, and yet you’re not totally sure.”
“That about sums it up.”
“Then do me a favor, find out for sure if he’s interested in you before you totally lose your heart to this guy. I don’t want you hurt again. None of us do.”
“Sure,” said Amber, jumping to her feet. She went and looked over Flo’s shoulder. “So what are you up to? Paperwork?”
Flo waved the papers triumphantly. “A contract! My new solicitor has come up trumps with finding me funding for the house.”
“Really? Wow, that’s just what you’ve been wanting.”
“I know. Maddy helped so much by providing me with a regular flow of guests, but I need investment. And it looks like I’ve found it.”
“Who is the investor?”
Flo shrugged. “Some anonymous finance company who sees the potential in Akaroa and is happy to fund me with the lowest interest rate around.”
“Oh,” said Amber, doubtfully. Even to her unbusiness-like ears, it sounded odd. “What’s in it for them?”
“My solicitor said that the company wants to preserve Akaroa’s heritage buildings.”
Amber grunted. “I wish they owned our EarthFoods building. Anyway”—she kissed Flo on the cheek—“I’d better go, mouths to feed, the public to greet, a café to run.”
Amber left the house thinking it was already too late not to lose her heart. That horse had already bolted. But, still, it wouldn’t hurt to do as Flo suggested—to find out whether David really was interested in her—because Amber sure was curious.
A few days later, across the other side of the peninsula, in a central Christchurch gym, David was trying to work off his bad mood. He’d hardly had any sleep the last few nights because all he could think about was Amber. Max had been right to warn him off. He had no right flirting with her, knowing that there was no future. Trouble was, he was falling for her. When she’d leaned over and kissed him, it was all he could do to move away.
And seeing that unexpected fear in her eyes, when she’d talked about what she wanted, had brought out that part of him which hated to see people afraid. It was the same with his sister—he’d do, and had done, anything to make sure her life was happy. There was a part of him which was too noble for his own good. He wanted to set the worlds to rights, beginning with his sister and then working outwards, saving everyone, one person at a time.
He wiped his face, slammed the towel onto the bench, stripped off his clothes and got under the cold shower, waiting for the freezing pricks of ice to numb his senses. Unfortunately, they only went skin deep.
His mood hadn’t lightened by the time he reached the office. After receiving a telling off from his sister, David finished the call with a glower. He loved his sister dearly, but he really could do without her nagging him.
He’d made the mistake of telling her about Amber. He always told Zoe everything but had intended to keep Amber to himself. But every minute he spent with Amber, he became more involved and so had ended up telling Zoe about her. Including his reluctance to take it further. He drew the line as to why he didn’t want to take it further. He didn’t want his sister to know quite how devious he’d become in the pursuit of his obsession to demolish every potentially dangerous building in the city.
Telling Zoe about Amber had proved a big mistake. She’d asked to meet her; he’d refused. But he suspected Zoe had already gone to the café to check Amber out because Zoe had told David in no uncertain terms that he’d better not mess this one up. David was still gritting his teeth with annoyance when his partner, Angus, strode in and went to the window.
“They are there again. Bloody nuisances! I thought you said you had a plan to stop them. If you have, it’s not bloody working!”
David walked up behind Angus and followed his angry gaze to the old building opposite, its dark, cracked exterior enlivened with rainbows and other fey motifs. Outside the shop, baskets lined the pavement like an old-fashioned greengrocers. He could almost catch the earthy whiff of organic grains and seeds from here. He sighed as his gaze shifted to the woman who was single-handedly painting a rainbow over the black paint, which they’d only just finished applying to eradicate her previous painting. Her red hair was as vivid as the rainbow.
Angus grabbed his phone and strode to the door. “I’m going to go and have it out with her! She’s a bloody menace. Her and the rest of them.”
“No!” said David. “I’ll do it.”
“You keep saying you have it in hand. But it doesn’t look like it to me.”
“Believe me. I do. It’ll be less messy, there will be less publicity, if we persuade her to stop. She’s the major shareholder in the co-operative. Get her on our side and the rest will follow. They’ll have no other choice.”
“And how exactly do you propose to do that? I suppose its using your legendary chick-magnet charm?” Angus groaned. “You do. You plan to seduce her, don’t you? Don’t you think she’ll be able to see through you?”
David shook his head. “No.” He looked at Amber.
“Why not? Surely any woman with their usual cynicism could see through you?”
“Not this woman,” said David, leaving the office.
“Why not? What makes this woman so different?” called his partner to the closed door.
Because, thought David, she isn’t just any woman, and, besides, she didn’t have a cynical bone in her body. Which only made it so much worse.
Amber poked out her tongue as she concentrated on completing the arc of the rainbow. Other people signed their rainbows, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to own it, or claim it. As far as she was concerned, it was there to be enjoyed and owned by everybody.
She stepped back and smiled. A thing of beauty once again graced the black paint of the developers. She wished they’d stop, but this seemed to be the best, most beautiful, passive demonstration against their aims. She could keep it up. They’d lose interest before she did.
She suddenly realized how late it was and looked around anxiously. She began to clean her brushes and pack away her things. She wanted to be back in Akaroa by evening. She always hated being away from home, getting anxious and edgy the closer to night it got. With her car still in the garage, she was getting a lift home from one of the shop workers as far as Little River, from where Maddy had said she’d pick Amber up.
“Amber!”
She turned suddenly at the sound of her name. David was walking over to her from his car, parked in front of the building opposite.
“You’ll get a fine if you park there,” said Amber. “The owners of that building are always doing that.”
David raised an eyebrow and glanced around at his car. He turned back to her. “I’ll risk it. So,” he said, stepping over to her. “How are you?”
“I’m excellent, thank you!” She dropped the last of her paint brushes into her battered wooden box, which she then placed into her woven basket. “What a coincidence to see you here.”
David cleared his throat, then opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shook his head with a surprised huff.
“Is anything the matter?” she said, frowning, approaching him, searching his face. “You look—”
“I’m fine,” he interrupted, pushing his fingers through his hair in an uncharacteristically unsure movement. “I saw you here and thought I’d stop to say hello.”
“I’m glad you did. And great timing, too. I’ve just finished.” She indicated the rainbow. “What do you think?”
“It’s…” He shook his head. “Very”—he shrugged—“colorful.”
Her face dropped. “You don’t like it.”
“It’s lovely, but I’m not sure it’s in the right place.” He looked at her carefully.
“What do you mean? It’s in exactly the right place! EarthFoods is being intimidated by the owners of the building to move out! Do you know what they want to do?” She stepped closer, glaring at David, her heart and eyes ablaze with passion at the injustice of it all. She didn’t wait for him to reply, which was just as well as it didn’t look as if he was going to. “They want to demolish it.” Tears shone in her eyes. “They want to tear it down. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” She spread her fingers over the dark-painted stonework. “It was built in 1890, and generations of Christchurch people have lived and worked and shopped and prayed here. How can they do that? Ignore such a rich history of people?”
He shrugged but indicated a place in the brickwork where the masonry had had to be propped up. “Maybe that’s a clue?”
She looked from the brickwork back to him, enraged now. “It’s a clue as to the dereliction of their duties! That’s what it’s a clue to. Really, David, I can see you need educating! Have you been inside?”
“No, I haven’t.” And by his body language, it didn’t look as if he wanted to now, either.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him. He remained firm. “No, I don’t have time. And I can assure you I don’t need educating about buildings. Now, I’m off to Akaroa to have dinner with my sister. I wondered if you’d care for a lift if you’re still carless?”
The wind immediately left Amber’s sails. The passion of a few moments ago was overtaken by the beguiling thought of being in David’s company for an hour, at least.
“That would be lovely. I was getting a lift as far as Little River with Lois from the shop. But she’s working late and I prefer to be home before dark.”
He smiled. “Before dark? Nervous of the big, bad city, are you?”
She didn’t smile. “I’ll get my things.”
“I’ll bring the car over.”
She gathered her baskets and paints and jacket and watched as he skillfully maneuvered his car and pulled it into the vacant lot beside the shop. He opened the door for her. It seemed very gallant and old-fashioned.
“Thank you.”
As they pulled away, she glanced up to the first floor opposite where the enemies were and she could have sworn she saw a wave aimed at David. But he wasn’t looking. He didn’t make any sign of recognition. She must have imagined it. They were probably waving dismissively, glad she’d gone for the night.
“So,” he said, pulling into the late afternoon traffic flowing out of Christchurch city center. “Apart from painting rainbows, what have you been doing since I last saw you?”
“Working in the café, of course, and then quiet evenings painting.”
“Quiet evenings… I like the sound of those.”
She looked out the window at the trees fringing the park. It was an exquisitely lit winter afternoon with the encroaching night beginning to make its presence felt, chasing the light away. His voice rumbled against her skin, making her think of the kiss they’d barely had. But she wouldn’t think of that.
“I like busy days and quiet evenings. Daylight talking with people, dark on my own, thinking and painting.”
He glanced at her with interest, before indicating and smoothly overtaking someone. “And what do you think about on those long dark evenings?”
She held his gaze until he broke it to look ahead at the traffic. “All last week I’ve been thinking about the last time I saw you. At Belendroit. And I was wondering why you left me in such a hurry.”
The smile around his lips faded instantly and she noticed his grip tighten around the steering wheel. Perhaps it wasn’t the best place to find out that he didn’t like her enough to go out with her. Neither could escape for the hour it would take to reach Akaroa.
“It’s okay. You don’t need to tell me. You just asked me what I was thinking about, that’s all.” She sighed into the silence. “Gabe always tells me I’m too honest for my own good.”
“Nothing wrong with honesty.”
She decided to count to ten and see if he continued. But it seemed he could cope with silence longer than she could.
“Anyway, my painting is coming along well.”
“That’s great,” David said in a very relieved voice, which sunk Amber’s heart even further. “When are you going to exhibit them?”
She turned to him, astonished. “Exhibit my work?” She twisted back in her chair and looked ahead. “Chance would be a fine thing. My work isn’t the kind of thing which galleries want. It’s not commercial enough, it’s not high-brow enough, it’s not… ever enough.”
“That’s just marketing. Your work is enough for you and there will be others like you.” She wondered if she heard a slight hesitancy as he finished the sentence. “Who,” he said with renewed strength in his voice, “would love to own your work. I mean, I own a couple of your paintings.”
“They were probably the best ones.”
“What are your others like?”
“Different. Would you like to see them?”
“Yes, I would. Very much.” Now this he said with a warmth which couldn’t be mistaken.
“Very good. Then you shall. When are you expected at your sister’s?”
“Anytime. I can text her to say I’ll be a bit late.”
“Then come for a drink at my place and I’ll show you my work.”
“That, Amber, sounds like something I would very much like to do.”
“Good,” she said with a laugh
, settling back in the comfort of the near-horizontal leather seat, and wondering at the same time whether David hadn’t watched too many Regency dramas growing up. Someone more like Darcy out of Pride and Prejudice, she couldn’t imagine. But she liked it, which made her wonder if she hadn’t spent too much of her youth on re-runs of Pride and Prejudice as well. The thought made her smile.
“I like seeing you smile,” he said, glancing at her before signaling to overtake.
And Amber couldn’t think of a response, because she thought that perhaps that was one of the nicest things a man had ever said to her. It suggested a lack of selfishness and ego on his part which surprised her, coming as it did from a man who, on the surface, appeared to be all about self and ego. And it also suggested an interest which reassured her. Maybe she’d get that kiss after all.
* * *
As the low shining red car pulled up outside her small cottage, the neighbors’ curtains twitched to check out the unusual noise. David knew why. Amber’s parking space was usually occupied by her yellow VW beetle decorated with butterfly transfers, which was a whole lot noisier than David’s Jaguar, and half the time it didn’t go.
As he got out of the car and Amber exchanged greetings with neighbors on both sides of her cottage, he couldn’t help putting himself in their shoes. They’d be wondering what on earth a man like him was doing with a girl like Amber. He knew they’d be thinking that because he was thinking the exact same thing. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
As Amber chatted easily with the old lady who leaned out of the window to tell Amber her concerns over her missing cat, he couldn’t help but be moved by Amber’s easy ability to empathize with the woman, and to say exactly the right things to comfort her and to make her more cheerful. The woman, from having a worried face, closed the window with a smile and a wave. Amber seemed to bring light into a world where none existed. And he hadn’t the faintest idea how she did it. He could analyze anything but her. She was a total enigma and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Or anywhere else.
She rummaged in her wicker basket—the likes of which he hadn’t seen since his grandmother’s day—for the keys. At last she found them. How, he didn’t know, because they were hidden under a perplexing array of things which he’d have thought would have been better kept in a cupboard somewhere. Preferably not his. She twisted a key, like he’d only ever seen before in a museum, in the lock, and opened the door.