Twice Upon a Time (23 page)

Cinda’s phone rang at four in the morning, dragging her up out of a deep sleep.

‘Hello?’ she mumbled.

‘Is this Lucinda Bloom?’ an Australian accent jolted her wide awake.

Something’s happened to Mum
, she thought. ‘Yes.’

‘This is Westpac Bank calling. Can you confirm your date of birth, please?’

Cinda went through some security questions, trying to work out what it was all about. It obviously wasn’t about her mum.

‘Has someone tried to hack my account?’

‘Quite the opposite,’ said the woman. ‘You have had a large deposit put into your account from the Bank of Sardinia. I need to confirm you were aware of this transaction.’

‘Um, yeah. I’ve been paid a deposit for a painting,’ she said. She’d given Gus’s secretary her bank details.

‘Excellent,’ said the woman. ‘In light of this, would you like to discuss your options for investment with us?’

Cinda made a face at the phone. Mostly her everyday account swung between two dollars and two hundred dollars. The banks had never been interested in her before.

‘I’m fine, thanks.’

‘We can make an appointment for you to talk to one of our representatives about the best way to manage your money,’ offered the honey-voiced woman. ‘As well as the options to extend your credit card limit. Should we make a time?’

Cinda laughed. ‘No, I’m in Paris, and I don’t know when I will be back.’ She was about to finish the call when she considered what was happening. Being offered help from the bank was an unusual occurrence.

‘How much was the deposit?’

‘Twenty-five thousand dollars.’

‘What?’ Cinda nearly yelled.

‘Twenty-five thousand Australian dollars,’ the woman repeated.

‘Holy shit,’ said Cinda, and she thanked the woman and hung up the phone.

Twenty-five thousand dollars? That was more than her mother earned all year. And that was just the deposit?

No, I’ll have to return it
, she thought. Or at least, not accept any more. There was no way her art was worth that much.

She picked up her phone to call Gus, but then remembered it was four in the morning.

She didn’t want to wake Jonas either, so she lay in bed, dozing off and then waking up and repeating the number aloud.

At nine in the morning, she rang Gus.

‘Good morning,’ he said warmly, and she felt herself smiling.

‘You gave me too much money.’

‘Not at all,’ he said smoothly. ‘That’s what we paid someone to paint mother three years ago.’

‘I’m not skilled enough to warrant that sort of money yet,’ Lucinda said.

‘I’m glad you said
yet
. Will you come to Avignon?’ he asked, his voice soft. Cinda felt her head spin a little.

‘Why?’

‘Because I want to share it with you,’ he said, and she felt her stomach flip.

Wrong brother
, she reminded herself.

Cinda walked into Jonas’s room and saw he hadn’t come home last night.

‘Can Jonas still use the apartment?’ she asked. ’He’s working on something, and I don’t want him to be homeless. The chateau is too far away.’

‘Of course,’ said Gus generously. ‘He can have it as long as he wants. We never use it.’

Cinda thought about her place in Sydney being rented out, and shook her head at the crazy difference in their lives.

‘Okay, I’ll come to Avignon for a few days.’

‘I’ll come and get you in half an hour,’ he said. He sounded excited, happy.

‘I’ll have to pack up all my stuff!’ she laughed. ‘It’ll take me longer than half an hour.’

‘Just leave it,’ said Gus. ‘I’ll have the staff pack everything and send it down. You just get dressed. I’ll meet you for breakfast and the drive down.’

Cinda laughed. ‘You’re so excitable. You need to get out more.’

‘I just love going to Avignon,’ he said, and then he paused. ‘So thank you for giving me an excuse.’

Cinda stared at the phone after the call.

Gus is quite peculiar
, she thought. But she found she had almost forgiven him for all his rudeness earlier.

Almost.

True to his word, Gus picked her up half an hour later and they drove through Paris.

‘I thought we were getting some breakfast,’ she said pointedly, hoping her stomach wasn’t grumbling too loudly.

‘We are,’ said Gus as he pulled over in front of a cafe. He made no move to get out.

‘Are we getting out?’ she asked, looking over at the cafe.

‘No,’ said Gus, and Cinda saw one of the burly bodyguards run in.

Within minutes he came out again with takeaway coffees and a wrapped box.

Gus lowered his window and took the coffees and the box. ‘Make sure you get yourself and Max something.’

‘Yes, I’ve already ordered, Your Highness.’

The window went up and Gus handed her a coffee and the box. ‘
Petit-déjeuner sur le pouce
,’ he said with a smile.

‘And that means?’ She took the coffee and opened the lid.

‘Breakfast on the go,’ he said, and he started the car and adjusted the stereo.

The sound of guitar strumming filled the car and Cinda opened the box on her lap.

Two chocolate croissants.

‘These are not just any pastries,’ said Gus as he turned a corner and moved onto the freeway.

‘Oh? Why are they so special?’ She handed him one, wrapped in a napkin.

‘Try it.’

Cinda took a bite. ‘Oh my god.’

‘I know.
Pain au chocolat orange
.
C'est superbe, non
?’ He looked particularly pleased with her reaction.

‘
Oui
,’ said Cinda as she took another bite and sipped her coffee.

She felt a rush of happiness, and it was only slightly dimmed when she looked over at Gus and reminded herself he wasn’t Ludo. Why did she feel so comfortable with him?

Staring out the window, she thought about Ludo. They’d been drunk, stoned or both for a lot of the time they’d spent together. Was it possible that Gus and the queen’s disapproval had pushed them closer together? Heightened it all?

‘Cinda? Are you all right?’ Gus looked concerned, and Cinda felt bad for thinking about Ludo while she was there with Gus.

Grumpy Gus, who was just trying to make it right for her and Ludo. Doing whatever he could to make sure she was happy while she waited for a boy she hardly knew, who may or may not still be interested.

‘Fine, just thinking.’

‘About what?’

‘Ludo,’ she blurted out.

They were both silent for the rest of the trip.

27

Gus knocked on the door of Cinda’s room.

‘Yes,’ she called. ‘Come in.’

Gus opened the door. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by sketches of him. She didn’t look up as he entered.

‘I see you’re all settled in,’ he said, eyebrows raised. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Trying to find a pose that’s right. I’m not happy with the picture I’ve started.’ She moved the pictures around the carpet. ‘There’s one that I remember being good, but I can’t find it,’ she continued, frowning as she pulled a sheaf of papers from the folio and rifled through them. One of the papers fell to the ground and Gus moved forward automatically to pick it up.

It was a naked Lucinda in black pencil.

‘These are beautiful – you’re beautiful,’ he blurted, picking up another drawing of her from the pile that she’d discarded.

There was no embarrassment in her face. Instead, she tilted her head and gazed at the picture with a critical eye.

‘The thighs look a bit overdone and cartoonish,’ she said. ‘But then again, maybe I just need to lose a few kilos.’ She laughed.

Gus stared at her. ‘Are you serious? You’re perfect,’ he said without thinking.

He saw her blush.

‘You royal boys and your charm,’ she said, rolling her eyes.

Gus frowned. ‘What’s so wrong with that?’ he said defensively. ‘Plenty of girls love charming. Look at Ludo, he’s the ultimate Prince Charming.’ There was a bitterness to his voice that he hadn’t intended.

Cinda looked him in the eye. ‘I disagree,’ she said. ‘He’s charismatic and attentive. I wouldn’t call him charming.’

‘Is charismatic and attentive something you want?’ he asked, immediately hating the neediness in his voice.

‘Among other things,’ she said lightly.

He stared at a sketch of her reclining on a daybed. ‘What else do you want?’

Cinda thought for a moment, sitting cross-legged, with her head resting on one hand.

If Gus knew how to draw, he would have sketched her in this perfect pose, even more enticing than the nude ones laid out around him.

‘I want a guy who is extraordinary. One who won’t run out on a pregnant wife, one who knows about responsibility, unconditional love, you know? I mean, not that those things are extraordinary. You expect a guy to look after his girl when she’s preggers. But he has to have that stuff as well.’ She laughed.

‘So what does make a guy extraordinary?’ he asked.

Cinda looked away. ‘A guy who will move mountains, so she can have a perfect view,’ she said after a moment. ‘Someone who will take huge risks to be with her. A guy who will give up everything he thought he wanted to be with her.’

Gus laughed. ‘So nothing major, then?’

Cinda shrugged, seemingly unfazed by him thinking she was being unrealistic.

‘You can laugh, but I know he’s out there for me.’

‘So this man, he has to give up everything he wants to please you?’ Gus asked with a hard edge to his voice, thinking of everything he’d given up for Perrette.

‘Well, no. I’d want him to push me to be the best I can be as well,’ Cinda said thoughtfully.

‘And you think Ludo is the one who will do all of this for you?’ asked Gus, knowing he looked sceptical.

Cinda smiled. ‘I don’t know yet, but I feel like I owe it to myself to find out.’

Gus brushed the legs of his chinos. ‘I’m going for a walk. Do you want to come?’

‘Sure,’ said Cinda. ‘I need to clear my head.’

She grabbed her sneakers from the floor next to her and pulled them on, smiling up at Gus.

‘Let’s go,’ she said, jumping up and pulling her hair into a messy bun.

‘You take less time to get ready than any girl I’ve ever known,’ he said, shaking his head and walking to the door.

‘You mean Perrette doesn’t fall out of bed looking like that?’ asked Cinda cheekily as she headed out the door and towards the staircase. Her voice was light, but there was a certain hardness in the way she said it.

He was silent for a moment, not wanting to be disloyal to Perrette but also wanting to convey what he meant to Cinda.

‘I mean you don’t care about what you look like,’ he said.

She stopped one step below him on the stairs. ‘Well now, that’s a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one,’ she said, looking back at him.

‘No, no,’ he answered quickly. Why did everything come out wrong when he was around her? ‘I meant you aren’t vain, that’s all, you always look lovely, perfectly lovely. I suppose that’s what I mean – that looking like you do, you don’t need to spend hours in front of the mirror.’

Cinda’s eyes narrowed and she lifted her chin. Then she smiled. ‘Nice save, Prince Gus,’ she quipped, then turned and bounced down the stairs.

‘Let’s head this way,’ he said, hoping the cool air would calm his red face soon.

‘What’s this way?’ she asked, falling into step beside him.

‘The woods,’ he said.

‘Oh, of course, the woods,’ she said in a faux-posh accent, ‘Pray tell, what’s in the woods?’

‘You’ll see,’ he said, smiling.

They walked across the lawn in comfortable silence and stopped just short of the line of trees.

‘We need to be quiet,’ he said.

‘For fear of waking the trolls?’ teased Cinda.

Gus made a face at her. ‘Ha, ha. Just wait and see.’

He walked into the woods and Cinda followed. He had always loved these woods, with the mossy ground and lichen-covered trees. The leaves beneath their feet crunched as they walked and Gus found himself fantasising about holding Cinda’s hand.

They walked a little while and then came to a small clearing, where they stopped. ‘What exactly are we looking for?’ Cinda whispered. ‘What if we get lost – shouldn’t we throw out a trail of breadcrumbs so we can find our way back?’