The Apartment In Rome Part 31

'Jeez!' said Ruby. 'What the f.u.c.k!'

'It was his idea,' said Gina, strolling towards them with her helmet under her arm.

Mitch.e.l.l followed. There was something odd about him, Sasha thought, a vague unfocussed air, like he couldn't tell you what day of the week it was. Nevertheless, she was aggrieved. She and Ruby had been abandoned without explanation while he and Gina had disappeared into the wide blue yonder on a motorbike, for G.o.d's sake.

'Where have you been, Dad?'

'I thought you two would be glad to be rid of me,' he said. 'You'd made the apartment so cosy and you knew I was going to find somewhere else. When I rang you last night you couldn't wait to get me off the phone.'

'But why didn't you tell us anything? Like where you were staying, or planning to have your breakfast or lunch. What were we supposed to do?'

'I'd given you plenty of money, Sash. You weren't going to starve.'

'Like, not even a text!'

'That's not true, you weren't answering this morning. I'd left the charger in the apartment, which was stupid, I agree, and I didn't realise I'd run out of battery. But you're okay, aren't you?' He tried to clasp her but she shook him off. 'When you were little you used to get so worried when I was flying. Especially after the attack on the Twin Towers. Mum kept having to rea.s.sure you that planes generally got back in one piece. In the end you learned that I did too.'

Sasha wanted to tell him to shut up, that wasn't the point. She and Ruby hadn't minded getting shot of him, diverting themselves. But she did mind, gravely, that he had spent those missing hours with Gina Stanhope. 'Where did that bike come from?' she demanded.

'I think it's awesome,' said Ruby. 'Can I sit on it?'

'Sure, if you want...'

She'd already hopped astride the warm leather seat and was leaning forward over the handlebars. 'Go on, Sash,' she called. 'Take my picture on your phone.'

Sasha obeyed, but as she clicked on the b.u.t.ton she noticed a silver Alfa dawdling past. Kerb-crawler, she thought, what a w.a.n.ker. Then, with a shock, she recognised the car. Had Signor Boletti recognised them? Perhaps, after all, he wasn't ogling Ruby's bare legs, the grip of her thighs. She lowered the phone. He was wearing sungla.s.ses so she couldn't be certain, but he seemed to be looking past her. She turned. Gina had looped her arm through her father's, in a display of affection that to Sasha was totally unnecessary, and was brushing a lock of hair from his forehead in an intimate gesture. They made a striking couple, she had to admit. She glared.

Mitch.e.l.l disentangled himself, clearly unaware of the context. 'I suppose you girls want a ride too,' he said with forced jollity. The Alfa slipped away.

'Yes please!' crowed Ruby.

'I can't take you both at once but I've hired it for twenty-four hours so there's plenty of time left, and...'

'Go on,' said Gina. 'Give the girl a whirl. Head up the Gianicolo. You can hammer those hairpin bends and show her the view.' She followed up this suggestion by giving Ruby her helmet to put on.

Ruby fastened the strap around her chin and made faces through the visor, indicating that Sasha should take some more shots on her phone.

Mitch.e.l.l was reluctant. 'I didn't mean right away. We've only just got back.'

'So? You can see she's itching to go for a spin.'

'What about Sasha?'

'Don't worry, I'll look after her, take her to the flat.'

'Please, Paul,' came Ruby's m.u.f.fled voice.

'Okay, Sash? I'm not deserting you, sweetheart. You'll get your turn.'

Why was he looking so anxious, as if he didn't want to leave her alone with Gina? Of course, she'd rather have Ruby by her side, but since they had to get him out of the way that wasn't possible. Ruby was doing her bit and Sasha had to man up to this confrontation by herself.

'What are you waiting for?' said Gina. 'Get a move on. Go!'

As Mitch.e.l.l kick-started the engine back into life and Ruby gave a regal wave, Gina grabbed Sasha's elbow as if she wouldn't let her go and steered her down the street. 'We have some talking to do, you and I.'

'Yes.'

'You've got it with you, haven't you?'

'Yes.'

Gina seemed to unbend a little then. She released Sasha, bounded ahead of her up the staircase, breezed into the apartment and flung open the shutters to let in the daylight.

The sitting room had an even more dishevelled air than usual, the chairs disarranged, a sheaf of loose papers tottering on the sideboard, but to Sasha it was still a significant location. She'd been holed up here with Joe and it wasn't a period she was likely to forget. She sat down on the sofa where she had tried to sleep, where she had lain listening to the chimes of the clock on Santa Maria, and clutched a cushion to her chest like a shield.

'D'you want a drink?' said Gina. 'Tea, coffee, wine, Martini, beer, water, vodka? No c.o.ke, I'm afraid.'

'No thanks.'

Gina poured herself a slug of red wine. 'G.o.d, I've had a harrowing few days! I so need this. Mostly,' she scowled over the rim of the gla.s.s, 'on account of you.'

'Me!'

'Things were going well. I had an exhibition, something I'd been angling after for years. Some good publicity too. A book commission in the offing. I was flying high. You turn up and there's that stupid business with the glue and then the picture... And as for your father '

This was unfair. 'He used to be your boyfriend, didn't he? But how could I know that? It's not like you told me anything.'

'What difference would it have made?'

'A lot, if you'd been seeing him recently...'

Gina flapped her hand dismissively. 'Well, I hadn't. We split up ages ago, when he met your mother.'

'Oh.' She was relieved to hear this, though it sparked another train of thought. 'Do you mean if she hadn't come along you two might have stayed together? And then you might have been my mother instead? Wow.'

'Sorry to disappoint, but no. Because you wouldn't have been born.'

Sasha hadn't meant the observation seriously, but Gina's tone puzzled her. It was fraught with bitterness. 'Hey, what did my dad do to you?'

'Nothing. That's the nub of it, Sasha. It's the sins of omission that matter. He neglected me, you could say. You may have noticed: I'm an attention seeker. I don't care to be overlooked.'

Every time Sasha decided Gina's att.i.tude was insufferable, she would make some unexpected remark that showed she was sensitive after all. Now she'd kicked off her pumps and curled up in the chair opposite, nursing her gla.s.s and looking pensive, even a little bit tragic. And Sasha couldn't help hauling her up in her estimation again. If you had a stepmother manque, wouldn't you want her to be like this fascinating, enviable, mysterious woman?

'There's nothing for you to worry about,' Gina said. 'We've been going over a bit of old ground but I'm not stealing him back. Too much water under the bridge. So now that's out of the way, will you give it to me, please?'

'What?'

'You know perfectly well what I'm talking about.'

'No.'

'What d'you mean, no?'

'I mean I won't give it to you.' Sasha's bag was on her lap and the cushion lay on top of the bag. She didn't think Gina would try to wrestle it away from her, she wouldn't want to risk any damage to the drawing. 'Until you tell me why you did it.'

'Did what? Darling, you're the one who owes me an explanation. You hustle your way into my apartment, rummage around until you find a key...'

'We found it by accident.'

'...Unlock what is obviously a private storage box, help yourself to the most valuable item in it and smuggle it out of the building. Theft on a pretty major scale, wouldn't you say?'

'I didn't know it was valuable.'

'Then why steal it? What the f.u.c.k did you think it was?'

Sasha couldn't tell her, but she intended to stand her ground. 'I guessed it might be important because it was hidden away. I didn't want to keep it. Actually I wanted to exchange it.'

'For?'

'You must know what for. Those pictures of me!'

Gina rocked back in her chair. 'So you've been to the exhibition. I wondered if you had.'

'Why did you even have to take them?'

'Because that's what I do. I'm a photographer. And it was a gift the perfect shot, no need to retouch or recompose. You've no idea how rare that is. My work can take for ever to get right. The finished product might look artless but there's been a lot going on behind the scenes. Half the time you don't even know what's in the frame till afterwards, when you're uploading. But in the case of you and Joe lying there, I could see it all right. It was so powerful, I couldn't ignore it.'

'Even if it was an invasion of my privacy?' said Sasha.

'You squat, uninvited, in my house. You s.h.a.g my protege. I think I'm the one who's privacy's been invaded.'

'Protege?'

'I'm trying to distinguish between a lad who's lost everything and needs a helping hand and a privileged little daddy's girl like you.'

The insult was deliberate, though Sasha would have shared anything and everything with Joe if she'd had the chance. And she could produce plenty of arguments to show she wasn't half as spoilt or privileged as a whole load of other kids she knew, but that would take her in the wrong direction, which was no doubt what Gina wanted.

'You didn't have any right to stick me up on a wall, though, not without getting my permission. I bet you asked all the others in the show, Sami and such.'

Gina responded more calmly. 'Yes, that's true. In fact, I hadn't intended you to be included in the first place. There were a couple of shots of Antonio I'd taken that I mixed in with the rest. Bertie had originally agreed to let me use them, but then the b.a.s.t.a.r.d changed his mind and I had to find a subst.i.tute. David picked out the Aftermath pictures. He thought they were terrific, that they made such a good story. It was all very last minute and I never thought you'd see them. I didn't even know how to get in touch with you.'

'Yes you did. You could have used Facebook.'

'Well, anyway,' Gina drained her drink and set down the gla.s.s, 'I don't know what you're making such a fuss about. Your own father didn't recognise you.'

'Because he hasn't seen me without clothes on since I was eight.'

'And dozens of other people have?'

'Well, they have now.'

'Darling, n.o.body could possibly know who you are. Even your hair's different.'

This was true; it was longer, sleeker, but that wasn't the point. 'It's not just about the exposure. That was a special moment in my life and you've totally ruined it.' A single tear slid down the side of her nose.

Gina didn't notice. She was drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair, appearing to reconsider. 'As it happened, I turned down a potential buyer.'

Sasha flushed. 'Someone wanted to buy them? Oh my G.o.d! He must have been a ma.s.sive weirdo.'

'Not necessarily. Anyway I said no.'

'If you hadn't, I could have sued you.'

'In the Italian courts? Be my guest. Your father would have to file the suit on your behalf and I'd've had a counterclaim against you for trespa.s.s, theft and distress. We'd be batted back and forth to infinity. But don't worry. You can keep your knickers on. I'm not selling.'

'You won't exhibit it anywhere else or publish it or whatever?'

'Not without your permission.'

'Like I'm going to give it!'

'One day,' said Gina, 'you might see things differently. You might even be proud of the image. It's very strong, very beautiful. I appreciate the whole episode was a bit of a watershed for you, but you know what, you'll have other romances, more grounded, more lasting. It was, after all, a particular set of circ.u.mstances that brought you together and for such a short time.'

'What makes you think it's over?'

'Do you really need me to spell it out? For one thing, it's hard to make a relationship work if you live in different countries, as I should know... and for another, you're both very young. Joe isn't in a situation where he could commit to anybody. He's fighting for survival '

Sasha was angry and defensive. 'He was trying to come to England, he wanted to see me again. If he'd made it, he could have been legit...'

'It really isn't that simple. He should have waited, not jumped the gun.'

'He did it because you'd sold those other photos of him. The gay p.o.r.n.'

'I do not take p.o.r.nographic photographs!'

'Whatever. But he wouldn't have had the money on him otherwise. So that kind of makes it your fault.'

'How do you know this?' asked Gina suspiciously.

'He told me.'

'Who? Sami?'

'No, your Lion King.'

'Leone! Ah...' She bit her lip. 'Did I see you with a f.a.g earlier?'

'What's that got to do with anything?'