by C. Fonseca
Caitlin cleared her throat. “No, Andi and I are planning to have breakfast together.”
A low chuckle came through the phone. “Is she making you one of those horrible-looking, green energy drinks?”
“I don’t think so. At least I hope not.” Caitlin laughed.
When Andi, clad in a towel, returned from her shower, Caitlin pointed to the phone. “It’s your mother,” she mouthed, exaggeratedly. Andi rolled her eyes.
“It’s been a pleasure talking to you, Lina. Andi’s here now,” Caitlin said.
“Goodbye, Caitlin, I hope we meet soon.”
“Yes, I hope so too. Goodbye, Lina.” Caitlin handed Andi the phone and rested her head back against the wall. Andi settled on the bed next to her and nestled into her side. With a soft sigh, Caitlin closed her eyes and listened in as Andi chatted with her mother.
“Yes, Caitlin is here for breakfast.” Andi held the towel to her body. “No, I have regular food. Yes, toast and fruit. And cereal.” Caitlin squeezed Andi’s knee. Andi slapped at her hand and shook her head. She coughed. “No, Mum, I haven’t forgotten the party. How could I forget Dad’s birthday?”
Caitlin heard Lina’s muffled voice in the background. Andi turned to Caitlin and poked out her tongue. “Yes, I’m okay. It was just a cough, Mum.” She prodded Caitlin’s hand, and Caitlin reluctantly removed it from Andi’s knee.
“I don’t know. Maybe I will. I’ll let you know.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m really looking forward to spending time with everybody. Yes, I’ll go make breakfast now. Yes, a proper one.” Andi held up her hand in frustration. “Love you too, and love to Dad.” Andi ended the call with a sigh of relief and placed her phone next to Caitlin’s on the bedside table.
“I’m sorry, Andi. I picked up your phone by mistake. I thought it was mine,” Caitlin said.
Andi laughed, then blew out a breath and pursed her lips. “Well, now you’ve talked to my mother. Did she give you the third degree?”
“Do you think she bought my story, that I was here for breakfast?” Caitlin asked. “Your mother seemed to already know who I was. She said Luc had mentioned me.”
“I’m not surprised. My brother was quite taken with you.” Andi nudged Caitlin. “Anyway, that’s not entirely wrong; you are here for breakfast. But I don’t think much gets past Mum. She’s guessed something.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“No, my mother is just inquisitive. She wants to know what’s going on in my life. You would think she’d give me a break. I am thirty years old.” Andi sounded miffed.
“You’re still her baby,” Caitlin said.
“Don’t you start. Between my mother and Ana, I get plenty of advice from older women—oops, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Older women, eh?” Caitlin moved closer and wriggled her fingers in a threatening manner.
“Stop,” Andi pleaded. “Anyway, she asked me to invite you to the family gathering in Navigators in two weeks.”
“Really? She asked you to ask me? What’s the occasion? And who else has she asked you to invite?”
Andi smirked. “Only you, exclusively. It’s Dad’s birthday and an excuse for the annual spring gathering,” she said. “Don’t worry. It’s just family, friends, neighbours, and ring-ins.”
Caitlin tugged at the towel that was slipping off Andi’s body. “So. Are you going to invite me as your guest? Am I your ring-in?”
“I haven’t decided yet. You may not like the farm.”
Caitlin tugged at the towel again, but Andi clung to it tightly while Caitlin attempted to lower it a few centimetres. “I rather like the idea of a trip to the country. What if I make you breakfast and promise to behave? Will that get me an invitation?”
“You behave? Err…sure. I’ll make breakfast, though. I can at least cook you some toast.”
The idea of breakfast was very appealing, but so was Andi. Caitlin inched closer and dragged the towel off her.
Caitlin let out a shaky breath and sighed softly.
Andi placed kisses all the way along her neck to her ear. “How about I start my breakfast right here?” she whispered, her voice low and raspy.
“Andi, you’ve exhausted me already… I won’t be able to stand, let alone drive,” Caitlin said.
Andi’s skilful hands roamed Caitlin’s back, while her mouth nibbled her earlobe. “I’m sure I can convince you otherwise. What better way to begin your day?”
CHAPTER 22
A large sheet of plywood, 2400 by 1200 mm, lay across Andi’s work table. She chose a roller from her tray of artist’s tools and applied washes of raw umber and crimson hues in sweeping columns to depict the trunks of myrtle beech, eucalyptus, and mountain ash. She began with the darker elements and shadow patterns, tilting the roller gradually with each stroke to vary their width. To add light and shade to the tree trunks, she applied ivory and silver-grey with quick strokes of a flat brush. Hints of raw sienna and red oxide represented the eucalyptus bark. Remembering the freshness of the rainforest and its dense, green canopy, she used a fan brush for the base layer of the lush vegetation—emerald green, yellow oxide, and brilliant green. Giant tree ferns, maidenhair ferns, and glorious, mossy trunks.
As the trees came to life, she thought of Caitlin on their first magical day together in the Otway Ranges—Caitlin standing beside her at the base of Sheoak Falls. The way sunlight picked up the highlights in her dark hair. The way the misty droplets of water made her eyes sparkle. Her radiant smile intensified Andi’s pleasure. The temperate rainforest had always been an extraordinary place for Andi, but now it was overlaid with a sensual resonance.
Since their relationship status had changed over a week ago, Andi was hyperaware of everything. Especially Caitlin. The electricity that sparked between them. The way Caitlin’s hands soothed one minute and drove her crazy the next. Caitlin’s tender whispers, as she coaxed her to intense pleasure.
Andi felt her heartbeat quicken and pulled at her shirt collar.
She used a broad brush to create the dramatic cellular patterns of the rainforest canopy. She applied dots of colours with repetitive strokes in order to create vibrancy and visual richness. She left small slivers of the white background. The highlights showed the way sunlight threaded its way through the canopy of leaves and the umbrella-like trunks. Dappled light caressed the ancient forest floor.
* * *
“Finally, a car park.” Andi pulled into the empty space, two blocks away from the university. She grabbed her satchel and jacket, ran towards Swanston Street, and entered the university campus past the Edge Gallery. She jogged down a tree-lined pedestrian alley that teemed with students. Outside the Chemistry Block, she stopped to get her bearings and checked the map she’d printed off this morning. What building was she looking for? Arts? Old Arts?
The meeting at Bailey Graphics in South Melbourne had run overtime. She’d driven through the city in record time to get to Caitlin’s lecture and slip in without being noticed. Now, she couldn’t even find the building.
She wanted to surprise Caitlin. Hopefully, she wouldn’t mind. They’d briefly spoken yesterday morning, and Caitlin had helped her compile a checklist for her exhibition preparation. At that stage, Andi hadn’t known about the appointment in Melbourne.
Marcus Dedham, one of the senior staff members of the creative design team, explained that their client, Felicity Grant, had specifically requested Andi’s presence at the meeting today. The appointment at Bailey Graphics was at one in the afternoon. If things had gone as planned, Andi had time to attend the meeting, make small talk with Ms. Grant, and then head to the university.
Not so! The meeting went longer than scheduled, and the attractive CEO of Grant Sports-Net, one of Bailey’s principal clients, had put her on the spot by asking her to lunch.
Andi had tried to make excuses. If she went to lunch, she would never make it to the lecture on time. Felicity was appeased when Andi agreed to join her and Marcus for a drink.
Felicity paid her way too much attention, and Andi’s patience was at its limit—she really wanted to leave.
Marcus came to her rescue at last. “Andi, I’m sure Felicity understands you need to be across town for another meeting.” He turned to Felicity and said, “I do believe our table is ready.”
“Andi, it’s always a pleasure,” Felicity said and held on to her hand a moment too long. “The designs are fabulous, and I look forward to seeing you again for the final presentation.”
Andi had bowed out gracefully and hightailed from the hotel.
Now, she was finally at the university with only five minutes until the lecture was scheduled to start.
Melbourne University consisted of a dazzling number of buildings. Pathways led in every direction—stairways, wide expanses of lawn, pop-up cafés, and a conglomeration of different architectural styles—making navigation a nightmare. The Old Quadrangle, adjacent to the lecture theatre, was the most historic building on campus, thus making it the most popular destination for tourists and their cameras, which slowed her progress even more.
Andi ran along smooth cobblestones under vaulted cloisters, hoping she was going in the right direction. She was too proud to ask the students for help. They had their eyes glued to handheld devices and seemed oblivious to their surroundings. Exiting the Old Quad, she saw the imposing building diagonally across from her, clearly signed Old Arts Building.
Andi looked at her map again to follow her scrawled notes. She entered the north-facing entrance that faced Old Physics. This place had as many tangles and turns as Hogwarts.
“What is it with all these names?” Andi mumbled.
Through the open doors, she could see that the gothic revival exterior gave way to a thoroughly modernised interior. However, finding Lecture Theatre C was proving a challenge. In a mild state of panic, Andi traversed the second storey three times before she finally found it.
She made her way into the room and claimed an empty seat near the back wall. A small group of students was chatting together and continued to do so even when a tall, wiry woman, with a severe diagonal hairstyle walked to the front of the stage and tapped the microphone. Andi couldn’t see Caitlin, and she started to panic again—was she in the wrong lecture theatre?
“May I have your attention please, ladies and gentlemen? My colleagues, today we are delighted to have you here for our latest edition of the Masters’ Art Lecture Series. I am Professor Delores DeWitt.” The woman spoke into the microphone, and it made a grating, screeching sound. Andi chuckled into her hand, as Professor DeWitt continued unaffected, “And I’m delighted to introduce our guest speaker, Doctor Caitlin Quinn from the University of Cork.” She paused to glance at her notes. “We are very privileged to have Doctor Quinn, who will present her paper on Ireland’s first foray into the Venice Biennale.”
A woman wearing a charcoal-grey suit entered through a side door and Caitlin followed. Andi couldn’t help her smile.
“Wow.” Andi thought she’d whispered to herself, until the two women sitting in front of her turned to stare. There was a hush for a few seconds before a ripple of murmurs filled the theatre. Caitlin introduced herself to the audience. She declined the professor’s offer of the microphone but, even where Andi sat at the back of the room, Caitlin’s voice was loud and clear. People put down their phones, closed their laptops, and gave full attention to the speaker before them.
Andi was amazed as she listened and observed the professional side of Caitlin Quinn for the first time. She projected strength and confidence, and her demeanor commanded attention. Her paper explained how, in 1950, two women artists represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale.
Caitlin looked artsy, professional, and irresistible, all at the same time. She removed her double-breasted, green pea coat, draped it over the back of a chair, and shook out her dark, glossy hair until it brushed the top of her sleeveless, black shirt. Andi loved her red and black plaid trousers—they reminded her of the first day they’d met.
Caitlin talked about how Ireland’s choice of Nano Reid and Norah McGuinness was controversial at the time—but how they were well received by the Italian public. The Italian president had bought one of McGuinness’s paintings.
The students laughed as Caitlin apologised for the upside down slide on the overhead projector and she made a joke about her northern-hemisphere brain. She seemed to enjoy herself and had the audience in the palm of her hand. The accompanying slides illustrated the artworks. Caitlin pointed out that the art world was impressed, and the Italian art critic, Umberto Apollonio, praised both artists for their expressionist style.
Caitlin captivated Andi, not just the with way she looked and the way she made her feel, but also with the riveting story.
At the end of the presentation, it was clear from the enthusiastic response that Caitlin’s paper was well received.
Andi remained at the back of the room while students surrounded Caitlin. She watched with fascination as Caitlin engaged with the eager group that hovered around her.
The crowd dispersed, and the woman sitting in front of Andi turned to her. “Great lecture, don’t you think? Terrific speaker, eh?” The young woman, probably in her twenties, continued, “I love the Irish accent. Did you like it? The lecture I mean?”
“Yes, it was wonderful,” Andi replied. She saw Caitlin’s surprised expression followed by an incredulous smile—she had evidently just noticed her. Andi gave her a small, self-conscious wave.
The young woman turned to see Caitlin beckoning Andi to join her. “Hey, you know Doctor Quinn?”
“I do,” Andi said.
The woman grinned. “Cool. Lucky you. Please tell her the lecture was awesome.” She moved towards the exit.
“I will,” Andi said as she headed towards the front of the room.
Caitlin grasped her hand. “What are you doing here? Where have you been, all dressed up?” Her eyes widened admiringly as she checked out Andi’s tailored, ash-coloured hemp trousers and soft, chocolate corduroy shirt jacket. She gently touched the toe of her black leather boot to Andi’s suede hi-tops. “Love the boots.”
Andi ducked her head shyly. She blushed under Caitlin’s admiring gaze.
“Caitlin, we’re just about ready here. I’ve let Angie at Epocha know that there’ll be ten of us,” a voice called out to Caitlin, and they both turned.
Caitlin looked at Andi. “There could be eleven, Liz. Would that be a problem at all?”
Liz shook her head. “No, no problem, I’ll tell them.”
“Liz, this is Andi Rey. Andi is an artist currently working on her solo exhibition. Andi, this is Liz Jacobs, she’s a curator at Edge Gallery.”
Andi shook Liz’s hand politely. “Nice to meet you.” The curator, an elegant woman Andi guessed to be in her early fifties, observed her intently.
“A pleasure to meet you too.” Liz glanced at her wristwatch. “And I look forward to learning more about you and your exhibition at dinner. Caitlin, I’ve told the others we’ll meet at Hannah’s bar first. So I’ll take off now. Unless you’d like a ride to the restaurant?”
“I have the address here somewhere. We’ll meet you there,” Caitlin said.
“Wonderful.” Liz Jacobs headed for the doorway and left them alone in the near empty room.
“Your lecture was excellent,” Andi said. “It’s an incredible story, inspirational too. I’d never heard about Nano Reid and Norah McGuinness.”
“Thank you, I’m glad you liked it. Seeing you here gave me quite the surprise.”
“Not an unpleasant one, I hope?”
Caitlin leaned in, nudged Andi playfully with her shoulder, and then pulled her into her arms. “Not at all. But I’d rather have you all to myself. Unfortunately, I am expected to join the group for dinner.”
“Will Erica be there?” The words were out before Andi could stop herself. She wished she’d been able to keep that little jealousy demon from surfacing. “Sorry about that. I’m really gl
ad I made it to your lecture, but I don’t have to crash your dinner plans. I’ll just head back home.”
“No,” stated Caitlin emphatically. “I mean, you should come. It’s just a group of women from the gallery and the art department. Erica may be there, I don’t know for sure.” She looked directly at Andi. “Anyway, I want you with me. I’ve missed you. They’re a friendly lot; you might have fun. Please?”
How could Andi possibly refuse? She answered to the affirmative with a kiss on Caitlin’s cheek and was rewarded with a sexy smile.
They left the university grounds, and walked to Andi’s car. She was relieved she’d asked her neighbour Molly to feed Koda and lock her in for the night. However, going to dinner with Caitlin’s university friends had not been her plan. Especially since Erica might potentially be there. Andi brushed aside her insecurity. It would be good to meet Caitlin’s friends and colleagues—wouldn’t it?
* * *
Epocha Restaurant was in Montefiore House, an impressive Victorian terrace on the edge of the Central Business District. When Caitlin and Andi arrived, most of the women were upstairs at Hannah’s bar enjoying predinner cocktails and grazing on a selection of appetizers. Their table on the first floor was at one end of the balcony, with views of Carlton Gardens and Melbourne Museum.
Caitlin sat back and picked up her drink—a dry gin martini. While she sipped her cocktail, her gaze was fixed on Andi, who was deeply engaged in conversation with Liz. Andi’s head tilted to one side, exposing the gentle curve of her neck. Her long, dark lashes cast shadows across her cheek as she pursed her lips in concentration.
“Can’t take your eyes off her, can you?” said a sharp voice from behind Caitlin. Erica leaned over her shoulder and lifted Caitlin’s glass to her lips. “Hmmm. What are you drinking?”
“Good evening, Erica,” Caitlin said. She rescued her drink and placed it on the table. “It’s a Charlie Gibson, gin and vermouth.” Caitlin shifted to allow Erica to pull a chair in beside her at the table.
“In that case, I’ll stick to champagne.” Erica looked across to Andi and back at Caitlin. “Not that I blame you, though. She is rather delicious.”
