The Picture House by the Sea

by Holly Hepburn

  Focusing on Miquel, Gina smiled. ‘I think the Moses Supposes is going to be a big hit on Saturday. Thanks for all your creativity and hard work.’

  The bartender looked delighted. ‘I can’t take all the credit – it’s a twist on a Harvey Wallbanger. But I’m glad you like it.’

  Just before eight o’clock, the maître d’ ushered Gina and Max through to the restaurant. They had just begun to study the menu when Gina heard a voice that made her blood run cold. She looked up to see Rose Arundell weaving her way through the tables, wearing the silky Grace Kelly dress she’d bought from Carrie’s boutique. And walking right behind her was Ben.

  Gina almost dropped her menu. She stared at Ben, who looked uncomfortable and ill at ease, unable to believe what she was seeing.

  ‘What?’ Max asked, noticing her frozen expression. He turned in his seat at the exact moment Rose spotted Gina. Gaze glittering, Rose switched direction and headed their way. Behind her, Ben blinked and frowned. Then his eyes followed Rose’s intended path and a look of horror crossed his face.

  Rose came to a halt beside Max and she fired a loaded smile Gina’s way. But it was Max she spoke to. ‘How lovely to see you again, Max.’

  Gina felt as though she’d been punched in the stomach. Rose knew Max? How? It wasn’t possible. And yet Max was getting to his feet and planting air kisses on Rose’s flawless cheeks. ‘This is an unexpected pleasure. How are your parents?’

  Ben looked as confused as Gina felt. His eyes sought hers and she saw a mixture of bewilderment and embarrassment there, as though she’d caught him doing something he shouldn’t, and couldn’t understand how it had happened.

  ‘They’re very well,’ Rose replied. ‘Mummy will be delighted to hear you’re in the area, although I’m sure she’ll insist you come over for drinks.’

  Her cool gaze flickered briefly to Gina, making it clear that the invitation would only apply to Max. But the slight barely registered with Gina; she was too busy trying to work out how Rose and Max could possibly know each other. Not only that but Max also seemed to be on more than nodding acquaintance with Valeria Arundell. How on earth had their paths crossed? Gina wondered. Had they met in London, on some business deal that involved the Arundells? It had to be a coincidence, she told herself. What else could it be?

  ‘I’m afraid it’s a flying visit,’ Max said, sounding apologetic. ‘You know how busy I am – I can’t afford to be away from the real world for long.’ He looked over Rose’s shoulder at Ben and thrust out a hand. ‘I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Max Hardy.’

  Gina wondered whether she might be having an out-of-body experience, so unreal did everything feel. Forcing herself to breathe, she watched as the two of them shook hands. ‘Ben Pascoe. Pleased to meet you.’

  Max’s eyes widened. ‘You’re Gina’s old surfer friend. She’s told me a lot about you.’

  The words were innocent enough but something about the way Max said them made Gina wary. Quite apart from anything else, it wasn’t true; she’d barely mentioned Ben to Max, partly because her emotions lately had been so conflicted.

  Ben glanced briefly at her. ‘All good things, I hope?’

  ‘Ben and I have just started seeing each other,’ Rose purred, linking her arm possessively through his. ‘We’re rekindling an old love affair.’

  Ben avoided Gina’s astonished stare. And then, just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, Max waved a hand at the adjoining table. ‘Why don’t you join us?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think—’ Gina began.

  ‘No, that’s not—’ Ben said, at exactly the same time but Rose spoke over both of them.

  ‘That would be wonderful,’ she said, beaming at Max. ‘We’d love to.’

  Max attracted the attention of the maître d’ and explained. Moments later, the waiters had pushed the tables together and Gina found herself sitting next to Ben.

  ‘Hi,’ she said, without smiling.

  He nodded. ‘Hi.’

  Gina fixed her gaze on the menu but found herself unable to concentrate long enough to read anything. Ben and Rose were seeing each other? When had that happened? How had it happened? When she’d seen Ben on Sunday, he’d been adamant that he had no romantic interest in Rose. What the hell was going on?

  She became aware that the waiter was hovering next to the table. Rose was ordering the wild rabbit starter and the fallow deer main course. The waiter looked expectantly Gina’s way but Max spoke first. ‘We’ll have the monkfish to start, followed by the Chateaubriand, please. What are your recommendations for wine?’

  The waiter began to reel off suggestions. Cheeks burning, Gina cut across him. ‘Max, since when do you order for me?’

  He glanced over at her in surprise. ‘But you love Chateaubriand. And monkfish, for that matter.’

  Gina pressed her lips together hard and tried to keep a lid on her temper. ‘I love having a choice more,’ she ground out. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the waiter. ‘I’ll have the pumpkin soup, followed by the cheese soufflé. Sorry, Max, I’m not in the mood for beef tonight.’

  There was an awkward silence. ‘I don’t mind sharing the Chateaubriand with you, Max,’ Rose said, smoothly. ‘Cancel my fallow deer, will you?’

  Ben placed his order but Gina barely heard what it was. She stared down at the tablecloth, trying her hardest to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall on the pristine white material. Max had never tried to order for her before – what was he playing at? And worst of all, she’d somehow managed to make Rose Arundell seem reasonable and measured. It was like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.

  She said very little during the meal, meeting direct questions with monosyllabic answers even though she knew it made her come across like a sulky teenager. She was sure the food was delicious but it all tasted like ash and she left most of it. Once, Ben tried to take her hand under the table and she shook him off with such vehemence that she was sure Max and Rose must have noticed. Eventually, she excused herself to go to the ladies’, claiming to have a headache, and when she came back, Max was settling the bill and the maître d’ was holding her coat.

  She went straight to bed as soon as they reached the apartment, ignoring the frantic vibrations of her phone and Max’s concerned enquiries about what was wrong. She removed her make-up and climbed into bed, turned her back so that she wouldn’t have to see Max when he came in. Then she closed her eyes and allowed the hot tears that were burning her eyelids to leak slowly onto the pillow.

  She was subdued the next morning at the dairy. Elena had clucked in alarm over her puffy eyes and pale cheeks but hadn’t pressed her for the reason once it became clear Gina didn’t want to talk. Ferdie was less gruff than usual, even when she spoiled a whole batch of custard by adding the hot milk to the eggs so fast that they curdled in the bowl. Eventually, he got up from the stool he was leaning on and took her hands.

  ‘Gina, mia bella, tell Nonno what’s wrong,’ he said, and his tone was so kind that she couldn’t prevent a fresh torrent of tears from coursing down her cheeks.

  Ferdie handed her a crisp white handkerchief and waited patiently for the flood to slow.

  ‘H-have you ever thought you knew someone and then realised you don’t k-know them at all?’ she stammered eventually, dabbing at her face with the cool cloth.

  ‘Once or twice,’ Ferdie admitted. ‘This is Max, yes?’

  ‘Yes,’ Gina said, sniffing uncertainly. ‘No. Oh, I don’t know – it’s both of them.’

  Ferdie studied her, his eyebrows beetling into a fierce frown. ‘Who else has been upsetting you? Shall I go and knock their heads together?’

  The thought made her lips quirk; a small, wavering movement that barely counted as a smile. ‘I don’t think it would help. I think the problem must be me.’

  Ferdie grunted. ‘I don’t pretend to understand what this is about, Gina, but I can see that it is making you very unhappy. And that makes me unhappy – it makes me want to ste
p in and sort out all your problems so that you are smiling again and brightening up my days.’ He shook his head. ‘See? I am nothing but a selfish old man who wants his contented granddaughter back – I bet you didn’t know that about me.’

  Gina sniffed again, nodding; she thought she could see where he was going with this.

  ‘My point is that sometimes the people we love hurt and disappoint us. And because we are hurt, the temptation is to react by lashing out or running away. But what if instead of doing either of those things, we saw it as an opportunity to fix something that had been broken?’

  His eyes met hers and she saw that they were filled with regret. ‘If I had taken the opportunity I was given when your mother and I fell out, who knows how different our lives might have been? But instead, I lashed out and she ran away. And now I think that the damage is too great to fix.’

  Gina stared at her fingers, fidgeting with the handkerchief as she tried to make sense of his words. What was she more upset about – Max’s heavy-handed presumption in the restaurant last night, or the knowledge that Ben and Rose were an item? She didn’t know, and everything felt too confused to unravel. ‘Maybe I just need some time,’ she whispered.

  Ferdie tipped his head. ‘Time is good, in moderation. But leave it too long and fixing things becomes much harder. Take it from one who knows.’

  He sounded so sad that Gina reached out to give him a hug. They stood unmoving for a little while, then Gina stepped back and wiped the last of the tears from her cheeks. ‘Thank you, Nonno. I feel a bit better now.’

  ‘Good,’ Ferdie said, looking fierce once more. ‘And remember, I am always available to knock heads together if you need me.’

  Chapter Eight

  Gina arrived home later that afternoon to an apartment filled with red roses. They adorned every available surface, from the coffee table to the kitchen worktop and even the shelf around the bathroom sink. Max sat among them, perched on the edge of the sofa with a contrite expression.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, the moment she stepped into the living room. ‘I am a jealous, ridiculous moron and I acted like a total prick.’

  Gina eyed him coldly, although her heart was thudding uncomfortably. ‘Go on.’

  Max ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know why I did it. I mean, I suppose I do, if I’m honest – it was meeting Ben.’ He gave her a level stare. ‘You didn’t tell me he looked like a swimwear model.’

  Her face grew warm. ‘He’s one of my oldest friends, Max. We’ve known each other since we were kids.’

  ‘I know,’ Max said, sounding wretched. ‘That’s part of the problem. You’re down here, discovering friends you had before we even met and taking the whole bloody town by storm. It makes me feel a bit shut out, to be honest, like I’m not a big part of your life these days. So, when I realised who Ben was and he was all He Man, Master of the Universe – well, I think I might have lost the plot a bit.’

  Gina couldn’t help it – she laughed. ‘Max, there isn’t anyone in the world less He Man than Ben. He watches musicals and lives in a converted railway carriage, for God’s sake!’

  His shoulders slumped. ‘I know – it’s ridiculous. But that’s how it felt. And so I tried to show him that I was in charge. With the benefit of hindsight, I couldn’t have done anything worse. I’m sorry.’

  He hung his head and the last of Gina’s anger drained away. ‘Max—’

  ‘Just tell me you’re not in love with him,’ he cut in, so quietly that she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Tell me you’re not in love with Ben,’ he said, meeting her gaze. ‘That way I can go back to London with my tail between my legs and spend the next however many years trying to make this up to you.’

  Gina’s heart started to race. Did she love Ben, or was it merely the distance from Max and everything she knew that was making her feelings seem more than they were? She was definitely jealous of Rose; she’d known that when she’d seen her in the doorway of the railway carriage on Sunday morning, and again when she’d seen them together at the Scarlet. But did she love Ben?

  ‘He’s with Rose Arundell,’ she told Max, breathing deeply to calm her thumping heart. ‘And we only have to get through the next six weeks, then I’ll be home. In London, with you. Where I want to be.’

  Max nodded, as though he’d heard what he’d needed to hear. ‘So,’ he said, drawing in a long, deep breath. ‘Can you forgive me?’

  His eyes were suspiciously bright, as though he was on the verge of tears. Gina almost gasped; she’d never known anything to affect him like this. Hurriedly, she closed the distance between them and fell into his arms. ‘Of course I forgive you,’ she said, feeling her own eyes moisten. ‘I love you, Max Hardy.’

  Gina waved Max off on Friday morning, promising to come to see him in London soon. She was surprised at how sad she was to see him go; they’d stayed up late into the night, talking about everything from their feelings to their future, but she had plenty to take her mind off the sudden hole his absence would leave. And she had an apartment filled with the heady scent of roses to remind her of his love.

  By the time Saturday evening came around, Gina had reconciled herself to the idea of Rose and Ben as a couple. It had come completely out of the blue, and Rose was the last person she would have chosen for him, but presumably Ben knew what he was doing and saw something in Rose Arundell that Gina was blind to. Even so, she had to steel herself when they walked into the foyer of the Palace together.

  Carrie spotted them at the same moment Gina did and sidled over to whisper, ‘Isn’t Rose the perfect Lina Lamont? But I bet she’s furious over Ben’s choice of outfit.’

  Gina frowned. She couldn’t argue with Carrie; Rose’s silver flapper dress and diamond-studded head-dress looked great. Ben looked picture perfect too, as Don Lockwood, Lina’s on-screen lover. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

  ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Carrie said, her eyes sparkling beneath her cute cloche hat. ‘He’s not Don Lockwood at all – he’s Cosmo Brown, Don’s comedy sidekick.’

  Now that Gina looked closely, she saw exactly what Carrie had seen; the shirt and braces were less dashing and more slapstick, and his blond hair was slicked back in a style that definitely suggested Cosmo instead of Don. He chose that moment to glance over at her and she saw his eyes widen a fraction as he took in her figure-hugging, emerald-green dancer’s dress. Then his attention snapped back to Rose, as though he hadn’t noticed Gina at all.

  Remembering Nonno’s advice, Gina plastered a welcoming smile on her face and crossed the foyer to greet the new arrivals. ‘Rose, Ben, how lovely to see you again.’

  If the other woman was taken aback to be greeted so cordially, she hid it well. ‘Hello, Gina. That’s an interesting choice of costume.’

  ‘It’s a great choice of costume,’ Ben said, although his eyes were fixed on Gina’s, as though he was trying to work out whether they were still friends.

  ‘Yours too,’ she said, and this time her smile didn’t need to be forced. ‘Cosmo is one of my favourite characters – his Make ’Em Laugh routine is amazing.’

  Rose’s head whipped around and she stared suspiciously at Ben.

  ‘Enjoy the film,’ Gina said swiftly, because Nonno and Nonna had just appeared in the doorway, wearing matching yellow raincoats and causing a ripple of delighted applause. ‘Don’t forget to try the ice-cream.’

  Before long, the foyer was packed with cinema-goers, all dressed in costumes to match the film. Ferdie and Elena were getting a lot of attention and Gina wasn’t in the least bit surprised; underneath their raincoats, they’d mirrored Don and Kathy in the song You Were Meant for Me. Elena’s lilac crepe dress hung in elegant folds and Gina suspected Ferdie’s wide-collared white shirt and black-and-white spats might have been hiding in his wardrobe for a very long time. Gina shook her head and laughed; her grandparents had created an adorable impression of how the movie’s stars might have looked a
fter a lifetime together. It was perfect.

  After making sure they each had a Moses Supposes cocktail, Gina slipped through the door that led to the business end of the Palace. She wanted to check Tash had everything she needed in the projection room, including the required number of reels to screen the film. After the near-disaster last time, she wasn’t taking any chances.

  She’d only taken a few of the steps that led to the projection room when she heard the door behind her open again. She turned around and was both surprised and yet unsurprised to see Ben standing there.

  ‘Can we talk?’ he said. ‘Clear the air? I feel like I owe you an explanation.’

  Gina began to turn away. ‘I’ve told you before, Ben, you don’t owe me anything. I’m happy for you and Rose.’

  ‘Really?’ he called. ‘Because you don’t look it. You look like you hate me, Gina. And I only did it for you. For us.’

  Gina froze. ‘What do you mean?’ she said, slowly turning back.

  Ben shrugged, his expression helpless. ‘I know how much the refurbishment project means to you – the station renovation is important to me too. So I thought that maybe if I took Rose out on a date, wined her and dined her a bit, she might persuade her mother to put in a good word with the rest of the funding committee.’

  ‘Ben!’ Gina gasped, her hand flying to her face. ‘You didn’t!’

  He nodded wretchedly. ‘You weren’t supposed to find out. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you in the restaurant – I wanted the ground to swallow me up.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this,’ Gina said, still reeling. ‘Bloody hell, Ben, how do you think Rose is going to react when she finds out the truth?’

  ‘She won’t find out,’ he said, his tone grim. ‘I’m not going to tell her. Are you?’

  Gina didn’t know what was worse – the knowledge that Ben was capable of something so sneaky and underhanded and wrong, or the tiny bubble of happiness she felt at knowing he and Rose weren’t really together. ‘You’ll have to tell her something,’ she said slowly. ‘Or are you planning on playing a long game here?’