‘The sitting room’s through there. I’ll just be a minute.’ She tried not to be affected by the thought of three pairs of eyes following her progress up the stairs towards the bedroom, but she was trembling when she shut the door behind her and hurriedly grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe. A pair of faded jeans and a long-sleeved black tee shirt that had faded through numerous washes.
Her hair was still a wet mess but, rather than waste time blow-drying it, she did what she sometimes did on a weekend to get it out of the way. She braided it into two plaits that just about reached her shoulders.
Now she looked about sixteen, but frankly she didn’t care. How dared he waltz into her house without calling her beforehand to find out whether he was welcome?
Because he was shrewd enough to guess the response, a little voice said.
She slipped on some bedroom slippers, some garish black and gold pointy-tipped things that looked as though they would have been better suited to life in a Middle Eastern harem, which had been one of her birthday presents from her sister four months previously.
The three unwanted visitors were in the sitting room, although, when Tessa walked in, it was apparent that only one of them was at ease. Curtis had made himself at home in one of the comfy chairs while the other two were perched in rigid discomfort at opposite ends of the sofa.
‘Sorry to barge in on you like this,’ he said pleasantly.
‘You didn’t have to.’ Tessa sat down, uneasy in her own house, which was ridiculous. ‘You could have telephoned first.’ She turned to Anna, caught her eye and smiled. ‘How are you, Anna? Recovering from your first week at work?’
Anna made a valiant attempt to smile back but her eyes slid across to her father and the corners of her mouth turned down. It was a pout full of sulkiness. And, Tessa noted, she was back to wearing her neat, background clothes. A long-sleeved shift dress in brown, dark tights and flat brown shoes with a distinctive and recognisable thin gold designer band at the top.
‘I would have if I had had the opportunity, but coming here only became an option on the drive over. Didn’t it, Anna?’
‘I just don’t want to go to the theatre this evening,’ Anna said stiffly, ‘and I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal of it.’
Tessa wondered what this minor domestic tiff had to do with her, but she refrained from saying anything. Out of the corner of her eye, the vision in red vibrated in silence on the sofa, her body language screaming discomfort.
Curtis must have read her mind because he finally introduced the woman, Susie, his date. His attention was obviously not on her, though, because he immediately reverted to his daughter, frowning as he looked at her. ‘Anna insisted on the way over that we come here,’ Curtis said patiently. She couldn’t have imagined him ever getting cross with his daughter, with whom he was effusively affectionate, but he was cross now. ‘She threw a tantrum, in fact.’#p#分页标题#e#
‘I did not throw a tantrum, Dad! You just won’t listen to me!’ Tears thickened her voice and Tessa wanted to groan in dismay. ‘You said that the two of us would be going out!’
So that was it. Poor Susie, the innocent participant in this small family drama. The girl looked close to tears herself and, having resolved to get rid of her guests as quickly as possible, Tessa now heard herself asking whether they wanted anything to drink. She could only offer wine in terms of alcohol.
‘I’ll come with you!’ Anna sprang to her feet and disappeared out of the sitting room before her father could protest, and protest he most certainly was about to, judging from the expression on his face.
‘I’m tired of it!’ was the first thing Anna said as soon as Tessa was in the kitchen. She plonked herself down on a chair and glumly propped her chin in her hand. ‘He promised we’d go out for a night, just the two of us, and then, lo and behold, the next thing I hear is the doorbell and there’s Barbie-doll Susie on the doorstep!’
Tessa rested three wineglasses on the counter and turned round to face Anna. She, uncharitably, thought that the description was very accurate. In her head she had idly wondered what sort of women Curtis was attracted to. In the flesh, she realised that she hadn’t been very far from the predictable truth. Glossy packaging without much of an intellect inside. She wondered whether his daily life was so full of creativity and challenge that beautiful bimbos were restful, a panacea at the end of a long working day.
She reminded herself sternly that, one way or another, speculation like that went nowhere because his private life was no concern of hers.