Gate Deadlock (4 page)

‘I’ll see you there.’ I said quickly and she
left me to join the others.

He came to me.

‘Shall we?’ he asked. I just nodded
and let him lead. I already knew he was sharing his office with
Harry. He opened the door and waited for me to go in first.

First thing he did was to turn on the air
conditioner. He had probably thought the heat had caused the red on
my cheeks.

‘Much better now.’ he said. ‘Please, Emma,
make yourself comfortable.’ he pointed to the black, leather sofa.
He sat right next to me. And it happened again. I was instantly
numb, helplessly overwhelmed by his presence.
Chemistry.
I thought.
That must
be it.
For the
first time I had come to realize the meaning of the word.
It felt as if
his whole body was
attracting mine in a weird, primitive way, while, at the same time,
the feeling of familiarity struck me again. For a brief moment I
saw myself touching him, his silk hair, his beautiful angel-like
face…
Pull yourself together
Emma
,
a warning voice was
shouting in my head.

He looked convincingly comfortable
next to me, which is something I could not say for myself. Could he
not have sensed the intensity of the atmosphere between us? His
deep blue, penetrating eyes were fixed on me, making me even more
uncomfortable.

I pretended to be looking around as if it was
the first time I had been in Harry’s office. That didn’t help at
all. When I started to think it could not get any worse, he broke
the ice first.

‘I hope you’re not angry at me.’ he said.

Angry? Why should I be angry at
him
?
He went on, as if he had read my
mind.

‘For not telling you last night the
reason for my presence here, I mean. I thought the timing was
…bad.’ Right now it did not help to be reminded of last night.

‘You know, there isn’t much to supervise. I’m
afraid it’s all been stuck up to bureaucracy. The file has remained
closed up to now.’ I tried to keep my voice calm.

He did not say anything. His eyes were still
fixed on my face as if he was trying to find out my true intentions
for what I had just said. I decided to be more honest as sooner or
later he would discover the truth. So I went on, in a more
confiding tone.

‘Still, we’re planning to start the excavation
next month, if things go well. Demetra, the supervising
archeologist, has been able to work out some of the problems. But
you know, we’re still keeping our fingers crossed.’

‘I see.’ he said finally, looking down. His
heavy black lashes were hiding the blue of his eyes.

‘Well, if this is the case, I want a copy
of the file on my desk
first
thing in the morning.’ he said, in a slightly authoritative
manner. Then his voice softened again.

‘If you don’t have a problem with this of
course.
’
he
added.

‘Of course not.’ I said, but my unwillingness
was apparent in my voice. The idea of having a stranger into my
dad’s notes for once more was not welcome. But he was not really a
stranger, was he? Somehow I felt I could trust him although I could
not explain why.

‘May I ask where you are planning to start
digging?
’
he
asked.

‘Point-X.’ I replied.
‘I’ll show you on the map.’ I turned to get my
backpack.

‘Emma, I know exactly where Point-X is.’ His
voice was suddenly cold. I was startled by his serious tone.
Besides, I would never have guessed he had spent time memorizing
the plans for the excavation.

He looked at me as if he was expecting me to ask
something. But I was already helpless. His face was so close to
mine that I could not stop myself from getting lost into his eyes
once more. Those so familiar eyes! I realized I was breathing
heavily.

He stood up and went to look outside the
window. As soon as the distance between us increased, I felt
released. I sensed there was something bothering him about what I
had said.
He’d better not try to change my
plans
,
I thought. Disagreeing with him
was the last thing I needed. I was sure I would not be able to
handle it, considering the effect he had over me.

He turned suddenly and I noticed his beautiful,
inexplicably familiar smile was back too.

‘Now, can you show me around? Harry’s not
coming until tomorrow and I haven’t had breakfast yet. So, unless
you condemn me to spend my morning with Rose and Dr De Marco, will
you please
join me?’

I was desperate for an excuse to run out of the
room, but, instead, I heard my voice as if it was someone
else’s.

‘Of course.’ Second thoughts came up
instantly.

‘You mean right now?’
I must be mental
, I thought.

‘Yes, shall we take my
car?
’
I hesitated for a
moment.

‘It’s settled then.’ he said, deciding for me.
‘Let’s go.’

He must have sensed I was about to be mesmerized
by his eyes again.

He was walking next to me
whistling a familiar tune, while I was careful to keep a safe
distance from him.
He certainly doesn’t
belong here
, I thought again. He held the passenger
door of an astounding silver Audi Q7 open for me, which was
something I had not been used to.
He sat
on the driver seat and started the car.

I tried to focus on the marvelous screen of the
car but, inevitably, I could smell his perfume, reminding me of
deep forest scents.

His stereo started playing, the same song
I had listened in my car a
couple of hours ago. I was
startled by his taste in music. He put on his sunglasses, smiling.
‘Now you lead the way, Emma.’ he said.

He followed my instructions
unquestioningly. I had decided to take him to one of the beach
cafés where it would be most unlikely to meet any of my friends at
this time of day. The girls would probably have hated me for this
and I didn’t even want to think what Mick and Tony would say.
However, I could think of someone I would like to see me now, next
to this man who looked more like a model than a university
tutor.
I’d really like to see the
expression on Colin’s face right now!
I smiled. It
surprised me to find Colin’s memory pleasurably distracting for the
first time.

We were already walking on the fresh lawn of the
garden of “Quasar” café.’ Soft jazz music was coming from
inside.

‘Where do you want to
sit?
’
I asked
him.

‘You choose.’ he answered, taking off his
sunglasses to take a better look of the place.

I picked a table in the back garden where
I knew it would not be so hot, as the shadow of the building
protected it from the hot rays of the sun. It would also keep us
away from the curious glances I had noticed the few customers cast
on us as we were coming in.
I could
imagine every woman in this café was fancying him.

I realized I was quite flattered
that he had invited me. Tutors, even Harry, usually went out with
their colleagues, not with students. Not to mention that men like
him would hang around in beach bars with models, not with
university students.

He came to sit next to me, our elbows
almost touching.
This is too
much
, I thought.
Colin, a
thought about Colin please
! But my mind suddenly
became blank.

As the teenage waitress approached, I
could not help smiling with the expression on her face as,
naturally, she too was captured by his looks.
She had
to repeat our order three times to make sure she had got it right.
And it was not that much difficult to comprehend.

‘French coffee and breakfast for two. Right.’
she said finally, as she turned for the bar. It was comforting to
find out again that I was not the only one who could not
concentrate when being next to him.

He noticed I was smiling. ‘You look in a much
better mood than before. I hope you’ll be more talkative too.’ he
remarked.

‘I’m sorry Dr Auburn if I gave you the wrong
impression.’ I apologized with a sheepish smile.

‘Christopher.’ He cut me. ‘After all, you
have already noticed I’m not old enough to be a tutor, haven’t
you?
’

‘Again, I’m awfully sorry’ I hesitated.
‘…Christopher.’ I said eventually. ‘I don’t know why I said
that.’

‘You were right, you know. I am too young. You
weren’t of course the only one to be surprised. Most people at the
School were surprised too. And they’d be more surprised if they
knew I refused their invitation to be here with you.’

His tone was suddenly
serious.
I realized there was more to this meeting
than I had originally thought.

‘Why? I mean, why did you choose to be
with me?
’
I asked looking at
the waitress’s unsteady hands as she was emptying the tray on our
table.

‘Well, I wanted to talk to you.’ He was helping
himself to the toasted bread as he said that.

‘About what?
’
I pretended this was the most natural
conversation ever, trying to ignore the fast beating of my heart as
I brought the cup of hot filter coffee to my lips. It was burning
hot. I’d started to act foolishly again. I put the cup back,
pretending nothing had happened, trying to ignore the pain from the
burn on my tongue.

He was looking at me, with his lips tight, as if
trying to hide a smile.

‘You see, I have a vested interest in you … and
this project of yours, Emma.’ he said, examining my reaction, not
missing the frustration on my face.

‘Think of it as returning your father a
favor.
’
he added.

He probably meant Daugh. There was no way he
could have meant my dad.

‘You know Daugh?
’
That was a surprise! How could Daugh be one
of his acquaintances?
The generation gap
among them must be huge,
I thought.

‘I’ve met your father. But let’s not talk about
that now.’

‘He’s never mentioned you.’ I
said, mystified.
But he changed the
subject.

‘There’s plenty to talk about, Emma. For
example, your presentation for the Athens conference. Are you ready
for it?’

My presentation? How did he know about it? He
had guessed my question, for he went on.

‘You see, I know a lot about you, believe
me. But for the time being, let’s leave it here. Let’s go back to
your paper. I’d like to help you with it. So, how about a meeting,
tomorrow at 11.00 sharp?
’

He had made it sound as the most natural thing
to say. I hesitated for a moment. I liked the idea of meeting him
again the next day.

‘We can do it, I guess.’ I said. ‘But what makes
you think I need your help?’

‘Well, don’t you?
’
he asked, taking a sip of his
coffee.

I hesitated for a moment, before I said, ‘I do.
It’s true. I need to turn it into a presentation format and
copy-paste some photos and videos. I’m not even sure which of the
videos to include.’

‘Say no more. It’s settled.’ He took
another, long sip. ‘So now tell me, what should I know about the
rest of the staff?
’
he asked
in a conspiratorial manner.

I saw his face full of anticipation, the face of
a child when planning to cheat in a game.

‘That will be entirely confidential
information, of course.
’
he
added in the same manner, making me laugh. I had already started to
feel more comfortable. Chatting kept me distracted, so I started
talking about the tutors and saw he was extremely interested in
every word I said, asking me questions which, as I realized later,
made me say more that I intended to.

‘I’m sorry. I got too carried away. You’re
really bad, you know. You should have stopped me.’

‘Well, I couldn’t. You were so
enlightening. By the way, you’re right. I am bad.
’
He was looking in his empty cup. His face
had become suddenly serious.

‘But I won’t give
you away. Th
is
, I can
promise.’ he added and I saw he was smiling again as he looked at
me, causing waves of a strange agitation in my chest.

He looked at his watch and I
instantly knew our meeting was about to end.

‘I have to get you back now.’ he said. ‘I’ve a
very important meeting in Athens in two hours from now and I really
should be going.’

He left me next to my car, outside
the university central building. Before reversing the car, he
rolled down his window. ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 11.00.’ I
heard him say. I thought that this sounded more like a date rather
than a tutorial, but it suited me fine.

The beach was very crowded on
that Monday afternoon. The smothering heat wave had made everyone
linger over by the sea for as long as they could. The sandy
seashore seemed endless on both sides and cluttered with umbrellas
in front of the beach road, which was lined with small storefronts
and restaurants.
To my fancy eyes, its image resembled
that of an impressionist painting, with a diversity of colors
coming from the randomly planted sun umbrellas the swimmers used to
protect themselves from the sun as soon as they came out of the
water. Among them, the rows of orderly straight lines of sun beds
and straw umbrellas in front of beach cafes. Children’s excited
voices filled the place up.