Counterpoints 2 (Counterpoints #2) Read online

  She kept looking around amazed, like it was impossible, like she needed to touch the glass tanks, to make sure it was real. They were in an aquarium.

  My favorite place back home.

  “It’s amazing” Isabella said.

  “Does it feel like home?” Christopher watched her walk around him in a circle.

  “It’s even better than the one in Rome”

  Isabella had never seen such a structure. The tunnel was surreal, it felt like she was inside the tank herself.

  “Happy birthday, signorina” he smiled to the side.

  “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this for me…” she shook her head and didn’t know what else to say.

  “I wanted to” he moved a little closer, daring to cross that invisible line he had overstepped on the airplane- the same line Isabella was trying really hard to defend, to keep him at arm’s length.

  “This place is my birthday present to you. A piece of home” he put his hands in his black jeans pocket and walked to stand by her side.

  He looked her way.

  It’s feels so much better than home, she looked down and said “Thank you”

  She looked back up at him, straight into his eyes and watched him smile to the side in that sexy way that was so Christopher- sly and confident.

  A sudden, screeching noise made Isabella turn away again, her attention back on the tank.

  In front of them three, then four, then five dolphins appeared. They swam around the tank, disappearing in the deepness of it.

  “I can’t believe this” Isabella said, her mouth open.

  She placed her hand on the glass tank and looked again carefully.

  The dolphins began to swim back and forth and nudged the see-through wall, each time they went by.

  “They are so beautiful” she placed both hands on the glass and felt it move.

  Christopher stood next to her, not making a sound, silently enjoying her excitement.

  “It’s really a present for me, thinking about it” Christopher said out of the blue.

  “How so?” she kept her eyes on the tank, as another dolphin went by and she giggled feeling the glass move again.

  “That gorgeous smile on your face… Priceless. Like a kid at Disneyland” he smirked and then dared to reach out and put her hair behind her neck. His fingers, brushing against her ear, gave Isabella the shivers.

  Why has my body, my heart forgiven him already?

  “I didn’t want you to miss this place. I figured today was the only day we could make it” he went on.

  “And we normally close at six pm” said a voice behind their backs.

  Isabella turned immediately and saw a tall man in his fifties approach them.

  He shook hands with Christopher and introduced himself as Ed, the manager of Toronto’s Aquarium. He explained how Christopher had called him up the other day and how he hadn’t been sure till last minute, that he could actually take her there.

  They were friends, so he authorized his entrance after closing hours.

  “You have plenty of time to walk around” Ed said “I’ll be your tour guide. Let me just go quickly back to my office, I am afraid I forgot my phone there. I’ll be right with you”

  Isabella waited for him to disappear down one of the corridors before speaking again.

  “How come you know everybody? Even the manager of Toronto’s Aquarium…” her eyes were wide.

  “I have a lot of connections” he smiled mischievously. “And I am very persuasive”

  “That you are. You convinced me to follow you after working hours” Isabella said and thought of their conversation on the phone back at the hotel.

  “I know you are mad at me. I know you want us to just work together, but there’s this place I’d like to take you to, for your birthday...If you’ll let me”

  Isabella recalled his words. What got her attention wasn’t the fact that he had something for her, for her birthday. It was the way he had said it. If you’ll let me.

  Christopher was trying really hard to win her trust back.

  And here I am, unable to say no to him. Unable to say no to his attempts to make amends, Isabella thought and then lied to herself for a moment.

  Maybe she was being nice and available to him to try and save their friendship- their professional relationship at least- after the break up.

  Hi, my name is Isabella. I am thirty-three today and I am in denial.

  She let out a sigh.

  “Okay, ready?” Ed said, reappearing behind them.

  Christopher looked at Isabella and nodded.

  “Perfect, we’ll start the tour by feeding the dolphins in the rehabilitation center and then I’ll leave you some time to wonder around on your own” Ed said.

  “Feed the dolphins?” Isabella smiled and gaped at the same time “Can we do that?”

  “Of course” Ed smiled back. “Follow me”

  And they walked slowly into the tunnel, in the bright, colorful maze that was the Deep sea.

  The wooden bench was hard and stiff. Isabella shifted a little, the solid, wide sticks had started to dig in her back.

  It was starting to get uncomfortable, to lay down like that, but the thought of getting up never crossed her mind. Isabella stayed right there, down on the bench next to Christopher, her eyes up on the glass ceiling – on the colored streams of fishes that swirled by.

  “Why are we here?” she asked him, after a while they were silent.

  “We are celebrating your birthday” Christopher answered, without hesitation.

  Isabella nodded and then tightened the grip on her clutch.

  “I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I don’t want you to think that we are okay. Because we are not. I mean we are, as friends and colleagues. This is just us trying to be friends…”

  “Do you kiss all your friends?” Christopher smirked, seeing an embarrassed smile spread across Isabella’s face.

  Isabella kept her eyes on the glass ceiling, while Christopher turned her way.

  “No” she laughed, a little nervous “Only the good looking, really pushy ones that lock me in a restroom”

  “Thanks…for the good looking one” Christopher chuckled.

  His phone beeped again, for the third time since they had set foot in the aquarium. He took it in his hands, only to switch it off and place it back in his jeans’ pocket, while he mumbled an apology under his breath.

  “You can answer that, if you want” Isabella kept her eyes on the tank, her mind thinking one thing and one thing only.

  At this time at night it can only be a booty call.

  Even during dinner, Isabella had noticed him checking his phone a lot.

  “It can wait” he said, his voice emotionless.

  “It could be one of your girlfriends trying to get a hold of you” she eyed him to the side.

  “Girlfriends?” he asked.

  “Yes, girlfriends” Isabella turned a little towards him, her face serious.

  Maybe Christopher didn’t like the word girlfriend.

  Maybe he had other ways of calling his women. Isabella could think of a few words herself, but she had settled for the nicer one, the nicer one being ‘girlfriends’. Through gritted teeth.

  Quite frankly, Isabella couldn’t have cared less to use the right word.

  All she wanted was to let him know she was still pissed.

  And wondering who he was on the phone with all evening.

  “I don’t have girlfriends, Isabella. You know that already” he told her, his face serious too now, his eyes searching her face.

  “Yeah, you do” she insisted.

  “Why would I be here with you, if I did?” he asked and that did it, those words did it.

  They left Isabella speechless and unable to explain to herself why, why was Christopher bothering so much with her.

  In a little over three months he had seduced her, won her over, slept with her and whatever it was he had been after all along. Why was h
e still there?

  “It’s Alfred. He’s on to me about something. He’s trying to help me deal with an issue I have come across” Christopher informed her. “He doesn’t give up, he’s tough”

  Isabella made a frustrated sound “Tough, yes. More like impossible to reason with” then she turned back to the tank, only to eye him to the side again a moment later. “Are you okay?”

  It hadn’t occurred to her that something had been bothering Christopher.

  All the time they had spent together, she hadn’t noticed anything.

  “It’s all good, Bresciani” he tried to minimize, his face blank.

  The tunnel went silent, the two of them too busy dealing with their own thoughts.

  It was only a few instants later, when a big ray fish floated above their heads – sending the smaller fishes twirling around- that Isabella breathed in deep, mesmerized by the beauty of the animal. For a second, its shade covered their faces completely and it was right after that, that Isabella noticed the shadow hadn’t left Christopher’s face. It was still there.

  Something was bothering him, she could see it in his eyes.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened today?” Isabella asked and cleared her throat a little, her eyes still looking up.

  She could tell Christopher had turned to look at her, only a small, wooden backrest separated them.

  “I made too many mistakes” he shook his head.

  Isabella eyed him.

  “You want to tell me about it?”

  “There is not much to say. I wasn’t focusing enough on track” his voice trailed off and Isabella bit her lip.

  Right, she wasn’t supposed to be interested. They weren’t seeing each other anymore, they weren’t dating – never technically were- but still Isabella couldn’t hide the fact she was more than interested.

  She had never seen him so disconnected from the race and his car like that weekend. Not since the championship had started, anyway.

  “I don’t want to annoy you like the journalists do, but If you need me or Hillary, you know we are here for you, right?”

  “I know. You are here with me right now, off the clock” he grinned and Isabella made a face.

  “I am here only for the birthday surprise, remember?” she frowned and then added “Thank you for taking me here. This place is fantastic. I can’t believe I even fed the dolphins. Surreal”

  “I am glad you like your present” he told her.

  “Like it? This place is pure magic. It makes me feel at peace. Doesn’t it make you feel at peace?” she asked and made the mistake of looking his way.

  Peace? Christopher thought.

  Of all the things he could feel lying there beside her, he felt anything but at peace. His stomach tightened, as he fought the urge to reach out and touch her.

  Christopher’s deep green eyes dug into Isabella’s, his stare so intense she looked away.

  Small, thin backrest, she reminded herself. Nothing much to prevent her from making the mistake of kissing him again.

  Isabella closed her eyes for a moment. No, that wasn’t going to happen again.

  They were just reconnecting.

  As friends, colleagues, friends. She tried to convince herself, over and over again.

  “We better go back to the hotel, qualifying session for the race is tomorrow” she said breaking the silence.

  It was almost eleven o’clock at night and she knew Christopher’s training routine by heart. He was going to get up at eight and exercise before heading out to the track for the qualifying session.

  “Just another five minutes” he said and pointed at the line of blue fishes that danced around a pink, orange anemone. “Check those guys out, look how they go around in circles”

  Circles, Isabella tried out the word in her head.

  Wasn’t that exactly what the two of them were doing? Going around in circles?

  As her eyes followed the blue fishes around the tunnel, she felt his fingers brush gently against hers.

  Chapter 7

  He nearly fooled me, Isabella thought, looking at Christopher.

  He was sitting with the rest of drivers at the press conference after the qualifying session- sipping his water casually, cap off and his hair a total mess as usual. His face was the perfect portrait of calmness and self-control.

  Maybe from the outside, Christopher looked unbothered, his self-esteem unscathed but Isabella knew he was anything but okay.

  In that dark blue and green race car of his, Christopher was a perfectionist and he couldn’t have possibly been satisfied with the result.

  It is just what he wants the press to believe, Isabella thought, admiring Christopher’s shield and how he managed all the outside, unwanted attention.

  Isabella checked her watch. The press conference seemed to go on forever.

  Twenty minutes in and so far questions had been mostly for Christopher, for MB and for Chiellini.

  Despite a slow first lap, Noah had finished his last round in first position. He was going to start ahead in tomorrow’s race, followed by the two Chiellini cars.

  “How does it feel to be the fastest man on track today?” a journalist asked Noah.

  He simply smiled and answered without the usual bored grudge on his face.

  Two smiles in one day, watch out for the rain tomorrow guys, Isabella thought and stiffened a giggle, thinking what Christopher might have said, if he had heard her thoughts.

  Sarcasm is sexy on you, Bresciani.

  She bit her lip.

  Maybe last night was just a dream.

  It had been so surreal, the sneaking out of the hotel at night, getting in a car with Christopher- after all the emotional work she had done on herself, to keep him at a safe distance- walking in the Aquarium during closing hours, blindfolded and hand in hand.

  Yes, it must have been a dream.

  Christopher’s voice sounded in the small, crowded room and it snapped Isabella back to reality, back to the press conference.

  “Fastest man on track, today. Don’t get used to it” Christopher teased and then patted Noah’s back.

  The constant buzz in the room was replaced by laughter.

  Noah gave Christopher a dirty look and then smiled to the side.

  “You are going to start in the back tomorrow, good luck with that”

  More laughter in the room, as Christopher winked at Noah and told him to look closely in his rearview mirrors, because he was coming for him.

  Isabella took a picture, zooming in on all the drivers, and checked the clock again. It was almost over.

  “What happened during the sessions, Christopher? Did the car have any problems?” one of the journalists asked.

  All eyes were on Christopher, as silence filled the conference room.

  For the first time that season, one of the MB cars had had a little hitch during the qualifying session. So far that weekend, Christopher had struggled to find his pace and had ultimately managed to conquer the eleventh position.

  His Sunday race was going to be completely uphill.

  “I haven’t had time to speak to my team about it, but I don’t think there was anything wrong with the car. I just lost some time due to traffic in the last sector and the tarmac was a little slippery. My lap wasn’t perfect” he shrugged and sipped his water.

  Good, professional, answered the question without answering the question, Isabella nodded.

  “We have two interviews scheduled with the local TV network, right outside the new MB merchandize shop. Then autograph session with fans in the store, ends early of course. Let’s make sure we cover it all with the blog posts. Let’s do like a behind the scene report and make sure we send it to Alfred, after we put it online. He’s in New York, so he’ll check it immediately. Let’s show him how good we are” Hillary whispered in Isabella’s ear and then winked.

  All of a sudden the room filled with chatter, everyone had gotten up from their seats.

  Time was up, the conference w
as over and Isabella let out a deep breath, unaware she had been holding it in all along.

  “Can you please take Christopher to the store opening in…” Hillary checked her watch “an hour from now?” she asked “I need a word with Noah”

  “Is everything okay?” Isabella wondered.

  Of course, Isabella knew everything was not okay.

  It was about yesterday’s interview, Hillary told her. It was about what Noah had said to the journalists. It was about making himself look bad, making MB team look bad.

  “And he just told me he doesn’t want to give anymore interviews, he doesn’t want to carry out his sponsor duties. He signed contracts with these companies. All of this will have an impact on our image, too. I need to talk him through a few things, before Mr. Johnson snaps”

  Isabella nodded and secretly wished her boss good luck.

  She knew exactly how Noah felt about sponsors and his duties to them. It wasn’t exactly a secret.

  A while back, Noah had told Isabella that he didn’t give a damn about sponsors and all the events he had to take part to, because of contracts. All he wanted to do was race.

  He was rich enough now, he didn’t need any funding, so he had concluded. But Isabella knew better than that.

  Auto racing was all about fast cars and money.

  And half naked women pirouetting around the drivers, Isabella frowned.

  The money that came from sponsors was vital for both the development of the cars and for the visibility of the sport itself.

  And the drivers are part of the sport and benefit from it, too.

  Isabella shook her head, while clicking on the send button on her laptop.

  Done, posted.

  Isabella’s eyes quickly scanned the blog for recent comments of the fans and then stood up with the rest of the people in the room.

  She walked through the crowd of journalists, dodging chairs and technical equipment on the floor, until she spotted Christopher at the far back of the room, surrounded by his usual little group of people. Everyone wanted a piece of him, a word from him, a laugh with him.

  He’s just so charismatic.

  He laughed at some point and the dimples on the sides of his cheeks appeared, but it was only when he caught sight of Isabella, that his face seemed to light up with an honest smile.