Christmas at Tiffany's by Swan Karen

Author:Swan, Karen [Swan, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781447209089
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers UK
Published: 2011-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

‘I don’t know what you see in him.’

‘You mean, apart from culinary brilliance?’

‘He has all the charm of a table leg.’

Cassie smiled as Anouk exhaled delicate puffs of smoke between two perfectly plumped lips. It was fair to say that Claude had been underwhelmed when Anouk – her interest piqued by Cassie’s fast-growing obsession – had accompanied her to the kitchen that morning. Claude had not given her so much as a nod, and Anouk, four hours later, was still sulking.

Cassie took another sip of her espresso – she hadn’t found anything to replace Tea & Sympathy here, and in the absence of her PG Tips she was becoming a hardcore coffee aficionado – and watched the traffic squeal and jerk around the square. She had just done her third day on the course. It was supposed to have been daily classes for a week, but her day job meant that was impossible, so Claude had completed the course with the rest of the group, and was now instructing her one-on-one every Saturday. Henry’s favours seemed to stretch very far with people.

Today, they’d done a fig and almond tart sprinkled with pistachios, and Claude had revealed to her his secret of bringing the butter mixture for the pastry to the boil in the oven. She sighed contentedly at the fresh memory, driving Anouk even deeper into her black mood.

Cassie watched her as she took a deep, jittery drag on her cigarette. Her friend seemed nervy and on edge. She had been working late in the studio recently and going straight to bed when she came in, and Cassie noticed for the first time that she had black circles under her eyes – a previously unthinkable sign of self-neglect for someone who took longer to wash her face than change a wheel. And now she was interpreting Claude’s customary indifference, which he seemed to direct at any living being, as a snub to her desirability. She wasn’t usually fragile.

‘Have you and Pierre had a fight?’ she asked quietly.

‘Non,’ she replied defensively. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘You seem unhappy.’

‘Not unhappy. Just busy.’ She shook her head and her hair came to a caressing sweep under her cheekbones. She rubbed her temple lightly with her free hand. ‘I am having a problem with my diamond supplier, and Katrina . . . She’s not used to waiting for anything.’

‘I can imagine,’ Cassie replied sympathetically.

‘She wants nine pieces shipped out by the end of next week.’

‘I’m sure.’

‘It’s completely unreasonable.’

‘It is.’

She took a final suck on the cigarette before grinding it out in the saucer. ‘He thinks I can drop everything at the drop of a hat, just like that. Like I don’t have other things in my life.’

Cassie paused for a moment. ‘He?’

‘What?’

‘You said, “He thinks I can drop everything” . . .’

Anouk looked at her. ‘Did I?’ She stared back down at the ash in the saucer. ‘I meant “she”. I meant Katrina.’

Cassie sighed and put a hand over her friend’s. ‘Wanna talk about it?’

‘I told you, there’s nothing to talk about.

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