Five night stand, p.7
Five Night Stand, page 7
I leaned forward with my gloved hands on my knees. “Your dad must be really proud of you for following in his footsteps.”
The smile melted off CJ’s face. “He was.”
I winced. “Was?”
He nodded. “He passed away a few years ago. Heart attack.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Just one of those things.”
He might have attempted to sound casual, but I could tell from the set of his shoulders, and the look in his eye, that he was putting a brave face on. “What about your mum?”
CJ shifted his position slightly. “Still very much alive and kicking. She remarried a couple of years ago. He’s a nice guy. She still misses my dad, but they’re happy together. I can’t begrudge her moving on.”
“You don’t spend Christmas with her?” It was a fairly stupid question, given that we were a day away from Christmas and CJ had never given any indication that he’d have been leaving if it wasn’t for the avalanche.
“Sometimes, but not this year. I’d given them my blessing to go on a round-the-world cruise. It started in September, and they don’t finish until February. I’m meant to be meeting up with them in a few weeks in Australia. We’ll exchange presents then.”
“Your mum must be proud of you.”
He gave a little chuckle. “I wouldn’t exactly say proud. She’d still prefer me to be a gymnast. It’s more like she tolerates my job. She still thinks I’m weird.”
“Well…” I allowed myself a little smile. “As you’ve got your crotch buried in the snow in the middle of December, she might have a point.” CJ accepted my point gracefully with a slight smile. “What about your mum? You’ve mentioned your dad, but not her.”
“Same story as your dad. Well, not the same, but similar. She died a few years back. Car crash rather than a heart attack, though.
He grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
I accepted his condolences with a nod, and then I changed the subject.
“How does it work anyway, your job?”
“How does it work?”
“Yeah, who do you work for?”
He made an adjustment on his camera before responding. “I’m freelance. Most of us are.”
“So how do you make money?”
“By taking good enough photos to sell. Not necessarily to magazines. There are other places, like craft fairs, or bloggers. The big money is in the magazines, though, and I’m not just talking National Geographic. But selling to magazines is rare. I’ve sold like three or four that way.” He gave his camera a stroke. “That’s why I’m so paranoid about leaving this baby alone. The dream is to upgrade to an EOS R5 at some point, but that’s just a pipedream at the moment, given it’ll set me back about four grand.”
I let out a low whistle. “Expensive kit. Does the camera really make that much of a difference?”
The look CJ cast back over his shoulder was laden with disbelief. “Please tell me you didn’t just ask that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know anything about cameras. Enlighten me.”
CJ gave a rueful shake of his head. “The EOS R5 is like the perfect camera. Fast and reliable AF system. Full frame 30.4-megapixel sensor. Apparently, it can be prone to overheating during video, but seeing as I won’t be using it for that, it won’t affect me.”
I blinked at him. “Now, can you tell me in words I can understand. I mean… I got the video bit, but AF system meant nothing to me.”
“Autofocus.” CJ paused for a moment and held up his hand as he peered through the undergrowth. I went still, CJ having already given me the talk about not making a sound if any wildlife came close. After a moment, he shook his head. “False alarm.” He let out a long sigh. “Where was I? Oh yeah, trying to educate you on the beauty of a camera.” He said it with a smile on his face. “Let me guess, you’re one of those people that think all you do is point it in the right direction.”
“Something like that.”
“If I get too technical and start talking about exposure compensation, you’ll probably fall asleep.”
I nodded. “Probably. Save that for tonight as a bedtime story.”
CJ raised an eyebrow. “Kinky. And I have to say, I have so many better ways of lulling you to sleep.”
I didn’t doubt that for one minute. The last couple of nights already had me excited for what tonight might bring. We lapsed into silence once more until CJ cleared his throat. “So… tell me more about you, Nathan…” He paused. “I don’t even know your last name.”
“Nicholls.”
He rolled onto his back and then sat up, his eyes narrowed. “What’s your middle name?”
I had no idea why he was looking at me like that, but I supplied the information anyway. After all, it wasn’t like it was a secret. “Paul.”
“Nathan Paul Nicholls.” He said the words slowly as if he was trying them on for size. “Or NP. Like the author, NP Nicholls?”
I nodded.
CJ started to laugh. “You’ve got to be shitting me.” He scrambled to his feet and came to sit on the log next to me.
I gestured at the indentation he’d left in the snow, as well as the camera he’d abandoned. “What about your photos? What about the wildlife?”
“Fuck the wildlife!” CJ’s eyes were shining as he turned to face me. “I’m such a big fan of yours. I loved your first three books.”
“That’s”—I stared at my gloved hands for a moment to give myself time to process the words coming out of CJ’s mouth, words I hadn’t expected to hear—“a little weird.”
“Isn’t it just?” CJ’s smile grew wider. “I can’t believe I propositioned one of my favorite authors without knowing who you were. That’s such a mind-blowing coincidence. Oh, and just in case you’re worried, it is a coincidence. I really didn’t know it was you. I’m not going to tie you to a bed and hobble you with a hammer so that you can’t leave, a la Stephen King’s Kathy Bates. Well…” He tipped his head to one side, his lips twitching. “I can’t say I’m exactly averse to the tying you to a bed part, but I don’t like blood, and I prefer my men to give full consent, so you’re safe on the rest.”
“Good to know.” I wasn’t really sure how I was supposed to handle CJ turning into a fan. I’d come into contact with fans at book signings before, but I’d never slept with any of those people either before or after.
“I’m freaking you out.”
I lifted my head to meet CJ’s gaze, giving an apologetic shrug. “A little.”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t look sorry. He looked incredibly amused by the whole thing. He shuffled a little closer to me on the log. “So, when’s book four out?”
I let out a gusty sigh, my breath fogging in the cold air. “It’s not. That’s the one that’s apparently a load of crap.”
“Oh.” The single word hung between us. I risked a quick glance at CJ to see him looking thoughtful. “Do you want another opinion?”
“On my book?”
“No, on the real culprit behind global warming.” He flashed me a grin. “Yes, on your book. I could tell you what I think.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I promise to be one hundred percent honest.”
I stared at him. “I don’t know.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “No worries. I can wait until you’ve sorted it out and it’s published.” He leaned forward in a conspiratorial way. “Maybe I can convince the author to give me a signed copy.” Before I could answer, he sat up straighter with a slightly pained expression on his face. “I hate to admit you were right, but I think I might need a hot shower. Or at least a generator-powered tepid one.” He gestured at my notebook. “Are you done?”
I closed it before he could see that the pages were just as empty as when we’d arrived a couple of hours earlier. “Yeah, I’m done.”
Chapter Eight
CJ smirked, as after having spent the last five minutes queueing the manuscript up, I barred the path to my laptop so he couldn’t get to it. “Nathan, you do realize I actually have to be able to see the screen to read it, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
He raised an eyebrow when I didn’t move aside. For a moment, we just stared at each other. Eventually, CJ nodded slowly. “Okay… I do get it, honest.” He crossed to the other side of the cabin to pick up his camera, returning to stand in front of me and hold it out. “Here.”
I stared at the camera. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
His slight sigh said it should have been obvious. “I don’t like people looking at my photographs.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Because, there’s some really bad photographs there. Ones where the light is all wrong, or the focus was slightly off. Ones that make me look like I don’t know what I’m doing. I normally delete them, but I haven’t been through them in a while, so I’m sure there’s some absolute horrors there.”
I pondered what he’d said for a moment. “I doubt I’d be able to tell.”
CJ smiled. “Exactly. But it’s the same thing, isn’t it? That unwillingness to let someone see your work in its raw state.”
“I’m not sure it is the same thing.” When CJ stayed silent, I sought to explain. “It’s not like someone has told you that your photos are rubbish recently.”
CJ snorted. “Maybe not recently, but I’ve definitely been there. Put it this way”—he held out the camera again—“for the good of my own ego, I’ve learned to be really careful who I show my photos to.”
I curled my fingers around the camera, the casing cold against my fingertips. Turning it around, I stared at all the buttons. “How do I…?”
CJ clicked a button to bring up a menu. Scrolling down, he pressed the same button again, the screen filling with multiple folder icons, some with names, others only labeled with a date. “There you go. Knock yourself out. Now, let me at your book.”
Still feeling strangely vulnerable, I stepped to one side, retreating to the bed with the camera as CJ sat down at the desk. He gestured to the notepad I left there in case I needed to scribble something down. “Mind if I use this?”
“You’re going to make notes?”
He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “If I think of anything that might be useful, yes.”
I wasn’t sure whether that made it better or worse.
CJ rested a hand on his chin. “By the way, I’ve booked a session in the hot springs later.”
“Okay.” I positioned myself cross-legged on the bed with the camera resting in front of me.
“You’ll come, right?”
I looked up to find CJ’s gaze on me. Given that I’d virtually superglued myself to him, I figured it had already been a given. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Satisfied, CJ turned back to face my laptop, his fingers curling around the computer mouse I always traveled with. I watched him for a few minutes, doing my best to make it look like I was doing no such thing and ready to immediately avert my gaze if he looked my way. His face gave nothing away as he started reading and eventually—preferably before my scrutiny came across as decidedly weird—I had to concede defeat and turn my attention to the camera.
I started with the most recent folder, the screen filling with all the photos that CJ had taken that day. There weren’t that many, the wildlife having been somewhat shy apart from a few birds, but what he had taken looked good to me. From there, I worked my way backwards, smiling as a picture of a skunk’s tail from the previous day filled the screen.
“What are you smiling at?”
I jerked my head up to find CJ regarding me with curiosity. How long had he been watching me? “I just found the skunk’s tail.”
“And that’s funny because?”
I bit my lip. “Because… when you described it, I thought you meant you had the whole tail, but really”—I tilted the camera to get a better look—“you only got the tip of it. I might not even have known it was a skunk if you hadn’t told me.”
CJ lifted his chin in a stubborn gesture. “You do realize that animals move?”
I smiled. “Shame you can’t tie them down.”
His lips twitched. “I’m not sure the National Geographic have quite reached the stage where they’re ready for animal bondage.”
“Probably not.” I lowered my gaze back to the photo. “I’m guessing that would be one for the delete pile.”
CJ gave a nod. “Definitely. I couldn’t even give that one away, never mind sell it.”
“I don’t know.” I tipped the camera again to look at it from a slightly different angle. “It has a certain charm. Stick a clever title on it and you might have something.”
“Like what? Go on. You’re the writer.”
I thought about it for a moment. “The one that got away.” I pulled a face. That wasn’t that great. “Guess the black and white animal. Is it a skunk or a zebra?”
CJ smirked. “Not many zebras around here.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Anything else?”
I thought for a moment. “Skunks don’t pose for photographs. Who knew?”
CJ rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to the computer screen, that same ball of anxiety building in my chest once more. There I was winding him up about his photographs while he had months of my work in front of him. “Sorry.”
He glanced back up, blue eyes meeting mine. “For what?”
I gestured at the camera. “Taking the piss. It’s not fair. Just so you know, if you decide to do it back, I’ll probably cry.”
He studied me for a moment. “You don’t need to worry. I’m not going to do that. I know how sensitive you are about this book.” He winced. “Sensitive isn’t the right word. I should have—”
I cut him off. “It’s fine. I am sensitive about it. I can admit that. I even thought about just deleting the whole thing the other day.”
The look of horror on CJ’s face was almost comical. “For God’s sake, don’t do that. It’s…” He leaned in to peer more closely at the screen. “Three hundred and fifty pages.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter how many pages it is if they’re all crap.”
“They’re not crap.”
“No?”
He gave me an amused look, my fishing for compliments only too obvious. “I’m only on chapter three. Someone should shut up and let me read.”
I shut up. If I was prepared to accept his feedback, then I needed to give him the chance to actually come up with it without interruption.
Thirty minutes later, my phone rang, both CJ and I jumping as my ring tone shattered the silence. It was easy to forget that people still existed outside the confines of this hotel. I fumbled for my phone, Lloyd’s name flashing up on the screen. If it had been anyone else, I might have ignored the call, but I’d never hear the end of it if I did that to Lloyd. And no doubt he’d just keep calling until I did answer it. I answered the call before bringing the phone to my ear. “Hey!”
“There he is!”
I smiled at my friend’s inability to start a conversation like a normal human being. No simple hello for Lloyd. “Answering my own phone. Yeah, funny that. What can I do for you?” Some sixth sense had me looking up. I caught CJ averting his gaze, a clear indication that he’d been looking over but didn’t want me to know that.
“Do for me? It’s Christmas Eve. I just phoned to wish you a merry Christmas. I figured you’d be too busy to talk to me tomorrow. How’s your dad?”
I sighed. “I wouldn’t know.”
“What do you mean?” Lloyd’s confusion was all too evident.
“I’m still at the hotel. There was an avalanche, and the road out of here is blocked. They don’t know how long it’s going to take to clear it, but even if they clear it tonight, I’m not going to drive there on Christmas Day.” I cast a quick glance at CJ as I said that. Either he’d stopped listening, or he was doing a good job of pretending he had.
“Jesus! That sucks, Nathan. I can’t believe you’re going to be stuck there all on your own at Christmas. And I know you. That probably means you’ll end up working all day tomorrow. But I guess there’s not a lot else to do.” Lloyd let out a gusty sigh that said he was experiencing my imagined pain.
I lowered my voice. “I’m not on my own.”
“What? I can hardly hear you. You’ve gone really faint.”
I grimaced. “I said…” CJ’s attention was still fixed on the screen. I clambered off the bed and reached for my coat, the phone still pressed to my ear. “Give me a minute.”
Putting the phone down, I struggled into my coat, CJ lifting his head to pin me with a searching stare. “I can leave if you need me to?”
I shook my head, waving a hand at my laptop. “No, you keep reading. I could do with some fresh air anyway.”
CJ’s gaze drifted to my phone with a question in his eyes, but he didn’t ask it, instead simply giving me a nod. I fastened my coat and let myself out of the cabin, taking a few steps down the path before I brought the phone back to my ear. It was snowing, but it wasn’t particularly heavy. “Okay.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“A guy.”
“A guy?” Lloyd couldn’t have sounded more surprised if I’d announced that I’d bumped into Prince Harry in America, and it was him I’d been speaking to.
“Yeah, a guy.”
“In your cabin?”
“Yes.”
