Page 33 of Winter With You

‘Are you nervous?’ Luca asked, his hand smoothing over a section of the outfit near her right hip.

‘No, God, don’t be ridiculous. It’s an interview. It’s not world peace negotiations.’

‘Then… why are you shaking?’

‘I’m not,’ she bit back fast.

But it was already beginning, the start of an avalanche she couldn’t seem to control. The internal trembling was bleeding out…

‘OK,’ Luca said. ‘Lean on me.’

‘What?’ she said through shaking lips.

He took both of her hands in his and then placed them on his shoulders. ‘Now lean.’

‘What?’

‘Give me your weight. I can take it.’

She shook her head. ‘You’re the stylist, not my therapist.’

‘It’s good you have one. But, your therapist isn’t here and I am. And, unless you want everyone in the audience and the millions watching at home seeing you nervous then let it go. If only for a while.’

‘This is stupid,’ Gabriella said, shaking her head again.

‘This is all you’ve got. Now, I’m gonna take a few steps back and you’re going to lean and I’m going to take the weight.’

‘Then what? I’m cured?’

He smiled. ‘I’m just the stylist, remember? But you have around fourteen minutes so…’ He took one step back, then another and Gabriella was left with little choice but to clutch his broad shoulders and let her arms stretch as her body tilted forwards in almost a lean of faith.

‘Just breathe, OK?’ he said softly.

‘If I don’t breathe and I die and I can’t go and sit next to Zeeta Friedmann will you go on in my place and talk about the book?’

‘Yes.’

She snorted a laugh.

‘What’s funny?’

‘You wouldn’t take my place out there.’

‘I wouldn’t want to take your place out there. But, if you needed me to then I absolutely would.’

She took a slow breath, feeling it fill her chest. ‘Who are you? And don’t say my stylist.’

‘Who am I?’ he asked. ‘Well, I’m the guy who wants you to go out there tonight and show the kind of spirit that threw a water bottle at the back of Benoit Torres’s head. And I’m the guy who knows you’re not comfortable with what you’re wearing right now, but we are going to work on that with the styles I’m going to create for your other engagements here.’ He took a breath. ‘But, as well as that, I am also the guy who has to go to a family birthday meal after this show and believe me when I tell you, my family kinda make the Beckhams look normal. So, we all have our burdens to bear.’

Before she realised it, it felt like she was perfectly poised in this odd ab workout of a position, half planking, half relying on someone to keep her from hitting the ground.

‘Whose birthday?’

‘What?’

‘The party. Whose birthday is it?’

‘Oh, it’s my mom’s.’