Page 9 of The Payback Plan
Her commiserations were gentle but walloped him nonetheless. Since his father’s death two years ago, condolences had long dried up. It seemed the rest of the world had moved on – why hadn’t he?
Oliver hoped his tight smile wasn’t as pained as it felt. ‘Thank you.’ He gestured back down the stairs. ‘There’s a media room in the basement.’
He didn’t wait around to see if she was interested in a tour of that as well, he just hit the stairs and led the way down. He was conscious she was following though, a dazzling kaleidoscope of colour in his peripheral vision confirming her presence a few steps behind.
Hans Gruber’s face was still frozen on the screen when they entered. The TV took up half the wall and below it, flush with the plaster, a long, sleek, artificial fireplace aglow with the dance of orange LED flames kept the room toasty warm.
Outside it was Vladivostok. Inside it was Margaritaville.
In warmer climes, the doors situated behind a dark, remote-controlled blind, opened straight onto the beach but Oliver hadn’t opened them since the beginning of November.
The room was expensively furnished with three couches – one triple, two singles – grouped in front of the fireplace. Large, black bookshelves containing an impressive library of CDs, lined the walls either side. On top of the shelves sat his father’s awards, subtle ceiling downlights positioned to illuminate them just so.
Five Oliviers, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, two Tonys, one Oscar. And a partridge in a pear tree.
‘Aren’t you a month too late forDie Hard?’
Oliver dragged his gaze from the intimidating ranks of his father’s success. ‘What?’
‘It’s a Christmas movie,’ she said, once again regarding him like he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. ‘And you’re watching it in January.’
Oh hell no. She was one ofthem. ‘Just because a movie happens to be set during Christmas does not make it a Christmas movie.’
For a moment he thought he saw her lips twitch before they pulled into an irritated little moue. ‘It’s set on Christmas Eve. There’s a Christmas party going on. There’s a massive Christmas tree right there in the foyer of Nakatomi Plaza. It has Christmas music. His wife is calledHolly!’
‘Right. Which merely makes it… Christmas adjacent.’ Seriously, he shouldn’t need to explain this. ‘A classic Christmas movie has to have a certain vibe.’
She frowned. ‘Like what?’
‘Warmth, joy, hopefulness.Jesus.Peace, love, goodwill to all men. A Christmas message.’
‘I think “Don’t mess with John McClane on Christmas Eve” is a pretty clear message.’
‘Exactly. The levels of action and violence absolutely rule it out of the Christmas movie canon.’
She shot him an incredulous look. ‘Have you never watchedHome Alone?’
Oliver grimaced. She’d been in his home for ten minutes and he was already regretting it. He certainly didn’t want to have this argument with someone who didn’t appreciate the nuance of cinematic mores. ‘It looks like we’re going to have to agree to disagree.’
‘Okay.’ She shrugged and Oliver almost sighed out loud that she’d dropped it so easily. ‘I’ll tell you what else it is, though. It’s a romance.’
Had Oliver been consuming some kind of food or drink right now, he’d have probably choked to death.No. Nope. Abso-fucking-lutely no way. ‘Um, no. It’s anactionfilm.’
She sighed with an exaggerated kind of patience he imagined she used when catching Bunky feeding Flower rodent crack. ‘It’s a romance.’
‘He blows up the Nakatomi Plaza.’
‘Yeah, but he’s not doing it for shits and giggles, is he?’
‘No, he’s doing it because he’s a cop. To get the baddies. It’s instinct. And he’s that kind of guy.’
Another sigh. ‘Yes, you’re right, he is that kind of guy. But he’s not doing it for law enforcement or to save all those bearer bonds or for the Nakatomi organisation. He’s doing it for her. For hiswife.The stakes would be nowhere near as high for him if it was just random people. He’s doing it for the woman he loves.’ She crossed her arms as if resting her case. ‘Romance.’
Until a few minutes ago, Oliver would have disagreed vehemently that the film could be classified as a romance and he was still of that opinion. But Paige had definitely made him look at it from a different angle.
And, on top of everything else, that was seriously fucking maddening.
‘Let me guess,’ she said, ‘this is your favourite scene?’
