Page 126 of Outback Secrets

‘Why’s that?’ Henri asked.

Janai grinned. ‘I take it you haven’t seen Campbell yet?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Oh, you’d know if you saw him,’ added Hannah with a smirk. ‘Let’s just say I didn’t know they made priests like that!’

She and Janai giggled like a couple of schoolgirls.

‘He’s not a priest, he’s a pastor,’ Andrew grumbled, which made Henri very, very curious to meet this new guy.

‘Where’s Matilda and James?’

‘I’m sure they’ll be here soon, Mum,’ Callum said as he bounced a squirming Joe in his arms, ‘but maybe we should go inside and sit down? We can save them some seats.’

All agreed that was a good idea. It was still warm, and although Henri guessed inside might not be any cooler with all these people, she already needed to rest her ankle.

They had to stop every few seconds to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to someone so it took them a while to get seated—the church was jam-packed like a tin of sardines—but they managed to get four pews together, saving space for Tilley, James and Macy. They parked Henri’s crutches along the floor in front of their pew so they didn’t get in the way. She’d stopped using them around the house the last few days but didn’t want to take any risks at the eleventh hour.

She used the paper order of service she’d been given when they entered to fan her face as she watched the choir—they were now singing Paul Kelly’s ‘How To Make Gravy’, of all songs—and waited for the service to start.

Tilley, James and Macy rushed down the aisle just as the music faded.

If looks could kill, the one their mum gave them as they slipped into the pew beside her would have been the end of them. ‘Where on earth have you been?’ she hissed, her cheeks flaming red.

‘Sorry,’ Tilley panted. ‘There was a late delivery. Rex’s doing, I guess. Trestle tables for the hall. We’d just closed up the shop, so thought it was easier to get the truck driver to drop them—’

She held up a hand. ‘Shh. You’re here now, that’s all that matters.’

A tall blond man, who looked as though he spent more time in the gym than he did praying, stepped up to the pulpit. Henri had to concede her sisters-in-law were right—he was rather hot, in a polished, Scandinavian kind of way.

‘Welcome, everyone, to our Christmas Eve service,’ said Campbell, his voice booming throughout the church.

Good-looking or not, she could just tell from the way he spoke that he liked the sound of his own voice and suspected this was going to be a long night.

She sighed and flapped her program near her face again, then stopped and stared down at her hand. Although the bandaid was long gone, there was still a bit of a red lump on her index finger from the splinter she’d got at the wreath-making session.

The splinter she’d got from the trestle tables.

The splinter that Liam had seen.

The splinter she’d told him had been caused by the old tables at the Memorial Hall.

Had he mentioned them to Sexy Rexy?

Argh. No matter what topic, her mind always came back to Liam.

While Campbell droned on at the front, Henri lost the fight to try not to think about him. She should have brought her knitting, she thought, as she closed her eyes and lost herself in memories of the time they’d spent together. It felt like so much longer than it had actually been. In such a short time, they’d done so much. They’d surfed, they’d laughed, they’d talked, and they’d almost had sex on his desk right there in the pub. She’d never felt such an urgency to have someone that she would have done it anywhere!

She probably shouldn’t be thinking about such things while sitting in church, but then again, everything else seemed to have changed, maybe that wasn’t frowned upon anymore either.

Oh my God!The thought died in her head as another crashed into it.

She jolted, knocking against her crutches on the floor and causing a bit of a clatter that earned a glare from her mother.

That night in Liam’s office. The Post-it note she’d picked up off Sheila.

JMC Office Supplies. Three-thousand and something dollars.