Page 36

Thirty-Four

I dropped Mum off at home; I could tell she was worrying about me. She had as good as stared at me the whole way back, her unpredictable, crazed daughter. I don’t even think she needed to ask me where I was going, as she closed the door behind her and leaned in the window.

“Be good,” she said.

It was the one thing I couldn’t promise.

Despite having had to endure a silent, moody car ride with me, she was nevertheless grateful to be away from the city; wished I could say the same. The moment I had seen the Perry Ranges in the distance, it was like a dark cloud had settled over me.

The Ellie of old would have loved this, would have actually paid money to have my name in the spotlight next to some sporting god.

But now, as I sat in my mum’s car outside the Onslow Hotel, thinking about all the whisperings and speculations, the way heads would turn if I walked through those doors right now, I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse.

I wasn’t exactly a stranger to a rumour being attached to my name, and I’m not going to lie, many of them were self-inflicted and usually believed by the people who meant nothing to me.

But now, I just couldn’t stomach the thought of my friends believing the rumours.

I wasn’t mad as much as hurt and worse still, the entire township of Onslow would know, and that was based surely on the gossip mill of Mum’s Bingo friends alone.

I was seriously doomed. My weary eyes skimmed the long lines of cars along the drive.

It was a typical Friday night, the Onslow was packed, there were people standing in clusters everywhere.

Lingering near the entrance, sitting outside on the picnic tables, the place was pumping, and as expected all the usual suspects were here.

Ringer’s car, Stan’s, Sean, Tony, Adam’s, Chris, even Max was back in town.

A full brigade of Onslow Boys. Cold Chisel’s ‘Flame Trees’ filtered out into the night air, the music almost soothing in its familiarity.

Just breathe, Ellie. Just breathe.

Closing my eyes, I tried to think. Do I go or do I stay? But just as I thought I had decided, readying to reach for the ignition to start up the Corolla and get the hell away from here, two hands banging on the driver’s side window startled me.

“Holy shit!” I screamed, winding down the window to see Tess standing right next to my car. I didn’t get a chance to abuse her for scaring me, she was already on her way around the front of the car, sliding into the passenger seat, closing the door behind her.

“What the—”

“Your mum rang me, said you were on your way.”

I closed my eyes, thudding my head back against my seat, cursing that woman.

“You didn’t have to come out,” I said lowly.

“Right, so what, just leave you sitting in your car, pining away for Adam?”

“I’m not pining,” I snapped. “I’m furious, at him and you.”

“Okay, so I might have been a bit quick to judge.”

“Ya think?”

“But in my defence, I didn’t know that your first date had been such a disaster.”

I paused for a moment, thinking; I had relayed my date to Tess around the time of the engagement party. A time when I had tried my best to avoid her.

“So, how did you know that—”

“Chris told me, said you couldn’t stand the guy, and that there was no way in hell you would be on a second date with him.”

“Wow, who’da thought Chris would be my saviour?”

Tess sighed. “Just talk to Adam, he’s not mad, he’s just—”

“Why should he be mad? I didn’t do anything. He has no right to be mad. I should be the one mad, he’s the one that lied to me, said he was going fishing with the boys and then who do I run into at the hospital?”

Tess groaned. “Ellie, stop.”

“What?”

“Am I some kind of hostage negotiator in your relationship?”

I just blinked, trying to decipher what that exactly meant.

Tess rolled her eyes. “It was Chris’s turn to take Kerry to her treatment, but Adam offered at the last minute.

I think he was planning to drop in to see you, find out why you were page three of The Weekender .

He said that when you hadn’t mentioned anything on the phone about running into Rory he was pissed, but that’s it.

Honestly, Ellie, I can’t see how you two are going to possibly survive long distance if you both don’t communicate with each other. ”

I remained silent, the reality of Tess’s words sinking in about the complete communication breakdown between Adam and me.

This was new territory; our relationship wasn’t casual friends anymore, it was so much more.

One thing I knew was that we couldn’t go back, and above all I really didn’t want to.

“What am I going to do, Tess? I want it to work, more than anything.”

“Ellie, every single confusing, fearful thought you’ve had in the last week, I can pretty much guarantee Adam’s felt the same thing.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a boy, boys don’t think like that.”

Tess laughed. “Yeah, maybe, but don’t forget the one thing you both have in common.”

“What’s that?”

“Me.”

I breathed out a laugh.

“Ellie, the point you’re missing is that I know both of you better than anyone, and I see everything, and unfortunately hear everything that you both tend to tell me; like, seriously, you two are the biggest whingers out there.”

“Oh, geez, thanks.”

“But I’m glad, because when you ask me things like what am I going to do? I kind of think I might actually be qualified to answer.”

I shifted in my seat, giving Tess my full attention as I looked into her manic, excited eyes.

“And what’s that exactly?”

Tess grinned from ear to ear. “For one, you’re going to have to tell Adam how you really feel.”

“Oh, and how do you suggest I do that?”

“Well, let’s just say I think we’re going to need some reinforcements.”

Sean was concentrating intensely as he stalked around the pool table, chalking his pool cue.

“How long for?”

“A couple of hours, tops,” Tess said.

He bent over, lining up the white ball, running his cue back and forth, sizing it up. “On a Saturday night?”

“Yeah.” I cringed, knowing that it was by far their busiest night at the Onslow.

“Blue ball, right hand corner pocket.” Sean hit the white, smashing it into the blue and pocketing it, just the way he had described.

Sean straightened, leaning on his cue, finally giving us his full attention. “So, just to get this straight, you want me to close down the beer garden to the public on a Saturday night.”

It in no way sounded like a smart business proposition, ever since refurbishing the back beer garden had been a popular drawcard on a summer’s evening.

Sean’s gaze flicked from me, to Tess and back, before casually shrugging.

“Okay.”

My eyes widened, my head snapping around to see Tess had an identical expression.

“Really?”

Tess and I squealed, in unison, rushing toward Sean, embracing him in a giant, tandem hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sean.”

He laughed. “No worries, it’s for a good cause.”

Our jubilation was short-lived as we turned to see a less-than-thrilled Chris leaning in the doorway. “You can’t be serious.”

I grimaced, slowly stepping toward him, wringing my hands together. “I won’t do it if I don’t have your blessing.”

“Ellie, are you proposing marriage to my brother?”

“What? No, God, we can’t even agree on a tape to listen to in the car.”

Chris smirked, looking over my shoulder at Sean. “What’s next, children’s birthday parties?” he said, pushing off the wall and heading back to the bar. It was as close to a yes as we were ever going to get from the likes of Chris, so I was going to run with it.

I stood in the office of Remington’s Caravan Park, waiting for Stan to make his way across from the tennis courts. He had agreed to meet me here by 11 a.m. sharp, but in all my impatience I had arrived ten minutes early.

I didn’t know if what I was doing was ridiculous, over the top or damn right scary.

Maybe my grand romantic gesture would have most boys heading for the hills.

With every minute that ticked by I managed to dig myself deeper and deeper into a state of uncertainty, all but ready to walk out of the office and leg it down the driveway of the caravan park and never look back.

My intentions went completely awry when the bell sounded at the office door.

Stan smiled, closing the door behind him and making his way around behind the back of the desk.

“You sure you don’t mind doing this?” I said lowly.

“Why are we whispering?”

I actually had no idea.

Stan sat behind the desk, rubbing his hands along his tan workpants. “So, you got the goods?”

I nodded, handing over the camel-coloured backpack.

“Strict instructions, Stanley.” I pointed at him.

“So, apart from the obvious, why am I being roped into this?” he asked, lifting up the flap of the backpack and peering inside.

“Because, believe it or not, Stanley Remington, you are one of the very few people I trust on this planet.”

Stan smiled that warm and boyish smile I used to be in love with. “Wow, high praise indeed.”

“So, all good? You’ll stop by tonight?”

“I’ll be there.”

With every meticulously laid plan comes perhaps the most important piece in the puzzle: the decoy.

Ringer cast his fishing line out into the murky waters of Lake Onslow, slowly reeling in the slack. “What’s in it for me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? What is with you Onslow Boys? I told you what it’s about; I just need you to distract Adam for a few hours.”

“It sounds to me like he is already pretty distracted.” Ringer winked at me.

Really, was nothing sacred in this town? With every immediate member of our group who I roped in to helping out, none seemed surprised; if anything, the reaction was that of boredom and can you two just get a room already ?

“So, tell me something,” I asked, taking the liberty of sitting in Ringer’s fishing chair. “How long have you known?”

Ringer shrugged. “Christ, I don’t know, since Point Shank.”

Point Shank?

Had Tammy let it slip? Unbelievable.

“I remember Adam telling me he liked you, the night on the roof top.”

“W-what?”

What did he just say?

Ringer grinned, looking back at me with interest. “You didn’t know?”

I shook my head, my mouth agape as Ringer’s words rolled over in my head.

“Wow, love really is blind.” He laughed. “I’ll be your decoy, Ellie Parker, under one condition.”

I blinked, trying to focus. “Sure, anything.”

“Get him to lighten up a bit. One Chris Henderson is more than enough.”

I burst out laughing. “Leave it with me.”