Page 15 of The Side Road (Love Chronicles #3)

THE KEY

Waiting at home for Mia was an empty house and a lonely afternoon.

Sundays were life admin days, but there was nothing urgent on her task list. She could postpone the hand-washing.

Bills could wait another day. The cleaning and gardening would still be there tomorrow.

Exploring the basement with Oliver, she had felt like the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

If there was still treasure to be found, then Mia wanted to find it.

And Oliver needed the money. Losing two hundred thousand dollars would deplete anyone’s savings.

Mia could relate. There were times in her life when her IQ had been higher than her bank balance; people didn’t pursue the arts for the big bucks it was offering.

Luckily, things had turned around for her.

Oliver would also get back on his feet. Considering his height, he must have size thirteen shoes, it wouldn’t take him long.

The free wine would help, but finding the missing money was crucial.

Standing on the front lawn, she turned to him. ‘Are we going to need a crowbar? ’

‘There’s a key. It was with the original set of house keys.’ He looked at Tash. ‘Any idea where Elsie kept her spare keys?’

Concentrating, Tash screwed up her nose. ‘Yes,’ she said. A lightbulb moment.

In the kitchen, Tash opened the cupboard under the sink. Behind the cleaning supplies, she found an old Quality Street tin. After dragging it across the shelf, she picked it up and heaved it onto the table. It landed with a thud.

The rusty tin looked one hundred years old. On the lid was a faded picture of a soldier in military uniform, and a young lady wearing a bonnet was offering him chocolates. Tash pushed the tin toward her father.

Mia wondered about the validity of the treasure hunters – if they missed this, what else had they missed?

Oliver looked optimistic. After gripping the tin, he removed the lid. A waft of pungent, metallic air escaped. Inside were hundreds of loose keys. Silver, bronze, steel, and brass in every size and shape imaginable.

Mia was amazed; who in their right mind keeps hundreds of keys, but neither Oliver nor Tash seemed fazed.

‘I wish they were chocolates.’ Tash sighed. She looked at her father. ‘We can’t YouTube this.’

‘No. Trial and error.’ Oliver carried the tin outside. He placed it on a chair by the garage door.

‘Do you think we’ll find an old car?’ Tash asked.

‘I’d be happy with a bed,’ Oliver replied.

They got to work. Tash sorted the keys into similar shapes and sizes. Making several piles, she separated large wrought-iron styles from car keys and smaller ones. She handed her father anything that looked like it might open a door.

Oliver tried each key in the tilt door at the front of the garage. When it didn’t fit, he handed it to Mia. She tried the pedestrian side door. Keys that fitted but didn’t unlock the garage, Tash put to one side. She called these second-chance keys.

Half an hour later, Mia inserted another tarnished silver key into the lock. No different to many others she had already tried, the key turned and clicked. She tried the door handle. No luck. After jiggling the key back and forth, she tried the handle again. The door opened.

‘We did it!’ Tash cried.

Oliver joined them at the door. Inside the garage, it was pitch black, even darker than the basement, and Mia shivered with anticipation.

‘I think Tash should go first.’ Oliver had his hands on her shoulders. ‘In case Elsie decided to stick around and haunt the place.’ With a firm grip, he urged her forward.

Wriggling out of his grasp, Tash stepped behind her father.

Oliver laughed. Reaching inside, he searched for the light. Finding it, he flicked a switch. Nothing. After opening the torch on his phone, he headed into the darkness. They heard him rummaging around. The tilt door banged and rattled. It shook from side to side and moaned and creaked.

‘It’s putting up a fight,’ Mia said.

‘Ollie will win,’ Tash said, jumping up and down.

A few moments later, the door tilted upward. As Tash and Mia joined Oliver, light flooded into the garage. Dumbstruck, no one spoke. The place was crammed with boxes and furniture, floor to ceiling.

‘Was this here when you bought the house?’ Mia asked.

‘It was empty, but that was five years ago.’

‘It’s like an antique store,’ she said .

‘Ah.’ Oliver stepped forward. ‘My boxes. I was demoted to the garage.’

Inside, there were long trestle tables holding crates filled with household items and books. Furniture everywhere. After eighty years, Elsie had accumulated a small mountain of belongings.

Tash and Mia began searching through the junk. Tash discovered a box of board games. She opened a Snakes and Ladders set and rolled the dice.

Mia found a gramophone, an old organ, and a box of cookbooks; one written by the Country Women’s Association. She flicked through the pages, reading the recipes. ‘Fascinating,’ she whispered. ‘They filled a cob loaf with cream cheese and bacon.’

‘I’m going in deep,’ Oliver said. He shuffled around a large bookcase and headed to the back of the garage.

Twenty minutes later, he hadn’t returned.

Mia put her cookbook down. ‘I’m going to find him,’ she said. ‘If I’m not back in ten minutes, alert the neighbours.’

Tash nodded. She rolled the dice and moved her token.

Mia switched on her phone light and slipped around the bookcase. ‘Oliver,’ she whispered. ‘Where are you?’ She could see his torchlight in the far corner.

‘Over here,’ he said.

She found him leaning against the wall, his phone resting on a nearby table. ‘Did you find something? Is it the money?’

In the dusty light, his eyes gleamed, like he was radiating from the inside. He peeled his body off the wall.

‘Mia, do you believe in god?’ he asked.

‘I’m on the fence. Halfway between agnostic and atheist.’

He stared at her for a long moment.

‘Did you find god?’ she asked .

‘Yes.’ He pointed to a long shadow resting against the wall. Something rectangular, covered in a blanket.

An old painting, she thought. From the colonial era. An original Tom Roberts that once hung above the parsonage fireplace. That would be some treasure. It would also be worth a bit.

Her stomach fluttered and her skin prickled; Stephanie Plum had strong competition. She pulled the blanket aside. Underneath was an old motorbike.

‘Oh, my,’ she said.

Oliver was behind her. His hands rested on her shoulders, and she felt his breath on her neck. Her heart hammered. Closing her eyes, she savoured the feeling of his fingers on her neck. Gently, he kissed her just below her ear. Right where she had wanted to kiss his neck.

She turned and stared.

His eyes shifted to amber, like tiger eyes. ‘Sorry, I had to kiss someone. Tash wasn’t here.’

He didn’t look sorry. She placed her hand over the spot where his lips had touched her skin.

‘I didn’t find god,’ he whispered. ‘I found Heaven.’

He moved closer to the bike. Taking a corner of the blanket, he wiped the dust off the tank. Mia adjusted her phone torch. The word ‘Vincent’ was written in white and gold on the side of the tank.

He smiled up at her. ‘Mia, you’re terribly attractive.’

‘Terribly?’

‘Yes.’

She blushed and turned away. To her surprise, neither the kiss nor the compliment were unwelcome. What a day this had turned out to be: boxes of red wine, treasure lurking in unexpected places, old keys and antique cookbooks. He had kissed her neck. Her Sundays were never this exciting .

Aware that they were still staring at each other, she said, ‘This must be some bike.’

‘It’s the greatest motorbike ever made.’

An hour later, after they had shuffled tables and moved pieces of furniture, the black bike was outside the garage, resting on its side stand. Mia typed ‘Vincent Black Shadow’ into her phone and ran an internet search on the value of the bike. ‘Can you guess what it’s worth?’ she asked.

‘Ten thousand,’ Tash said.

‘About a hundred and fifty grand.’ With a rag, Oliver wiped down the bike.

Mia checked her research. ‘Restored, about two hundred and fifty.’

‘Is it ours?’ Tash asked.

‘Nine-tenths of the law,’ Mia said. ‘Should we open a bottle of wine to celebrate?’

‘Yes, we should definitely do that.’ Oliver agreed.

Mia headed inside. She returned a few minutes later with glasses, the wine, and a bottle of water. While she was gone, Oliver had pulled an old Parker lounge set onto the paving. Its sleek mid-century timber frame covered in a wonderful boucle emerald fabric. They sat down on the dusty cushions.

Mia did the honours, breaking the wax seal on the wine bottle and extracting the cork. After sniffing it, she passed it to Tash. ‘If it’s bad, it smells like wet cardboard.’

Tash sniffed the cork. A sneeze followed. ‘It smells like wine.’

Mia filled two glasses. In the third, she added a splash of wine and half a glass of water. ‘The way the Italians do it,’ she said. ‘But only if your father agrees. ’

Oliver nodded. After taking his glass, he said, ‘To the Black Shadow.’

Tash raised her glass. ‘To treasure hunts.’

‘To the Italians,’ Mia said.

They sipped their wine.

‘It’s good.’ Mia rubbed her lips together. ‘Not earth-shatteringly good, but drinkable. Tash, what do you think? Blackberry or red currants?’

‘It tastes like water.’

Mia sat back in her chair. ‘My Sundays are never this exciting.’

Tash turned to her father. ‘What’s so good about old bikes?’

Oliver was quick to answer. ‘Modern bikes don’t have the same personality. In the showroom, they look new, but there’s not much variation between the models. If you want to ride something unique, then you need an older model.’

The conversation had turned from vintage bikes to old wines, and somehow they ended up discussing road trips and the unexpected places you find when travelling on back roads.

Mia confessed to never having taken a road trip, but she understood the value. ‘It’s the freedom and the randomness when everything else in life is planned,’ she said.

‘Yes.’ A smile touched Oliver’s lips and a spark stirred inside his heart. She had a way of summing up half an hour of conversation in a single sentence.

‘Road trips are only fun if you’re not trying to get somewhere fast.’ Tash yawned.

Having finished her wine long ago, Mia stood up and collected her bag. After she said goodbye to Tash, Oliver walked her and Snood down the front path to the BMW.

He opened the door of the sidecar, and Snood jumped inside. Closing the door, Oliver took her hand. His thumb travelled back and forth across her skin. ‘I’d like to know more about you. I gather you’re not seeing one of the other nine hundred people who live in this town?’

‘No.’ She pulled her hand away. ‘But I’m not dating right now.’ A lot of head shaking followed this statement.

He collected her helmet from the bike. ‘If you change your mind, let me know.’

She reached for her helmet, but he pulled it out of her reach. ‘Promise.’

When he caught her eye, she smiled. ‘Yes.’

He handed her the helmet. She pulled it on and fumbled with the clip under her chin. A twisted strap prevented the clips from connecting. Forcing it was never going to work. As her frustration grew, she tried to lock the pieces together.

He pointed. ‘You need to turn the strap over.’

‘I know.’

‘It’s on the other side,’ he added, trying to be helpful.

‘I can manage.’

She wasn’t managing. The temptation to help her was overwhelming. ‘Do you want me to…’

‘No. I’ll fix it later.’

Abandoning the clip, she straddled the bike and started the engine. They took off and glided down the street, her helmet straps dangling behind her. He watched until she turned the corner.

Her gear changes made him flinch. Second to third was no better.

She wasn’t a competent rider. To gain more speed and balance, she needed to commit to the take-off and sit further back.

Her helmet was too big and not properly fastened.

Unsafe, it had to go. He would see to that, because it didn’t look like anyone else was going to.

But he admired her sense of adventure, her willingness to learn. Everyone started at the beginning.