Enjoy Your Stay (25 page)

I turn and face him, and then whisper, “Yeah, I can see that.”

For a moment our eyes are locked, and neither of us are moving. I don’t think he’s even taken a breath in the last thirty seconds, and then he leans forward. He pauses before his lips can meet mine, gauging my reaction. I close my eyes, and whisper, “Don’t.”

Jacks shifts away like nothing happened, and then we settle into a comfortable silence watching the drama unfold on TV that’s not too dissimilar from our own.

I
PULL
the sheet off Hols’ rocking chair and heft it up over my shoulders, so the longest side lays flat against my back. I carry it out of the shed and up the path to the house. Snickers goes off his nut inside. I glance at the window. Holly’s hanging from the curtain rod in the nursery. She screams, and flails like a fish on a hook, and if it were anyone else I’d be laughing my arse off, but she looks terrified. I drop the rocking chair and bolt inside.

When I reach the nursery, Holly’s barely hanging by her fingertips. She could always just let go. The drop from the curtain rod to the floor isn’t that far. But her tiny legs can’t reach the ladder that she’s upended, so she’d likely fall and hurt herself, or the baby. I dart over and wrap my arms around her waist.

“Let go, sweetheart, I got you.”

She falls into my arms. I manoeuvre us around the ladder, and set her feet on the ground.

“Oh my God, you’re a life saver.” Holly turns, wrapping her arms around my neck and pushing her belly into my lower abdomen. She glances down between us, and frowns. “Huh. Guess our bodies don’t really fit together anymore.”

“Come on, Hols, we never let a little thing like a baby belly stop us before,” I joke, but her miserable expression tells me why that’s not a good idea. She steps away and surveys her half-hung baby curtains. “Why didn’t you just ask me to do this for you?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to. You’re not exactly pro demon-seed.”

I place my hands on her shoulders. I spin her around to face the window, and point to the rocking chair I dumped out on the lawn. “I’m pro Holly. That counts for something, right?”

“You made me a rocking chair?”

“Yep. It matches the cot. Though I’ll have to make sure I didn’t pulverise it when I tossed it away to come save your crazy arse from the clutches of the evil curtain rod.”

Holly spins around. Her eyes are wild and wet with unshed tears.

“Why didn’t you marry Chelcie?” she blurts out, and by the way she bites her lips, I can see she’s as surprised by that question as I am.

“Why didn’t you run away with Coop to Sydney?” For a half-second we hold one another’s gaze. I’m the first to look away. I shrug and set the ladder to rights. “I don’t know, it just wasn’t right. Chelcie’s an angel; she just wasn’t
my
angel.”

“I didn’t leave with Coop because I knew he was destined for bigger things than playing the Sugartown Hotel,” she admits.

“And how’s that plan working out now?”

“Hell if I know. He’s at a gig eight hours away instead of helping me hang curtains.” She gives me a sad smile and says, “Will you help me with these?”

“Course.” I climb up on the ladder and slide the thick, blue, cloud-covered curtains in place. Then I jump down, and we go about unpacking baby crap from boxes, and setting up the nursery. I head back outside to retrieve the rocking chair I left behind, brushing off the grass, and using my shirt to remove a stubborn dirt stain from the wood.

I place the chair by the window. Holly sits, rocks back and forth, absently running her hand over her belly. I watch her for a moment, the way her big green eyes stare out at the rain that’s just started to fall. Her gaze latches onto mine, and a tear slips free and slides down her freckled cheek.

“Ah, hell. Don’t cry, sweetheart.” I take the few strides across the room and sink down on the floor at her feet. I lean my elbows on the arm rests, and push the hair back from her face.

“Do you think you’ll ever want kids, Jack?”

“Maybe one day.”

“With the right girl?”

“I already found the right girl, Hols.” I kiss her temple, and get to my feet. “I lost her to someone else.”

I walk out without looking back. If I have to see the regret in her eyes, I’ll start making promises I can’t keep. And that’s not fair to any of us.

I
GOTTA
say, if I have to stare at another pie again, I’m going to go stir-crazy. Ana and I have been working our bums off, and every available surface in the kitchen is taken up by cooling pies for the fundraiser.

We’re also babysitting, or at least, the boys were supposed to be, but they’ve pissed off down to the pub and left the poor kid to play with the dog. Snickers loves Sammy, though, so thankfully someone’s keeping him company.

Sammy tears through the house, and crashes into the front door with Snickers not far behind him. They’re both yipping like puppies, and it’s grating on my nerves like having a tooth pulled without anaesthetic.

“Sam, take it outside or I’ll separate the two of you,” Ana yells above the noise of some waily bitch screaming from the radio. At least I’m not the only one.

“Thorry Ana Cabana,” he yells, and then flings the door wide open, darting out into the yard with Snickers following on his heels.

“How’s he doing?” I ask, watching him through the window.

“He’s okay.” She sighs. “Dad says he only asks for her at night if he’s had a nightmare. He dreams a lot about the fire, apparently.”

“Understandable. His Mum did get barbequed by one.”

“How are you doing after the parental incident? I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. With Dad leaving all this insurance stuff to me and the rebuild starting soon, it’s been complete chaos.”

“It’s okay. I’m a big girl. I told them to fuck themselves.”

“Thatta girl,” she says, and she winks at me.

“And you and Coop, how’s that going?”

“He had to stay in Sydney for a few more days. Apparently their manager isn’t happy with his disappearing act.”

“He’ll be alright though, right? I mean, it’s not like they can fire him. The fans would go completely nuts.”

“It’s so weird that you just said that.”

“Who knew we’d have a rock star in the family, right?”

“Yeah, who knew?”
I did.
I knew. It’s why I let him go. I just didn’t think he’d ever be back, and I didn’t think I’d be in love with Jackson Rowe. God, when did I become so bloody pathetic? I wish Jerry Springer still had a show, because I would rock the hell outta that shit.

“And Jack, how’s he coping with the Coop thing?” she asks, wiping her hands on a dishtowel and grabbing a coke from the fridge. I’m guessing that means it’s time for a break, which is the best news I’ve heard all day. I follow her out onto the veranda, and sit my double-wide down on the love-seat.

“Jack’s just Jack.” I shrug. “You know how he is.”

“I do. I also know he’s madly in love with you.”

“Madly is a bit of an exaggeration. I think he loves my lady
V
, but everything else is just subjective.”

Ana shakes her head, and takes a sip of her drink. “Oh no, I know my cousin. That boy is arse over head in love with you, and it’s eating him alive.”

“I know the feeling,” I say, and silently will my tears away.
Jesus Christ, what is with all the crying? How long is this shit going to go on, because I don’t know if my pores can stand anymore salt water?

“Oh, Hols. I don’t understand why you’re both being so stubborn,” she says, tucking my hair behind my ears. “You’re both crazy about one another.”

“Yeah, crazy is kinda the point. As in, he makes me crazy.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve been bat-shit crazy since day one, honey.”

I laugh, and swipe at my eyes with the back of my hand. “So what about you and Jailbreak? Is it all smooth sailing?”

“As smooth as life ever is with Elijah.”

“So, rocky as hell then?”

“No, we’re good. We’re really good, actually. So good he keeps asking when the hell I’m going to let him put a baby in my oven.”

“Fuck me,” I say and fall back against the chair, feigning a fainting session.

“I’m not, of course. I mean, with everything going on, I think we’re pretty good just keeping things the way they are.”

“I’m real happy for you, Ana,” I say and throw my arms around her, and then we’re both crying for all we’ve been through, for all we’ve lost along the way, and maybe even the things we’ve gained.

After we both give our tear ducts a good cleansing, she rubs my tummy with some smartarse remark about me being like a feisty little Buddha, and we head back inside to the sound of barking and hysterical laughter. Sammy is sitting in the middle of the floor chowing down on an Ana Cabana Surprise Pie, and Snickers is rolling around in the remains of several more.

“Sammy, what did you do?”

He spins around, his eyes going wide as he says, “Thit.”

Sam ducks under the table, taking his pies with him.

Snickers lets out a yelp and a whine when I say, “Bad dog, bad.”

Both of them are covered head to toe in pie filling. It’s everywhere, including all over the floor. Snickers jumps up, and pulls another from the bench, and then Ana really loses her shit.

“Out!” she screams.

Sammy gives a little sad frown, and mutters, “Thorry thithy.” And then he and the dog slink away with their tails between their legs.

We dive into cleaning up the mess, and it takes us another thirty minutes before the kitchen looks clean enough to cook in. We have to trash more than half of what we’d already baked because of my damn dog, but it isn’t long before we’re on our way to having an entire bench full of pies, again.

Elijah and Jack pull in the drive just on dusk, and it’s only when Elijah asks about Sammy that we realise we haven’t seen him or the dog for hours. Ana calls out to Sammy through the kitchen window.

“They’re probably just playing in the cane,” I say. “You know how often we did that when we were growing up.”

Elijah’s face pales. “They’re burning off tonight.”

“Really?” Ana says. “But it’s too early. They don’t burn off for another few weeks yet.”

Jack shrugs. “Fields were burning when we came through.”

“How long has he been gone?” Elijah asks.

Ana glances at me, and I shake my head. “Too long.”

The four of us head outside, and start calling Snickers and Sammy. I start to feel this burning worry in the pit of my stomach. If they were close by, they’d come. Sammy might be a little punk who’d hide just to freak us all out, but Snickers would come. Especially considering Jack is calling him. He might be my dog, but he loves Jack more. Course, if I fed him bacon under the table he’d love me more, too.

We spread out over the property, searching until the last of the light leaves the sky and we have to go in for torches and supplies.

Jack thumbs his keys and heads for the front door while Ana calls Bob. “Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna drive down to the fields, see if I can’t get them to cut it off.”

“He wouldn’t be in there. I mean, Sammy’s a smart kid. He would have seen them burning, and gone in the other direction.”