Riverboat Point (21 page)

“Thanks,” she said.

Belinda looped one arm through Ethan's and waved a glass of red with the other.

“I'll catch you next time we're up, Savvie. Hopefully next weekend.”

The fake smile left Savannah's face as soon as she turned her back. She pounded down the stairs. Next weekend! By then Jaxon had better be back and she could get herself out of here and off to Adelaide where she belonged.

Married or not, Belinda was after Ethan and he wasn't exactly knocking back her advances. Savannah had seen the wink Blake had given his brother before he left. She bit her lip to stop the hot tears that were forming in her eyes. It had been so long since a man had paid her attention. She'd mistakenly thought Ethan might genuinely be interested in her.

“You bloody fool, Savannah,” she hissed.

Jasper gave a small whine as she reached the ground. She stumbled past Belinda's car and along the drive into the darkness. The cold night air calmed her a little but she couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Savannah drove past Nell and Bob's Tea Room but there was a closed sign on the gate. Up the hill she noticed several cars outside a little church. Half the population of Riverboat Point could be there.

She went back to the main street and pulled up by the pub. The front door was open and she could see people inside. They were keen for a Sunday morning. Faye had said the pub made coffee on weekends. Perhaps that's what they were drinking. Savannah decided to give it a go.

The two men propped on stools at the bar stopped their conversation and looked her up and down. One of them had no hair and not many teeth. He let out a low whistle and the other bloke, who had not much more hair but a lot more teeth, grinned.

“Hello,” they said in unison.

“Hello,” she replied and strode to the bar. She could feel the two sets of eyes watching her.

“You visiting town?” one of the men asked.

“Yes,” Savannah replied.

“Better than what we usually see at the Riverboat Hotel on a Sunday morning,” the other one said then chortled loudly.

A man with a thatch of red hair and a handlebar moustache walked through a doorway behind the bar.

“What can I get you this fine morning?” he asked Savannah. The moustache moved up and down as he spoke.

“Faye at the supermarket said you make good coffee.”

“Sure do.”

“Coffee!” The toothless guy nearly choked on his beer.

“Ignore Alf,” the barman said. “He only drinks beer. Used to even clean his teeth in it.”

“That's why he hasn't got many left.” Alf's mate laughed.

Savannah wasn't sure whether or not to believe them.

“Can I have a cafe latte, double shot, please?” she asked.

“Coming right up. The wife has just made a batch of banana muffins. Would you like one with your coffee?”

“Sounds good,” Savannah said.

“Cream with it?”

“No thanks.”

“Muffins,” Alf mumbled. “We never get offered muffins.”

“You don't drink coffee,” the barman said. He sent a shot of steam from the coffee machine. “I'm Bernie,” he said to Savannah. “You just passing through or staying?”

“Staying,” Savannah said. “I'm looking after my brother Jaxon's place.”

“Ah! That's why Faye would be looking out for you. Jaxon's a favourite of hers.”

“Jaxon's a good young bloke,” Alf spoke over the sound of the coffee machine. “Helped me out once or twice.”

He got off his stool and came towards Savannah with his hand held out.

“I'm Alf and this is me mate, Foss. Very pleased to meet you.”

Foss gave her a one-fingered salute. Alf gripped her hand with his then wrapped his other hand around hers and shook it vigorously.

“Anna, did you say?”

“Savannah.”

“Welcome, Savannah.”

He bestowed an even bigger smile on her, gave her hand a final pat and went back to his beer.

Bernie put the coffee and muffin on the bar in front of her.

“You're welcome to sit here or the beer garden has a nice view of the river.”

“Thanks,” Savannah said. She handed over her money and gave Alf and Foss a wave. “Nice to meet you. Think I'll take my coffee out to the sunshine.”

“No worries,” Alf said. “And don't forget, anything you need just let me know. If I'm not here Bernie knows where to find me.”

Savannah took her coffee and muffin through the door to the outside area jammed between the wall of the hotel and the building next door. There were hanging plants to give the garden effect and street frontage that looked towards the river. She took a seat in the sun and settled back to enjoy her coffee.

She hadn't slept well last night. She'd tossed and turned until the early hours and then slipped into a deep sleep and had weird dreams. She was looking for Jaxon and every time she thought she'd found him it would be Ethan and Belinda instead. Finally she discovered them in bed together. She woke in a sweat with bedclothes tangled around her and a terrible sad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Once she was up she couldn't resist peeking next door. Belinda's car was gone. All was quiet. No sign of man or dog. Savannah assumed Ethan had slept in. She went for a long run and then, with nothing else to do, she'd decided to drive into Riverboat Point for a coffee.

The sun was warm on her back, the coffee was good and the muffin deliciously soft. She leaned back and closed her eyes. After such a restless night she felt she could almost doze off. If only she could get thoughts of Ethan and Belinda out of her head.

“Excuse me.”

Savannah's eyes flew open and she sat up.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to give you a fright.”

A woman of about her age stood beside her. She was wearing black trackpants and a polo top that clung to her muffin-top bulges. A scarf around her forehead kept a mass of dark curls away from her face. She had a duster tucked in a back pocket and a dustpan and broom in her hand.

“I'm Mandy Sampson. Are you Savannah?”

“Yes.”

“Bernie said you were out here. I clean the pub. Do you mind if I sit a moment?”

“No,” Savannah said. Not too enthusiastically. She had been enjoying the sunshine and the peace.

Mandy sat in the chair opposite. Up close she appeared a little older than Savannah.

“I heard you're looking after Jaxon's place while he's away and that you're a fitness instructor.”

Savannah looked around. There was no one but the two of them in the beer garden.

“How did you know all that?” she asked.

“This is a small town. Everyone knows your business. Even if you forget someone else will remind you.” Mandy chuckled. “Before I was pregnant with my last baby they were running a tab in the front bar to guess its birth date, sex and weight. Wouldn't surprise me if someone was waiting outside our bedroom window as he was conceived.”

Savannah leaned in, her mouth open.

Mandy gave her hand a quick pat.

“Just kidding, she said. “Faye at the supermarket told me you were in to fitness. I was hoping to come out and see you, then Bernie said you were here. It was meant to be.”

Savannah tipped her head to one side and frowned. She couldn't remember telling Faye she was a fitness instructor.

“Meant to be?”

“I was hoping you might lead our group,” Mandy said. “There's me and a few other local women who want to get into better shape. Three of us have young kids and a few others are older but not getting much exercise. We've formed a fitness group but it's the blind leading the blind. We manage a weekly walk but the exercises are a bit hit and miss. I've cut pictures from magazines but even so, we don't know if we're doing them properly. Would you be interested?”

“Interested?” Mandy had spoken so fast Savannah had lost her back at the “blind leading the blind” and she was still trying to figure out how Faye knew about her fitness work.

“In leading our group,” Mandy said. “Being our instructor.”

Savannah stared at the beaming young woman across the table. Her chocolate brown eyes were shining. She was almost buzzing with excitement.

“You want me to be your fitness instructor?”

“Yes.”

Savannah opened and closed her mouth. She pursed her lips and shook her head. She'd left all that behind her. She would have to look for work again when Jaxon came back but fitness instructor was not going to be on her list of possible jobs.

“None of us has much money,” Mandy said, “but we'd be happy to pay you a small fee.”

“I haven't done anything like that for years.”

“You look in good shape.”

“Well, I work out myself but –”

“We meet twice a week,” Mandy cut in. “Eleven o'clock at the little hall next to the church. Whoever can get there comes. Sometimes there're only two of us and the most is seven. You'd make eight. We're not much good at keeping fit but we're good company.”

“I've got the houseboats to take care of.”

“I know that's busy. I've done some cleaning for Jaxon in the past when he's been busy with electrical work.”

“You have?” Savannah stored that little piece of information away. Cleaning
Tawarri
had been a huge job. She'd wondered how she would manage if there'd been a much tighter turnaround.

“Just think about it. Everyone needs some time out and keeping fit together is a fun way of doing it.”

Savannah thought of the classes she'd run before the accident. Instructing had been her life. But her life had changed irreparably. She believed there was no going back. Then she thought of Belinda and their impromptu exercise session on the verandah.

“I haven't instructed for years,” Savannah said.

“Surely it's like riding a bike? I'll give you my number.”

Mandy pulled a pad and pen from her top pocket.

Savannah watched her write on the paper then rip it from the pad.

“When Jaxon returns I'll be going back to Adelaide.”

“I realise that. Even if you came a few times just to give us some pointers it would be such a help.”

Savannah took the page Mandy pushed towards her.

“I'll think about it.”

“Thank you.” Mandy stood up. “I'd better get back to work. I do hope you can join us. We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“I'll check the calendar.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mandy said. She hurried off, picked up a bucket she'd left by the door and went on into the bar.

Savannah studied the name and number on the little page. Now that she thought about it the name seemed familiar. Where had she seen it before? Puzzled, she pushed the paper into her wallet. Even more puzzling was Faye knowing her background. Perhaps Jaxon had told her about Savannah's past, but why would he do that? Unless it was Belinda. She was the talkative type. Maybe she'd told Faye about their little fitness attempt on the verandah.

What had Mandy said about small towns? Everyone knows your business. It certainly seemed as if everyone knew much more about Savannah than she knew about them. It was not a comfortable thought.

Our Destiny
was back by nine-thirty and the four people were unpacked and gone by ten. Savannah wandered down to where all four boats were tied up at the bank. She'd spent most of Monday cleaning the two that had come in on Sunday night.
Tawarri
was shipshape again except for the hole in the bathroom wall, so she had a couple of days to clean the last boat before its next booking. Ethan had promised to call in tonight or tomorrow night to do all the bits she needed help with.

She went on board to do a quick check. After her experience with Fred's group she was never sure what she'd find. She opened up the rooms and peered into cupboards. At first glance all looked tidy enough. The bathrooms were clean, that was a plus, and there were no holes in any walls that she could see. She pulled the sheets off the beds and made a pile in the middle of the floor with the towels on top.

She stood hands on hips looking around then lowered herself to the couch in the living area. This boat was different from the others. It only had two bedrooms along one side and a living area that ran across the front and down the other side. Being the last boat to tie up, it was close to Ethan's boundary. She could see his tinnie at the little jetty and the start of the path up to his house, glimpses of which were visible through the trees.

She wondered again what had happened between him and Belinda the other night. The good-looking party girls always got the guys but Belinda already had her man, so why did she need to make a play for another? The thought of the two of them together burned inside Savannah. By the time Ethan had come over on Sunday to help with the boats she'd been miserable with jealousy. She'd barely said more than a few words to him.

She stretched her left leg out and lifted it up and down. The ache travelled up into her hip. She'd been haphazard with her exercise regime since she'd come to the river. There was a lot of work involved in cleaning and preparing the houseboats. It was a long time since she'd done as much physical labour as she was doing now. The most exercise she got with her previous job had been avoiding the hands of her lecherous boss.

After the accident the doctors had said her level of recovery would depend on how much effort she put in. Savannah had put in more than 100 per cent and exercise had become her friend. Right now she didn't feel like dragging herself back up the bank to put herself through the paces.

Although she'd been upset at Belinda's behaviour, Savannah felt glum knowing her only female neighbour had gone back to Adelaide. Ethan said he'd be away all week helping his parents. She assumed Gnasher was still around but that thought didn't comfort her. She wondered about him. Did he roam around shooting at anything that moved or did he really just shoot the odd rabbit? Regardless, she kept to the opposite side of the road on her runs in case the old guy took a pot shot at her.