Second Time Around (27 page)

Any pieces that might have had any value were broken or badly chipped and the rest, according to Leonora, were in bad taste. She had asked Rufus to box them up but he had told her he felt obliged to have them out on display as a reminder to never to start collecting anything.

Halley raised her eyebrows.

“Leonora was serious about getting the kids to smash them?”

“Yep.”

Alec handed the phone over and Halley answered with “Really?”

After listening to Leonora’s impassioned plea to loan her the children so they could destroy the salt and pepper shakers Halley grinned.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “There is no way we would want to be responsible for any vision problems brought on by the stress of having to eat your meals in front of humping dogs made of cheap china. We’ll get the kids to bring a softball bat and ball. Do you want Buddy? I’m sure he can knock over a few.”

Leonora declined the offer of Buddy, saying that his presence might make her intentions appear a little obvious. Halley shook her head as she ended the call.

“I think the babies and I’ll have to miss out on this one,” she said regretfully as she handed the phone back to Alec and wiped her hand on her pyjama top to get rid of the smear of milk that had been transferred from the phone. “Cassie and Lily will need constant supervision and we’ll just be in the way.”

“Why don’t you come? The girls will have to sleep sometime and Rufus was planning to fire up the barbecue for dinner afterwards,” Alec cajoled.

The thought of Rufus’ famed chili and lime barbecue prawns tempted Halley but common sense won out.

“As much as I’d like to be there and see the salt and pepper
atrocities
for myself,” she said mimicking Leonora’s tone “there’s no way Cassie will be interested in having a nap if there is something going on around her. You know what she’s like when she gets over tired and it’s a long drive home.”

What Halley said made perfect sense to Alec but he didn’t want to leave her behind. Since she’d gotten involved in the movie they hadn’t spent much time together and he knew that after they left she’d spend the day catching up on neglected housework.

He was about to tell her he’d risk Cassie not settling down for a nap and that he’d help her with the cleaning tomorrow but before he could, the sound of something shattering from downstairs followed by Cassie howling brought them both running into the hallway.

“Dad!” Em bellowed up the stairs. “Cassie dropped the TV remote into Casey’s glass of milk then broke the glass on the floor.”

Any thoughts of taking Cassie with him to Rufus’ house fled.

“Keep her from walking on the glass. I’ll be right there!” Alec called back.

He pressed a hand against Halley’s hip to prevent her racing down the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Halley protested. “I’ve got to get to Cassie.”

“You’re only wearing your pyjama top,” Alec pointed out as he pushed Lily into her arms. “As much as I enjoy the view when you bend over I think it’s a little X-rated for the kids.”

An hour later Halley was hanging up the washing on the clothesline, stopping after every few items to rock Lily in her pram in the hope that she would finally stop grizzling and have a nap. Cassie sat by her feet gnawing on a rusk.

As she worked Buddy trotted up. The dog observed them for a moment then dropped a tennis ball in front of Cassie. Feeling something land on her foot, Halley glanced down to see Buddy snatch Cassie’s rusk from her shoe that Cassie had dropped to pick up the ball. Before Cassie could take it to her mouth Halley swooped down and prised the ball out of the baby’s fingers.

“Here you go, play with these,” she said with forced brightness, dropping a handful of brightly coloured clothes pegs onto Cassie’s lap to distract her. Cassie grabbed a yellow peg as Halley lobbed the ball over a nearby
Banksia
.

As Buddy went tearing after the ball Halley picked a towel out of the washing basket to hang up.

“At least you’ll have an easy day with just two kids,” she mimicked
sotto voce
, repeating Alec’s parting words before he had kissed her goodbye.

Halley wasn’t sure how leaving the most dependent children with her made her day easier. Alec might have taken three with him but at least they could all feed and entertain themselves and she didn’t need eyes in the back of her head to make sure they weren’t trying to eat fistfuls of dirt or tennis balls covered in dog drool.

Buddy burst out from underneath the
Banksia
branches and Halley scooped up the ball he dropped before Cassie saw it. This time she fired it directly at the tree, hoping that it would get stuck in the branches. As the dog bounded back towards the tree to hunt for the ball, she quickly pegged up a succession of socks. From long experience she knew that when it came time to fold the socks she’d be lucky to match them all in pairs. She gave Lily’s pram another rock and counted the ones she could see hanging on the line.

Thirteen.

It figured that today wasn’t going to be her lucky day.

With a sigh she unlocked the hinge of the now empty washing trolley and drew the ends together to make it easier to carry back to the house. Although tempted to race back inside to store it in the laundry she didn’t want to risk Buddy returning with the ball in her absence.

“C’mon Cass,” she said, scooping the baby up and settling her on her hip “Let’s go in.”

A few minutes later Buddy was sitting outside the ranch slider with his nose pressed against the glass, his mouth holding the tennis ball. He was watching Halley hopefully as she pushed Lily’s pram around the lounge.

“Go to sleep,” Halley crooned, trying to keep the frustration from her voice. Lily seemed determined to stay awake just to grizzle about it.

Nearby, Cassie crawled over to the coffee table and pulled herself up. She picked up a coaster and Halley snatched it from her just before she could start smacking it against the coffee table. Undeterred, Cassie walked herself around to the other side of the table to pick up another one. Seeing where she was headed, Halley plucked her up and Cassie immediately grabbed Halley’s nose.

“This isn’t fun.” Halley pulled Cassie’s hand off her nose and blew a raspberry on it which made Cassie laugh. “Come on. You only need to be quiet for a couple of minutes. I think Lily is about to drop off.”

Lily gave a hearty cry belying Halley’s words. Halley returned to the pram and started rocking it. After a minute of that she was ready to do something else but the moment she stopped rocking the pram Lily started crying again.

“I know, let’s go check the mail,” she said brightly then settled Cassie into the seat attached to the top of the pram. After securing Cassie’s harness Halley briskly wheeled the pram to the front door, not giving Cassie any time to decide whether she was interested in going for a ride or not.

It was a short walk to the end of the driveway and Halley was disappointed to find the letterbox empty.

“That was a waste of time,” she muttered under her breath.

The soft rev of a motorbike nearby caught her attention. She peered down the road to see the postie speeding up to reach his next stop. Halley smiled. She was familiar with his route; he would go to the end of the street and return via a cul-de-sac on the way to their house. If she walked around the block the mail would be waiting for her upon her return.

Halley glanced up the driveway. She thought she saw something move in the shadows behind a window in Krystal and Paul’s old house but she knew she had to be mistaken. Chantelle had told them that the new owners worked in Abu Dhabi and wouldn’t be moving in until their contracts finished at the end of September.

Dismissing what she’d seen as the reflection of a bird flying past she toyed with the idea of going back to lock the front door before taking off on a walk. After considering it for a second she decided not to bother. The only other person in sight was the postie and their house was in an affluent area. Instead of going around the block she’d walk to the curve in the road and back. No one would be able to go up the drive without her seeing them.

Satisfied with her reasoning, she set off at a comfortable pace. With all the work she had been doing it had been a while since she had gone for a walk for the sake of it. As she strolled she talked to Cassie about what they could see and several minutes later they returned to the letterbox with Lily fast asleep. Even better, it looked as though Cassie would soon be asleep too.

Halley was gratified to see envelopes and mailers poking out through the slot of the letter box. Tugging them free she settled them in the fold of the pram’s sun shade then returned to the house.

Once the pram was inside she took Cassie upstairs to her room for a nap. Thankfully Cassie didn’t protest. She just looked at her with sleepy eyes as Halley kissed her forehead and started sucking on the side of her fist.

Returning downstairs, Halley toyed with the idea of leaving Lily in the pram but then decided against it. Although Lily, like her cousin, fought going to sleep, once she was she stayed that way. She scooped Lily out of the pram and took her to her cot. Lily didn’t even so much as flutter an eyelash as Halley tucked her under the blankets and gave her a kiss.

Back downstairs Halley could hardly believe her good fortune. She seldom had the luxury of both girls being asleep at the same time during the day. If she was lucky she could more than two hours to herself.

Telling herself that the housework wasn’t going anywhere she decided to indulge herself for a while. She made herself a cup of green tea and took it to the lounge to drink. Outside the ranch slider Buddy was waiting with a ball in his mouth.

Feeling in a good mood, Halley opened the door and Buddy dropped the ball, tail whipping back and forth wildly. She fired the ball towards bushes near the back fence and he raced off after it.

While he was retrieving the ball she decided to luxuriate in the spot of sunshine on the couch and read through all the circulars and mail. The letters were all for Alec so she set them on the breakfast bar where he would find them when he got home.

Knowing that Buddy would soon be back she wheeled the tennis ball machine they had yet to return to Rufus to the door. When Buddy returned she would turn it on so he would be kept busy and she could sift through the circulars uninterrupted.

Returning to the couch she took a sip of her green tea then fanned out the circulars on the coffee table, amused that she was pleased to be doing something so mundane without a distraction. As she did so, the tip of an envelope caught her eye.

That’s odd
, Halley thought as she pulled it free from the bottom. Whoever had cleared the letterbox last must have missed it because all the letters from the postie had been on top of the circulars.

The envelope had no stamp so it had been hand delivered. Halley turned it the right way up and a shudder went through her as she recognised the innocuous font on the envelope spelling out her name. It was like the others.

Stay calm
, she told herself.
You’re overreacting. It’s probably a local company offering quotes on painting or solar panels and it’s been hand delivered to everyone on the street to save money.

Halley didn’t try and explain why it had been addressed to her rather than Alec.

She gingerly lifted the flap at the back of the envelope and opened it. Her heart started racing when she saw the single sheet of paper folded over inside. Halley drew it out and sucked in a breath when she noticed little patchy wrinkles in the paper. Glue had been applied on the other side and the paper hadn’t dried flat.

Unable to help herself she unfolded the note to reveal two words.

Found You.

Her heart racing, Halley dumped the note on the coffee table and stared at it without seeing. Her mind was going in a thousand different directions and her strongest impulse was to run; run away as fast as she could go.

Behind her the phone rang shrilly, startling her. She leapt off the couch and snatched the phone up.

“Hello?”

She was proud that her voice didn’t waver.

“Hey, Halley.”

“Hey, Riker,” Halley returned in relief. She eased her grip on the phone, trying to think of a way to ask him to come and visit until Alec returned. Despite the note scaring her she didn’t want to delay Leonora’s moving in by getting Alec to needlessly drop everything to come home and get her.

“I need your help with something,” Riker said, cutting through her thoughts. “Are you doing anything at the moment?”

“No, I’m just sitting in the sun drinking a cup of green tea.” She was pleased by how normal her voice sounded.

“Ah. I’ve finally got you alone,” he said with satisfaction.

Halley wondered how Riker knew that then recalled telling him yesterday that she hoped that Alec would take the kids to help Leonora move so she could have a little quiet time on her own.

“I’m as alone as I ever get,” she agreed, thinking of Cassie and Lily sleeping upstairs. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I don’t like how our characters interact in the next scene and I was hoping that between us we could come up with something better. I know it’s your first day off in a while but can I come over?”

Halley knew why Riker wasn’t interested in leaving it until Monday. Apart from being a perfectionist he had other incentives to keep filming downtime to a minimum while they sorted out possible changes to the script. Bringing
Return to Razxif
to the big screen was considered a risky investment because of the number of years since the last of the trilogy had screened. To get the film made Riker had opted to work for little more than free and take a percentage of the cut.

In addition to that there were rumours going around the set that he’d had several large investments go bad. If it were true it only added to the incentive to deliver the best film they could, on time and preferably under budget.

Despite not wanting to give up the only free time she’d had for a long time, Halley owed Riker. If it weren’t for him insisting she return to her role as the Time-Sifting Princess it would have been unlikely that she would have ever had the opportunity to make a comeback. Besides, only moments ago she had wanted an excuse for his company. Spending the day discussing work was better than being alone.

“If you want you can come over for lunch and we can go over the script,” she offered, trying not to sound too eager. Hating feeling so jittery, Halley thought that the sooner that Riker turned up the better.

“When do you expect Alec and the kids back?”

“Not until late. They’ve been invited to stay for dinner.” And she now regretted choosing getting housework done over going with them. She rubbed her fingers against her forehead, telling herself that the words in the note weren’t threatening. So what if some cowardly note writing moron knew where she lived? She was perfectly safe in her own home.

“By the time I get to you it’ll be a little late for lunch,” Riker said, unaware of what was on her mind. “But to make up for getting you to work on your day off how about after we finish I take you out to dinner?”

“Great. I’ll see you when you get here.” Halley’s eyes locked on Buddy snapping at the tree in the sunny back yard and she decided she was safe enough in broad daylight with a guard dog for company. As for Riker and dinner, he’d find out soon enough that their two infant chaperones would limit their restaurant choices.

As she set the phone back in its cradle it occurred to Halley that Alec probably wouldn’t like Riker turning up while he wasn’t around. Although the two men had come to an unspoken accord over her welfare she thought that Alec’s previous experience with an unfaithful wife made him a little uneasy and suspicious when it came to Riker.

Halley had tried to reassure Alec that she considered Riker the big brother she’d never had. Unfortunately the last time they had discussed it they had played the last of the trilogy for the children the night before and Emma had entered the room part way through their conversation.

“Do all sisters kiss their brothers like that?” she had asked ingenuously, eyeing up Casey throwing the ball to Buddy outside.

Her question had resulted in forceful noes from both Halley and Alec. After that Halley had decided to leave it alone. She couldn’t force Alec to see that Riker was not a threat to him. Given enough time she hoped that he would realise that for himself.

Halley reached for the phone to call Alec to let him know about Riker coming over then decided against it. She wouldn’t put it past Alec to drop everything and come home.

Miranda has a lot to answer for,
Halley thought darkly even though she couldn’t blame Alec for his insecurity. It must have been awful for him to come home and find his wife in bed with another man and have her unapologetic about it.

She turned around to take in the room and sighed when she saw how much tidying needed to be done to make it look presentable. With three children who were seemingly incapable of picking up after themselves the room looked like a tornado had hit it.

Giving up on her relaxing drink of green tea in the sunshine, Halley gathered up her cup and took quick sips from it as she walked back to the kitchen. A nudge to her knee made her look down to see Buddy with the tennis ball in his mouth.

“I’m too busy to play right now,” Halley told the dog as she set the cup down. Buddy dropped the ball and looked at her expectantly. “Oh, all right.” As she spoke she scooped up the ball and carried it to the ranch slider where she fired it into a tree, hoping it would keep Buddy occupied for some time.

As she dusted her hands off she thought she heard a door squeak.

That was odd.

Apart from the babies sleeping upstairs she was the only one in the house.

From where she stood Halley could see Buddy outside leaping and snapping at the bottom branches of the tree, hoping to free the ball so it could fall to the ground.

“It must be my imagination,” she said to herself.

Deciding to leave the ranch slider open to save another trip to let Buddy back in, Halley returned to the kitchen. Seeing him bounce around outside had reminded her that she needed to take a dog roll out of the freezer to defrost. Although money was no longer tight she and Alec did have five children between them and she was still money conscious enough to stock up on items on special at the supermarket. Hence an entire shelf currently dedicated to frozen dog rolls.

When she reached the freezer she stopped a moment to admire it. The brushed stainless steel upright fridge/freezer was a recent purchase to accommodate the needs of their growing family. It was the most impressive appliance in the house, even having a strip light that ran up the back wall of the freezer and a water and ice dispenser built in the door.

She knew it was silly to take pride in an appliance of all things but she did. It was the first thing that she and Alec had bought together. Humming to herself, Halley opened the door and crouched down to select a dog roll.

As she pulled one out Halley noticed something odd. The strip light down the back of the freezer hadn’t come on. Now that she thought about it, there was no reassuring hum emanating from the fridge/freezer either.

She stood up and glanced at the nearby oven clock, reassured by the blank time panel. There was nothing wrong with the freezer; they must be having a power cut. Halley started closing the freezer door and bit off a shriek when she revealed the person standing behind it.